Book Reviews

Good Husbandry: Growing Food, Love, and Family on Essex Farm by Kristin Kimball (Scribner, New York, New York, 2019) is a follow-up to Kimball’s first book, The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love, which came out in 2011. The Dirty Life described how Kimball and her … [Read more...] about Kristin Kimball’s Good Husbandry: Food at the Center of Life as a Marriage Matures

Making a living as a farmer isn’t easy. Small farms have so much work on their plates, adding marketing into the mix may seem like an impossible task. But taking the time to make a farm more visible to consumers and to grow the businesses is a vital task for economic … [Read more...] about Cultivating Customers For the Bounty of Small Farms: Strategies For Economic Survival

Many are the cookbooks that are underlain by themes or contain winsome backstories, but far less common is a cookbook in which the backstory holds its own with - and imparts meaning to - the recipes. The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley (University … [Read more...] about Reaching Well Beyond Wheat Flour, Sugar & Dairy: Sean Sherman’s The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen

For brothers David and Dan Podoll, one of the solutions to the economic stresses of operating their North Dakota farm turned out to be heirloom seeds. The brothers' farm has been in their family since 1953, with wheat and turkeys providing their main revenue stream. But their … [Read more...] about Farmers Seeking Economic Stability While Protecting Deep Roots In Land They Love

Like most everyone, I know how important pollinators are to the food chain. What I didn’t realize, until I read this book, was how artisanal honeys, like fine wines or single source coffees, have distinctive flavors rooted in terroir. To find a spot on my shelf these days a … [Read more...] about 84 Recipes From Beekeeper Laurey Masterton’s Kitchen