Book Reviews
Gary Paul Nabhan is one of the world's experts on the agricultural traditions of arid lands. In his new book he has visited indigenous and traditional farmers in the Gobi Desert, the Arabian Peninsula, the Sahara Desert, and Andalusia, as well as the Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Painted deserts of North America, to learn firsthand their techniques and designs aimed at reducing heat and drought stress on orchards, fields, and backyard gardens. This practical book also includes colorful "parables from the field" that exemplify how desert farmers think about increasing the carrying capacity and resilience of the land and water they steward. It is replete with detailed descriptions and diagrams of how to implement these desert-adapted practices in your own efforts to grow sustainably, with less water. This unique book is useful not only for farmers and Permaculturists in the arid reaches of the Southwest or other desert regions. Its techniques and prophetic vision for achieving food security in the face of climate change may well need to be implemented across most of North America in the next half-century, and are already applicable in most of the semiarid West, Great Plains, and the U.S. Southwest and adjacent regions of Mexico.
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig (Newtrends, Revised 2nd edition, 2000). Available through Bountiful Gardens online or call to place an order.
This book is a nutritional resource guide and a collection of recipes in one. It is a popular title at Bountiful Gardens because of its wonderful and distinctive recipes from countries and cultures around the world. This well-researched, thought-provoking guide to traditional foods contains a surprising message: Animal fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet, necessary for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels.
The author tries to show how different cultures have been able to achieve balanced and healthful diets using their own local food sources. The book provides a wide variety of possibilities for both meat-eaters and vegetarians and presents many home-cultured foods such as yogurt, miso, kraut, and sourdough, with an emphasis on the digestive benefits of enzymes found in these fermented foods. top | Newsletter Home | Article Index | Archive
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Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land
