Yesterday, I saw the new movie by Ridley Scott — The Martian. You're probably thinking what does that have to with Timmermeister's book? Well, they both are about sustainable farming, with only difference that one is done on Mars and the other — on Earth. It makes you realize how important is to know how to grow food, or at least know where it comes from — a fact that Kurt stresses throughout his book. In the later chapters he talks about how an average consumers are completely disconnected from the animal world. That they might actually prefer the store packaged meat instead of the farm raised one.
I, personally, never understood the difference. It all changed when I tried an organic, farm-raised pork. Speaking exclusively from my own experience — store bought pork sucks. When cooked, it is of dull white color, uninteresting texture and often not very juicy. I can say for certain that it is (or was) definitely my least favorite type of meat. Home grown pork is a whole different story. The meat is a lot darker in color, texture is more beef like, so much so that I thought I was eating beef until someone told me that it was actually pork. I felt like the meat melted in my mouth. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about — here are the best visual examples I found of the organic ham and the store bought.
I liked the movie for the same reason I liked the book. Both explore the fact that if you want to be successful at something, you have to be willing to try and fail. How many times did Kurt kill an animal or ruined a crop because of his mistakes. It is devastating to lose something you put a lot of time into — it becomes personal. But he didn't take it personally and kept at it. Mark Watney, the lonely hero of the movie, also could've easily given up, but chose not to. After all his life depended on it. There is even a scene where you think all is lost, but he managed to keep going because he refused to give up.
The world is a hostile place, whether it is Mars or Earth. The only thing keeping us alive as a species is our tenacity and will to live. Never give up! Always fight on!
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