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heatherems 's review for:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
by Barbara Kingsolver
Having an interest in how to sustain your family on self and locally grown foods, is a pre-requisite to reading this book. I listened on CD and enjoyed the format of Barbara Kingsolver's narrative, interspersed with her daughter's and husband's takes, on a year where they grew almost all of their own fruits, vegetables, and meats or purchased locally sourced foods. This was not a book about deprivation, and my interest was piqued and broadened across many topics. For example, I enjoyed learning about making cheese, and would like to try this with my family. I didn't know much about heritage breeds of farm animals, and now hope to have a locally grown turkey on my table for Thanksgiving. (You must plan further ahead to secure a heritage breed turkey!) I learned about organizations such as SlowFood, and Locavore that promote the growth and enjoyment of locally grown foods. I thought about the Carbon footprint of eating foods out of season, and buying foods from different countries. I have even visited my local farmer's market and purchased a bushel of winter squash for storage in our dark basement to enjoy all winter long. Although Kingsolver was a little preachy at times, especially towards the end of the book, I like how she informed my thought process on eating, buying and cooking. I also have found useful the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Website, particularly the recipes. As a side-note, my children enjoyed listening to snippets of this biography, as well, and a lot of great discussions came out of the small portions that they listened to. (My children are 9, 13, 14). I do think there would be a value to owning the book for references, although I suppose most of the references are available on the website.