Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

[Alaska Animal Lover]

This is a really good book about Barbara Kingsolver and her family's decision to only eat what they could raise and grow on their land, or buy from local farmers.
There are some interesting facts, yummy recipes, and she mentions a group that saves and exchanges seeds from heirloom variety plants, called Seed Savers Exchange.
http://www.seedsavers.org/
She says their catalog has more varieties of any other seed company. I ordered a catalog.
It is interesting to see how many varieties there were before the large coorperations reduced their sales to only the ones that have been genetically modified to resist draught and disease.

Anyhow, just thought I would share.

 

[utahmethodist]

I read this book this winter and it gave me the kick in the bum I needed to replace some perennial beds with more vegetables this spring and to get laying hens. We live on a 10th of an acre in the city so our space is very limited but we're trying to utilize what we have as well as we can.

 

[herbsherbsflowers]

I also read this book recently and have 16 baby chicks in the brooder and am cleaning out and reforming my vegetable garden. I just have a lot in town but I think I could grow enough of the things I really like and get the rest from local organic farmers. I am very lucky to have an organic farm close by that does a CSA. I've been getting produce from them for over a year. When we started pulling out the weeds and getting the garden back in shape last week we found some lovely strawberries that have been taking care of themselves for the past 2 years. They are yummy. And they have spread all over. I pulled up enough in the walkway to share with friends.

 

[Alaska Animal Lover]

I thought it was pretty inspiring as well. I don't have the long growing season in Alaska, but it is enough to get me green beans, peas, carrots, tomatos and potatoes. I can can those, and buy a few other things from the u-pick farm. I can't quite butcher anything I have raised, but I am all for getting in contact someone that does and buying from them.
I think that the health benefits alone would be worth the effort.:weight
Oh and strawberries are awesome! There are tons of wild berries here.

 

[greenmagick]

I loved this book... a real eye opener.

Also, the zucchini-chocolate chip cookies are yummy!

 

[utahmethodist]

I would also HIGHLY recommend the two most recent books by Michael Pollan:

The Omnivore's Dilemma

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

I have never been too gung-ho about watching my diet (I've never gone out of my way to pay more for organic and I eat meat but stick to whole grains more than half the time and try to avoid fast food more than once or twice a month) but I'm going to make some big changes after reading these two books. What an eye-opener!

 

[Alaska Animal Lover]

Thank you for the recommedations I will check them out.

 

[herbsherbsflowers]

Hello,

It is obvious to me that Barbara Kingsolver had read the Omnivore's Dilemma. They both mention a lot of the same things. I really like the other Michael Pollan book too. It has a lot of good information about the food we ate that is commercially available and why we should not be eating it. It is very inspirational. It will get you out in the garden. All of these books convinced my husband, who is not a farmer by any stretch of the imagination, to get chickens.

Carol Durusau

 

[calee]

I like the book. I even got it for my mom for mother's day.
This book is right up my alley, philosophy-wise. I quit eating fast food when I started high school in the 80's, and I've been into petrochemical-free gardening and farmer's marketing since college in the 90's. I'll probably read it again in a couple of years (which isn't something I usually do). But... I have to confess, I do get a bit annoyed with this book.

Even though I love to read and appreciate descriptive prose, sometimes the tone is a little too... something. I can't put my finger on it exactly. It's like the author is too tickled by her own cleverness and little bits of smugness or righteousness are masquerading as self-depreciating humor. If that makes sense.

I REALLY want to love this book, not just like it. But every so often, that... something... just rankles, and I get annoyed because I start trying to figure out what's distracting me and can't get back into the book. When I do make it back in, I can find inspiration to keep taking my baby steps to get to where she is, and there are sections I just want to take to friends and family and say, "Read this part right here. That's exactly what we've been saying, but she says it way better." But then... something... creeps up on me again, and I find myself limping through it a few pages at a time before setting it aside. It should have taken me a couple of evenings to read this, but I've had it for two WEEKS and still have 25 pages to go.

Nobody else that I've talked to has had this reaction to the book. I'm hoping that if I do re-read it in a couple of years, whatever is going on with me will be gone, and I'll enjoy the book so much that I'll jsut fly through it.

 

[Alaska Animal Lover]

Actually it was the same way for me. It took me about 12 days to read. I would literally have to put it down at random points. I don't know why. My DH asked me if it wasn't a very good book or something. I really liked it. Maybe it was just a lot to think about and I needed some time to figure out how to apply it to my life.
I kept it and will read it again I'm sure.