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Shedding light on a permaculture farm: Review of “Bioshelter Market Garden”
As small farmers look for ways to cut costs and increase their profit margins, they focus more attention on the energy used on the farm. Whether they implement energy efficiency measures or find ways to produce home-grown energy
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Slow what?: Review of “Slow Gardening”
By now, I’m sure that all good Ethicurean readers are familiar with Slow Food and the tenets of this movement: the pleasure of good, clean, fair food and
Bounty hunters: A review of two new local-foods cookbooks
As the local food movement expands and the numbers of small farms, CSA programs, and farmers markets increase, so grows the crop of cookbooks aimed at helping people make the best use of that
Getting plowed: Kristin Kimball’s captivating “Dirty Life”
Kristin Kimball on her farm in Essex, N.Y. Photo by Deborah Feingold The first time I heard of Essex Farm, I was working a kitchen/garden internship at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont. The school sent me to the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s 2009 conference, where I carefully
Tipping sacred cows: Reviewing “Meat: A Benign Extravagance”
Mainstream culture and news abound with broad statements about our food system and the choices we make about what we put on the dinner table. Surely you’ve heard that if you want to save
Two cookbooks give winter vegetables a starring role
The temperatures have plunged below the freezing point, the first major snow of the season has blanketed the ground, and winter is officially here. Baby, it’s cold outside,
I am woman, hear me store: Review of “The Complete Root Cellar Book”
Now that the farming season is winding down along with my energy levels, I find that I’m really grateful that the food preservation method I lean on most for the produce harvested
Contain your enthusiasm: Review of “From Container To Kitchen”
As an apartment-dweller, I know the frustration of not having enough soil to call my own for a garden. (Why do you think
Growing with the grain: Review of “Homegrown Whole Grains”
As you may have guessed by now, I love to bake. And since part of my self-employment now entails baking goods to sell at Local Roots, I'm keenly interested both in sourcing what grains and flours I can find locally — as well as growing what I can. Thanks
Students slice and dice for a better future in ‘Pressure Cooker’ documentary
With a supervisor who doesn't mince words and likes to yell, men and women battling over hot stoves for their big chance, and a ticking clock and other on-camera conventions, Pressure Cooker could be mistaken for a
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Michael Pollan on the rise of the food movement(s)
Pollan nation: In what is ostensibly a five-book review for the June 10 New York Review of Books, journalist Michael Pollan has an epic essay charting the emergence and character of the food movement. Or, as he puts
Bringing everyone to the table: A review of “PolyCultures”
A handful of recent movies - most notably "Food, Inc." and "Fresh" - have undoubtedly boosted the number of people with something to say about national food policy. And just as the local foods movement emphasizes supporting local farms and producers, filmmakers are beginning to take a closer look at
The spirit is willing, and the fresh is weekly: Review of “A Year on the Garden Path”
For the past few weeks, I've been watching the snow drift down with deceptive lightness, only to accumulate in deep piles (18" and counting here in northeastern Ohio) that have well and truly buried any remotely green thing on the ground. While it's lovely to sit inside and watch winter's show, I also
When times get larder: “Food Security for the Faint of Heart” reviewed
The potential for disaster surrounds us every day. The aftershocks of the earthquake in Haiti may seem too big for many Americans to grasp,
Sharon, the bounty!: A review of Astyk’s “Independence Days”
Ever since the idea of going locavore, or eating local on 100-mile diets, tiptoed into the mainstream a couple of years ago, more people have chosen to support their local farmers markets and to eat fresh food in season. The old chorus continues, however: "What can a locavore eat in the winter?" Well,
