Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in Review

Barbara Kingsolver and family have an enticing story to share about their life journey to eat locally, from their own farm. They even go through states to make this happen to live on procured farmland and eat what they grow.

The book discuses their journey, success, hardships and shares the beauty in experiencing growing their own food, from tomatoes to turkeys. In addition to cheese, bread, and how they secured foods that they didn't grow. Exclusions did apply.

The book is broken into months of the year as they share all of their experiences on their farm throughout each month. In harvest months, they describe the beauty of how foods grow, such as asparagus, to the full baskets and overgrowth of squash.

The book shares history of food, information about farming, organics, and the food industry, which will make you question every morsel of food that you decide to even put on your plate, before it ever reaches the confines of your mouth.

The story of this family includes some of their delicious recipes that they have procured when trying to find something to do with excess squash.

The family is realistic in their endeavor to live on their own farm, as local as it can get for a year and they provide details of their food stores for the winter as well as how simple cooking at home can and should be.

For anyone learning how to grow their own vegetable garden, understand the behind-the-scenes of the food business, or simplify food for their own families, I recommend this book.

This is an excellent non-fiction work that provides humor, realism, and admittedly some disgusting facts.