local food

As Animal, Vegetable, Miracle celebrates its 10th year of being published, I decided to finally give it a try.

Much of what the Kingsolvers put forth about the food industry still rings true. 

It was fascinating to hear about the decisions for choosing to only consume food that they are in direct contact with, whether growing it themselves or knowing its origins. This leads to some interesting situations: what do you do when you invite 150 friends and family to your house to celebrate a birthday? How do you make food that you have in abundance during the summer last the whole year? 

The

I loved this non-fiction book, written by one of my favorite fiction authors, Barbara Kingsolver.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle details one year in which the author's family ate only animals and produce which they had either raised/grown themselves, or which they could purchase from local sources. (Local was defined as anything within a 60 mile radius of their home in Virginia. So, for example, since citrus fruits are not grown within that radius, the family did without citrus for that year.)  I found the whole process which  they went through to be so interesting - deciding what they were going

In many ways, I love Pritchard’s story of rebuilding his family farm. Against the advice of pretty much everyone, Pritchard takes up farming the land that his parents could never make a living off of. Gaining Ground is his amazing journey. He starts off with crushing debt, little help, and no plan. Through trial and error, trial and error, and then a little more trial and error, Pritchard finds a way to make the farm not only his own, but profitable for the first time in many years.

Yet, as Pritchard waxes poetic about saving the family farm, he omits even the significant details of his