Farm Anatomy: a giveaway.
i’ve been a fan of brookyln-based artist julia rothman since i first became aware of her beautiful work, somewhere around 2006 when i started the blog. but, i have to say, her latest accomplishment, her new book farm anatomy has to be my all-time favorite compilation of her drawings. julia is a city girl, but her husband’s from the country, so visits to the family farm created a curiosity in her about farm life, resulting in this fun, and incredibly useful book.
farm anatomy is one part visual tour and an educational anatomy of farm life, including how many eggs can one hen lay, how to plant an orchard; and then, one part cookbook. i love the sections on making dill pickles, dandelion wine, and the basic steps in making cheese and canning tomatoes. and it’s all adorably illustrated, which makes the fact-filled farm anatomy super fun and oh so charming! as someone who is really interested in growing my own veggies, canning and getting back to basics, i am super psyched to own this book.
how to enter:
you’re going to want a chance to win julia’s personally signed copy of
farm anatomy! to enter, simply comment below and let us know what you always wondered about farm life, or maybe you have a fun farm fact of your own! we want to hear it.please comment by
wednedsay, october 26th, and we’ll announce a winner on twitter! as always, please leave a way to contact you, either an email, website, facebook, or twitter.
YAY! winner has been announced – it’s carrie rosalind! thanks for entering everyone!
have fun and happy farming! and, for a look at julia’s full farm anatomy blog tour, hop on over here.
Looks really unique and fun to read. Great giveaway!!
I’ve been coveting this wonderful book, and hope to add it to the shelves of my farmhouse. My partner and I run a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program on his 10th generation family farm! It is exciting to be a part of such an amazing agricultural legacy!
What fabulous illustrations! My farm fact: my grandfather ran a small family dairy farm, his breed of cows didn’t make typical milk though… They produced higher milkfat so their milk became cream and was processed into hot chocolate and pudding. Different kinds of cows really do make different kinds of milk (although I don’t think skim milk comes from skinny cows).
At one point in my life, I moved from the city to a farming community. Although it was a culture shock, I soon grew to have great respect for farmers whose lives revolved around constantly changing weather patterns. They never gave up and always had a great strength and reverence about life in general. We should all be so lucky to come from such a background.
Looks like a lovely book. I always wondered about why cows have to get up that early? Can’t they be ‘trained’ to sleep in so farmers can get up at 7 am and then go to bed a little later?
This is a wonderful giveaway with so much amazing information, and how beautifully illustrated! I’ve always wanted to know this stuff so I could try out some practical things from someone who has been there and done that, unfortunately I don’t know anyone.
I’ve always wondered how people have fun at the end of the day on a farm – if it was me, I’d be pretty tuckered out so I’d think you would want something low key. Is it more of an “I need to get away”
ngallo58 at gmail dot com
I love this book! It would be so great since I miss living on a farm. Well, mostly I miss my pigs. They’re the best! One thing I can tell you about them: it’s impossible to round them up or gather them for anything. Ours used to “escape” into the pasture sometimes and we had to figure out how to get them back into their pen. After repeated attempts, we learned it’s much easier to get a few loaves of bread and lure them to where you want them to be. But then, are you surprised at how easy it is to bribe a pig with food?! ;)
What a wonderful giveaway! I’ve already been coveting this book. I wonder about urban farms and how to create a little slice of farm living in my backyard… :)
I’ve always wondered if having chickens is a great as I imagine it would be, or if it’s really a lot of hard work and know how. I imagine walking out on a sunny morning, collecting a few eggs and having a nice breakfast, but I’m thinking in reality it’s a little muddier than that. :) Beautiful book. Can’t wait to check it out.
This book looks just like a daydream! One of my best friends growing up lived on a dairy farm; she is now married to a dairy farmer. I’m still fascinated to hear her talk of the ins and outs of running a farm. There is actually quite a bit to it, and, boy, is it a lot of work.
This is a giveaway that I’m excited to enter. This book is so lovely in its utility.
I used to live on a small farm, but I presently live in a village. It is our dream to go back to the country, but in the meantime, spring will bring the addition of chickens to our village plot. I’m so excited to practice poultry husbandry again. Whee!!!!
I love Julia Rothman and this new book looks amazing! The pictures of comb styles is killing me. My question: is it true that goats will eat anything? I always picture them with tin cans in their mouths…
what a beautiful book! my husband and i met on a dairy farm in canada. now we live in spain, in the city, but share a large garden with a group of people who like to get their hands dirty in their free time. we grow almost every type of vegetable, and fruit, including olives, and oranges. our specialty, though, is loofah. it grows on a vine, looks like a zucchini, and once it’s dried and peeled it can be used as a shower/kitchen/cleaning sponge.
this is so fabulous! i grew up on a farm and absolutely loved it. i hope to have the same for my children. Being out in nature every single day is so refreshing and relaxing to the soul. It helps put life in perspective to see so many aspects of life around you all the time.
This book looks incredible!!!! I’ve always wondered about beekeeping. Ever since Pushing Daisies, I’ve totally been in love with all things bees. (It was also my college mascot) They are really interesting creatures!!!! I’d love to read and learn from this book!
Love those illustrations, I love her. My Grandma grew up on a farm and she used to tell us stories about the things that they would do from slaughtering chickens to harvesting cotton and tobacco. I am always sad that the old fashioned in touch with the earth type of farm is something that we don’t come across as often anymore :(
I’ve always wondered how’s life in the farm. Gotta be really fun! :)
Such a beautiful book! My husband and I are thinking about getting a few hens to raise in our backyard (we live in a city, but by law we can raise egg-laying hens), but I’m wondering #1- how long do hens usually live, and #2- do we need to get them veterinary care while they’re with us? Do they need shots, etc??
I so LOVE her work!!!
My sister is currently hearding sheep (she started off with a “small” number of 250) and since she always was and still is totally in love with all kind of farm things (and beautiful pictures) i think this book would be the perfect christmas present for her…
I would probably ask about the difference between brown eggs and white eggs.
Adorable illustrations!
My farm memories are from my grandfather. He used to have a lot of rabbits. one day i noticed that one of the bunnies was missing. When i asked my grandfather, he told me that the bunny had escaped. Many years passed since i realized that we had ate the bunny for dinner :(
My dad grew up on a farm in Reno right on the Truckee River. He always said they should have have found a market for king snakes, they were abundant.
Have you ever seen those pygmy faiting goats? I went to a farm years ago and they had them. Their defense mechanism is when they get scared they stiffen up and fall over! Isn’t that the most wild thing ever!?
This book looks amazing! My little farm tidbit…where my husband is from (southern ohio) a bushel is actually pronounced “BOOSH-EL”
Oh my. I think I might need two copies. Lovely!
I’ve always wondered if you have to wake up super early EVERY morning. (@tiffanykapri on twitter).
I wonder what they miss most about city life…
Yay! Thanks for the chance to win such a gorgeous book. A recent thing I discovered about honey (related to farms, if they have bees), is that eating a spoonful of local honey every day will eventually alleviate allergies, if you’re allergic to pollen. Maybe this is a well known fact, but I had no idea.
This book is on my amazon wishlist – it looks beautiful! I grew up on a farm and my Mom used to make homemade butter and sell it to the neighbors – real butter should only have 2 ingredients: cream and salt. It is extremely easy to make AND delicious.
I would love to learn how to convert freshly sheared wool into yarn! I’m an avid knitter and would love to spin my own yarn :)
I love this!!! I have always been fascinated with bee-keeping and the honey process. I often dream of starting an urban hive…but I’m totally afraid of bees and my husband’s allergic. Problem? Nah…we’d be fine :)
I’m a city girl and my husband is a country boy, so farms have always fascinated me! I’d love to add this book to our collection – maybe it will teach me a thing or two so that when we go to visit his family I can join in some of the conversation! Thanks for the great giveaway.
As a city dweller I always dream of farm life! Love the illustrations in this book. Gorgeous!
I’ve been admiring this book and the beautiful illustrations. I have dreams of a very small farm (veggie garden, bees, fruit trees, and some goats!) when I someday have a large yard of my own, but my big question is raising animals for milk. Do you have to constantly breed animals to keep milk production going?
I grew up in a busy San Francisco suburb, but would spend holidays at my grandparent’s farm in the Central Valley. There was something so magical about that place; seeing the barn owls (but never hearing their stealthy wings), naming special cows, catching toads by night and watching my grandmother cook up her delicious meals. I wish I could go back to that time. I would love to receive this book, and relive the memories!
OH MY! What a lovely book. You know, I really need to know all about chickens, because even though I don’t live on a farm, I’m considering adding chickens to my backyard.
Looks like a fun and informative book! I would love to read it with my girls. I would like to learn more about canning and raising chickens. Thank you!
Did you know that for the past fourteen years, iowa has produced the most corn of any other state. iowa grows three times as much corn as a country like argentina and typically produces more corn than most whole countries. Rock on Iowa, I’m proud of my state!
I’ve always wondered what it would be like to own a goat and have goat milk available to make cheese and yogurt!
Such a beautiful book! I lived on a cattle farm for a year. The best part: feeding (orphaned) baby cows with a bottle. The worst part: searching for the pig, Trevor, when he ran away. Fun farm fact: Like snowflakes, no two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.
This book is just darling! My husband and I have dreamed about having a little farm with our 3 little girls. We wonder what it would be like to have a pumpkin patch, chickens, and a vegetable garden.
I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be completely self-sufficient, living off your own land.
I wonder if the farm boys are still as cute as they used to be……….
I used to love visiting my Auntie’s farm when I was a little girl! I love these illustrations!
I want this book!
I always wondered if people really woke up when the roosters crow?
this Book is just adorable, always wanted to leave on a farm and be a little country girl for a while .. would definitely need this little precious and gorgeously crafted and informative Book of Julia’s!
Here a little ‘Farm Anatomy’ Book poem from me:
Tomatoes are red, Cucumbers are green,
and this little ‘Farm Anatomy’ Book has it all written in between.
Each page has it’s precious and beautiful illustrations,
from which we can take a lot valuable country life information’s.
With all the facts and stories on how to fulfill your country living dreams,
you are now all set to go with to start your own journey it seems.
hope you like my little spontaneous little poetry …
xoxo
fingers crossed! Cam
Great giveaway!
I grew up in a town in the countryside of Argentina, though I didn´t live in a farm most of my friends did, so we used to drive on the country roads on a John Deere with only 9 years old (well, I never learned how to drive, but it was really fun!)
When I was a little kid, I used to tag along with my mother who volunteered at a farm owned by a nearby college. One thing she used to do was build a little fence around the sheep when they were giving birth. While she was busy, I made best friends with a little black lamb. He used to run over to me whenever I would walk out into the field. I named him Sammy. One of my favorite memories :)
I would absolutely love to own this book as I’ve always wanted to know more about growing my own produce. I’ve always lived in cities and felt enchanted by visits to farms where the eggs were from their own beloved chickens, the lettuce, carrots and tomatoes all picked that morning. It almost feels magical to have food that people are so closely connected to. Thank you so much for hosting this giveaway, Victoria. <3
Oh my gosh, this would definitely give me something to talk about with our farming grandparents!
Wow,I would love to own this book as I hope to one day live out in the country.I have always wondered if farmers have to spend literally all day until bedtime tending to the farm and do you have to wake up at night to take care of the animals as you would a newborn baby.Just curious about how much work it really does involve.
i was born on farm life and i love it… I love life far away from the city.
This book looks simply wonderful! I actually began to learn how to “can” this year, so this book would be a great addition to furthering my skills!
Gorgeous book!! Thanks for the giveaway. For farm life, I’ve always wondered how to care for goats. They are so adorable!
I’m a city girl all the way! I have been on farms and the poo smell leaves me a bit nauseous. My ex husband took me to my first real working farm and I had the worst food of my life ever. That being said, farms are what drives the world. Farms are how we live and I appreciate the people who dedicate their lives to it.
Also, those renderings are so bitchin’, I cant even stand it. I would love this book, it reminds me of Sara Midda’s book about her life in Provence. Gorgissimo!
I’ve been seeing this around the webs & it looks just lovely.
I’m a city girl, but my grandfather lives on a now non-working farm & I remember how much fun it was when every once in a while, we’d be allowed to bring a baby goat in the house! I don’t know how often we really were able to, but it’s something that I still remember fondly & am so glad that he did for us…makes me anxious & excited to make memories like that for my own ‘kids’ (sorry, had to!) and grandchildren. :)
I personally would love to raise chickens one day- I guess I’m wondering this: where do you start? ;)
Wow! The book is so unique, fresh and useful!
I always wondered if all the cute kittens we can see in stables were there for a useful reason!! ;)
I’ve always wondered what it would be like to raise the animals you end up eating. I fantasize about having a chicken coop but our city doesn’t allow it.
i live in a rural area, but i never actually lived on a farm and always wished that i had! this book looks amazing – i already thought of a few women i would love to gift a copy of this to. some of my questions about farm life have always related to canning and preserving food! i want to learn how, maybe next summer – great giveaway, thanks!
This book is gorgeous! I’ve always wanted to know how to can and preserve fruits and vegetables. I even recently bought a whole box of canning jars. I just think it would be so amazing to have a whole stock of fruit jams and canned veggies through the winter.
Once upon a time, there was a girl who got tired of all the fussiness of the city. Left the mini apartment and got a country house. She (and her 2 dogs) were starting a new life. A new beginning. She was still working in the city, indeed, but the rest of the hours would have to be spent in transforming the old house in her Home. There was a lot to do and everything was different, but she was counting with her friends to make that old house and garden in her real home.
Hope this giveaway will be one of that big friends that will help me :)
I used to be a farm kid and miss it a bit now. I love the old farm equipment or rummaging around in a old barn. I’m excited to look through all these pictures. Hmmm… the parts of a horse.
This book looks absolutely beautiful! I live on a small farm right now (on my second year…first timer!) and so far have been beaten by the weeds with my vegetable garden. I have some wild ducks that hang out and provide comic relief. And yesterday I picked apples from our trees. This book looks like the perfect easy to follow cheat sheet for me!
Oh man, this book is beautiful! I recently read a little bit about her process as she created this and it was fascinating!
I’ve been a city girl almost all my life, but have a fascination for farm life. My soon-to-be-husband’s family has a farm in Kentucky but we sadly don’t get to visit all that often. I would love this book!
I live in the city but I am very much craving more of a country life. This book would be a great start!!! xoxo
Thanks for the great giveaway!
I grew up raising my own veggies, fruits, and chickens and now live in the city. I always have looked back on that time and remembered how good it felt to accomplish producing your own food and how rewarding a day’s labor was. I fell into bed truly tired and that felt amazing.
To introduce a new hen into the brood do so at night when all the hens are fast asleep to avoid that the stranger is ganged up on. This way, in the morning when all the little hens open their little chicken eyes they naturally assume the stranger has been there all along! Even funnier – when the new hen opens her little chicken eyes she also thinks she has been there since forever!!!
Eeeps, those bunny diagrams! I want it!
I think I am a farmer from another life. All of this appeals to me yet I have no place to do it! So far just a garden and some backyard chickens. I would love to read about how to be successful at it!
Such a pretty book! Love Julia Rothman, her art is amazing :)
What a lovely book! My family had cows (used mostly for beef) growing up. I will never forget the first time I saw a cow need assistance to give birth. It was a pretty interesting experience for a 5 year old, to say the least. I also remember having to explain to my college roommates what “pulling a calf” means!
Probably one of the best book giveaways ever. The last few years my family has gone from buying mindlessly at the grocery stores to supporting our neighborhood farmer’s market. We love talking with our farmers and learning about the extremely hard work that goes into the fresh and bountiful food they offer. We love hearing their stories, getting tips and advice from them, and as someone whose always asking them a million questions about each vegetable or fruit, this book would really come in handy. One day if we ever finally get our own outdoor space, we’d love to be a part of the growing rather than just consuming movement. Fantastic book and giveaway offering!!!
As soon as we move in to our new house (currently looking), we’re going to plant a vegetable garden and raise chickens. I will take all the help I can get!
I want it!!!
This is what I wonder about: Being around animals gives us an opportunity to discover their personalities. I wonder which, of all the farm animals has the most surprising personality traits?
My parents own a farm now that all the kids are grown. What a lesson for my girls when they visit. They shoveled manure for compost and got to “drive the pick up” on the field at age 9! Good times. And great food!
this is so fantastic! i have to get one for estella! this is a great book for a child to grow up with!
and i might need my own. love it.
I would love this book. I keep teetering on if I could honestly handle a suburan farm. I think this would help!
I always wondered how many eggs a hen lays, and can some lay a lot more than others? The book is beautiful though! I’d love to own it :)
Such wonderful illustrations!!! I would love to know what types of fruits/veggies work best for freezing and canning. I keep a small garden of my own in the summer, but never really know how to go about saving the produce for winter months.
Oh, I have been looking forward to this book….perhaps I shouldn’t be chosen as I would buy it anyway!! (ha ha ha). I live in Virginia and grew up with friends who had horse farms. I am actually one of thos people who like the smell of manure, I know, I know. The word “paddock” is a favorite of mine. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to walk the fences….does a farmer think it tedious or relaxing. I’ve always wanted to do this. Walk along the acres, inspecting the fences.
What a perfect book for us – we are starting a farmstead, hoping to turn it into a place for city people to visit and hang out. We are having to learn everything from scratch. It’s amazing how many wild critters are out there in the country – owls, foxes, coyotes, deer, opossums, gophers. I’ve always wondered how to raise sheep and make sheep cheese, since it’s my favorite.
Oh, how adorable! I want to learn more about growing veggies :) I hope I win!
you win girl. you are okey
wow- gorgeous book. i love julia’s work!
I’m in love with the illustrations in this book, they’re amazing! I’ve always been curious to learn more about rotating crops in the fields and how that affects the soil from year to year.
Oh my that book looks wonderful! I would love to learn more about keeping farm animals.
I think I love this book just by looking at the few image here! Thanks for sharing.
My farm question is: Do roosters always crow in the morning or are there some lazy ones that just stay quiet and hang out huddled in the hen house?
~Bridge
So beautiful, so detailed. My whole family would enjoy looking at this. My husband & I were just wondering the other day if “old-fashioned” working farms, like the ones in children’s books, still exist: You know, some horses, some cow, some chickens, a few pigs, etc. etc. Or is it all corporate specialization these days?
This is so cool. The illustrations are beautiful and interesting.
The book looks lovely — I’d love to frame the pages for unique kitchen decor!
My Farm Question: What do you do when you go on vacation? Who takes care of the animals?
I wonder how farmers manage to take care of themselves after spending so much time taking care of the land and animals.
I’m a big fan of Julia’s work and this book looks tremendous!
My farm question would be how to grow and can tomatoes (sauces, salsas, etc). Sadly our tomato attempt did not bear fruit this year.
I have always wondered if roosters ever really did wake up farmers, you know, before alarm clocks were invented…
@IzzyRoy
More and more lately I’ve been thinking about how wonderful it would be to live further out, to grow veggies, and I’ve always wanted lots of apple trees. Would love to know the best way to grow apples. The illustrations are beautiful.
When I was a little girl I use to imagine I lived on a farm. My imaginary farm had horses, pigs, cow, dogs, and cats. It also had a little creek running through it. Sometimes I would draw pictures of the animals and cut them out and play with them. It was one of my favorite things to do as an only child.
love julia’s illustrations so much! i’ve been wanting to make my own pickles so this would show me how ;)
Beautiful illustrations!
I want one =)
We’ve had to put our Farm-dreams on hold for a few years while the husbo goes back to school… but we talk and scheme about it daily. Our Farm will have bees, a kick-arse garden, goats, chickens and more “chill-ins”. We plan on moving back to Maine to plant our roots! ; )
I guess I’ve always wondered why chickens lay different eggs- some blue, some spotted- so pretty and unique!? It almost seems cruel to eat them, but then they are soooo tasty ; )
Lovely giveaway, and what a beautiful book!
@GrayDayShop and http://tiptoethrough.blogspot.com/
wow what a great looking book. Farm Life…humm I guess I’ve always wondered about keeping chickens and what do you do with all of the eggs?
Oooooh, I’ve always simply wondered about the relationships between Charlotte spiders and Wilbur pigs.
This book is gorgeous! I grew up raising chickens for the local livestock show. (One year I even won grand champion, a title that earned me a belt buckle that featured a chicken with a ruby eye!) Anyway, my chickens really dug NPR. We played it all day long in the coop. It kept them active–and a bit more informed, I suppose. :)
I would love to win this book! The illustrations are so beautiful! I have a little urban farm going on in my backyard, chickens and a big garden, and I know I still have so much to learn! My garden did not do so well this year.
this book looks so lovely. my husband are purchasing land and starting a small farm within the next year or two so this would be terribly approriate for research!
in love with this book. still hoping and dreaming of a farm of my own… used to have a flock of chickens who laid the most beautiful blue-green eggs. someday…
i’m soooo not a morning person. i think that automatically means there’s nooo way i can live on a farm!! but i’d love to live on one vicariously through this book!
My husband wants to get chickens. It is legal in Portland, Maine to have a backyard full of them. Maybe this book will help.
Thanks for the giveaway chance! I wonder how animals communicate on the farm. Like, do the chickens “talk” to the pigs? Do the cows “talk” to the roosters? Also, does an animal species know what a different animal species is trying to communicate? i know… it’s a nerdy question!
What a beautiful and creative idea for a book! My first “real” job as a reporter was in a small agricultural community in Northern California. One time I got to cover a sheep-shearing. It was fascinating watching how quickly the workers removed the fleece, and seeing the naked sheep afterward. But then I had the smell of sheep in my hair for the rest of the day!
Wowzers, this is the sweetest most charming book. I am in love! I always say “I just want to move to the country an make jam” because one of my fondest childhood memories is going to a local farm during strawberry season to pick giant boxes of berries with my mom that we would then make jam with to eat year round. Noting better than our homemade jam.
The book looks beautiful! My Grandfather lives next to a farm in the Scottish Highlands and I have so many wonderful memories of “going to see the cows” with my Granny when I was little. Living on a farm always had this magical quality in my mind, although I realise the reality must be hard work.
Beautiful book!
Is it true that boy bees don’t sting?
Looks like a beautiful book! My grandma grew up on a farm, and though I never got the chance to meet her, I love hearing stories that she passed down to my dad about her life on the farm. So interesting and so far from my own lifestyle!!
Farm Fact: Goats don’t have elbows.
Farm Fact: COWS are huge. While staying at my family’s dairy farm in France I was up close and personal with the cows and let me just say … they are big … really big. Love this giveaway and I am honestly hoping I win!! XO!
Amazing giveaway! I adore the looks of this book!
I have always wondered why a work day at the farm starts so early! In my mind, if I worked for myself, I’d choose to sleep in a little!
I have always wanted to run my own small farm. Now, my father has taken over my dream and I love to visit him! Something about waking up early and taking care of the animals always makes me incredibly happy.
We’ve got 3 acres out in the country (with bees and chickens), and are thinking about adding dairy goats. We’re curious about how to make butter from goats milk!
this book looks like so much fun! i actually live near tons of farms, and i am surrounded by cows, chickens, & llamas! i don’t know much about farm life, but i do know that cows are the sweetest creatures ever (atleast to me)! (:
if you want to raise bees for honey…will the honey attract bears??
Oh, I LOVE her illustrations! Beautiful.. Recently, I’ve been wondering how to make apple butter… :)
this book has DEFINITELY been on my wish list since seeing it! amazing illustration & information rolled into one! my father’s side of the family are all famers and i’ve always been drawn to farm/country life because of it. perhaps in my past life, i was a farmer (?) but i would love to see the similarities/differences between farm life here & in japan and what better way then through beautiful illustrations? i can’t think of any. :)
Yes! I really want this book because I’ve always dreamed of having a farm. I want to learn more about raising sheep!
the mountain man and i are saving money to move to the patagonias and open a small, sustainable, bed & breakfast. as part of that sustainability, we want to have our own farm on the property – this would be the perfect guide to get us started!
Wish our public schools had books like this…
just sayin : )
I want to know how to build and keep a hen house!
The book looks beautiful!
What a gorgeous book! I love farm life – if only I had the space for more than the 2 raised bed that I do….. what a life it would be.
The page with the chickens just got me! I’m OBSESSED with the idea of getting a chicken coop!
What a great book!
Looks like a very useful book, as well as a beautiful one. I live in a rural area in Missouri, and I am amazed that even kids who are raised on farms around here don’t know much about farming, because farms are fairly specialized these days, and lots of them no longer have milk cows, or hogs, horses, orchards, or many other things that used to be common.
I hope you have a page on colors of horses, because I think it’s somewhat confusing.
Thanks for putting together such a helpful, yet fun, book!
Oh my, this book looks divine! It combines some of my favorite things… farming, cooking and illustration! My fun farm fact is that pigs typically gestate in 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. Crazy!
This book looks great. I love the chicken pictures. I’ve just got a few chickens of my own, and am wondering how to go about clipping their wings.
Lovely book! Great giveaway! My sister is going to start a goat farm in the future, this would be the perfect gift for her.
I want to know more about goat milk and cheese. This book looks like soooo much fun!
I’ve always wondering how people who live and work on farms get any sleep! And they never have Saturdays off.
I’d love to get my hands on a copy of this book. You can reach me at @joanna_haugen on Twitter if I win. :)
Farm life seems lovely. I guess I always wonder if the gratification is worth all the hard work. The book looks so beautiful!
Loving this book!! I always wondered if people who live on farms ever sleep in – or actually get up every day at 5 a.m?Would love the tranquility and the animals – not getting up early (saying that – my 3 year old tends to wake me at 6 a.m – even on sunday – maybe not so different after all:O) Fingers crossed!!
Axox
Oooh. I would *love* this book. such great illustrations! I want to know if you can be a farmer *and* work outside the home? Boy, am I trying!
What a unique book! I love the graphics! My family and I have been making great strides this past year to be more self-sustaining and ‘green’. From raising our own beef and chickens to adding solar and wind power to reduce our carbon footprint. We’ve even gone as far as turning feed sacks into reusable totes. Surprisingly, they turned out really cute! I’d love to know more about canning, gardening and adding other animals to our farm – maybe goats?
i love this book. i’ve always wondered about how to can things!
I volunteer on an organic urban farm and our chickens were just stolen…I would love to win this book to be reminded of the excellent chicken comb stylings. :-) XOXO
Heather
i can’t get over how beautiful the illustrations are in this book!
i had a childhood friend that lived on a farm and i remember playing with the goats and then coming inside and drinking goat’s milk with lunch. even though i was young i recognized that it was a different experience to be so close to the source of my food!
Julia’s book looks like a great book to read to our young farmers’ market customers… I would love to win a copy to show how things work on our farms!
I didn’t grow up on a farm, but I did help my parents grow crops in our very own garden as a kid. It was so much fun helping them gather all the tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and beans we would plant from year to year. I hope I can have traditions like that if I have a family of my own!
ohh! I want to know how to make butter. Is that in there?! If for nothing else, I’d love this book for the beautiful illustrations :)
This is so cool, awesome giveaway! there are so many things I would love to know about farm life. One question is do you ever have to clean a chicken coop and if so how?
hope i win!
Reminded by the photo of the apple varieties above, I’ve always wondered how one “breaks into” the apple orchard farming business. Would I need to find an existing orchard and start there? Or find land, put down some roots (literally, not figuratively), start grafting, and cross my fingers that in twenty years when the trees start producing that my future kids have an interest in growing apple trees? Growing fruit requires so much upfront effort… but man, would I love to be able to make my own cider!
(What an awesome-looking book! Fingers crossed!)
I use to live on a farm in N.J.. No one believes me in Georgia, but yes there are farms in New Jersey. Real country farms in Jersey, who woulda thought.
What a wonderful book! I have taken an interest in organic chicken farming, with free range chickens and historic breeds, I wonder how much space one really needs for a personal operation.
What a great book. I’d like to know if you can keep different kinds of hens together in a happy flock?
Well, my farm related story is that my sister grew up a “city girl” and then got married moved to the “country”, had a baby, and now they’re building a farm (and family) together. It is amazing to me to see my sister embrace this kind of life. By the way, this looks like an amazing book!
I really love her work! I hope to win!
This book looks amazing! You would think she grew up on the farm, considering the detail and the feeling it evokes for me. It takes me back to a time before sushi and mani-pedis.
I think I took everything for granted at the time, but in hindsight, I appreciate the bounty that nature had to offer me on the farm. I remember eating fresh peas from the garden, or sweet crab apples from the tree. Those were some of the best tasting foods, and I rarely find anything as flavorful these days.
The flowers were breathtaking. My favorite ones were snap-dragons. My Grandma built a little “Bunny Patch” garden for me, with snap-dragons along the edge.
Oh, and there were lots and lots of kittens. It doesn’t get better than that!
Oh, I SO need this book. I just started a garden with cucumbers and fun veggies. I also have began researching chicken coops which I hope to start building before the year is over. I need to soak up every page of this beautiful book!
What a lovely book!
I just moved out of a farm and miss it everyday. Maybe this book will tame my longing.
Crossing my fingers!
The “comb styles” illustration is hilarious! Fantastic!
The books like one I would enjoy then share with others of like interests. Someone asked my sister how my hen would “feed” her chicks. He was trying to figure out where her udder was .. we think. =)
Would love a copy of this book! We just moved into our dream farm last October and went from one small parrotlet named mina to some 58 ducks, geese, chickens, dogs, cats, guinea fowl and sheep! I grew up in the country but now it’s all hands-on and on my own with my hubby. I like this book because my kids would enjoy the illustrations as much as I do!
i’ve sat and thought about farm life and my curiosities, but the truth is, i’d really like to know ANYTHING about a farm if it was through julia’s illustrations and handwriting.
(i’m submitting the comment with the email that is my best contact, but i don’t want to take any chances, so if that doesn’t work, my handle is @okolivia)
I love this! I want to know all about farm animals. :)
This book looks like so much fun. Would love to use it with camps, and other classes I do with children!
i would love to learn more about farm animals… and i love the drawings.
I’ve always wondered why those darn animals just can’t sleep in for once! :) LOVE this book!!!!!!
Thank you for profiling this book which I otherwise may not have discovered! I have already added this to my gifting list for friends- I am sure my niece and nephew will love perusing this with me as well.
As a child, we made frequent visits to “help out’ on my cousin’s farm (also ended up adopting a few kittens I couldn’t possibly live without). My cousin was unbelievably patient with us, and took the time to teach us and share little facts (just like a snowflake, no two cows have identical spots). Although I still distinctly remember my horror upon the proud announcement that the burgers at our picnic were from the cow I had so recently pet, it really taught me some crucial values and appreciation early on. We now yearly buy our own conscientiously raised pig at the county fair, which we share with other families, to support tomorrow’s farmers in our community- and to make a charitable purchase of some of the most delicious pork you can imagine.
I come from generations of Italians for whom gardening and canning and thoughtful meal preparation is simply the norm. Although I struggle to fit it all in myself (especially in an LA apartment!), I embrace anything that brings me closer to these simple values and pleasures.
I still wonder why roosters don’t just crow at sunrise. Movies have messed up my perceptions, I guess?
I grew up on a farm on land that my great-grandfather purchased. Though I now work an “office” job, I still life in tight-knit community and am involved in agriculture. I wouldn’t trade growing up on a farm for anything!
I’ve always wanted to raise chickens and grow my own vegetables. Maybe this can help me plan for a future when I’m not longer an apartment dweller!
I took over an allotment with a friend at the beginning of this year and have loved every minuet of it. I found out we are allowed to have chickens on it but would love any illustrated advice on what to look out for and how to care for them. Plus i’m always looking for recipes for the produce I bring back from the allotment.
The illustration truly are stunning. x
Ever since I was a little kid I have always wondered if the animals on farms had relationships like they had in Charlotte’s Web, which was one of my favorite books when I has a wee little bitty. Then when they came up with the animated movie I had so much respect for the illustrations which this book reminds me of. So maybe if I did win, it would tap into the child in me. <3
What a perfect little book! I lived rurally with my grandparents when I was younger and always had an interest in discovering and finding things out there! I miss living in the country and hope to again someday. My slice of heaven! <3
I have yearned for a small farm for at least 30 years. Finally in the last 7 years I have been able to increase my garden to about 450 sq. ft. and now have 6 hens. I would love to do more. I try to read everything I can about small farms and I’m particularly fascinated by people who achieve urban farm life
Hello there!
With all this revolution about going green and everything, I saw a year or so in a video Internet about a project of two Americans women that help a community in Africa. This consisted in build a bathroom where the people went to do their biologically necessities, specially the number 2, those “wastes” collecting in a very big bucket. And they use this for agriculture. So, are in the farms using the human wastes in agriculture as fertilizer?
Last, I really would love to own this creative and interesting book, very possible to have a small farm in my home (in the city).
This book looks amazing! I have always wondered how the animals get along with one another!
Oh where do I begin? For one, I think I was a pilgrim in a past life, so a farm would make me feel right at home. Two, when I was little I had legitimate fantasies about being so cold I needed to sew my old clothes into patchwork quilts. Three, if I lived on a farm, I would love waking up everyday knowing that I was about to work on helping something grow–be it a pig or a corn stalk.
Beautiful book! Love the style of illustration.
If I am ever going to live on a farm (a secret pipe dream) I will need this book as a survival guide!
oh, this looks like such a beautiful book! i have to say i am curious about anything having to do with chickens… especially keeping them warm enough in these north country winters.
when cows sit down it’s going to rain later.
Wow this sounds like a really great book! My family just started an urban farm in the middle of the city. My fun farm fact (that most city folks didn’t know) is that chickens lay all sorts of colors of eggs. We have some that lay brown, green, pink, and light blues. This spring we hope to get some that lay deep brown, almost purple eggs! What fun!!
I have a bit of farm life experience with my greataunt always having goats growing up and my uncle runs a horse farm. But I was probably about 14 went I milked a cow for the first time. I had never thought about how HOT a cow’s udders are before.
@percentblog
Wow, the book looks gorgeous!
I’ve always wanted to live on a farm, ever since I was a little girl. I used to sketch layout plans with my best friend from elementary school, who I was going to co-own the business with. We’d sit under an old oak tree at recess and name all of our future animals. In particular, I remember wanting a border collie named Skye, and a chicken named Henrietta…
I love Julia Rothman’s illustrations!! It started with sneakers and maps of cities, and now farm life! What a treat. I wonder, if I lived on a farm, what types of personalities I would get to know: cows, chickens, sheep… and then I’d probably become vegetarian! Oh, and pigs, they must have funky, laid back personalities, right?
Fun farm fact: Did you know you can tell what color eggs a chicken will lay by the color of their ears? Most people don’t even know chickens HAVE ears or where to find them. :) This book looks simply amazing, definitely one for the coffee table.
What a beautiful book! I’m wondering how to raise chickens from eggs. We have chickens at our kinda rural kinda urban home, and our children want to have some baby chicks running around next spring.
I’ve always wanted to be a farm girl. I am a little jealous of her experience. I live in an apartment and have a tiny patio where I still am able to raise some herbs, and such. Someday though….
I love horses, and I always wondered if you could have just one – I wouldn’t want it to be lonely!
Oh wow this book is awesome! I really love it too lots! Will have to check out the local bookstore for it. Thanks so much for this lovely giveaway! I always wonder what it’s like to be a farm girl! Love to you!
i am drooling over this book. so cool.
i have always been curious and want the knowledge in my mind about cattle breeds.
I’ve always wondered about fresh milk. Seriously. Can you just….drink it…? Fresh from the cow? Lord I’m such a city girl.
i would love to have this book! it’s gorgeous and i want to create a bit of an urban farm. maybe this book’ll tell me everything i want to know about chickens. i love chickens!
yay! I want that book!
I grew up on a farm….my fun farm fact is kind of gross. The saying about “running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off” is really true. I know because once we were *ahem* turning some chickens into dinner when I was a little girl and one got it’s head chopped off….and then ran all the way down our property. And my mom made me chase it down.
What a lovely book :)
My fun farm fact:
What do you call a cow with three legs?… Tri-tip.
Is it difficult for your husband’s family to go out of town since they live on a farm?
I have been working at a farm for a couple months now and one of the fun things i’ve learned is that there are hundreds of varieties of pumpkins! they are all so different and interesting, i love it!
While I grow some veggies in my garden, I really know nothing about farm life. I would love to get some chickens though. My grandparents live on a ranch with several chickens, and I have always loved the fresh eggs they give us!
wow, this looks like a great and fun read! love the illustrations. i wonder….how much milk can you get out of a cow in one sitting? :)
I’ve always wanted to know about completely organic planting.
Oh this looks so amazing. I am a farmers daughter- I grew up on a dairy farm in the UK. This would be a lovely way to take me back to my roots which sometimes feel very far away now that I live in New Zealand.
I have not heard of this book but it looks interesting.
My hubby spent his formative years on a farm in KY and just tonight we asked him if he liked to eat rabbit (his family raised them along with chickens and pigs). I’ve always wondered about the color of the eggs hens lay, too. Maybe I’ll ask the hubby :)
I’m homeschooling my two older kids this year and this would be a great resource to learn from. Love the illustrations.
What a GORGEOUS GORGEOUS book!!! I’m in LOVE with it.
I always wanted to know if “cow tipping” is something people actually do? Do cows really sleep standing up? What happens when they fall over?
Oh my gosh… I am so clueless about farm life but I really want to learn more and I think this beautiful book would be the perfect teaching tool ;)
Love the illustrations! I’m an aspiring chicken owner and amateur veggie gardener. I would love to learn more about both! Thanks for the giveaway!
I want to have a farm!
Thanks!
Peace and love from Spain.
lulasm4(at)gmail(dot)com
Love this book!
I come from horse farm background; one little fact – horses walk on one toe, the hoof is just a giant nail.
My husband and I have moved from California to western North Carolina. We have started a berry farm and have been providing a farm to table restaurant with raspberries all summer. All I can say is that farming is definitely a labor of love. You have to be passionate about your product and enjoy the work because you are definitely not doing it for the pay check! I think this book could come in quite handy as we continue this farming adventure!
Totally looking into chickens and canning right now. Slowly finding things to incorporate and get away from retail.
This book looks sooo fun! my mom grew up on a farm. Although I know the proper way to skin a squirrel (per her description) there is a lot to learn about farm life. I am a city girl like Julia, but from the preview…. it looks like a pretty amazing book that I would love to get my hands on!
looks like a fabulous book. farm fact: llamas are good livestock guard animals not because they are fierce, but because they are curious and big.
so are donkeys!
Love her illustrations!
I live in the country, in town, one main street. We work with farmers, save our restaurant trimmings for some pigs who now won’t eat their normal food with out their restaurant food. The farmer said that the only thing the pigs won’t eat is the onions!
I too think I need two copies one for me and the other would look darling framed on the walls of our restaurant!
how did i not know about this book! love it and am a huge supporter of local farmers/sustainable agriculture and eating. gorgeous and fun illustrations! this one will definitely be added to my bookshelf!
Beautiful book! I always dream of living on a farm but without having to do the work. I couldn’t even keep my herbs alive this year! :/
I’ve actually grown up in a small Indiana town and we raised livestock to show at our county fair! It made me smile to see the pictures of the Angora rabbits because I raised Mini Lop rabbits for almost 13 years! We also have goats that I love so much. :) Farm life is the best!
Wow. What a beautiful book. I’ll be spending the holidays on my cousins’ farm in Germany and will learn how to milk the cows. Can’t wait to experience the farm life.
I’m so incredibly happy that someone retweeted this link to me, first time stopping by your blog (oh so pretty!) but now I found another artist to admire, these illustrations are gorgeous! *drool*
I’m actually the same as you – wanting to get back to basics, realize where we came from towards food and medicine. Which is why in a year (working up to save money) I’ll be going back to school to get my herbal medicine degree. I’ll be able to heal people through plants and natural ways instead of processed artificial medicine and food.
oohhhhh! this is just what i need! i am hoping to start raising some chickens and keeping some bees in the spring. start with some backyard “farming” and see how it goes! this book would be such a fun and lovely reference!
I grew up on a ranch, but there are still millions of things I could learn about the country! Great book idea!
theparaders@gmail.com
My fiance just bought a 160 acre farm in the middle of nowhere rural Nova Scotia… so I’m about to unravel, first hand, the mysteries and curiosities of farm living. I’m not sure if I’m nervous or excited. A bit of both!
I grew up spending summer holidays on a orchard. We used to have some jersey cows, which we named of course, names like dottie and mildred. When the peaches ripened, we loved to pick them, but never had the patience to do it for more than a basket or two. Plus the peach fuzz would end up on our faces and we would run to the stream to wash it off! You’ve brought back some lovely memories. And wow, what an incredibly detailed book.
This looks like a GREAT book. I would love to thumb through it with my kids. My two boys and I just started a little organic garden in our Chicago back yard. We pulled up some pavement, brought in new soil to mix with our compost and planted tomatoes, basil and cilantro. My 6-year old loves to bring in the veggies from the garden and wash them up. Dream come true!
seems like i have a mini farm in my urban backyard. i grow my own food and built our chicken coop, that snuggly houses our four chickens, all hens thank goodness.
i’ve always fantasized about owning more property to let the dogs run around without the worry of getting run over by passing motorists. having goats to eat the rampant blackberries along the fence would be awesome, and not to mention using their milk to make cheese! or what about having my own organic apple and pear orchard – good-bye pesticide toxins!
but then reality sets in as my little garden becomes overgrown. the weeds, i swear, gang up on me; my sweet pea vines tumble to the grown under their own weight; the chickens eat everything in site, and then the dogs eat their you-know-what. do i dare try to grow grapevines next year to make my own wine? ugh! the trials and tribulations of wanting to be self-sufficient, how does one manage?
this book looks amazing! i’ve always wanted to live on a farm and i think i could feel like i was doing so vicariously through this book. it was always one of my childhood dreams to live on a farm. the closest i ever got was a couple summers when i was young, my parents rented a cottage next to a farm and my little sister and i would often visit next door to feed apples to the horses and pet the goats.
I really love the drawings….really cute. ;)
What a wonderful book!
My dream is to live on a farm! Chickens, cows, sheep…and goats because my husband likes them. A girl can dream!
It isn’t my dream to live on a farm, but I’m pretty sure it is my boyfriends… Ergo, I should probably learn about farming and what better way than a pretty, pretty book?
I grew up with a backyard farm full of roosters, chickens and rottweilers. I really miss the smells and sounds. This book looks enjoyable and very handy in my future. Would adore a copy!
I’ve always wanted to live on a farm and I wonder how fulfilling it must be to be part of such a productive, self-sufficient microcosm.
This book looks like a great way, as a city girl, to learn how to be one can create/cultivate everything they might need on their own land. Thanks for the opportunity!
Those illustrations are gorgeous! I now live in the country near lots of vineyards and farms and orchards and I am really curious about raising honeybees! Would love to win this sweet book!
Kacie
http://www.acollectionofpassions.com/
What a beautiful book! I would love to have all that farmhouse know-how at my fingertips! My husband and I are planning on cycling through Argentina next year and WWOOFing along the way, so this stuff may come in handy!
What a cute book!
I always wonder how it’s possible for cows to smell SO BAD! =P
I want to enter the giveaway! What I’m wondering is, which farm animals are generally the most well-tempered? And which are the most ornery? I need to know so when I got to a farm I know who to pet and who to avoid! :)
I’ve always wondered how much space I’d need to have a goat farm! I really really really want a goat farm. And a corgi to herd the goats. We’d make goat cheese and goat ice cream and have a plot for fresh veggies and maybe an orchard of pears and persimmons for the goats to wander.
Too fun! Thanks for hosting the giveaway!
I would love to be entered into the giveaway. I have some friends who say goats milk tastes just like cows milk. I have others who say it is the most disgusting thing they have ever tasted. I am now afraid to taste it..
This is an awesome book that I would love to own! Thanks for hosting!
What a beautiful book! I grew up on a farm, but just looking at the pictures I’ve learned new things! :-)
I wonder what are the most fun animals to have on a farm, or if it’s easier (even possible?) to have a farm without animals. I am fascinated by the farming lifestyle.
I would like to be entered into the drawing for the book. I am a Sustainability student at ASU and next semester I am going to be taking a Sustainable Farming and Food class. I think this book would provide really great information that I could apply to my class. One of the pictures above is how to can tomatoes. Some of my friends do that and they say it is really hard. I wonder if it is really that hard or if I could do it? Also, I would love to learn what else I could can.
what a great book! i live out here in the san joaquin valley, lots of cows, bees, grapes, orchards, etc! my brother insists when he comes to visit us they can smell the cows from miles away! i wonder? lol! my farm fact, ribier grapes and carignane grapes are sometimes used to give lighter varietals color when we make a wine “blend”.
Ive always wanted to raise chickens, and this book looks like it would deffinitely help!
Tres bien!
I used to live in the farmlands in california and used to play all the time at my friends’ farms. Browsing her book made nostalgic for my childhood. In my mind’s eye I can still see the landscape she’s managed to separate, quietly turning a soft orange during a sunset in the flat, openness.
I want to know how to make those freezer dills in that photo that’s so unfortunately cut off!
Oh, this book is beautiful and wonderfully resource-full. I have a thing for cows, wanting to know which type I see while driving by, why spots develop, what they’re thinking when they look back at you straight in the eye… I have a secret vacation wish to just sit with some cows for a week and draw/paint them over and over again. Great work here!
I have mixed feelings about this because I feel like this is something I should have done. I’ve made several works of art in this same vein. This is a great project and looks beautifully done… and thorough. Well done, here’s to continued success.
Can an old city girl like me learn to raise chickens? My experience with them is limited but I kinda feel like chickens are mean and a little neurotic. But I just read another article that says they make great animals for kids to work with, and they are easy to care for. Well, help me out here–which is it/
And I would love to have this marvelous book–I think I secretly long to be a bit of a farm girl.
I always wonder what I can do if I grow cows, pigs, chickens and ducks but I don’t want to sell them for meat or meat them myself. The problem to balance money and love is too hard. I need money to grow them but I don’t have money if I don’t sell them away. Silly question?
Anyway, I used to take care of around 10 cows giving milk at a time in my life when I was just at high school. My family was original farmers. We grew all kind of tropical veggies and herbs. I just miss the time so much now. At the end of my life when I don’t have to struggle with life and money anymore, I wish to open a small farm for myself though.
Oh me oh my what a fantastic giveaway ;)
I looove it!
I have great memories of farmlife.. When I was young my uncle lived at a farm and I loved visiting. They had loads of cool cows, cute kittens in the farm, chickens that ran all over the place and a huuuuge field of appletrees.. I especially remember once when picking apples, suddenly we were surrounded by cows and my mom got terrified and climbed a tree so high she had trouble getting back down, hihi..
/Johanna
I’d love this book. lately I’ve become obsessed with chickens. It’s in the blood. Both sets of grandparents raised and exhibited chickens. My parents met at a poultry show. s=Strangely we never had chickens growing up. At 37 I’m still nagging my parents to get some. I even have names picked out- Scout, Atticus, Jem and Miss Maudie. Now all I need is a coop…and the chickens, of course!
I work on a vegetable farm. Fun farm fact: just because it’s organic doesn’t mean someone didn’t accidentally sneeze on it. (we try not to, I promise!) so do wash your veggies.
I volunteer for a farmers market in Alexandria, Virginia. This book looks so interesting!
I’ve always wondered about grafting apples—I think I read somewhere that every variety of apple we know now is a grafted creation. A fellow in our community garden told me it was as easy as taping a branch onto a tree, but could it be true that you can create your own custom, lovely, unique fruit that way? Is there such a thing as an apple pear?
Lovely book! I can’t wait to see it!
I have this book on my Amazon wish list, so it would be so cool to win a copy! I wonder how farmers get their cauliflower to grow. I’ve been trying for years to grow some in a raised bed, with no luck. Store-bought cauliflower it is.
These illustrations are beautiful! I wonder how early do farmers have to get up in the morning? I’m not a morning person, so that line of work definitely is not for me!
This looks like a lovely book. My father-in-law who lives behind us in his own little cottage is starting a small urban farm in the back. My husband are helping him by building a small chicken coop to hold the chickens, a fence to hold in a cow or goat(coming soon), and a garden. It has been beautiful to see the three of them bond together as they work. Farming is teaching my son responsibility and a love for the earth that will be with him forever. I can imagine this book would encourage them all to start a new project with the farm.
This looks so cool! I love all of the illustrations. I’ve definitely added it to my wish list!
I have dreams of having a chicken coop and would love to see some creative designs for one!
My mother lived on a farm when she was a girl. She is now living in the ‘burbs with all of her children moved away. She loves to cook and I feel like this would be a great gift for her, tying in her childhood with her love of cooking for her own family.
What a gorgeous and fun book!
This book looks beautiful! I grew up a few towns away from a very agricultural area but never did much more than stop at the Amish-run roadside stands. I just might have to pick this up if I’m not fortunate enough to win.
I have a little 5 acre farm with 14 chickens, 3 sheep, two miniature cows and a big garden. Chickens are very easy to keep! I love the illustrations of the different types of combs chickens have. I love the farm life!
This is such a cute book! It would make a perfect gift for my sister-in-law who wants to live on a farm someday!
what a charming book :) we live out in the country + own a few chickens, but growing up as a city-girl, i’m still learning things! i’d love to sit down + leaf through this with my kiddos.
It would be fantastic to win this gorgeous book! I’m really interested to know how many small farming elements would be practical to implement in my decidedly city-fied life… (Could I get away with cucumbers? Corn? Chickens? I’d love to find out!)
As someone who is about to ‘go rural’ I would be thrilled to have this book! And, really, how many eggs *can* one chicken lay?
I would love to volunteer on a farm at some point in my life. Thanks for the opportunity for the book!
I always wondered how to cope with the hard stuff in farming – the death, failed crops, the little sadnesses, how to detach yourself from it and move on.
Ohlala, how I looooove this book, I know where she comes from, because my husband is a outdoors lover and I am a real city girl. I have always loved the romantic things of countryside, and would love to learn more! Thank you for this wonderful giveaway and for introducing me to Julia’s work!
Not many farms in Chicago but if you go about 30 mins south, THERE THEY ARE! All I know about farms is that corn is “knee-high by the fourth of july” and to NEVER stand on a fire-ant hill. That last one is from experience on my late-Uncle’s alabama Peanut farm – where I also learned to drive at the tender age of 11! I loved that farm.
Ok, ok…let’s just say better late than never but after seeing this I had to say what Absolutely beautiful drawings! I’m a wanna be illustrator and these drawings inspire me to infinity and beyond! I spent my adolescent summers on a pecan farm in the south and cannot leave those wonderful memories behind. My question…how long does it take to plant a pecan seedling to mature and bear its pecan nuts?
I’m still just awed by the beautiful illustrations.
Oh such a needful book!
I grew up on an “Old MacDonald” kind of farm on the Saskatchewan prairie. I know a lot about farming, and have immense respect for these people who work so intensely in tandem with the land, toiling to nourish the world. That said, I’m intrigued by farms of afar… How do other farmers spend their days? This book looks like a beautiful way to learn the answers to all those questions I never knew to ask, to comprehend the little details on one other small corner of the earth. And I like the page about bunnies a lot!
Thanks for this post!
Having two parents that grew up on farms, and spending childhood summers in the country, I have such an appreciation for all things farm! This is what we should be teaching our children… would love to reference this in my teaching of 1st & 2nd graders.
in an effort to touch the roots of community sharing and love, two things our individualistic society can cause us to forget, I have begun learning about organic urban farming and the blessings of taking food (unsynthesized by humans) from the land and sharing it in communal meals. I live in the city, but am fortunate enough to be allowed to own chickens and grow my own food. I live in a home with friends who all have creative stems in art and music. I believe gardening is my own form of creativity. We enjoy movie projection nights where we project films onto the side of the house next to ours. We invite friends, neighborhood kids, and really anyone that wants to come and enjoy a home-cooked meal. It is through events like these, events where we are all joined through food and love, that I feel most alive and unified in spirit and body to the brothers and sisters around me. I’ve been gathering books to aid in my lifestyle and to produce an even more efficient and collective garden for next year. This book looks like it would be a number one go-to-book. Thanks, Drew, 21yrs, Cincinnati.
This book looks awesome! Love the illustrations. I’m an aspiring farm girl….grew up visiting my grandpa’s farm in rural northern New York…
the only farm question I can come up with right now is why the heck don’t I live on one!? I feel that way all fall long, starting when I visit the common ground country fair in unity maine – my (home)(not current) state’s big celebration of rural living and farming put on by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardners association. oh. I cannot get ENOUGH of it.
This book looks so amazing!!
i’m in love! great illustrations. i’m from a small farm town in MN, moved to the “big city” of minneapolis but still have a soft spot for farm life. one of my best friends grew up on a farm, i’d help her with the “easy” chores if i stayed the night. my question: how did the “cow tipping” rumor get started? you can’t tip cows, ha.
beckischwartz (at) gmail (dot) com
This looks fantastic! I’m interested in how to include elements of farm life in my own life–which is very far from a farm! But I would love to be closer to producing all aspects of the food I eat and to understand how the seasons and changes in the land affect my diet and lifestyle. The more processed and disposable consumer items I can eliminate from my recurring purchases the better, as far as I’m concerned.
My friends and I also like to compete with each other (mostly jokingly) about what skills and useful knowledge we would bring to a survivor colony after a zombie (or any kind of) apocalypse. This book looks like a charming and engaging way to improve my hypothetical standing in the imaginary post-apocalyptic community.
My question: What kind of medical equipment and knowledge is required for maintaining a sustainable group of food-producing animals? If an animal becomes ill and dies, is it safe to eat? How can you tell? If there is no qualified vet available which medicines and treatments are safe for common herd animals?
ooh, I would love a copy of this book! We used to take a road trip to Kansas every summer to visit family. I always enjoyed spending time on the farm, and catching lightning bugs :)
I adore Julia’s illustrations and would love to have this book looking up at me from the coffee table. I have so many questions about vegetables – what the best conditions are to grow specific types of veggies, the best way to freeze, can or store them etc. I also often wonder if farmer’s ever let themselves go on vacation – I always imagine that a farm is much too busy to let someone take the reins for a week or two.
Now that is my kind of book!
I’ve always wondered how how they do it all. I hear they wake up before dawn, have breakfast hours later, and work their fingers to the bone. With all the stress of, “Will harvest be adequate this year?” I can’t imagine how farmers live day to day! I’m amazed and I hope this book will give me a peak into what it’s like.
I would love to live on my own farm one day and keep some bees and chickens. I love all the illustrations of the book too!
This book looks AMAZING! One day I hope to raise my own meat…yaks!
This looks astounding! What happens on a farm in the winter?
My family has a small farm and I just love returning to it during the summers, when I’m home from college. Nothing beats fresh veggies, herbs, and eggs! I’ve always wanted to know more about canning/jam making though…
This book looks wonderful and the pictures are too lovely for words!
those illustrations are incredible!
My farm experience: I was housesitting for a friend, who had chickens. a buttload of em. Part of my job was to feed em, water em, and take in the eggs every day. I was nervous, b/c as a citygirl I had never really been that close to a chicken before, or any farm-type animal… but I nonchalantly told her no sweat, psh, I got this.
The night they left, I went out to the coop, steeled my nerves, took a deep breath, and reached under the first chicken… and it was HORRIBLE. Wet and warm and gooey. GOOEY. I thought, “omgomgomg, I have to touch that EVERY DAY for two weeks? I can’t do that again. Nope. No way,” all the while jumping around and frantically wiping my hand on my pants. strong, independent woman my ass. it was disgusting under there, and I wigged out.
Once I got a hold of myself, I went back, lifted up the chicken and saw that her egg had broken, and realized *that’s* what I was feeling: the broken egg. No, like, the chicken innards or special parts. WHEW.
total farming fail.
Perhaps Julia’s book would help me get in touch with my inner farmgirl, b/c goodness knows the great egg debacle of 2004 didn’t do it. thanks! @sarapenrodbaker
I’m curious about veggies on a farm. What do you do with them all? We’re trying to start an urban garden but what happens if we grow more than we can eat right then? This must be harder on a real farm.
This looks like an interesting book. Just right for the soon to be winter reading.
I have always dreamed of living on a farm with loads of farm animals that have been rescued from factory farms. I am a vegan so the animals on my farm would be friends, not food. But I have always wondered what it would be like to wake up every morning and care for the animals and also grow most of my own food. I hope that someday I am able to live out this dream!
jcanilly@msn.com
twitter: @jesscaneal
Growing up in rural east Tennessee, I was surrounded by beautiful farmland and the tradition of farming is richly woven in my heritage. My grandparents and great grandarents all grew up working on farms and were full of widsom and stories of that “curious” life. Looking at the excerpts from this book takes me back to the days of my childhood where I would admire my Mammaw Jessie as she canned tomatoes and told stories of milking cows gone awry and a goat who passionately hated her brother (the goat apparently took every opportunity to chase him and attempt to eat his “trowsers”). I never had the chance to actually experiencing farming firsthand, but I have always wanted the kind of life she had (minus the evil goat). As a wonderfully illustrated connection to the past and an opportunity to explore farming in the future, I’m certainly looking forward to this read!
Growing up in San Francisco my entire life, farming and farm life is totally foreign to me. I always get fascinated with things like just how people utilize all of the varieties of fruits and vegetables they grow. In fact – the idea of making use of everything (including raising animals) blows me away.
Ohmygoodness – *such* amazing illustrations!! :) I love Julia’s work – as for me & farms: there’s a lot of mystery in my mind…we used to visit my Great Aunt & Uncles’ famr when I was little, and everything was a wonder: to feeding the baby cows with bottles to why we thought our hair should be double-braided to match our overalls… :) lol.
I’ve always felt misplaced, like I should live on a farm. I have my rabbit in a run in my front yard, because my backyard doesn’t have a yard:) I love animals, and have 3 cats, a dog, a bunny, and 2 birds. But deep down, my soul would like to live on acres of land, where my window didn’t peek into my neighbor’s home.
shereepo@sbcglobal.net
This looks like a wonderful book! I am very much a city girl but I have always wondered if I could raise sheep in my back yard (they just look so cuddly!).
this book looks amazing! I could adore a copy.
The book looks so charming! I’m from Canada, but my grandma lives on a farm in Japan. It too, with the rice fields in the distance, is quite charming.
I like documenting simple and daily stuff which are forgotten due to lack of exposure creaed and dwarfed by zombie new stuff – Looks like your work does it.
this book looks like a dream! i love gardening, but farming is a whole new game. being the jack of all trades–gardening, milking, tending to animals, harvesting, canning on and on. it’s a beautiful life. i’d love this book.
I would love to have a farm with sheep and goats. Think of all the lovely goat cheese we can make! Some chickens would be nice too. Until then, I’d be happy to have this book and show it to my little one.
I never thought i’d have a book about farms, but gosh, that book looks amazing. I love the illustrations and would certainly learn a lot from it. Great giveaway :)
I used to holiday on a farm as a kid, favourite place ever back then. I loved the horses best but always wondered why the little horse used to squash it’s head between the fence and then get stuck!?! Was cute though. Trying to herd sheep was fun too.
I’m so in love with this book, what a perfect mix between beautiful design and useful information.
i worked at an organic farm all summer and it gave me a renewed appreciation for that profession, for real food, for hard work, and for every detail of the natural world. farmers seems so incredibly self-sufficient and possessing countless skills. i wonder if they are all self-taught. i also wonder how they are able to be so disciplined with the early rising.
Wow this looks gorgeously illustrated. As a girl who lives in a City State, the great outdoors have never been easily accessible to me. This book and it’s illustrations will definitely bring me many hours of delight!
I’m busy, busy, busy these days and I don’t get to visit all of the blogs I want to, but I’m SO glad I stopped by yours and learned about this unique book! I started trying to grow things this summer for the first time and like to learn anything I can!
lovely book!
my favourite facts:
a duck’s quack doesn’t echo, &
goats have rectangular pupils.
annikah25 (at) gmail (dot) com
I just want to know about bees, I love honey. I want a to start a honey hive in my shared back garden. (hopefully none of the other people who live in my building will notice/mind.)
Hello :) I’m from Bulgaria and my country is known for it’s great farm life (in the past, unfortunately). I am wondering, why do you think Bulgarian yoghurt is considered the best in the world? Are our cows better (i doubt it) or is there something that can make a cow produce better tasting/healthier milk?
Thank you and awesome work on the book!! :)
I’ve always wondered if you get to eat like kings and queens on farms because it must be amazing to have fresh ingredients that haven’t gone through processing.
What a beautiful book. My wife and I are starting a homestead. My farm fact is that no matter what the forcasts say, the frost always comes earlier then expected (at least in Canada).
This book is amazing! I am currently in a collective house and we are doing some urban chicken raising. It would be so useful and fun to read!
This book looks so helpful! My boyfriend grew up on a farm and is currently back home using his vacation to help with the harvest. I’ve grown up in the city, so in the last couple of months, I’ve learned more about corn, sugar beets, and tractors than I ever imagined. I’m still completely ignorant though… I’m sure going home with him the first time will be quite the adventure for me! (and a bit intimidating!)
I LOVE this gorgeous book! I don’t know a lot about farming. I have heard that a cow’s milk will taste like what she eats.
thanks for deleting my post….
This book looks amazingly helpful and cute too!
My family have been rearing chickens for years and we have also have bred a few too. I have to say from experience at least what our chickens enjoy most is left over curry. Their eggs seem to taste amazing!
We also started growing our first crops this year with quite a good few results!
What I would like to know is our carrots the shoots kept getting up-rooted by crows and even with a scarecrow they kept coming back. The crop survived thankfully but just to prevent it from happening again it would be good to know any tips!
That looks like an amazing book, really. mention @thechristopherb when/if I win!
This book looks amazing! I would love some tips on keeping a big garden. I’m also always looking for ways to bring farm-goodness to an urban backyard.
Wow, just looking at those illustrations brought back my memories of growing up on a farm. Love it!
What an awesome book!
I’ve always wanted to know more about raising chickens because that’s something I’ve wanted to do. I also want to know a little more about raising sheep because part of my family still does that and how to can.
I love the illustrations and the typography! The book reminds me of DIY Delicious – an adorable cookbook of kitchen staples.
There are loads of things concerning farm life that peak my interest. A big one is Apple Butter. I’ve only ever had store bought – a recipe plus examples of various uses would be very exciting!
I’m also interested in farms that use rotation methods, like Polyface and the Lazyman’s Farm, to make the farm itself more of an ecological system than industrialized factory. This idea is such a super cool one!
I would love to know how to tell the difference between seedling first set of leafs by each family the plant it is in. I have trouble telling each type of squash from each other or tomatoes, etc.
This books looks amazing!
Thanks
This looks perfect.
Growing up, it was my dream to live on a farm. On long car trips with my family when we would pass huge corn fields or rolling green pastures, I would beg my parents to give up their jobs and become farmers. Sadly, I was unable to convince them, but this book would definitely be the next best thing!
This looks like a cool, cool book. I hope it talks about chickens. Seriously, I am very curious about chickens: can they swim? do they get lonely? how old can they get? Thanks for the giveaway. You have a great blog.
Such beautiful illustrations, this book is mad inspiring. My farm related curiosity; I’ve always wondered about how often chickens lay eggs and what may slow or enhance production.
This book looks amazing! shanezgirl@gmail.com
Nice book…
WANT!!!
I’ve always wondered if eggs fresh from the chicken really taste that much better.
Does the smell ever go away?
i just want to peruse that book and all the lovely illustrations. and feel nostalgic for my grandfather’s farm!
Fun Fact: When you drive by farm or a field with the windows down, especially where they have cows or horses, there is often a pungent, bitter smell. It comes from the yellow flowers (weeds) in the field, and it is called bitterweed.
This book looks absolutely lovely!
Fun fact: Chickens will eat scrambled eggs. Their own eggs, scrambled. Poor little hens don’t even know what they’re doing….
Which leads to an interesting thought: chicken eggs taste like whatever the chicken has eaten (green onions, corn, etc). If a chicken only ate eggs, would it produce the most authentic tasting eggs?
That book looks awesome. :)
I’ve been wondering about all the inedible plant parts that are left over after the harvest. Where do they go?! All those tomato vines and corn stalks will decompose eventually, but certainly not immediately.
This book looks like the most lovely thing ever.
Step 1: Win book
Step 2: Acquire farm
Step 3: Eternal happiness
Julia Rothman’s illustrative style is so beautiful! What a fantastic giveaway. Something I’ve been wondering about (veggie) farm life: what to do with those large shady areas? I live in the city, and while I’ve always loved growing my own produce, I recently moved to a wonderful apartment with a yard that is most often shaded from the sun. I know certain types of mushrooms do well here, but I’m racking my (and my friends’) brains for practical shady farming and growing tips!
Looks like a gorgeously illustrated book. We’ve only just started a vege patch ourselves a few weeks ago and ate the fruits of our hands (literally) for the first time last night – a cos lettuce!
What an awesome book! My Granddaughter loves to grow things and she and her parents are just learning about gardening. This would be so cool to share with her.
I would love to know what the minimum you need to be able to live off the land.
This book looks great! Farm fact: my great-grandparents immigrated to this country to live The American Dream. Both of them turned to farming after working in cities such as Chicago and New York for ten years and never stopped. Their children (my grandparents) returned to the city life in Chicago and opened a grocery store. I am currently studying sustainable agriculture and am the first person in my family to turn back towards agriculture (I suppose the farming gene skips a few generations).