I didn't actually finish this book, and the primary reason is I think that the blurb is somewhat misleading. I DNFd at 40%.

The good thing is the book isn't bad. The writing is solid, it's very easy to digest, and while it's not super evocative, it's still has personality. The chapters are an okay length, they tend to stick to the topic at hand, although they feel a bit all over timeline wise, but that makes sense being more topic oriented. I also love that for an LGBTQIA+ person in the church, this book is going to mean a lot to that person, and I love that for them.

For me, the problem is while I am all for people having their religion, I don't want to be part of it unless I chose to. For this book, I didn't. It has exactly one line in the blurb that makes it seem like it may be religious in nature, so I assumed it would be a subplot at best. I was very wrong. It's VERY religious, and I found it extremely difficult to be engaged because of it. I came for farm/garden reading and that's there, but it's a catalyst for the religious talk. I can't finish it.

I hope someone who needs this finds it, again it's not BAD, just not at all what I felt it was advertised as.

“But in the garden, I saw on a daily basis how the death of one thing was inevitably linked to the coming to life of another. The fading flower bears seeds, the withering grass nourishes the ground, the rot of the compost pile feeds good soil.”

I am always on the lookout for honest and heartfelt memoirs. Personal stories that help deepen my connection to the ground beneath me and the grace all around me.

GOOD SOIL is filled with honest and humble reflections from @byjeffchu’s life — his connection to family and food, his experiences working on the farm (“Farminary”) at Princeton Theological Seminary, his commitment to nurturing friendship, and his yearning for love and belonging.

This beautiful book is perfect for the Lenten season as we reflect on our own lives — What needs tending? What needs surrendering?

“What if I decided to embody the theology of the compost, trusting death would never win and all things would be made new, with the help of forces I couldn’t even see? What if what seemed like an end was actually a necessary new beginning? What if you just let go?”

Jeff’s publishing team is graciously offering 3 copies of GOOD SOIL to my podcast community.

To enter the giveaway:
🌷 Follow me, @byjeffchu, and @convergent_books
🌷Tag someone you would love to spend time in the garden with
🌷Share this post in stories for an additional entry

Open to U.S. Residents only. Recipients will be selected at 12pm EST tomorrow, 3/26.

Jeff Chu has used his time working a farm at seminary to frame a beautiful memoir - Good Soil. In doing so he reminds us of our connections with nature and of the seasonal nature of our lives.
Chu masterfully uses his experiences to explore a variety of topics - important to him - and to us all. He explores his heritage, childhood, body image, faith, sexuality, relationships and so much more. His ability to relate all of these topics to his explorations in nature illustrates our similarities to plants and animals (I loved the goats!) and the cyclical nature of the world. I value his transparency too - he shares some very profound feelings. His struggles, his wounds while painfully his, simultaneously feel universal. I felt his pain and admired his growth. I appreciate his vulnerability. And somehow, his journalistic skills are also evident. He weaves in background and research and creates these connections that while seemingly impossible are perfect.
I grew up in and around my grandfather’s greenhouse and garden. I mostly didn’t appreciate the blessings that the time allowed. I love how Chu’s memoir evoked these memories. I’m inspired to perhaps dig a bit more deeply into my roots. (See what I did there?) I wish I knew as much about my heritage as he did. I would also like to have the capacity to look at scripture through different lenses as does Chu. He challenges me to study more so that perhaps my faith can ultimately be stronger. Jeff Chu offers hope in Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand. And he inspires me to reflect more carefully and to always challenge myself.

I enjoyed this authentic, striking book. I really enjoyed the analogy to the growth and planting cycle.

I have been on a bit of a memoir “kick” lately (must be mood in These Times), and was eager to dive into an ARC edition of Jeff Chu’s entry to the genre, Good Soil: The Education of An Accidental Farmhand, set to be published in late March 2025.

What a lovely memoir! As a long-time gardener and lover of soil, the title appealed to me immediately. I will admit to having some trepidation about the book when I discovered the seminary setting, but, really, I needn't have worried. Jeff’s theological journey was fascinating, and a perfect framework for his farming lessons and adventures.

Jeff Chu’s writing is beautiful. His reflections are deeply personal, compelling, and universally appealing. I found Good Soil to be comforting and hopeful – and just the book I needed to be reading at this moment. I appreciate Jeff’s vulnerability in sharing his journey.

Additionally, the cover is beautiful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Convergent Books for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on March 25, 2025.

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

Huge thank you to @netgalley and @byjeffchu for the ARC of Good Soil, which comes out March 25th.

I’ve never read a memoir (of sorts) like this one. Jeff brings us on his journey of growing up, working on a farm, and learning from the crops, the land, the animals, and our faith. While the books does spend a lot of time drawing comparisons between the land and spirituality, I believe even non-spiritual/non-religious people will enjoy this story.

Each chapter is broken into a different aspect of farming. It helps you not only understand how the farm grown, but how Jeff also grows along with and through it.

Good Soil
The Education of an Accidental Farmhand
By Jeff Chu
Genre: Science & Technology, Philosophy, Biography & Memoir
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Pub date: Mar 25, 2025
Publisher: Convergent Books
ISBN: 9780593727362

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for an e-copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

Good Soil is a spiritual memoir covering Chu’s time at the Farminary, a working farm and part of Princeton Theological Seminary. It’s also about growing up Chinese American in a conservative Baptist family, theology, food, and hospitality. Chu also writes with gentle sense of humor.
Good Soil is also a book of discovery. Discovering what it means to be an urban farmer when history has proven you have a black thumb. The different challenges of a non-traditional student, especially when your course of study isn’t what you expected. Discovering how to navigate family relationships when what you chose goes against your family’s deepest held beliefs. Of learning what it means to live in community.
I enjoyed reading Good Soil. The book is divided by seasons, covering the two years at the Farminary. Within those seasons are essays on topics that cover a lot of ground. This book resonated with me in many ways, as well as taught me new things. But what it really made me do was think about theology, belief, and how those intersect in my own life.
4/5 stars.

I loved Good Soil.. Jeff Chu is an amazing writer. I love how book was split up into seasons, taking the reader through all of the changes on the farm. While reading this book I cried, I learned a lot, and gained new perspectives. I believe there is something special for everyone in this book.

A beautifully told story of life, family, faith, heritage, and grief. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Jeff’s Chu’s first full-length publishing venture is a wise and beautiful book that treats tragedy with gentleness and finds joy in the everyday details of life. GOOD SOIL mixes memoir, theological musings, food culture, and sustainable agriculture to create a highly engaging read. Citing writers as wide-ranging as Kate Bowler and Julian of Norwich, the book also offers a lovely tribute to Jeff Chu's friendship with Rachel Held Evans. It’s been a long time since I’ve talked about a book so much with friends, sharing GOOD SOIL anecdotes and information about raising chickens, wrestling with loneliness, improving compost, and repairing broken friendships.

I received this book as an Advance Readers Copy and am ordering a hardcover for re-reading and savoring.

Jeff Chu has left me with so many thoughts and feelings. This memoir touches all of the emotional buttons for me.......love, Christianity, faith, understanding our food, family, searching for understanding of self, love of animals.........I could go on and on. I mean this in a good way - a way that leaves me thinking, questioning, and looking for more information on various things mentioned in the text.

The memoir is focused mainly on Chu's decision to attend seminary at, what he considers, to be a late stage in his life, and on his time at the "Farminary" (what started as an early class choice of his at seminary). Chu's explorations and discoveries during this time are mainly attributable to his time spent at the farm. Chu's writing and reflections focusing on our connection to Mother Earth and what she provides reminds me very much of Robin Wall Kimmerer's writings, with a bit of a theological spin.

I appreciate Chu's consistent recognition of the indigenous people of the area, and I especially enjoyed his discussion of Prince Max.

Thank you so much to Convergent Books publishing for providing me with an advanced reader copy on NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Good Soil by Jeff Chu--this memoir releases on 3/25. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance digital copy. I liked this one a lot. It is a collection of interconnected essays revolving around Chu's time at Princeton Theological Seminary's Farminary. The farm is run by seminary students and serves as an additional way of learning about God and their creation. Chu writes about his Chinese heritage, food, faith, his difficult relationship with his parents due to their rejection of his being gay & married, friendship, and more. The book is thoughtful and vulnerable. This book will probably make you feel things and that's a good thing.

Jeff Chu wove story and theology in a way unlike what I have read before. I looked forward to waking to these pages and letting them accompany me to sleep. His time on the Faminary, wrestling with his faith, and speaking candidly about his experiences allowed me to reflect on my own faith. I am grateful for the opportunity to read this book, and believe I am better because of it.

This book was STUNNING.

From his detailed history growing up, coming out, to his call to seminary, to all the glorious talk of food, I devoured every sentence.

The through allegory of the compost heap (and many other garden metaphors) you really came to understand the inseparable unHoly Trinity that is Life, Death, & Decay.

While it broke my heart, I loved how he wrestled with parental relationships. Stuck between people who reject his husband and those unsettled with his continued contact.

Love is hard. And beautiful. And messy. And holy.

If you haven’t read his other works, including Does Jesus Really Love Me? And Wholehearted Faith (with friend Rachel, mentioned in Good Soil), go. Now. Immediately. Bring tissue.

As for me and my house? We will make jerk chicken fried rice.

eff Chu’s Good Soil is a beautifully written and deeply reflective work that blends storytelling, theology, and personal experience to explore the meaning of faith, doubt, and spiritual growth. Drawing from biblical parables, particularly the parable of the sower, Chu invites readers on a journey that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is Chu’s ability to weave together narratives from diverse voices—farmers, theologians, and everyday believers—creating a rich tapestry of perspectives. His background as a journalist is evident in his compelling storytelling, while his personal vulnerability adds emotional depth. Chu does not shy away from wrestling with difficult questions, including the role of suffering, the challenges of institutional religion, and the ways faith can both wound and heal.

What makes Good Soil stand out is its organic approach to spiritual growth. Rather than offering rigid answers, Chu encourages readers to embrace uncertainty and cultivate faith with patience, much like tending to a garden. His writing is tender yet thought-provoking, challenging yet full of grace.

Very much enjoyed this lates offering by Jeff Chu, Good Soil. The perfect collection of reflections for life in 2025. I appreciated the exploration of the connections between our lives and the land and nature. I received this as an Advanced Reader copy via NetGalley. I look forward to purchasing a physical copy, so I can highlight passages.

Jeff opens this book up by explaining that storytelling in other cultures is less linear and interconnected than Westerners like to imagine. What follows is a memoir of his experience at Princeton Theological Seminary, particularly with The Farminary Project where theology and farming meet. The book includes loosely connected essays about the author’s lessons learned about himself, the earth, God, and culture. I appreciated his exploration of his Chinese-American upbringing, his wrestling with maintaining relationships with his conservative parents after coming out, his experiences of faith, and his journey leading up to and throughout his time as a seminarian. Themes of community, friendship through difference, and actual farming abound. This isn’t my typical choice of a memoir or spiritual nonfiction, but I was pleasantly surprised by the combination and walked away enriched.

I was interested in this book because I saw Jeff Chu speak about compost at the Why Christian conference in 2018 and I was assuming that would be part of the book (and indeed it was)! I had also heard or read the story about his mother cooking for him and some snippets of other things from having followed him on social media over the years. Chu shares a deeply personal story about family, heritage, and grief with strong connections to faith and farming. Fans of Rachel Held Evans will also enjoy seeing her in the pages.

This book was a pretty good nature focused memoir. It is unique because of the author's experience at a farm that also delved into the metaphysical. While most books under the nature memoir sub-genre use observations in nature to reach conclusions of a metaphysical nature, this one records a method by which others may follow in an intentional way.

Chu's writing is vulnerable and generous, a memoir that is both spiritual and educational. It was special to have been at one of the conferences he describes in the book and know that my "hopes and fears" have now added to the good soil of the Farminary. I have spent years in the Princeton area for grad school and work, so most places mentioned are known to me and make the book come even more alive for me. In a world where so much of "spiritual writing" is wishy-washy/self-improvement/too heady/too heavy, Chu hits a beautiful balance of sharing in a way that is both personal and educational, challenging and comforting. To end on a personal note, as an immigrant and the child of immigrants, this is one of the best descriptions of an experience that is so hard to put into words, yet was done masterfully by Chu. Thank you for this book.