Good Soil

The Education of an Accidental Farmhand

By: Jeff Chu

Narrated by: 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.

Must read

This book was not exactly what I thought it was going to be but I was pleasantly surprised. I can hear the emotion in the author’s/ narrators voice in many parts. This book is going next to my copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance as something I will always give to a reading suggestion and/or a graduation gift.

Thank you

His candor and insight combine to make his memoir a life-giving moment of appreciation of one’s own gifts from our surroundings.

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.

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!

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.