The Bookshelf

NewEnglandGrown offers short book reviews as a way of introducing readers to books of interest.  We don't review just the new releases, but both old and new books that we feel our readers would enjoy.

Old Favorite: Reclaiming the Commons: Community Farms and Forests in a New England Town, Brian Donahue

Most books about sustainable agriculture focus on rural areas.  Brian Donahue believes in bringing sustainable agriculture to the suburbs.  Land Sake’s, the farm he and fellow activists started in 1980 in Weston, MA, a suburb of Boston, serves as the center of the book and a model of community engagement.

Land Sake’s is a community farm, run by a non-profit organization on land owned by the town of Weston. Donahue’s book describes the development of Land Sake’s, the process of starting the farm and convincing the town to invest in it. He details the programs that thrived (like the pick-your-own flower area and the maple syruping enterprise) and those that did not (like the apple cider venture).  Drawing heavily from the classic Changes in the Land, as well as other texts, he places the farm in a historical and natural-historical context, considering both the physical history of the place and the New England tradition of commonly-held land.

Donahue makes a convincing argument for the economic, environmental and educational benefits of community farms. Land Sake’s has served as a strong asset for the town of Weston, maintaining the beauty and New England character that draws people (and their tax money) to the area. By removing the struggle for a profit, community farms are able to invest in long-term approaches that small farmers can not afford and to test strategies that would be too risky for other farmers to consider while unproved. 

Donahue also considers the educational opportunities provided by a community farm essential to raising a new generation with respect for the environment and the work of agriculture

In his enthusiasm for community farms, Donahue remains aware that these sorts of ventures are just one small part of a network of local food producers.  He is a conservative sort of activist, looking backward to a commons tradition that can be adapted for the needs of the contemporary New England suburbs.  He is also a pragmatist, interested in trying out new ideas, but accepting that some projects may not have the local political support necessary to make them reality.  His discussion of the complicated reaction to the idea of a small-scale and sustainable lumber operation in the town forest is fascinating, revealing the conflicting underlying ideas commonly held about the relationship of man and wilderness.

 

 

New Release: The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, Sandor Ellix Katz

If Brian Donahue is the nice boy down the farmstand your mother would like you to date,  Sandor Katz is that friend from college she probably wished you had dropped by now.  Not that he’s not a nice boy, but Katz’ book is a letter from the radical edge of food activism.  His milieu ranges in the direction of trangendered guerilla gardeners and raw meat obsessives, and those uncomfortable with a strong subversive element will probably find the book occasionally off-putting.

However, there is much here to be recommended to anyone interested in food movements.  The book covers a wide range of subjects, from the fairly well-known like seed-saving, the eat-local movement, urban gardeners, pastured meat farmers, and raw milk cooperatives to the more extreme like dumpster-divers, raw food proponents, foragers, road-kill eaters, and more.  The familiar names are here – Alice Waters, Carlo Petrini, Joel Salatin – but even people well-read in the current food world will find something to learn. 

Katz does a good job of covering the context of each of the subjects he tackles. The well-footnoted text brings questions of farm worker’s rights, free trade, intellectual and  property rights, environmental effects and culture and tradition to bear on the various movements he describes.  This makes the books a good overall introduction to the world of food activism. Each chapter ends with a list of resources for those interested in learning more about each particular aspect of food activism.

Katz also makes a winning narrator.  His voice is sweet, gentle and accepting.  He expresses reservations about certain food movements, like the raw foodists, but does so in a respectful fashion.  Unfortunately, this very attitude of broad tolerance for anyone interested in food and its political or cultural ramifications leads to one major weakness in the text.  Katz ignores or seriously underplays the conflicts between certain groups.  Vegetarians and vegans can be passionately opposed to the sustainable agricultural practices that many farmers believe are only possible with the breeding and subsequent slaughter of farm animals, not to mention vegetarian opposition to the hunting of overpopulated deer, an act both hunters and conservationists believe provides some of the most ethical food available.  Conservationists can also come in conflict with people who bring their traditional plants into this country, potentially introducing invasive species that can have harmful effects on local ecologies. Katz mentions these conflicts in passing, but does not provide a historical context for them nor discuss what ramifications this disagreements may have to the future of food activism.

This complaint, however,  is a minor one.  The book certainly stands out from the recent pack of books about the problems of the industrial food system, in part because of its hopeful focus on solutions, in part because of the wide variety of approaches he documents. Though I don’t expect to start dumpster-diving any time soon – or switching to a all-raw-meat diet – I am grateful for the opportunity to be introduced to such an interesting cast of characters, all bound together in concern for way we eat.