She and her family move full time to their small farm in Kentucky and attempt to eat only that which is raised or grown within 100 miles of where they live.
They start their eating year in April when the first asperagus is ready for cutting and work their way through the year, growing the own fruits and vegetables, raising chickens and turkeys (Oh Lord, the chapter on getting turkeys to breed is one of the funniest things I've ever read), using local farmer's markets and buying organic local products
She explain the family's reasons for living a locavore year, and they are many: to not to contribute to pollution by buying trucked in produce, to support local farmers and organic gardening, to be able to eat food that hasn't been produced chemically.
I've read other books by this author (The Poisonwood Bible, a great book) and really like her writing style. She doesn't preach, she's not trying to convert anyone, and she's very practical. Each family member is given one thing that they can have that isn't produced locally. Her husband writes from a more scientific point of view in footnotes throughout the book, and her teenage daughter gives her point of view and recipes.
A really interesting book for anyone who cares about what they eat.
A very good book indeed. (I did think it was funny that they wouldn't buy lemons, but used bottled lemon juice which was presumably also trucked in.)
ReplyDeleteThe turkey chapter was a killer. I also really enjoyed the part about staying with their Amish friends and seeing all the fireflies.
Sounds a really good idea and it's easier I think in the US to do this as you have such wonderful Farmer's markets. Here they exist but are often only once a month which isn't enough.
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