Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand - Hardcover

Chu, Jeff

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593727363 ISBN 13: 9780593727362

Publisher: Convergent, 2025

Synopsis

A profound meditation on nature, heritage, and belonging, from an accomplished journalist who left New York City for life on a working farm In his late thirties, Jeff Chu left his job as a magazine writer and enrolled at Princeton Seminary’s “Farminary,” a 21-acre farm where students learn to work the earth while interrogating life’s biggest questions. Now he unfolds what he learned about creating good soil—both literally and figuratively—drawing lessons from the chickens, goats, and zinnias and the rhythms of growth, decay, and regeneration that define life on the land. In a series of reflections, Chu introduces us to the cast of characters, human and not, who became his teachers. From the egrets that visited the pond, to the worms that turned waste into fertile soil, to the Chinese long beans that got passed over in the farm’s CSA, Chu considers our relationship with the food on our plates, the belonging we seek, and the significance of his own roots, discovering what the earth is trying to tell us, if we’ll stop and listen. In gorgeous, transporting 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.

About this title

About the Author

Jeff Chu is an award-winning journalist and editor-at-large at Travel+Leisure. He is the author of Does Jesus Really Love Me? and the co-author, with the late Rachel Held Evans, of the New York Times bestseller Wholehearted Faith. Chu is a former Time staff writer and Fast Company editor whose work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Modern Farmer. In his weekly newsletter, "Notes of a Make-Believe Farmer," Chu writes about spirituality, gardening, food, travel, and culture. He lives with his husband, Tristan, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Edition details

• Publisher: Convergent
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593727363
• ISBN 13: 9780593727362
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336