Marsha K. (jkitil) reviewed Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 18
A beautiful story about a life of creating sustainable agriculture. I learned about how asparagus is grown and that lettuce grows into a tall flower! It has made me appreciate the local Farmer's Market, which I go every Sunday now.
Marcie G. (CaliGhostHunter) reviewed Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 14
The Kingsolver's resolve to live a year off the food grid is really food for thought. Obviously it's not a feasible goal for suburban folks to grow all of their own veggies and slaughter their own grass-fed turkeys, but she gives us some good ideas about being kinder to the planet by "eating locally", choosing food and products created as near to your own zip code as possible. It made me aware of how food choices I make impact a growing circle of people and the environment. Using her instructions I even tried making my own cheese from local milk, and it was delicious! It's a conscious-raising read. I liked it.
Helpful Score: 13
What a wonderful book...and written with such humor, as well as the facts or stats to back up what she is saying. This terrific story of an ordinary American family taking a year to eat consciously...buying food locally or growing their own...is a timely reminder to us that we need to be more aware of food--where it comes from, what industrial farms are doing to it and why we need to support local farming. This book really helped me connect the hunger problems around the world with my choices in buying food. I didn't expect to enjoy this book so much--such fun! Barbara Kingsolver helped me to "know" all the people of whom she spoke and took me personally into their lives and that of her husband and two daughters. Simply a wonderful book! One I definitely want for my own library as well as to share!
Michelle M. (hdmmomma) reviewed Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life on + 16 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8
Such an interesting book-- the authors are definitely people who have thought a lot about their food choices and what these choices mean for themselves, other living beings and the planet. A good reminder that we support our values with every action and every action counts toward making the world what you want it to be.
I don't think I could do what they did (eating practically all local foods for a year), but I will be more thoughtful about what I select to feed myself and my family.
I don't think I could do what they did (eating practically all local foods for a year), but I will be more thoughtful about what I select to feed myself and my family.
Sarah S. (tigrrrl) -
Helpful Score: 8
Barbara Kingsolver does an amazing job portraying what life would be like if all of our sustenance came from less than a 120 mile radius. With a lot of planning and farmland she and her family were able to make it through one entire year of "local" eating. Her 3500 sq ft garden and orchard definitely puts my backyard garden to shame, but is inspirational to say the least. I thoroughly enjoyed the articles and essays contributed by her husband Steven L. Hopp throughout the chapters and the seasonal recipes by her daughter are great too.
While growing one's own food and slaughtering poultry at home may not be feasible to all of us urban residents, the premise of this book can still be incorporated into our own daily lives. Living in Southern California I have to wonder why am I buying Florida oranges at Vons when there are plenty more selections that are grown locally. Making conscious decisions about our food and getting to know the local farmer's markets can make a huge impact not only to our environment, but for our local economy as well.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a great resource for those who are just learning about the Slow Food movement without being too heavy on information. I am looking forward to reading the books that Kingsolver recommends in the index as well as boosting my vegetable garden's output this spring!
While growing one's own food and slaughtering poultry at home may not be feasible to all of us urban residents, the premise of this book can still be incorporated into our own daily lives. Living in Southern California I have to wonder why am I buying Florida oranges at Vons when there are plenty more selections that are grown locally. Making conscious decisions about our food and getting to know the local farmer's markets can make a huge impact not only to our environment, but for our local economy as well.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a great resource for those who are just learning about the Slow Food movement without being too heavy on information. I am looking forward to reading the books that Kingsolver recommends in the index as well as boosting my vegetable garden's output this spring!
