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 enlarge | Authors: Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp
Creator: Richard A. Houser
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $7.73
You Save: $7.22 (48%)
New (59) from $7.73
Avg. Customer Rating:  272 reviews
Sales Rank: 60
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0060852569
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.0973
EAN: 9780060852566
ASIN: 0060852569
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: **brand new, no NY, AK, of HI**
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| Customer Reviews:
 An entertaining and thought-provoking feast... July 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I first read this book just over a year ago, starting to read while sitting in a full auditorium waiting for author Barbara Kingsolver to begin speaking. I made it through the first ten pages or so before she began. For the next hour she read and discussed her book and graciously answered audience questions. Her interesting stories and personable manner drew me in. Afterwards, I couldn't wait to continue reading! This book lived up to my expectations. Premise? Her family made a decision to move to the Virginian Appalacians, grow their own food, raise chickens and turkeys, and buy what they couldn't grow/raise themselves from local farmers. They made tough decisions, worked hard, and had some wonderful stories to tell along the way. In her writing, interspersed with essays by her husband and college-age daughter, Ms. Kingsolver takes us on their year-long journey of eating locally.
Barbara Kingsolver is not suggesting that we all should be able to do what her family accomplished - growing much of their own food, supplimented with food grown locally primarily by people she knew in her own community. Rather, she is sharing her family's story, much of it humerous, some of it sobering, and all of it educational. She is sharing the rationale of why they chose to do what they did. She admits that most families won't be able to make changes to the extent that her family did. Rather, she suggests that we all might be able to eat more locally. Whether that means beginning your own backyard garden, growing herbs in pots, buying from your local farmers market, or even reading labels in your grocery store... every bit counts.
Thanks to Ms. Kingsolver for changing the way I think about food.
 Occasionally charming but not terribly useful July 16, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I wanted to love this book, I really did. The premise is idealistic: to live on home-produced and locally raised food for one year. The authors are likeable: Kingsolver herself, a sharp and sometimes ironic observer, her daughter Camille, a cook and contributor of earnest little essays on eating well; the author's husband, Steven, who contributes scientific sidebars on all sorts of things associated with food production. I myself am a longtime devoted organic gardener, raiser of chickens and beef, and evangelical bore on the topic of compost. I'm with this family one hundred percent. Unfortunately, the book is all over the place. It is full of tidbits and interesting information, but very little useful guidance. If you're a gardener, you won't learn much from Kingsolver's ecstatic prose. Does she have a secret for getting rid of potato bugs? Does she cut her tomato hornworms with scissors or drop them in a bucket of soapy water? Are there ever problems in this Appalachian paradise? Not too many, evidently, although gardeners know that keeping a garden is unpredictable (it rains, it doesn't rain) and demanding. When Kingsolver writes best, she keeps a narrow focus, as in her fine depiction of the intricacies of breeding turkeys. But even this tale is maddeningly broken up, as if it were fiction, by a family trip to Italy. Will the poults hatch? The reader must stay tuned. I also think that readers contemplating a shift to eating seasonally and buying locally might be a bit daunted by the efforts of Kingsolver and her family, particularly if they don't keep writer's hours. Read Michael Pollan on the same subject, particularly (in this order) "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food" for much more practical, do-able ideas, particularly if you don't own your own farm. If you can raise your own tomatoes---and you should if you have the opportunity---that's fabulous. But if you can't, I fear this book has little to offer except some charming stories.
Inspiring and fun July 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Once you get through the first chapter (which does have a stern tone for the typical American food lifestyle), the book is fun, inspiring, humorous, and somehow humble. Barbara Kingsolver has a great approach to reporting on her year of eating locally. You get the inside scoop on some things you may never do (such as killing your own roosters) to things that even city dwellers can manage (like planting a small window box of edibles and visiting your local farmer's market). I loved it!
A Newbie's Impression of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle... July 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the second book I have read of Barbara Kingsolver, the other, The Poisonwood Bible, I must read again because the details of that particular piece are a bit sketchy, but I digress...
Recent events highlighted in the news, bulldozed bloated and sickly cows and salmonella tainted tomatoes make opting out of our national food chain a viable option. This book defined many terms and allowed me to expand my vocabulary for example by defining "locavore" and CAFOs, and just in many ways increased my awareness of what I was putting in my mouth. This book higlighted all the work and preparation required to raise food and the importance of supporting local small farmers. Granted we all do not have a back 20 or 40 to till and grow or own vegetable and raise animals to provide meat to eat nor do we have the time and most of us don't have the inclination to do such. But we can support our farmers by buying direct in local farmer's markets and vegetable stands. By buying directly we also support only our consumption of quality foods. Also we are reminded of seasonality and regionality of food through Ms. Kingsolver's work. Tomatoes and other vegetables and fruits maybe should not be available year round or bred to survive being shipped from around the world because certain vegetables only grow well in certain regions and lose nutrients and disease fighting capabilities when they are bred to withstand the rigors of travel and grocery store shelf life. Hat's Off to Ms, Kingsolver and her family for their commitment to this daunting undertaking. This book encouraged me to become a locavore and I started my own garden this year. I also found out about an organization called Seed Savers and endeavor to produce some of those plants. I have also gained a greater respect for the land that produces the bounty we take for granted and have gained a greater respect for those that are able to coax the bounty from the land and nourish us all.
Awesome Book July 15, 2008
This is an awesome book for anyone who consumes or prepares food. There is so much information that a smart consumer should know about the origin of their foods. Not only is this book informative , it is entertainging to follow Ms. Kingsolver and her family on their journey to slow food.
There are also some fabulous and healthy recipies ( I have tried about 4 of them and all get 5 stars!).
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