"In the 22 years since Kurt Timmermeister bought four acres of rocky, suspect farmland here for $100,000, he has had his ribs broken by an amorous female cow, lost a lamb to a crow that pecked its eyes out, and recoiled from the cannibalism of his chickens (when they weren't eating one another, they were picked off by raccoons), among other blood- and mud-flecked dramas.
". ..This farming coming-of-age story is both a cautionary tale and an inspiration to those who aspire to the farm life. His hard-won lessons - how he learned what he and his land had an affinity for (cows, not sheep) and how to profit from that (sell cheese, not vegetables) - were the subject of his first book, "Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land,"
Read Penelope Green in the NYTIMES for an update here