Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand
A profound meditation on nature, heritage, and belonging, from an accomplished journalist who left New York City for life on a working farm

In his late thirties, Jeff Chu left his job as a magazine writer and enrolled at Princeton Seminary’s “Farminary,” a 21-acre farm where students learn to work the earth while interrogating life’s biggest questions. Now he unfolds what he learned about creating good soil—both literally and figuratively—drawing lessons from the chickens, goats, and zinnias and the rhythms of growth, decay, and regeneration that define life on the land.

In a series of reflections, Chu introduces us to the cast of characters, human and not, who became his teachers. From the egrets that visited the pond, to the worms that turned waste into fertile soil, to the Chinese long beans that got passed over in the farm’s CSA, Chu considers our relationship with the food on our plates, the belonging we seek, and the significance of his own roots, discovering what the earth is trying to tell us, if we’ll stop and listen.

In gorgeous, transporting prose, Good Soil helps readers connect to the land and to each other at a time when we are drawn most to the phones in our hands. For nature lovers, foodies, and anyone who has daydreamed about a more meaningful life, this book is a tribute to friendship, acceptance, spirituality, and how love can grow from the unlikeliest of places.
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Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand
A profound meditation on nature, heritage, and belonging, from an accomplished journalist who left New York City for life on a working farm

In his late thirties, Jeff Chu left his job as a magazine writer and enrolled at Princeton Seminary’s “Farminary,” a 21-acre farm where students learn to work the earth while interrogating life’s biggest questions. Now he unfolds what he learned about creating good soil—both literally and figuratively—drawing lessons from the chickens, goats, and zinnias and the rhythms of growth, decay, and regeneration that define life on the land.

In a series of reflections, Chu introduces us to the cast of characters, human and not, who became his teachers. From the egrets that visited the pond, to the worms that turned waste into fertile soil, to the Chinese long beans that got passed over in the farm’s CSA, Chu considers our relationship with the food on our plates, the belonging we seek, and the significance of his own roots, discovering what the earth is trying to tell us, if we’ll stop and listen.

In gorgeous, transporting prose, Good Soil helps readers connect to the land and to each other at a time when we are drawn most to the phones in our hands. For nature lovers, foodies, and anyone who has daydreamed about a more meaningful life, this book is a tribute to friendship, acceptance, spirituality, and how love can grow from the unlikeliest of places.
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Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand

Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand

by Jeff Chu
Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand

Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand

by Jeff Chu

Hardcover

$26.00 
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Overview

A profound meditation on nature, heritage, and belonging, from an accomplished journalist who left New York City for life on a working farm

In his late thirties, Jeff Chu left his job as a magazine writer and enrolled at Princeton Seminary’s “Farminary,” a 21-acre farm where students learn to work the earth while interrogating life’s biggest questions. Now he unfolds what he learned about creating good soil—both literally and figuratively—drawing lessons from the chickens, goats, and zinnias and the rhythms of growth, decay, and regeneration that define life on the land.

In a series of reflections, Chu introduces us to the cast of characters, human and not, who became his teachers. From the egrets that visited the pond, to the worms that turned waste into fertile soil, to the Chinese long beans that got passed over in the farm’s CSA, Chu considers our relationship with the food on our plates, the belonging we seek, and the significance of his own roots, discovering what the earth is trying to tell us, if we’ll stop and listen.

In gorgeous, transporting prose, Good Soil helps readers connect to the land and to each other at a time when we are drawn most to the phones in our hands. For nature lovers, foodies, and anyone who has daydreamed about a more meaningful life, this book is a tribute to friendship, acceptance, spirituality, and how love can grow from the unlikeliest of places.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780593727362
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication date: 03/25/2025
Pages: 208
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.53(d)

About the Author

Jeff Chu is an award-winning journalist and editor-at-large at Travel+Leisure. He is the author of Does Jesus Really Love Me? and the co-author, with the late Rachel Held Evans, of the New York Times bestseller Wholehearted Faith. Jeff is a former Time staff writer and Fast Company editor whose work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Modern Farmer. In his weekly newsletter, “Notes of a Make-Believe Farmer,” Jeff writes about spirituality, gardening, food, travel, and culture. An ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America, he lives with his husband, Tristan, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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