From time to time we review books and other resources that have helped us in our pursuits of simple living and sustainable farming. We hope these resources will also help you in your journey. We've broken down these resources into categories: Simple Living, Healthy Eating/Organic Cooking, Eat Local, and Homesteading/Organic Farming and Gardening.
While Amazon can be a resource for our book loving addiction we encourage purchases of books from local bookstores. They are truly a treasure worth supporting. Treat yourself to wonderful afternoon browsing books and meeting a knowledgeable, dedicated bookseller.
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Simple Living
As we aim for a simpler, more natural life, technology can be helpful (after all, you're reading this blog!) or it can become a hindrance.
Hamlet's Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age helped us think through how we might come to a reasonable relationship with technology. If we are careful and deliberate, we can learn to use technology rather than it using us.
Read our full review
here.
Not So Fast: Slow Down Solutions for Frenzied Families will help you clarify your vision and goals for simple living when it comes to the day to day needs and desires of your family and pressures of your schedule.
Read our full review
here.
Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology is a fascinating memoir of one couple's decision to live without electricity and technology for a year. The book will challenge you to think about your own philosophy of technology use and simple living, even if you don't intend to make such a radical change yourself.
Read our full review
here.
Healthy Eating/Organic Cooking
If you only own one book on natural and organic eating and cooking,
Nourishing Traditions should be it! This wonderful book contains a wealth of information on a wide variety of natural nutrition topics as well as recipes and ideas for how to incorporate healthier habits into your kitchen and lifestyle.
Read our full review
here.
Fast Food Nation -
A remarkable expose on the "food" involved in fast food. What a tremendous contrast to
grass fed beef and local, farm fresh foods!
The Cook and the Gardener is set in France but offers great insights and thought provoking discussions that will appeal to Americans seeking to live more closely to the land. The recipes in this book are sensational and follow the seasons, which makes it easier to cook them if you're working with produce from the farmers market or a CSA.
Read our full review
here.
If you're interested in baking with whole grain or alternative flours and eating seasonally, you will love
Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours. Although the author is a professional with first class credentials, the recipes are attainable for average home cooks too. The book has beautiful food photography that will surely inspire you out of your cooking ruts!
Read our full review
here.
If you're looking for an easy bread base to try, you will love
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Using your refrigerator to facilitate slow rising, the recipes in this book really do turn out exceptional bread with very little time input on your part. We do love the longer process of making bread by hand with multiple rises and kneading, but if you need a quick bread option as a backup, this is a good one.
Read our full review
here.
Food Rules: An Eater's Manual is a quick and helpful distillation of Pollan's other writings on healthy eating. This book makes a great introduction into local/natural/healthy eating and is great to have on hand to give to people who ask you why you eat that way.
Read our full review
here.
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto goes into much greater detail than the book above about what sorts of food are healthiest. The book contains great information about local eating, sustainable farming, and organic foods as well.
Read our full review
here.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals traces the origins and nutrition of four different types of meals: fast food, conventional, organic, and local/sustainable. This book is a great resource and will be eye-opening even for most natural food devotees.
Read our full review
here.
Roast Figs Sugar Snow: Winter Foods to Warm the Soul is a great addition to your cookbook collection if you try to cook seasonally. The recipes are delicious and feature unusual and tasty combinations of foods found in wintertime. The foods are hearty and warming and add variety to a seasonal diet in winter.
Read our full review
here.
Alice Waters is known for her commitment to local, seasonal cooking. We enjoy and recommend her
Chez Panisse series of cookbooks to inspire you and help you figure out what to do with what comes in your CSA basket week by week!
Read our full review
here.
The Laurel's Kitchen Breadbook: A Guide to Whole Grain Breadmaking is a wonderful comprehensive reference for baking bread at home. The book includes a lot of trouble-shooting help in case something is going wrong with your bread, and detailed step-by-step instructions that will help new bakers.
Read our full review
here.
Eat Local
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life is a helpful and informative memoir of the author's decision to eat locally with her family. The book includes myriad gardening and animal husbandry tips, as well as seasonal recipes and information on sustainable farming.
Read our full review
here.
If you're interested in eating locally, you might be interested in
Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100 Mile Diet
Read our full review
here.
Homesteading/Organic Farming and Gardening
How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine is an indispensable reference for the home gardener and the larger scale farmer. This book will give you everything you need to know to plan and harvest your best garden or crops yet.
Read our full review
here.
Soil, Grass & Cancer takes a careful look at the connection between the earth, animals, and our modern diseases. This is a critical read if you're considering farming and wondering if you should aim for organic standards or feed your animals grass or additives.
Read our full review
here.
The Fragrance of God offers a thoughtful reminder about the reasons why we garden and how we see the hand of God in our labors.
Read our full review
here.
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The Cook and the Gardener is set in France but offers great insights and thought provoking discussions that will appeal to Americans seeking to live more closely to the land. The recipes in this book are sensational and follow the seasons, which makes it easier to cook them if you're working with produce from the farmers market or a CSA.
