Helen Plum Library

Investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 billion fresh tomato industry and the price we pay as a society when we take taste and thought out of our food purchases

"In this impressive anthology, Natalie Baszile brings together essays, poems, photographs, quotes, conversations, and first-person stories to examine black people's connection to the American land from Emancipation to today. In the 1920s, there were over one million black farmers; today there are just 45,000. Baszile explores this crisis, through the farmers' personal experiences. In their own words, middle aged and elderly black farmers explain why...

"Called "a veritable tree whisperer" by the Wall Street Journal, Peter Wohlleben is known across the world for his illuminating books about forests and how to help them thrive. Now, the German forester invites readers into his home for the first time in Our Little Farm, describing the steps he and his wife, Miriam, have taken to live sustainably and in harmony with nature. Peter and Miriam moved from the city to a remote forest lodge in the early...

Discover how both outdoor and indoor farms sustainably grow the food we eat throughout the year in this vibrant, rhyming picture book

Wendell Berry's profound critique of American culture has entered its sixth decade, and in this new gathering he reaches with deep devotion toward a long view of Agrarian philosophy. Mr. Berry believes that American cultural problems are nearly always aligned with their agricultural problems, and recent events have shone a terrible spotlight on the divides between our urban and rural citizens. Our communities are as endangered as our landscapes. There...

This guide gives prospective microfarmers the dirt on realistic essentials for turning a garden into a money-making enterprise. The author advises on such basics as business plans and sales techniques; profiles a range of actual working microfarms, from flowers to killer bees; and relates stories from his own microfarming

"Text and photographs take readers on a visit to the farm, including descriptions of the things, people, and animals found there. This book includes a video, which launches via a 4D app"--Publisher's website

"What does the future hold for the Midwest? A vast stretch of fertile farmland bordering one of the largest concentrations of fresh water in the world, the Midwestern US seems ideally situated for the coming challenges of climate change. But it also sits at the epicenter of a massive economic collapse that many of its citizens are still struggling to overcome. The question of what the Midwest is (and what it will become) is nothing new. As Phil Christman...

"Epic Homesteading is the ultimate guide to starting a modern, high-tech homestead with advice on growing and preserving food, raising chickens and bees, utilizing solar power, harvesting rainwater, and so much more"--

"We Are the Ark asks readers to have a sweeping change of vision for our relationship with our gardens. To inspire people to look at what we can do for the earth and all her kin, rather than seeing our patches of the planet as 'outdoor rooms' for our pleasure or 'blank pallets' for our creative visions. To Ark their land and restore a network of native plants instead of 'low maintenance' burdens. It aspires to get all schools on board. From the smallest...