A gorgeously observed chronicle about getting out of the city and living life on the land, in the tradition of Anne Dillard's "Pilgrim at Tinker Cr...
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Jan 17, 2011
Dina
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I know when I really love a book, I tell everyone that they need to read it. I also know that it rarely happens, and that it's even less likely to happen when the book in question is on goat farming. But Goat Song is about so much more than just goat farming. Sure, Kessler walks you through his process of buying, raising and milking goats, but don't expect this to be some utopian 'back to our roots' foodie lit. This is the real deal, right from the goat vulva to the spinal parasites that threate
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Mar 16, 2009
Cameron
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If the joy of escaping with a book is one of life's pleasures, then the rapture at being utterly engaged by a book is inestimable. Enraptured was I today with Kessler's Goat Song. From his invitation to follow where his goats lead, to his introspective and spiritual conclusion in which he reads an anagogic parable within cheesemaking, his affinage of milk and spirit, Kessler crafts his sentences, story, and references with the grace and reverence he displays in his relation of raising, herding
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Sep 06, 2011
Skostal
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This is a sweet book in the genre of "over-educated urbanites, usually writers, who move to Europe or to the country, preferably Vermont, to escape mid-life responsibilities and find their souls via artisanal foods." Snarkiness aside, I liked this book, especially Kessler's admirable musings on the life and spirituality of a shepherd. It is a great lesson on the food chain and circle of life. When he describes recalling the heat of the summer when he feeds his goats, in the midst of w
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Jun 10, 2011
Lee
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My best friend and I have a dream of living out our retirement on a mountain with goats; this will at least help me support my addiction to goat cheese. Thus, I was very interested to read this book by Brad Kessler, who has taken the earnings from a somewhat successful writing career and bought a goat farm in northern Vermont. When he and his wife were crooning over a lump of fresh, creamy chevre covered in chopped fresh chives, I knew I had the narrator as a kindred spirit. I was not disappoint
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Dec 15, 2010
Lorileinart
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A few weeks back, we were considering the purchase of an old farmhouse in New Hampshire. The rolling hills, the historic barn (complete with working grain elevator), the swaying grasses of the meadow...all these things led to the idea of raising a few goats to provide me with artisinal chevre (the fantasy also including a journey to the French countryside, where I worked as an apprentice to learn the trade from the masters). This book sat on my nightstand long after the fantasy had ended, and on
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Feb 25, 2010
Kristine
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I picked up this book about goat-herding and cheese-making because I'd read beautiful fiction by this author, Birds in Fall. Kessler and his wife (a photographer and doula) lived in New York City but bought an old farmhouse in Vermont and decided to live off the land, growing food and raising dairy goats. This is a very unusual book. I never thought I would find it so fascinating to read about goats and cheese, but I did. Kessler writes about the nitty gritty of goat-herding and cheese-makin
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Jul 04, 2009
Jackie says:
Writer Brad Kessler and his photographer wife Dona had a successful Manhattan life, but longed for the country, for fresh air and the chance to grow their own food. At last they found the perfect place in Vermont, and decided to become dairy farmers--specifically goats. They string fencing over a 3 acre square, refab an old chicken coop into a barn, and buy their first 4 goats. And so the adventure begins. And what an adventure it is. This is a love story between human an More...
Writer Brad Kessler and his photographer wife Dona had a successful Manhattan life, but longed for the country, for fresh air and the chance to grow their own food. At last they found the perfect place in Vermont, and decided to become dairy farmers--specifically goats. They string fencing over a 3 acre square, refab an old chicken coop into a barn, and buy their first 4 goats. And so the adventure begins. And what an adventure it is. This is a love story between human an More...
Mar 18, 2009
Jackie
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Writer Brad Kessler and his photographer wife Dona had a successful Manhattan life, but longed for the country, for fresh air and the chance to grow their own food. At last they found the perfect place in Vermont, and decided to become dairy farmers--specifically goats. They string fencing over a 3 acre square, refab an old chicken coop into a barn, and buy their first 4 goats. And so the adventure begins. And what an adventure it is. This is a love story between human and animal, past and p
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Jan 18, 2011
Aspen
rated it:
Yet another memoir of an arty Manhattanite with a substantial off-farm income who moved to the boonies and discovered the meaning of life by tilling the soil and eating the produce of his farm. His book is contemplative, historical, and literary as he extolls the joys of herding his goats through the countryside. Read it, and realize that this story has been told eleventy-bajillion times before in just the last decade, not to mention during the back-to-the-land period of the 60's and 70's, an
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Nov 17, 2010
Janie
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Cheesus. Well well done.
Kessler is simile's master and commander. (Or at least its shepherd.) He manages to make magnificent all the most potentially sophomoric figurative tricks. (I did roll my eyes a little that the moon is never "the moon". It's always the "[adj] + moon", the moon++.) He's great with tone and audience. The first half is hilarious *and* contemplative. The back end keeps up. I loved how recognizable his joy, his rhythm is. This is the way a story More...
Kessler is simile's master and commander. (Or at least its shepherd.) He manages to make magnificent all the most potentially sophomoric figurative tricks. (I did roll my eyes a little that the moon is never "the moon". It's always the "[adj] + moon", the moon++.) He's great with tone and audience. The first half is hilarious *and* contemplative. The back end keeps up. I loved how recognizable his joy, his rhythm is. This is the way a story More...
Mar 26, 2009
Joe
rated it:
To say I loved this book would be an understatement. I got angry every time I had to put it down. Really, I did. I didn't want to stop reading.
This is the story of writer Brad Kessler's journey to goatherder and cheesemaker. His writing paints a sublime picture of the pastoral joys of living off the land and communing with goats. I had no idea that goats were so interesting. Filled with great historical, linguistic and sociological detail, this is a fascinating study of not only th More...
This is the story of writer Brad Kessler's journey to goatherder and cheesemaker. His writing paints a sublime picture of the pastoral joys of living off the land and communing with goats. I had no idea that goats were so interesting. Filled with great historical, linguistic and sociological detail, this is a fascinating study of not only th More...
Jan 01, 2010
Patti
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What a fun book! Brad Kessler shares his adventure of learning to live with goats in the total sense of the word "live". It was a joy to become aware of connections to goats throughout our language. Kessler describes the fascinating process of cheese making while sharing his ruminations about life and our place in the web of life.
One of my favorite passages that sums up what he learned in his journey with the goats is a quotation from another writer.
"We More...
One of my favorite passages that sums up what he learned in his journey with the goats is a quotation from another writer.
"We More...
Sep 07, 2009
Heather
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My brother in law gave this book to my husband, who then gave it to me. It is a wonderful account of a couple who take to the woods to raise and milk goats and make cheese.
The reflective nature of the book gives a great window on the full life of a small farm, from the good times through the tough times. He struck a good balance in displaying all the rewards and the hardwork in living off the land.
The writing is very soothing and relaxing...so much that I would fall asl More...
The reflective nature of the book gives a great window on the full life of a small farm, from the good times through the tough times. He struck a good balance in displaying all the rewards and the hardwork in living off the land.
The writing is very soothing and relaxing...so much that I would fall asl More...
May 08, 2010
Jasmine
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Funny to be reading this immediately after reading "Ishmael". Kessler glorifies the pastoral and agricultural way of life, and even goes so far as to imply that the agricultural/pastoral way of life was superior, so foragers and hunter/gatherers just gave up their inferior way of life to adopt this new model. "The chieftains and their herding culture survived and spread. The foraging cultures diminished and died out." More probably they were forced to assimilate, or wiped out
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Apr 17, 2011
Louisa
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If there was any question about whether I had drunk the pastoralism kool-aid, my having digested Brad Kessler's "Goat Song" in less than twenty-four hours should prove it.
While on the F train yesterday:
Lou: I want a goat.
Jeremy: No.
Lou: I want a pair of goats so they don't get lonely.
Jeremy: No.
Lou: You can feed six goats on $745 dollars a year.
Jeremy: Finish a book and then we can talk about it.
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While on the F train yesterday:
Lou: I want a goat.
Jeremy: No.
Lou: I want a pair of goats so they don't get lonely.
Jeremy: No.
Lou: You can feed six goats on $745 dollars a year.
Jeremy: Finish a book and then we can talk about it.
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Aug 24, 2009
Stanley
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Goats! Have you any idea the history we have with goats? I sure didn't. This book is a elegant story that starts the way we have come from a herding culture, including the formation of our alphabet, and brings us to a farm in Vermont where the author and his wife raise these goats, milk them and make cheese. Sounds a bit mundane. And in anyone's hand it might just be a "how I spent m summer vacation" kind of story. But in Brad Kessler's hands it's a poetic and meditative piece on being
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Sep 16, 2009
Melissa
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This book was a fascinating look at the history of pastoralism, the art of cheese-making, and our changing relationship with animals and the earth. I was drawn to it because my husband comes from generations of goat farmers/cheese makers. He says it's in his blood. :) If his parents hadn't immigrated to the U.S. in the 70s he would probably be milking goats at this very moment.
I've learned a bit about raising goats during trips to Greece to visit my husband's family. It was really i More...
I've learned a bit about raising goats during trips to Greece to visit my husband's family. It was really i More...
Dec 16, 2011
Diane
rated it:
Loved this book! A treat from beginning to end, although a bit alarming in places because of how goats can and do behave sometimes. But I loved my vicarious life in Vermont as a goat keeper for awhile, as well as wonderful forays into the origins of the alphabet and the long deep human relationship with herding, the details of cheesemaking (and why it's so hard to get good cheese in this country), all the relationships among humans and animals in a particular (beautiful) place. There's also a Ca
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Jul 22, 2011
Katy
rated it:
Maybe it was all the wheat cutting, but I can't help thinking that Leo Tolstoy would have liked this book.
Kessler beautifully illuminates the ancient, sacred and mostly forgotten relationship our cultures have with pastoralism- how the great prophets so often found god in the wilderness while tending their animals, how we long for the paradise of a garden flowing with milk and honey, how manual labor, under the right circumstances, births poetry.
I've never been a big More...
Kessler beautifully illuminates the ancient, sacred and mostly forgotten relationship our cultures have with pastoralism- how the great prophets so often found god in the wilderness while tending their animals, how we long for the paradise of a garden flowing with milk and honey, how manual labor, under the right circumstances, births poetry.
I've never been a big More...
Aug 04, 2009
Marjanne
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Who would have thought a book about raising and herding goats would be so interesting. I really enjoyed this book, and in some ways it made me want to move to a small town, get some goats and spend the rest of my life making cheese. In the last few years I've become a total convert to goat cheese, so it sounds great. I had to keep reminding myself that I really don't want to have to be responsible for goats, or cheese for that matter. I enjoyed how the author told his personal experiences but in
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Jul 04, 2009
Bryan
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What a wonderful book! Brad Kessler approaches agrarian living as a poet and a spiritual journeyman. He and his wife abandon life in New York City to start a goat farm in the mountains of Vermont. They maintain their normal occupations, he a writer and his wife a photographer, and discover that the daily rituals of milking, mucking and making cheese leave them satisfied and fulfilled at the end of the day. Kessler's thoughts wander between daily chores, the history of pastoralism and extract
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Jun 09, 2011
Laura
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Absolutely lovely writing characterizes this book. No matter what subject Kessler could have chosen - including a detailed description of how goats reproduce - the beautiful way he pieces together language transcends. I especially liked how he kept to a pastoral tradition, even directly discussing it at many points throughout the book, but never allows the book to become idealistic or precious in an annoying sense. He stays true to the purity of the life he depicts with simple, clear, pure la
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Feb 08, 2010
Flori
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Picked this up at the library hoping to learn more about the goats my in-laws are helping to raise. I was surprised when I couldn't put this down and found myself carried away by the poetic images, pastoral scenes, and fascinating facts about goats and cheese making. I loved the idea of self sustaining and connection to land/creature/nature. Especially in this cold, dreary month, I loved escaping to the grassy meadow to frolic with the goats! Maybe not interesting for everyone, but I really enjo
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Feb 15, 2010
Disparlure
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This book was recommended to me by my father. He made it sound a bit kooky but entertaining. To me this meant rural pulp, and thinking along these lines I've put off reading this book for a while.
Additionally I tend to have a hard time with this type of book (i.e. rural autobiographical). While the stories are often entertaining or inspiring the writer's lack of skill makes slogging through the book a chore. Not so with this book. In Goat Song the rural autobiographical genre is More...
Additionally I tend to have a hard time with this type of book (i.e. rural autobiographical). While the stories are often entertaining or inspiring the writer's lack of skill makes slogging through the book a chore. Not so with this book. In Goat Song the rural autobiographical genre is More...
Jan 06, 2012
Beth
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I enjoyed this one. Brad Kessler doesn't hold back on his descriptions with the goats. It was exactly the kind of realism I was looking for. I loved the rhythm of his writing, you could almost feel the pace of the lifestyle from the slower pace of the consistent long daily routine, one task to the next and the moments of musing and introspection in between. I really enjoyed the etymology & historical information he interspersed through the whole book.
One thing I would have liked to More...
One thing I would have liked to More...
May 09, 2011
Melanie
rated it:
This book made me laugh out loud on numerous occassions. As a goat owner myself I was able to relate well to the author as he decided to start on his goat journey. He describes choosing the goats, getting the barns reading, buying them and travelling to their new home. The relationship with the new goats, their personalities, habits, and interesting characteristics.
I could relate so well to the descriptions of the goats, their hierarchy within the group and with the humans. Laughed More...
Feb 04, 2011
Caitlin
rated it:
A very prettily written memoir of a couple and their goats doing the back-to-the-land thing in Vermont. A quote from the SF Chronicle is right in saying "the writing is so beautiful you want to reread sentences to savor it." I did indeed reread sentences for their eloquence and meaning. The entire book weaves a narrative of goat-raising with references to literature, book-writing, culture, myth, song and even religion. I particularly enjoyed the way the author paralleled cheese making
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Dec 30, 2010
Ryan
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I'm moving again.
Well, technically, I'm always moving. Whether to a new apartment, home, city or region, it seems I can't keep myself still. Maybe that's why I continually return to the Midwest: a place that--in the public mindset anyway--looks to be immutable; still. I love the romantic view of a land so broad and uninterrupted that a sunset is not just an event, it's a spectacle.
Yet, if you know anything about Kansas, you know it's anything BUT still: otherworldly More...
Well, technically, I'm always moving. Whether to a new apartment, home, city or region, it seems I can't keep myself still. Maybe that's why I continually return to the Midwest: a place that--in the public mindset anyway--looks to be immutable; still. I love the romantic view of a land so broad and uninterrupted that a sunset is not just an event, it's a spectacle.
Yet, if you know anything about Kansas, you know it's anything BUT still: otherworldly More...
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Oct 18, 2010
Kim
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"I like that my cheese is called a tome, because making a cheese is somewhat like making a book. Both take raw material from the world and transfigure it into art. Both are the products of rumination - animal and human."
I have recently realized that I have read quite a few autobiographical books, many that take on the now popular mantra, "a year of . . . " After having liberally sampled in this genre, of which this book shares some similarities, it is a difficult More...
I have recently realized that I have read quite a few autobiographical books, many that take on the now popular mantra, "a year of . . . " After having liberally sampled in this genre, of which this book shares some similarities, it is a difficult More...
Feb 03, 2012
Michelle
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Kessler’s writing is simply beautiful; the book both tells the story of the goat song and is, itself, a song dedicated to goats. He describes the connection with nature, history, and yourself that raising goats provides, noting that throughout time, goats have been the subjects of many legends and stories, always “helping humans or leading them to unexpected places.”
“If you follow living beings assiduously in the field, or through the lens of a microscope,” writes Kessler, “they lead y More...
“If you follow living beings assiduously in the field, or through the lens of a microscope,” writes Kessler, “they lead y More...
