The Wisdom of the Radish: And Other Lessons Learned on a Small Farm [Hardcover]

Lynda Browning (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 2011

Early in The Wisdom of the Radish, Lynda Hopkins admits that she's not a farmer. She's not even a farmer's wife. She's an aspiring farmer's suburban girlfriend. With this tentative start, she and her boyfriend, Emmett, become the country's newest sodbusters. Their goal is to earn a living wage by growing crops, raising chickens, and selling the fruits of their labor at the local farmers' market. The pair pronounces their two acres in Healdsburg, California, Foggy River Farm. 

What at first sounds pastoral and idyllic quickly devolves into disaster: crop failures, worm-riddled corn, flood, and an episode involving a fox that's right out of Aesop's Fables. But with perseverance, Mother Nature's strong inclination for plants to grow, and sage counsel from Internet message boards, a working farm rises from humble soil. 

Hopkins is a winning storyteller, and her agricultural account of seedlings, harvests, chickens, and goats is engaging and gripping. She ruminates on the value of radishes, considering their economic and sentimental profit and loss. She makes the classic greenhorn error of becoming emotionally involved with her chickens, and comes to the shocking realization that her roosters are serial rapists! 

The transformation that the author undergoes is not so much related to the long hours and the total removal of the word "vacation" from her vocabulary. No, it really comes down to cultivating a sense of belonging to the farm--enough that the farm becomes home and not just a location with an endless set of chores. Sometimes all it takes is a little heart to become more than an aspiring farmer's girlfriend.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I highly recommend people read The Wisdom of the Radish for a glimpse into the life of a young farmer." --Dissertation to Dirt blog

"...likable memoir explains why greenhorn agriculture is not for wimps."  --Stanford Magazine

"Hopkins combines sunny optimism, earthy language and a winningly confessional style in her discussions of planting techniques, crop failures, animal husbandry, and farmer's market economics."  --Barbara Lloyd McMichael, The Bookmonger

"...a sweet, sometimes humorous and sometimes bittersweet tale of a young woman learning the joys and heartaches of growing food for others. A great book." --Jim Ewing, Clarion Ledger

"...a good choice for devotees of farming books as well as for lovers of good narrative nonfiction or memoir." --LibraryJournal.com

"The new food economy we so desperately need is being built on the strong backs of young people like Lynda Hopkins. This book is funny, real, and deeply deeply hopeful!" —Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth "We owe two debts of gratitude to Lynda Hopkins

From the Back Cover

"The new food economy we so desperately need is being built on the strong backs of young people like Lynda Hopkins. This book is funny, real, and deeply, deeply hopeful!"
--Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth and The End of Nature


"No matter your place in the food chain, you will glean hope, know-how, and inspiration from this compelling diary of a hard-working, trail-blazing farmer."
--Brian Halweil, author of Eat Here


"Lynda Hopkins offers us a dirt-under-the-fingernails exploration into her first year of market farming, and a road map for learning how to grow roots in an uprooted culture. She helps to answer an essential question: how to grow food that nourishes the soil and the soul and honors the place and the people who bring it to the table."
--Daniel Imhoff, author of Food Fight


"We owe two debts of gratitude to Lynda Hopkins. The first for being crazy enough, and in love enough, to embrace the life of small farming. The second, for writing The Wisdom of the Radish, the engaging, insightful, and informative story of how she did it, what it takes both physically and spiritually to be a farmer, and what it means to grow food and sell food today."
--Michael Ruhlman, author of Ratio and The Making of a Chef

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books (March 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570616426
• ISBN-13: 978-1570616426
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #564,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynda Hopkins was born and raised in suburban San Diego, then moved north to study Earth Systems and Creative Writing at Stanford University, where she graduate with a BS, a BA, and an MS in Environmental Science Communications. After graduating, she traveled around New Zealand in a campervan with her boyfriend, working on homesteads, market farms, and a dairy. Late one night, the delusional duo decided to start a farm of their own.

Lynda now lives on her Foggy River Farm in Healdsburg, California, where she performs the duties of a henpecked vegetable farmer, milkmaid, shepherd, and goat midwife--which is to say, she's not sleeping much but is sleeping very soundly indeed.

Although she published her first written work in third grade, Lynda has written for local and regional newspapers and magazines since college. She now writes for the Healdsburg Tribune and Windsor Times. The Wisdom of the Radish is her first book.

You can visit Lynda's blog at www.wisdomoftheradish.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing Read May 17, 2011

By Jill Bible

Format:Hardcover

From the beginning to the very end, this book is completely engrossing. The reader feels a part of the adventure - following this couple through both the excitement and hardship of starting a small farm. It is a wonderful, well-written combination of storytelling, information-giving, and opinion. A quick read that will make you think about where/how you get your food.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons from the land May 1, 2011

By W. NICHOLS

Format:Hardcover

Linda Hopkins offers a charming and highly readable insight into the trials, tribulations and joys of making a go at farming. This is the story of a young couple's struggle to establish themselves and make a living at growing and selling produce and eggs at the local farmer's markets in Sonoma County in Northern California. Ms.Hopkins describes their early crop and animal disasters and their war with invading insects. Through persistence, commitment and good humor the couple survive their first year of farming. This is an excellent insight for us, who shop the farmer's markets,into what it takes to bring spectacular fresh foods to our tables.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Radish Wisdom March 28, 2011

By Laura Metzger

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

A great book -- it's about a young, highly educated who couple started a small farm, selling organic vegetables. But it's really a look at life, full of humor amid frustration, learning and growing. Anyone who has ever thought about a "life on the farm" has to read it...but even if you are city bound, the book offers a lot of insight and tells a very good story. A great debut for a talented author...anxious to see more.