Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp (2008, Paperback, Reprint)

This week it is tomatoes...last time it was spinach, right? The food that we eat is making us sick and Barbara Kingsolver has spent a lot of time thinking about why. Being the courageous woman she is, Barbara has not only thought about the topic, she has changed her life based on her conclusions. This book is her journal as she and her family reconnect with food.

I've read all of Barbara's books. I confess that when my husband and I lost our high-tech jobs in the dot.com crash in Minnesota and were looking around for what to do next the inspiration for our move to Tucson was her books. Her description of the way that the Santa Catalina mountains blush pink just before the sun sets is absolutely true. I try to be outside every night to watch it happen! I built an organic garden here in Tucson and learned to plant with the Sonoran desert's FIVE seasons as described in Barbara's Tucson books.

So of course, I was thrilled to find out that her long awaited next book, Animal,Vegetable, Mineral was coming out last year and rushed out to buy it. I had been wondering what she was up to having only read a few magazine articles by her and hearing rumors that she had left Tucson.

Well, it turns out, that she is a more serious gardener than I am. It is touch and go feeding a family out of a Tucson garden. This year we had a "cold" March - my tomatoes weren't happy because their roots were cold and didn't set fruit and now that it is June and they are ready to set fruit it is 109 degrees and the fruit is splitting in the heat and the pollen is too sticky to move anyway. So -- Barbara and her family up and moved to an old farm in Appalachia where there are FOUR seasons and regular rain and the tomatoes pile up so high that she has to can them.

There are great recipes in this book - my 7-year-old will never look at cheese quite the same way again after making some with me and watching milk curdle! I'm a big believer in raising a child to know where his food comes from and this book was an inspiration. It is also really funny! I don't want to give anything away - but there is this scene about trying to get farm animals pregnant that had me laughing so loud that I woke my whole household up! (Yes...I was up reading past my bedtime!)

I'm researching a new line of "thoughtful gifts" to sell here on eBay and one of my muses is definitely Barbara. I'm looking for ways to help ordinary people "know where their food has been" and restore some folk wisdom in what can be a very crazy world where modern medicine can help you when you are sick, but not help you get well and factory-in-the-field fruits and vegetables, let alone animal products, can be poison.

What do you think? Have you read the book? What is your favorite recipe? Are your tomatoes splitting in the heat?