eat make read

I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A year of Food Life by Barbara Kingslover. I can’t begin to tell you how dreamy this book was, it’s definitely my favorite book of the year. In case you’re not familiar with it, the author and her family decide to make a move from Arizona to their summer farm house in Virginia to live off the land for one year. If they don’t grow it themselves, it must come from a local source. The book is written chronologically and you learn about the work it takes to prepare a garden and animals to maintaining it and preparing for the winter months. There are interesting facts interspersed that are written by Kingslover’s husband Steven L. Hopp and recipes written by her daughter Camille Kingslover.

I learned a lot about what it takes to grow your own food and how it feels to have that connection to the things you put in your body. While I don’t see being able to have my own garden for awhile, it’s certainly strenghtened my resolve to visit the farmer’s market often and support local growers. I think I might even try my hand at a tomato plant next year… we’ll see.