Renee's Blog

I am not a huge fan of farm animals, so some of these next few chapters were not very pleasant to read. I have this huge fear of birds, so the chicken chapter was especially difficult. I am one of those people who would prefer not to know where my meats and eggs come from because once I know, I feel too grossed out to eat them anymore. However, I will say that I’m impressed by how much work Kurt put in to keeping his livestock. He woke up so early, bought all this expensive equipment, cared for the young livestock appropriately, and even took measures to protect these animals against the wild ones that lived on the island. Granted, Kurt wasn’t doing all this because of his deep love for animals, but I still admire all the work he did. He came onto the farm scene with no experience, no connections, and no idea about how to run a farm. For him to finally succeed in the manner that he did is truly a feat. In Kurt’s concluding chapter, he talks about how he sees himself l...

Teachers are one of the most, if not the most, integral part to a person’s education. They spend 7 hours a day and 5 days a week with you, so they get to know you pretty intimately over the course of your time together. While most teachers get to spend 9 months of the year with their students, some only have a few weeks with theirs. I was once one of these teachers: over the summer of 2016, I was an English teacher for a class of Level 1 readers in a program called Freedom School. Freedom Schools are free summer reading programs especially designed to prevent “summer slide,” or the loss of reading retention that often occurs over the summer. A Level 1 Freedom School English teacher is someone who helps her students learn how to read, write, and comprehend English. I had 14 students, and they ranged in age from 5 years old to 9 years old. It was my job to give them a basic understanding of the English language – everything from learning the alphabet to stringing words togethe...

Kurt is perhaps one of, if not the, most unprepared person I have ever met. I find it humorous, how freely he pursues new endeavors left and right. In a way, I admire how fearless he is because I know if I failed like he did the number of times he did, I would have a lot of qualms about trying something new again. So yes, part of me admires him but the other part of me just wishes I could knock some sense into him. You can’t half-heartedly go into bee keeping just because you found the right equipment! You can’t just buy the first house you see because you “feel” like it’s the one! I appreciate how well Kurt was able to look back at his failures and recognize his mistakes, tendencies, and motivations. Contrary to what I thought at first, he doesn’t live in his own little bubble, oblivious to the real world. He notes his feelings of sheepishness when he fell in love with that first property, because he recognized that perhaps it was foolish to not look into other home...