Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life [Hardcover]

Brian Brett (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1553654749 | ISBN-13: 978-1553654742 | Publication Date: September 29, 2009

Brian Brett’s farm on Salt Spring Island is affectionately known as Trauma Farm. There, he raises chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, and goats, tends an extensive orchard and vegetable garden, concocts fabulous meals from the bounties of the farm, and has various misadventures. This funny and thought-provoking memoir traces one day on Trauma Farm. In it, Brett explores the natural history of the small mixed farm, meditates on the perfection of the egg, offers critiques of factory farms and the slaughtering industry, muses on the uses and misuses of gates, and ponders the constant presence of death as he goes about the activities of farming — birthing lambs, contending with rats, helping an aged horse to his death. Underlain with deep knowledge of biology and botany, this erudite, witty, and passionate book is an unforgettable portrait of the issues all farms face in this age of industrialization and homogenization.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Both a celebration and excoriation of farm life, the latest from author Brett (Uproar's Your Only Music) examines his family homestead on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, and the state of contemporary farming. With intimate knowledge, Brett speaks to the challenges faced by many independent farmers as well as the fleeting joys: "Rural living is an eccentric pursuit, in the same way that beauty is an eccentric pursuit." Raising fruits and vegetables, a small group of cows, chickens and pigs, Brett airs some strong criticism of modern agriculture-such as cattle slaughterhouses "that resemble medieval torture chambers"-tempered by lighthearted passages on topics like farm-fresh eggs: "I can tell what a chicken has been eating and how it's been raised when I break an egg on the frying pan." His account is also spiked with a grim sense of humor: "How do you make a small fortune at farming? Start with a large fortune." Brett's wit and giddy ambivalence makes this account a stretch more provocative than similar rural memoirs, and an altogether compelling read,
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Review

“A wonderful meditation on farm life and by extension life itself ...told intelligently and often humorously, by a writer with a welcome fresh sharp eye.”
—Peter Matthiessen, author of Shadow Country and the Snow Leopard

"a superb, wise, witty, and vivid weave of barnyard tales with deep insights into the fraught symbiosis of animals, plants, and man”
—Ronald Wright, author of A Short History of Progress

"a touching and tender memoir, at once humorous and profound, filled with wonderful insights about life as a poet and accidental farmer"
—Wade Davis, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and author of One River and The Serpent and the Rainbow

"[Brett] comes with the gumboot poet’s fearless tongue to speak truth to those who would reduce the life-and-death work of farming into a pastoral idyll. ...If it’s hope you’re looking for, you’ll find it in the fortifying madness of Trauma Farm"
—James MacKinnon, author of Plenty (aka The 100-Mile Diet)

"…It is a striking, stunning book, easily one of the best of the year."—National Post

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Greystone Books (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1553654749
• ISBN-13: 978-1553654742
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If John McPhee and Wendell Berry, March 25, 2010

By 

S. Mckenzie "Word Nerd" (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life (Hardcover)

had ever collaborated on a book, it might have been Brian Brett's Trauma Farm. On an idyllic, rural (but rapidly gentrifying) island off the west coast of Canada, Brett, a poet and potter, and his wife Sharon, a nurse, negotiate a precarious living out of a 10-acre farm. While the economics of such small-scale farming are Quixotic, the lessons Brett draws from the land in all its moods and seasons are, by turns, practical, prophetic, and poetic. This is a beautifully written, honest, and, I think, very wise meditation on the realities of how we feed ourselves, how we nurture (or don't nurture) the land that in turn nurtures us, and our relationships with the animals and humans with whom we live and work. If you've ever entertained fantasies of "going back to the land", or even just baked your own bread for the sheer satisfaction of feeding yourself through your own efforts, this book will speak to you. Erudite, witty, poetic, hard-nosed, Brett doesn't sugar coat the hard realities of farming, nor does he exaggerate the difficulties. This is a life, and a style of life, he has chosen, and which he celebrates, even as he laments the wide scale loss of such small, intricate farms, and the prevailing decline in biodiversity that is the legacy of industrial agriculture.

If you've read Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, or have been intrigued by the 100 Mile Diet, or haunt your local farmer's market in search of tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, or care about the conditions in which your daily meat lives and dies, then reading Trauma Farm is a logical next step in your evolution towards being a conscious and optimistic foodie.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A peak into life on a small family farm., September 16, 2010

By 

David Griffiths "David G." (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life (Hardcover)

Mix a little of James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small), Garrison Keillor (Lake Wobegon Days), Michael Pollan (The Omnivores Dilemma), and David Sedaris, and you have Trauma Farm.

It's a passionate argument on the defense of the small, mixed family farm in the face of smothering regulations. The absurdity of life on a farm is presented in short stories that are at times so amusing that I caught myself laughing out loud in on the train during my morning commute; I can't recall a book ever getting me to laugh during that grim stretch of time between breakfast and work.

As one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read, it well deserves a space on your bookshelf. It's a shame it's not gotten the recognition it deserves.

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Saltspring, January 14, 2012

By 

Not a big reader (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life (Hardcover)

For anyone that has spent time on this idyllic island, whether as a day tripper, a seasonal visitor, or a permanent resident, this is a must read. It truly captures the spirit of this magical island.