Hip Urban Farmer by Blog, Librarian by Day

reposted from March 31, 2011

Though, I am a hip urban farmer by blog, I am a librarian by day. Consequently, I have read several books and magazines that have informed my thinking on this subject of gardening. Since I love to read, I figured that from time to time, I could share some of my favorite books and a little of what I like about them.

Animal Vegetable Miracle- Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver has written many books, including the Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees and her latest The LaCuna.  Although I enjoy her works of fiction, it is her book Animal Vegetable Miracle that really caught my attention. In this book, Kingsolver documents her family's experiment in which for a year she and her offspring grow,  harvest , cook, and eat straight from their land. Of course, they had to pack up and move from the city to a rural area.  This book interested me because it  has always been my dream to grow all the food I would eat. (In my dream, I hadn't considered what I would do with meat, though). Kingsolver and her family, however harvested not only vegetables but their own meat too. This book not only documents their adventures in homesteading, but also documents their feelings about it. Moreover, the book is sprinkled with recipes made creatively from those items that were in season and available.

This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader / Joan Dye Gussow.
I've referenced this book in an earlier blog post. It has been a while since I've read this book, but what I learned most from this book is that it is by hard work that food is grown on the land. There is also a kinship developed in taking a piece of land and working the soil in preparation for growing food in your back yard.  Gussow, a dietician, writes about her homesteading experience in upper state New York.  She has pages of recipies in her book between the documented stories about home repair, animals in the garden and flooding.  If you have dreams of leaving the city and growing food to supplement buying local foods in season, then this book will be of interest to you.  I found it to be quite a journey. Gussow is pragmatic about growing food and provides reasons that she feels are important toward her decision. If you want to know her reasons, pick up this book.
That's all for now. I will list more of my favorites later.  Go to your local library and pick one up!