Just when I thought I was done with the “bought a farm and moved to the country” genre, along comes Goat Song. Brad Kessler’s book is certainly about buying a farm and moving to the country. It’s also about learning to raise dairy goats. And even a little bit about making cheese.
But really, it’s song in itself--a sweet melody about harmony and how Kessler has managed to find it.
In sharing his experiences expanding his starter herd of four goats, making cheese to feed himself and his wife, building a new barn and acquiring a license to sell cheese, he’s actually sharing much more. Kessler meditates on the relationships between man and goat, man and society, animals and land, man and the land, all things interconnected. He “didn’t know when [he] started raising goats that such a profound and ancient connection existed between herding animals and song.” And thus history, anthropology and poetry are interwoven throughout Kessler’s prose.
“I’ve been following these goats back home each day, but where they lead surprises me still. I want to take you there.” Follow Kessler and his goats. Even if you have no interest in goats or making cheese, you won’t regret it.