In this seamless diary narrative, best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver tells how she and her family relocated to southern Appalachia after suffering through years of drought in Arizona. Their purpose was to "live in a place that could feed us" by growing their own food and living among a community of local organic food growers.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle follows the family through the first year of their experiment to realign their lives with the local food chain. They find themselves eager to move away from the typical food scenario of American families: a refrigerator packed with processed, factory-farmed foods transported long distances using nonrenewable fuels. In their search for another way to eat and live, they begin to recover what Kingsolver considers our nation's lost appreciation for the American family farm.
Eaters must understand that how we eat determines how the world is used. They will with the help of this book from the Kingsolver-Hopp family. And why not make the narration of this book a family affair--since it's a chronology of "a year of conscious food choices involving abstinence from industrial food"? The process includes vegetable growing and canning, cheese-making, poultry-raising and -slaughtering, and "locovore" shopping. Hopp, Kingsolver's husband, supplies scientific asides and practical suggestions on how to make better use of the world around us. Daughter Camille suggests recipes and meal plans. The book is so jam-packed with information that listeners will want to take notes. There's a Web site, as well. And the farmyard sound effects are not to be missed. D.P.D. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
About the Author
Barbara Kingsolver's twelve books of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction include the novels The Bean Trees and The Poisonwood Bible. Translated into nineteen languages, her work has won a devoted worldwide readership and many awards, including the National Humanities Medal.
Digital Rights Information
OverDrive WMA Audiobook
Burn to CD:
Permitted
Transfer to device:
Permitted
Transfer to Apple® device:
Permitted
Public performance:
Not permitted
File-sharing:
Not permitted
Peer-to-peer usage:
Not permitted
All copies of this title, including those transferred to portable devices and other media, must be deleted/destroyed at the end of the lending period.