Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat.

    Jasko and Biggs are committed to turning you into a healthy, happy farmer even if you live in a big city high-rise. Built around eight comprehensive sections (Know, Start, Grow, Plant, Plan, Make, Eat, and Store), this wonderful 128-page guide walks you through all the steps of successfully nurturing a crop of delicious, healthy vegetables. Everyone from the base beginner to the seasoned farmhand will find something for them in these pages. (The recipe section alone is enough to keep you comin' back to this gem for years!) Narrated in a friendly, helpful tone by Jasko and buoyed by Biggs's great illustrations, this book is the definition of awesomely useful. Super, super, SUPER inspiring. Grow your own everything!

    A new literary classic, Second Nature has become a manifesto not just for gardeners but for environmentalists everywhere. "As delicious a meditation on one man's relationships with the Earth as any you are likely to come upon" (The New York Times Book Review), Second Nature captures the rhythms of our everyday engagement with the outdoors in all its glory and exasperation. With chapters ranging from a reconsideration of the Great American Lawn, a dispatch from one man's war with a woodchuck, to an essay about the sexual politics of roses, Pollan has created a passionate and eloquent argument for reconceiving our relationship with nature.

    A NONFICTION ADVENTURE. VERY INTERESTING.CHECK OUR STORE FRONT FOR GREAT BOOKS & CDs. FAST SERVICE.-24-

    With the rising popularity of the locavore and organic food movements--and the terms "grass fed" and "free range" commonly seen on menus and in grocery stores--people across the country are turning their attention to where their meat comes from. Whether for environmental reasons, health benefits, or the astounding difference in taste, consumers want to know that their meat was raised well. With more than 200 recipes for pork, beef, lamb, poultry, and game, stunning photos of delicious dishes, and tips on raising sustainable meat and buying from local farmers, Good Meat is sure to become the classic cooking resource of the sustainable meat movement.Praise for Good Meat:"Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat belongs on the shelf of every carnivore out there. If you eat meat and if you raise animals for meat or if you have ever considered eating meat or eggs, you need a copy of Deborah Krasner's work of art. The thoughtful essays, equipment and seasonings chapters alone are worth the price of admission, but the anatomy lessons, cutting instructions and more than 200 recipes make the book a rare bargain indeed." -Grit.com "Deborah Krasner is part of a revolution in food, in agriculture, in nutrition, that is taking place in our nation. Her book is a fine contribution to that revolution, teaching us how to eat more healthfully, how to buy from local farmers, how to cook what they raise." --Senator Bernie Sanders, from the foreword"The healing local food movement's success hinges on artisanal farming and domestic culinary arts. Good Meat takes the mystery out of both in a masterful way, bringing all of us another giant step closer to healing the planet one bite at a time. Beautiful pictures and delightful explanations . . . Everyone interested in local, earth-friendly food will love this book." --Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm"Good Meat is a template for all future cookbooks: one that educates on the culinary differences between factory-farmed meats and animals raised on family farms, and the utilization of the entire animal in a sustainable manner." --Patrick Martins, founder of Slow Food USA, Heritage Foods USA"Good Meat is the cookbook for all who have made the choice to eschew factory-farmed meat for grass-fed and pasture-raised meat. This book provides the knowledge to make sustainably raised meat a reality at your table." --Bruce Aidells, author of The Complete Meat Cookbook"If you want to cook delicious meals from humanely raised meat, Good Meat is for you. It offers superb recipes designed for grass-fed meat, and provides cooks with the first useful guide to ordering direct from the farm. This book makes you feel good about the meat you eat." --Paula Wolfert, author of Clay Pot Cooking

    Transplanted from New York fifteen years ago and now a real-life Vermont farmer, Noel Perrin candidly admits to hilarious early mistakes ("In Search of the Perfect Fence Post") while presenting down-to-earth advice on such rural necessities as "Sugaring on $15 a Year," "Raising Sheep," and "Making Butter in the Kitchen." But, as everyone who has read his essays in The New Yorker, Country Journal, and Vermont Life will confirm, not everything Perrin writes is strictly about the exigencies of country life. While one essay seems to discuss the use of wooden sap buckets, it really addresses the nature of illusion and reality as they coexist in rural places.

     It is now undergoing a renaissance as an 'eco-friendly' building material because of its amazing 'green' credentials. 'Building with Cob' shows how to apply this ancient technique in a wide variety of contemporary situations, covering everything from design and siting, mixing, building walls, fireplaces, ovens and floors, lime and other natural finishes, and gaining planning permission and building regulation approval. It also explains in detail how to sensitively restore an old cob structure. This book is a step-by-step guide, lavishly illustrated with over 300 colour photos and 85 diagrams.

    A guide to stocking a small kitchen that explains the essential spices, ingredients, and equipment to have in order to create nutritious, easy meals, with more than sixty recipes to fit the urban lifestyle.

    At the same time, she can't shake the fact that she is the daughter of two back-to-the-land hippies who taught her to love nature and eat vegetables. Ambivalent about repeating her parents' disastrous mistakes, yet drawn to the idea of backyard self-sufficiency, Carpenter decided that it might be possible to have it both ways: a homegrown vegetable plot as well as museums, bars, concerts, and a twenty-four-hour convenience mart mere minutes away. Especially when she moved to a ramshackle house in inner city Oakland and discovered a weed-choked, garbage-strewn abandoned lot next door. She closed her eyes and pictured heirloom tomatoes, a beehive, and a chicken coop.What started out as a few egg-laying chickens led to turkeys, geese, and ducks. Soon, some rabbits joined the fun, then two three-hundred-pound pigs. And no, these charming and eccentric animals weren't pets; she was a farmer, not a zookeeper. Novella was raising these animals for dinner. Novella Carpenter's corner of downtown Oakland is populated by unforgettable characters. Lana (anal spelled backward, she reminds us) runs a speakeasy across the street and refuses to hurt even a fly, let alone condone raising turkeys for Thanksgiving. Bobby, the homeless man who collects cars and car parts just outside the farm, is an invaluable neighborhood concierge. The turkeys, Harold and Maude, tend to escape on a daily basis to cavort with the prostitutes hanging around just off the highway nearby. Every day on this strange and beautiful farm, urban meets rural in the most surprising ways.For anyone who has ever grown herbs on their windowsill, tomatoes on their fire escape, or obsessed over the offerings at the local farmers' market, Carpenter's story will capture your heart. And if you've ever considered leaving it all behind to become a farmer outside the city limits, or looked at the abandoned lot next door with a gleam in your eye, consider this both a cautionary tale and a full-throated call to action. Farm City is an unforgettably charming memoir, full of hilarious moments, fascinating farmers' tips, and a great deal of heart. It is also a moving meditation on urban life versus the natural world and what we have given up to live the way we do.(jacket)

    Diagnosed with a heart condition at age forty-one, she was all too suddenly reminded that life is short, time is precious, and she wanted to be spending hers with the people and things she truly loved. That included the beautiful sprawling house in the Pacific Northwest she had painstakingly restored—but, increasingly, it did not include the mortgage payments, constant repairs, and general time-suck of home ownership. A new sense of clarity began to take hold: Just what was all this stuff for? Multiple extra rooms, a kitchen stocked with rarely used appliances, were things that couldn’t compare with the financial freedom and the ultimate luxury—time—that would come with downsizing.             Deciding to build an eighty-four-square-foot house—on her own, from the ground up—was just the beginning of building a new life. Williams can now list everything she owns on one sheet of paper, her monthly housekeeping bills amount to about eight dollars, and it takes her approximately ten minutes to clean the entire house. It’s left her with more time to spend with family and friends, and given her freedom to head out for adventure at a moment’s notice, or watch the clouds and sunset while drinking a beer on her (yes, tiny) front porch.             The lessons Williams learned from her “aha” moment post-trauma apply to all of us, every day, regardless of whether or not we decide to discard all our worldly belongings. Part how-to, part personal memoir, The Big Tiny is an utterly seductive meditation on the benefits of slowing down, scaling back, and appreciating the truly important things in life.

    Mr. Berry believes that American cultural problems are nearly always aligned with their agricultural problems, and recent events have shone a terrible spotlight on the divides between our urban and rural citizens. Our communities are as endangered as our landscapes. There is, as Berry outlines, still much work to do, and our daily lives—in hope and affection—must triumph over despair.Mr. Berry moves deftly between the real and the imagined. The Art of Loading Brush is an energetic mix of essays and stories, including "The Thought of Limits in a Prodigal Age," which explores Agrarian ideals as they present themselves historically and as they might apply to our work today. "The Presence of Nature in the Natural World" is added here as the bookend of this developing New Agrarianism. Four stories from an as-yet-unfinished novel, better described as "an essay in imagination," extend the Port William story as it follows Andy Catlett throughout his life to this present moment. Andy works alongside his grandson in "The Art of Loading Brush," one of the most moving and tender stories of the entire Port William cycle. Filled with insights and new revelations from a mind thorough in its considerations and careful in its presentations, The Art of Loading Brush is a necessary and timely collection.

    This haven of ecologically friendly practices has been the focus of BBC Two's popular series It's Not Easy Being Green, a title at least somewhat belied by the simplicity of the practical changes suggested in Self Sufficiency for The 21st Century. (Hand-selling tip: It's important to realize that low impact living isn't generally a one-jump leap. The incremental changes recommended in this book can help people take their first major steps in that direction.)

    All the information meets these criteria: It is something that anyone can do, without special training. It can be done with relatively few supplies or with stuff you can make yourself. It has been tried and tested—either by the author, the military, doctors, or other homesteaders.

    Making Home is about improving life with the real people around us and the resources we already have. While encouraging us to be more resilient in the face of hard times, author Sharon Astyk also points out the beauty, grace, and elegance that result, because getting the most out of everything we use is a way of transforming our lives into something much more fulfilling.Written from the perspective of a family who has already made this transition, Making Home shows readers how to turn the challenge of living with less into settling for more—more happiness, more security, and more peace of mind. Learn simple but effective strategies to:Save money on everything from heating and cooling to refrigeration, laundry, water, sanitation, cooking, and cleaningCreate a stronger, more resilient familyPreserve more for future generationsWe must make fundamental changes to our way of life in the face of ongoing economic crisis and energy depletion. Making Home takes the fear out of this prospect, and invites us to embrace a simpler, more abundant reality.Sharon Astyk is a writer, teacher, blogger, and farmer whose family uses eighty percent less energy and resources than the average American household. She is a member of the board of directors of ASPO-USA, founder of the Riot 4 Austerity, and the author of three previous books, including Depletion and Abundance and Independence Days.

    The active Table of Contents on the kindle version allows you to click on a subject and go right to it. The book includes parts I and II:Part I is an explanation of all the preserving methods, how to do them, and what you’ll need: Canning, Dehydrating, Freezing, Salting, Brining, Sugaring, Smoking, Pickling, and Fermenting, as well as some not-as-often heard of ones as Ash, Oil, and Honey for preservation.Part II starts with meat and works it’s way through beef/venison/elk, pork/bear, goat/sheep, rabbit, chicken, turkey, duck/goose, and fish; then dairy: milk, butter, cheeses, yogurt and sour cream, and finishes with a chapter on preserving eggs. All the methods that work well with each food are explained along with directions for the preparation and processing of that food. There is also information about what doesn’t work and why.The next volume, "Food Storage: Preserving Fruits, Nuts, and Seeds", is also available in print and kindle format, exclusively from amazon.com, and is set up in the same handy-to-use format.The authors live on opposite ends of the country (North and South) and bring some of their own regional flavor to the books, making them interesting as well as informative.