Not everyone knows that the soulful lyricist A. Fet by the end of his life turned into one of the richest Russian writers. Having bought the small estate Stepanovka in the Oryol province in 1860, he “farmed” there and then in another place for several decades. Although in the end he achieved success, but before that he fully tasted the delights of managing in Russian conditions. In 1862–1871 A. Fet published essays in magazines based on his “farming” experience and representing a unique fusion of memories, lyrical observations and philosophical reflections on the essence of Russian character. They are combined for the first time in this edition; As an appendix, the book includes poems by A. Fet, written in Stepanovka (many were published for the first time in the edition of that time).