How to be a farmer like you mean it

Part XXI of the Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers series

[Based on How to Be a Farmer: An Ancient Guide to Life on the Land, by various authors, translated by Mark D. Usher. Full book series here.]

I have been covering the Princeton University Press brilliant ongoing series, Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers, edited by Rob Tempio, for a while now. This is entry number 21, and I’m almost caught up with what they put out so far. (Of course, Rob taunted me recently by announcing four more titles for next year, to which I replied: yay!)

I have to admit, though, that this entry initially took me aback. Farming?? I get that Mark Usher, the translator, has been living with his wife on a farm in Vermont for the past twenty years. But I’m with Socrates: when he was asked why he never ventured outside of Athens, in the beautiful countryside, he replied that it was because all the interesting things, meaning human affairs, were happening within the city walls.

Nevertheless, I quickly warmed up to the book, and in the end I thoroughly enjoyed being exposed to the writings of Lucretius, Virgil, Hesiod, Pliny the Elder, Horace, and a number of others. I’m still firmly rooted in New York City and will not move to Vermont any time soon. But thanks to Usher’s selections, I do have a…