I think I'm being a bit generous with my stars. I have read quite a few books about people who have left their city lives behind and moved to farms. Some of them are quite good and inspirational: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, for example, is phenomenal. This one, in contrast is vain, whiny, and more about her relationships (and lack thereof ad nauseum) than it is about farming. And that was very disappointing.

I am a fan of farm memoirs, and this was an engaging one. It does not gloss over either the hardship or the satisfaction of farming life. Bilow is especially interesting because on the farm she worked in many different capacities, working in diverse areas, so we get to read about a range of responsibilities. The weakness in some ways, but also the strength of making it more readable to many, is that much of this account is devoted to Bilow's problematic romance with one of the established farmers. However, the recipes and the writing about cooking from scratch were fascinating to me.