Brian Brett's farm on Salt Spring Island is affectionately known as Trauma Farm. There, he raises chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, and goats, tends an extensive orchard and vegetable garden, concocts fabulous meals from the bounties of the farm, and has various misadventures. This funny and thought-provoking memoir traces one day on Trauma Farm. In it, Brett explores the natural history of the small mixed farm, meditates on the perfection of the egg, offers critiques of factory farms and the slaughtering industry, muses on the uses and misuses of gates, and ponders the constant presence of death as he goes about the activities of farming -- birthing lambs, contending with rats, helping an aged horse to his death. Underlain with deep knowledge of biology and botany, this erudite, witty, and passionate book is an unforgettable portrait of the issues all farms face in this age of industrialization and homogenization.

Author: Brian Brett
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Greystone Books
Published: 09/29/2009
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.36lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.90w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9781553654742


Award: 2009 IndieFab awards Bronze Medal Winner - Nature
Award: 2010 Saroyan Writing Prize Finalist - Nonfiction
Award: 2010 Independent Publisher Book Awards Bronze Medal Winner - Ecology/Environment
Award: 2009 Hilary Weston Prize for Nonfiction Winner - Nonfiction


Review Citation(s):
Publisher's Weekly Annex 11/30/2009