Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer -Tim Stark

A very readable history of not only one man’s experience with nature’s whims and gifts, but a very interesting look at what an heirloom is and its journey to the mainstream. So if you are like me and want to know the difference between a better boy and and a brandywine, then you may want to take a look at this book.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.) – by Barbara Kingsolver

I bought 8 copies of this book for Christmas gifts last year. While not a how-to, it is the true story of a novelist’s family that moves from Tucson AZ to West Virginia to farm. They pledge to only eat what they can grow or buy (very) locally. This book touches on so many issues in our time of Big Grocery and gently impresses the urgency of supporting local farms and eschewing homogenization of crops. If this book doesn’t inspire you to dig a hole and plant SOMETHING I don’t know what will.

Don’t Throw It, Grow It!: 68 windowsill plants from kitchen scraps – by Deborah Peterson

Growing up we always had an avocado pit suspended over a glass of water and a sprout farm under the sink. This isn’t that. Well it is, but not JUST that. This easy fun book shows you how to grow peanuts, (did you know the plant actually burrows back underground to grow the nut?) as well as other interesting things. A great way to get kids interested in growing things and even get a head start on the season.

Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life – by Jenna Wogginrich

A fun book about a young woman who holds down a “normal” full time job and homesteads. I was hooked when she talked about choosing chickens from the poultry catalog that were small enough to fit into a cat carrier in case she had to move.

See You in a Hundred Years: Four Seasons in Forgotten America – by Logan Ward

This is about a couple who moves to Virginia and buys a farmhouse. They have decided they will live like it is 100 years ago, the early 1900s. This involves removing electricity and plumbing and otherwise retrofitting the house and their lives to do it. They park their car and buy a horse and buggy. Of course, they must raise their food or buy it from neighbors and they get a crash course in subsistence gardening and life.

Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (P.S.) – by Eric Brende

A graduate of MIT and his wife study the effects of technology by living for a year in a Mennonite community. They give up all modern comforts and have some very interesting insights. Now everytime I use the air conditioner I think of this book. Read it and you will understand.

Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living – by Doug Fine

Set in New Mexico, this book recounts the story of a man who is passionately commited to seriously reduce his carbon miles in everything from his heating to his oatmeal. He uses some cutting edge technology and has some intense run-ins with desert life. This may be particularily interesting to those of you in the Southwest, as he gardens in a pretty extreme situation. He is a little heavy handed on the politics, but if you can handle that (or agree with him) this is a great story.