Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Hobby Farm: Living Your Rural Dream for Pleasure and Profit by Carol Ekarius is a collection of photos, "facts", and "helpful" tips for the urban adventurer looking for a new life in a rural farm setting. The book should be regarded as only Ekarius' opinion and not fact. It is based off of her experiences from living in a farming community. Coming from a rural farming background, I was appalled and disgusted with many of the skewed things Ekarius put in her book. Not only does it make the rural citizen seem backward (yes, she does use that word) but it comes across as being very condescending to the reader as well. Any farmer who reads this book is thinking, "She thinks I don't know about anything outside of the farm." Any non-farmer who reads this book is thinking, "She thinks I don't what a cow is."
Ekarius, apparently, is the only person who knows something about both the rural world and the urban. She considers herself to be "rurban"; a word coined by Ekarius and is used incessantly. Roughly it means something that is not entirely urban, but not entirely rural. Ekarius regards herself as an expert on the subject. She tells about a time when she set up an electric fence, something (she thinks) that farmers had never even thought of before. She made it seem as though her neighbor looked upon the fence like caveman looking upon fire for the first time.
She makes the farmer out to be a creature that has never had or heard of niceties found in "the big city." Ekarius tells her readers, "Rural people have long lived with different economic and social realities than their urban and suburban brethren. When they invite you for coffee, expect freeze-dried instant, not freshly ground beans or latte, and drink the former as though it were the latter".... Because farmers just don't know any better, right Carol? They've never even heard of Starbucks let alone tasted their coffee. Neanderthals.
The expectations Ekarius prepares her readers for are ridiculous. She says, "Get used to no privacy. Do you like to walk into a clean house, with shiny, polished floors and light colored furniture? Be prepared for mud and mess. Love to take in cultural events, like the opera or great museums? Instead, get ready for high school plays and cow-plop bingo at the town street-dance." Wow. According to Ekarius farmers are dirty, live like pigs and uncultured. This woman really knows her neighbors.
I have to ask the question, "Has she even met her neighbors?" Ekarius warns the reader, "Be prepared, also, for the social challenges of moving into rural or rurban areas. These communities often seem backward and closed to newcomers.... They are friendly and warm once you penetrate the surface, but penetration can take awhile." It sounds like all "rurban" people are stoic and misanthropic. If you had Ekarius as a neighbor you might be too!
I'd give this book negative stars if I could. Hobby Farm can be useful, however, if it used for kindling or toilet paper.
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