The Art of Farming

The Art of Farming offers a glimpse into living a farming lifestyle in rural Texas from the quite unique perspective of a professional artist. Being from the perspective of an artist, the book includes some wonderful sketches of things seen on farms.

The story follows Sam Bartlett, an artist who recently retired from teaching art at a community college. Shortly before retirement, Sam purchased a farmstead in rural Texas. To be exact, the property was in Elysia, in Barnes County. Sam was brought up on a farm, in a family with a farming heritage. In addition to organic gardening in raised beds, Sam also has sheep, horses (including boarders), a few dogs and cats, as well as a miniature Sicilian donkey named Solomon.

The book, told entirely in first person narrative by Sam, tells the reader things about farm life in rural Texas. It includes quite a bit of information about the things Sam grows in his raised beds, as well as some of the folks he meets related to that lifestyle.

This book is advertised as fiction, yet I strongly feel that it reads more like nonfiction. If it was nonfiction, my review would be quite different. Since it’s described as fiction, however, I will review it with that in mind. And just so there’s no mistake, there is one scene where Sam describes a dream that one of his dogs is having. That definitely rules out nonfiction.

I say it reads like nonfiction because it’s missing so much of what fiction readers love about fiction. For instance, it does not seem to follow anything resembling the passage of time. Lacking that, there is no sense of pacing. There is no conflict or climax to speak of, at least nothing that I noticed.

Sam and Solomon are the only notable characters in the book, but neither has anything resembling a character arc. In addition to them, we have Sam’s girlfriend, who visits occasionally, as well as Sam’s daughter, who is away at college for all but a few scenes. Sam doesn’t really give much background about either of them, so they are like strangers to the reader.

All of the story seems to take place during the hot Texas months—which is almost all of them—except for the epilogue, which occurs during the winter.

“Don’t be lulled into delusions of autumn just because the last couple of days may have stayed below one hundred degrees.”

With all of that being said, I want to leave you with what I really liked about the book. The description is top notch, and I expect no less from a professional artist who sees things from a different perspective than most folks. For instance, in one scene Sam is driving back to the farm from a trip to town, and he notices a blackbird standing amidst some pink prairie roses. This is how the author described it: “…the scene was worthy of Audubon’s brush and watercolors. The rich, dark contour of the blackbird was distinctly contrasted with the soft pastel petals of the flowers.”

Something else that I enjoyed was the inclusion of many fresh herbs grown on the farm. In another scene, Sam is grilling some wild boar chops over mesquite charcoal lumps. He described those chops this way: “The chops were marinated overnight in olive oil, with pineapple sage, crushed striped garlic, Hill Hardy rosemary, and lime basil, all fresh from the garden.” I do not recommend reading this book while hungry.

This author clearly knows how to write, evidenced by his prose. The words form complete sentences, which form logical paragraphs. At 160 pages (Kindle version), the book is rather short, so it’s a quick read.

If you’ve always wanted to know what farming is like in rural Texas, this book would likely be a good introduction to it. Happy reading.