Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand

In this beautifully written memoir, an accomplished journalist leaves New York City to work as an amateur farmhand at Princeton Seminary, while harvesting spiritual lessons that change his life Jeff Chu had a seemingly successful life. As a writer at a fast-paced magazine company, he penned glossy profiles of business leaders while living with his husband in a New York City brownstone. Yet he struggled, as many of us do, with feelings of loneliness and disillusionment, all while trying to reconcile his identity as a first-generation Chinese American. Seeking a remedy, he left his job and enrolled at Princeton Seminary's "Farminary," a 21-acre farm where students learn to work the soil while asking the big questions of life. As the seasons turn, Chu introduces us to a cast of characters, human and not, each with their own lesson to teach. From the cranes that visit the pond, to the worms that turn waste into fertile soil, to the Chinese long beans that get passed over in the farm's CSA, Chu gently interrogates his relationship with the food on his plate and his own heritage, discovering what the earth is trying to teach us--if we'll stop and listen. In gorgeous, moving 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.
"A big-hearted meditation on belonging, compassion, and the transformative power of friendship . . . I needed this book. I think you need it, too."--Maggie Smith, New York Times bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful In his late thirties, Jeff Chu leaves his job as a magazine writer and enrolls at Princeton Theological Seminary. There he takes a class at the "Farminary," a twenty-one-acre working farm where students learn to cultivate the earth while examining life's biggest questions. In this book, Chu unpacks what he learns about creating "good soil"--both literally and figuratively--drawing lessons from the rhythms of growth, decay, and regeneration that define life on the land, as well as through the chickens, goats, and zinnias that seasonally share that space. In a series of reflections, Chu introduces us to the cast of characters, human and not, who become his teachers. While observing the egrets that visit the pond, the worms that tu