Good Soil

The Education of an Accidental Farmhand

De: Jeff Chu

Narrado por: Jeff Chu

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

“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 left his job as a magazine writer and found himself at Princeton Theological Seminary’s “Farminary”—a twenty-one-acre working farm where students learn to cultivate the earth while examining life’s biggest questions. Now, he unpacks what he learned about creating “good soil,” both literally and figuratively, drawing lessons from the rhythms of growth, decay, and regeneration that define life on the land.

In gorgeous, transporting reflections, Chu introduces us to the cast of characters, human and not, who became his teachers. While observing the egrets that visit the pond, the worms that turn waste into fertile soil, and the Chinese long beans that get passed over in the farm’s CSA, Chu considers our desire to belong, the story behind the food on our plate, and the significance of his own roots. What is the earth trying to tell us, if we’ll only stop and listen?

Good Soil helps readers connect to the land and to one another at a time when we seem drawn most to the phones in our hands. For nature lovers, foodies, and anyone who has daydreamed about a more fulfilling life, this book is a tribute to friendship, to the sacredness of our bond with the natural world, and to how love can grow from the unlikeliest of places.

a gentle nudge

This book gentler walked me through what it’s like being an uncommon figure in a place where you’re always the different one from the rest—in family, religious spaces, relationships. Jeff puts to words the ache and processes what it’s like to be human among the hurt, loved among the mess, while reminding us there is always the resurrection of the compost pile.

true things are always evocative

this book was so true it kept me emotional. things like the actions of a professor who came to the farm may seem small but oh my all the feels!!! i wept off and on through the whole book. if you were not trained to keep true things secret it is hard to understand. if you don't try, that's on you.

Real, raw and though-provoking

Jeff Chu is arguably one of my favorite writers, so I did not expect to be disappointed by his new book. I have both the hard back copy and the audible version. After struggling to find pockets of time to read it, I downloaded it on audible and listened over the course of a few long commutes. Jeff’s voice was a calm in the midst of a very hectic season, and I found the words of his book penetrate as he read them to me in his own voice. I particularly love the chapter “Body,” as it struck so many cords in my heart and mind, and was a very vulnerable sharing of Jeff’s struggle to make peace with the body he was given. I 10/10 recommend this book!

Heartfelt memoir

I enjoyed this narration of Jeff’s story. His love and struggles are lain bare in order for others to hear or read and thereby feel seen and heard. Beautiful prose that fed my soul as I salivated over his culinary creations and cried through stories of life.

AMAZED with the author’s effectiveness to weave the events over the book’s timeline into a unified story

The author’s ability to weave a unified story from the day to day events over the timeline of the book and connecting his culture, family’s history and his “self” as a unique individual made the book worth the read regardless of your feelings toward the underlying theme. Outstanding book … enjoyed so much I immediately purchased his previous book, “Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America” and now well into that book it does not disappoint either.

Beautiful

This book is a beautiful, thoughtful and deeply theological reflection on our lives, using the patterns of growth, death and renewal found in the garden. Jeff Chu offers his story in ways that are vulnerable, real, and moving. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Relatable to my own life

Jeff hit so many issues that, I believe, all people struggle with. Self-acceptance is hard and emotionally exhausting at times. No two people navigate internal struggles the same way. I love how Jeff provided so many different experiences in his life and related them to every day things, like soil, compost, plants, fauna, etc. Every person can grow from reading this book. I am a spiritual person, and this book provides a lot of comfort to my soul. Thank you to the author for his insight, honesty and trust to reveal his story.

Inspiring, Hopeful, Moving

Jeff Chu’s newest book is a gorgeous, insightful, heart-wrenching, yet ultimately hope-filled account of his time working at the Farminary at Princeton Theological Seminary, the losses and gains, the griefs and gaffs, the love and lessons he learned while becoming a farmhand alongside his studies. Through relatable stories of friendships made, lost, and remade; through failures and missteps in planting and harvesting, through recipes and anecdotes from history and culture, Jeff’s story comes alive and, if you allow it to, may bring you back to life as well.

Enjoyable every minute

As a person who deconstructed faith and a gardener, I ate up every second. So soothing, Jeff Chu’s voice. I’m not one who rereads but this I will play in the background and learn nuggets of truth.

The Parable you thought you knew … but didn’t.

Jeff Chu’s words touched my heart and stirred my soul. I loved the weaving in of stories from The Farminary and the lessons of the compost pile. Who knew what secrets its contents would reveal? I doubt I’ll ever see my own garden the same way again.