Drum Roll Please: It’s the Summer Reading List!

I challenge anyone to make it through this 336 page book without becoming a confirmed optimist (at least for a few hours after putting down the book). Despite what the news may be telling us everyday – the world is full of amazing people changing the world around them. This book not only contains rich stories of “Local Heros” bringing positive change through food to their communities – it also provides recipes to serve as delicious accompaniment to its gorgeous photographs and uplifting essays. Get the book.

Why not? This book serves up a much loved genre (murder mystery) in a favorite setting (at the farmers market). It is a combination that is too good to pass up! Pick up this book as the perfect compliment to your brimming basket of fresh food from the farmers market. Fill a bowl with sweet fruit for a summer afternoon snack and let your cares slip away as you disappear into this suspenseful farm fresh mystery. Get the book.

It doesn’t Moo or Cockle-Doodle-Doo when you open its pages, it doesn’t have a scratch and sniff strawberry patch, and doesn’t feature any overall wearing clichés, instead this refreshing children’s book shows a slice of farm life that is quietly beautiful and as real as the stories your grandfather told you about growing up on farm. This stunningly illustrated children’s book follows the lives of two farm children through the changing seasons. Get the book.

The next issue of American Farmland is about to go to the printers. Are you a subscriber? If not, then you can secure your next issue by becoming a member of American Farmland Trust today. You will be able to enjoy farm fresh recipes, learn about inspiring programs that are making a difference for farms and food, and enjoy exclusive essays and interviews from the most respected changemakers tackling farm and food issues today. Get a subscription.

My first thought when reviewing the recipes in Chef Nischan’s Sustainably Delicious cookbook was, “Here is a chef that knows how to cook food that still has the sunshine in it.” You will see what I mean when you browse the images of his vibrant dishes. Some of the bright fresh flavors brought to his meals come from what he refers to as the “Sustainable Pantry,” which by the way he describes it – is as much a state of mind as it is the contents of your cupboard. The sustainable pantry helps eliminate those weeks where the cooking starts with braised greens and homemade whole grain pasta and tapers off to take-out night by Thursday! Right now you can take advantage of a special offer to get a signed hardback copy of Sustainably Delicious by becoming a monthly donor to American Farmland Trust.