The Blueberry Years Jim Minick

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On the book website, there's a sample of the writing (which captures it well, I think). local copy

This is a beautiful book, well-written (poetically written might be a better description).
It was easy to read, a pleasure to read, and a wonderful warning to those of us who are thinking about going off and creating our own farm…. which is no doubt why Scott Goebel recommended it to me!

One thing that interests me is Jim and Sarah's reason for not having children: they, like I, think that the world's too full of people. So they had none (I have responsibility for one….). See chapter chapter 52, p. 230.

Turning problems into solution: chapter 53: The jazz of the perfect weed. They discover that the red sorrel, a weed that they've been whacking, is actually helping the plants by hosting the ladybugs. The problem was actually a solution, which their production data showed.

Jim is also focused on the reality that his farm is not really sustainable — he should be planting cover crops for his fertilizer — and says flat out that, though the pines are making lots of great needles for mulch, he can't possibly afford to spend the time gathering that (versus buying wood chips).

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