Good book that took me a few chapters to get into. However I overall enjoyed the book as a whole. It was slow in the front but picked up over the course of the chapters.

I love everything about this book-the story, the pictures, the encouragement, it is a true treasure. The author shares so much of herself and her family's story with the reader and gives a true inside look at what a challenge it is to grow anything and especially enough to share. She weaves a beautiful tapestry of a story about her family, faith, and farm and while it makes you wistful to visit this amazing place, it also gave me a reality check that I am not meant to be a farmer. It sounds like a lot of hard work!

The pictures chosen for this book are perfect, they are bright, vibrant, colorful snapshots into the everyday beauty that the Kindred Farm offers.

Every chapter is laid out in an inspiring, easy to read and follow personal story of her life and how she got to where she is today. She writes in a beautiful but simple way that makes it so easy to read. The challenges she has faced and the way she talks about failure I found so refreshing. This is about more than a farm, it is about the author finding her true self and true happiness. I think anyone who picks up this book could find something to hold on to or learn from it. She also includes a few recipes which all sound delicious and simple enough to actually make them. I definitely recommend this book!

Beautiful and full of dreamy photos and memories of her time home, this is a great book to remind you to never lose your true roots and keep your heart soft, and mind open to dream! This book reminds you that the simple things in life are what really matter. It's not always about money and trends! Just enjoy what nature provides, take time to relax and dream!

Love the idea and meaning behind this book! I can’t wait to pick up a physical copy so that I can really savor it. The message is exactly what so many are longing for in todays society.

This is a quick read, and (to me) much more of a memoir/the author's story than a recipe collection or how-to for cultivating organic connection. One recipe in, perhaps, every other chapter--which do look tasty! But, the description and contents didn't entirely jive (at least until about 2/3 through the book).

I did enjoy reading the story, very much, I just got out of it something different than expected. :)

As a fellow American Christian, I could relate to a lot of what she experienced--both stateside and going on mission trips (which often end up impacting us as much as those on the other side). I was encouraged to rethink how I've been spending money and time, and look for ways to invest in lasting treasures rather than temporal.

And, I had to laugh at Bailey's descriptions of her tastes/menus changing! I've experienced much the same in the last couple years; thanks to covid, my gym closed and I started using a fitness app that came with meal planning/recipes. Even now, two years later, I still ask in amazement, "Who even am I anymore?" as I down another sweet-potato fry (among others). :)

The two sections that particularly stood out to me were:
- Slowing down to the speed of listening (because #introvert :D)
- The table being for everyone (and how it gives us a foretaste of the great banquet pictured in Revelation).

3/5 stars.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The Kindred Life by Christine Marie Bailey is a sweet book but as someone who farms, I felt the book lacked in a few areas. The photos were sparse and mediocre and it isn't a cookbook but more a memoir of Christine's life of how she met her husband and what she was like when she met him and the personal growth she has gone through.

I am sure others will find the book more interesting but for me personally, it was mostly a memoir. with a few recipes sprinkled throughout. I appreciated Christine's love of Farm to Table and creating the "Dinners".

As a farmer who has been farming for a long time when someone who has done it a short time and mostly gained visibility through social media and then hasn't put in the years as many others have then writes an advice book it doesn't swallow down easily.

More unique farm stuff and less advice.

This is a beautiful book about a young couple who establish a farm in middle Tennessee. The photographs are beautiful, and the story is beautiful. If you're looking for a feel-good book, this is your book.

My only criticism was that the story and the book is a bit too pretty. Having lived on a farm in Tennessee for 25 years, I found the book a bit Pollyanna-ish. Farm life has its difficulties, and nature can be vicious. The social life can be very, very isolating.

But enough of that. This is a pretty book, and if you want to vicariously live this kind of fantasy, have at it!

A really interesting and inspiring read. I hadn't appreciated it had such a Christian focus, which is my fault, no fault of the author. And even as a non-Christian there were a lot of take-aways in this book about building a connected life, rich with meaning, through welcoming people and sharing food.

I'd probably only recommend this for a Christian friend, as it discusses faith quite a lot.

This book isn't for me. It's a nice self-help/self-reflection/cookbook/christian/autobiography book, but not up my alley or preferred genre. Each of the chapters is based around the theme but each personal story that is meant to teach something about the chapter feels like a very long instragram story where the last sentence brings it back to base.

I loved this book and feel like I will be gifting it to all my friends next holiday season. I have been wanting to find greater connection with food and the natural world and this book feels like a gentle and warm call to do so.

Not what I was expecting and didn't really enjoy it. It seemed almost like a sermon, a lecture and not stories of food, organics and a culture life as I expected.

Can't really say more as I skimmed through it as found it rather boring.

I was so excited to review this book - and expecting to love it, as it is described as "Stories and Recipes to Cultivate a Life of Organic Connection." I couldn't have been more disappointed, as this book is extreme Christian proselytizing cloaked as a book about food, farming, life lessons, and community. It is also very thin on actual food-related content.

I received a digital pre-publication copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book, as it is about two things that I like — Christianity and organic farming. However, it was actually hard to see the point of the book with the rambling stories that jumped from here to there. Now there was the sweet story of how the author met her husband and some recipes and photos mixed in it too. I felt like the recipes were barely recipes at all (how to make a latte or a charcuterie board). All in all, I am still not sure what was the point of the book and it just wasn’t that great of a read.

An authentic and sweet book. The Kindred Life tells the story of a Christian girl who meets a boy and builds a beautiful family and a life on a sprawling organic farm. The book is mostly written as a memoir, sprinkled with photos, recipes and gardening tips. Each chapter opens with a key word, a bulleted list of self-reflection questions and an inspirational quote, lending itself to be a journal of sorts for how to build and nurture your very best life, while living in the here and now.

Bailey comes across as a lovely and kind person, but the writing falls flat, staying on the surface and never going deeper than "here is how I became a farmer." It's a nice story with lovely photographs, but the "take-aways" at the end of each chapter seem phoned-in, the recipes are basic (how to make a charcuterie board), and it didn't hold my attention.

The Kindred Life was an unexpected delight. Mostly a memoir filled with inspiring journal-type prompts, family photos, and even some recipes based on moments in her life or from her farm- my favorite part. Bailey describes the ups and downs that brought her family to the successful, happy part of the journey where they are now. She describes these moments gracefully, from a grateful and hopeful point of view, inspiring readers along the way.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is part memoir, part recipe book.

Each chapter of the book talks about what the chapter is about and lists some questions or thoughts. Christine then shares her experiences from meeting her husband to raising her kids and figuring her life out. There's a lot of focus on Christianity in the book and the authors life, which I didn't expect. There is also an immense amount of privilege even in the topics posed, including assuming that readers have a yard to practice some of her advice.

There are a few recipes and they're pretty straightforward. They're for things like bread, jam, and coffee. Christine talks about the significance of each recipe in her life and ties it to the chapter.