The New York Times–bestselling author “digs deep into the world of how we shop and how we eat. It’s a marvelous, smart, revealing work” (Susan Orlean, #1 bestselling author).In a culture obsessed with food—how it looks, what it tastes like, where it comes from, what is good for us—there are often more questions than answers. Ruhlman proposes that the best practices for consuming wisely could be hiding in plain sight—in the aisles of your local supermarket. Using the human story of the family-run Midwestern chain Heinen’s as an anchor to this journalistic narrative, he dives into the mysterious world of supermarkets and the ways in which we produce, consume, and distribute food. Grocery examines how rapidly supermarkets—and our food and culture—have changed since the days of your friendly neighborhood grocer. But rather than waxing nostalgic for the age of mom-and-pop shops, Ruhlman seeks to understand how our food needs have shifted since the mid-twentieth century, and how these needs mirror our cultural ones.A mix of reportage and rant, personal history and social commentary, Grocery is a landmark book from one of our most insightful food writers.“Anyone who has ever walked into a grocery store or who has ever cooked food from a grocery store or who has ever eaten food from a grocery store must read Grocery. It is food journalism at its best and I’m so freakin’ jealous I didn’t write it.” —Alton Brown, television personality“If you care about why we eat what we eat—and you want to do something about it—you need to read this absorbing, beautifully written book.” —Ruth Reichl, New York Times–bestselling author Read more

Inside these pages, you will find step-by-step instructions for a mobile broiler chicken shelter for pastured poultry that is used by farmers and homesteaders all over the country. Raising chickens on grass provides them with a healthy lifestyle and a delicious flavor. You can raise just enough of them to feed your family or scale up to include pastured poultry as a profitable part of your farm business. John Suscovich has raised thousands of chickens using these mobile shelters, a main enterprise on his farm in Connecticut. These chicken tractors were created using the best elements from other designs. They are easy to move and provide a good life for the chickens. With a little bit of creativity, they can also be modified for seasonal egg-layer housing, rabbits, ducks and forts for your kids. Not only does this book contain the plans and supply list to build your first chicken tractor, but it gives you some insight into how to use it and what mindset you should have if you are to become a happy and successful farmer. John also walks you through the light carpentry skills you need to build these chicken tractors and teaches you the most commonly used knots on a farm. You may learn these skills for this project, but you’ll be able to apply them on your farm for years to come. Read more

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Discover how raising your own goats can be a fun and profitable endeavorGoats are one of the most versatile animals you can own and they are perfect for dairy, meat and fiber, whether you’re looking to become more self-sufficient or make some money on the side. While raising goats sounds like fun, most people who want to start their own herd simply don’t know where to start. You’re probably asking yourself:Can I have goats?What breed is best for my needs?How many goats should I get?Is raising goats difficult? What do I need to raise healthy goats?Raising Goats for Beginners is a comprehensive, practical guide that not only answers these questions, but covers everything you need to know in order to raise healthy goats. This book can help you get the most out of your herd with step-by-step instructions and useful tips for beginners. You will learn all the dos and don’ts of starting and maintaining a healthy goat herd. Here’s what you’ll discover in Raising Goats for Beginners:How to pick the best goat breed for your needsHow to evaluate and purchase your goatsHow to build shelter and fencing for your herdHow to feed your goatsHow to keep your goats healthyHow to breed goats and birth kidsHow to harvest milk, meat and fiberRecipes with goat milk and meatAnd much more...Raising your own goats may have seen out of reach for many reasons; however, I’m here to tell you it’s not as difficult as it seems. I used to visit my grandma on her farm when I was a kid, and that’s where I first encountered these smart, hearty animals. I’ve kept a homestead of my own my whole life, and I’ve encountered my fair share of difficulties running a backyard homestead and raising goats. When I first started, I thought it would take years to learn all the ins and outs. In fact, it did. That’s why I’m sharing all of that knowledge with you today in one convenient place.With this book, you can save yourself time and energy by following all of the tips, tricks and advice you’ll find within. Gain meaningful knowledge in the step-by-step, easy-to-follow chapters by using this book as a reference for any of the obstacles you might find yourself facing along the way. Join thousands of others who have taken the leap to a more sustainable and enjoyable life by raising their own goats and enjoying all the benefits that come from having your own herd!Click the “Add to Cart” button now to take advantage of raising your own goats. Read more

Turkeys are an excellent source of succulent meat, rich eggs, and nutrient-dense manure, and raising them is a rewarding and profitable activity for many farmers. With helpful tips on acquiring organic certification, processing both meat and eggs, and marketing your products, you’ll have all the information you need to successfully raise your own healthy and productive turkeys. Read more

Since 1973, Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins have offered practical, hands-on instructions designed to help readers master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. There are now more than 170 titles in this series, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. Read more

This trusted handbook is a must-have for novice and seasoned beekeepers alike. With the help of this go-to reference, you'll learn how to: *Properly house your bees in all seasons *Manage your colony's nutrition *Mantain an effective pollination schedule *Prevent and treat mites and diseases *Capture a swarm *Harvest and store your honey crop Now totally redesigned and featuring color photos and graphics, the second edition also includes up-to-date information on honey bee health. Read more

Your ultimate guide to confidently starting a thriving honeybee colony, with comprehensive step-by-step instructions, accompanying video demonstrations, and support from fellow beekeepers in our dedicated online community!Beekeeping is the gift that keeps on giving.Imagine the pride of sharing your own honey with friends and family.Or the joy of watching your garden flourish as your bees work tirelessly to pollinate your plants and flowers.From beeswax and pollen to royal jelly and propolis, there are many ways to profit too!Beekeeping isn’t just a hobby…It's a journey of self-discovery and growth that will enrich your life in countless ways.“Beekeeping Blueprint,” written by seasoned beekeeper, homesteader, and YouTuber Jason Chrisman, provides the guidance and support you need to embark on this life-changing adventure confidently.Whether you're a complete beginner or an experienced beekeeper looking to expand your knowledge…This comprehensive guide will help you navigate the art and science of beekeeping, ensuring your success every step of the way.Inside "Beekeeping Blueprint," you'll discover:Essential equipment and tools to start your beekeeping journeyHow to choose the perfect hive location and create a bee-friendly environmentStep-by-step instructions to set up and manage your first hiveEffective techniques to conduct hive inspections and maintain healthy coloniesSeasonal guidance on tasks and feeding practices to support your bees year-roundInsights into bee behavior, colony hierarchy, and the world of queen beesProven methods to prevent and manage common pests and diseasesTechniques to split colonies, introduce new queens, and prevent hive driftExpert advice to harvest and process honey, beeswax, and other bee productsInspiring stories from Jason's own journey and lessons he's learned along the way"Beekeeping Blueprint" is unlike most beekeeping books…It's a comprehensive resource designed to support you every step of the way.Throughout the book, you’ll find practical video walkthroughs of key beekeeping skills featuring Jason Chrisman himself and all his years of experience.You'll feel like you have a trusted mentor by your side, guiding you through the most critical aspects of beekeeping and ensuring your success.But the support doesn't endwhen you close the book!You see, “Beekeeping Blueprint” shares its name with a worldwide community of passionate and supportive beekeepers.This welcoming online community is where you can ask questions, share your experiences, and learn from beekeepers of all skill levels—including Jason himself!Whether you need advice on handling a specific challenge or want to celebrate your latest beekeeping triumph, the “Beekeeping Blueprint” community is here to support you.With Jason's expertise and the collective knowledge of the entire community, you'll have all the resources you need to succeed as a beekeeper.Ready to discover the sweet rewards of beekeeping?Start your journey towards harvesting your own honey, supporting local ecosystems, and forging a deeper connection with nature and yourself.Order your copy of "Beekeeping Blueprint" today and join us in our buzzing community of beekeeping enthusiasts! Read more

Turn your farm into a cash cow! Ron Macher offers a host of simple strategies for increasing your farm earnings, from purchasing durable equipment to growing economically viable crops. A seasoned expert in farm efficiency, Macher shows you how to locate a lucrative niche market for your products, optimize sales, and minimize costs. Whether you’re buying a new farm or jump-starting an old one, Macher’s savvy tips will help you turn your enterprise into a profitable business. Read more

The true cost of what the global food industry throws away.With shortages, volatile prices and nearly one billion people hungry, the world has a food problem—or thinks it does. Farmers, manufacturers, supermarkets and consumers in North America and Europe discard up to half of their food—enough to feed all the world's hungry at least three times over. Forests are destroyed and nearly one tenth of the West's greenhouse gas emissions are released growing food that will never be eaten. While affluent nations throw away food through neglect, in the developing world crops rot because farmers lack the means to process, store and transport them to market.But there could be surprisingly painless remedies for what has become one of the world's most pressing environmental and social problems. Waste traces the problem around the globe from the top to the bottom of the food production chain. Stuart’s journey takes him from the streets of New York to China, Pakistan and Japan and back to his home in England. Introducing us to foraging pigs, potato farmers and food industry CEOs, Stuart encounters grotesque examples of profligacy, but also inspiring innovations and ways of making the most of what we have. The journey is a personal one, as Stuart is a dedicated freegan, who has chosen to live off of discarded or self-produced food in order to highlight the global food waste scandal.Combining front-line investigation with startling new data, Waste shows how the way we live now has created a global food crisis—and what we can do to fix it. Read more

This vivid and unforgettable expedition through the world of exotic fruit, from an author with “the talents of a food writer, investigative journalist, poet, travel writer, and humorist” (The New York Times Book Review), is being made into a documentary starring Bill Pullman. The Fruit Hunters is the engrossing story of some of Earth’s most desired foods told by an intrepid journalist and keen observer of nature—both human and botanical. Delicious, lethal, hallucinogenic, and medicinal, fruits have led nations to war, fueled dictatorships, and lured people into new worlds. Adam Gollner examines the fruits we eat and explains why we eat them (the scientific, economic, and aesthetic reasons); traces the life of mass-produced fruits (how they are created, grown, and marketed) and explores the underworld of fruits that are inaccessible, ignored and even forbidden in the Western world. Peopled with a cast of characters as varied and bizarre as the fruit it discusses—smugglers, inventors, explorers, and epicures—this extraordinary book can “fill a thousand and one summer nights with delightful reading” (The Miami Herald). Read more

The epic story of the rise and fall of the empire of cotton, its centrality to the world economy, and its making and remaking of global capitalism.
 
   Cotton is so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible, yet understanding its history is key to understanding the origins of modern capitalism. Sven Beckert’s rich, fascinating book tells the story of how, in a remarkably brief period, European entrepreneurs and powerful statesmen recast the world’s most significant manufacturing industry, combining imperial expansion and slave labor with new machines and wage workers to change the world. Here is the story of how, beginning well before the advent of machine production in the 1780s, these men captured ancient trades and skills in Asia, and combined them with the expropriation of lands in the Americas and the enslavement of African workers to crucially reshape the disparate realms of cotton that had existed for millennia, and how industrial capitalism gave birth to an empire, and how this force transformed the world.

   The empire of cotton was, from the beginning, a fulcrum of constant global struggle between slaves and planters, merchants and statesmen, workers and factory owners. Beckert makes clear how these forces ushered in the world of modern capitalism, including the vast wealth and disturbing inequalities that are with us today. The result is a book as unsettling as it is enlightening: a book that brilliantly weaves together the story of cotton with how the present global world came to exist. Read more

The New York Times bestseller and International PhenomenonOne of the Top Ten Books of 2015, Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times."It's bloody marvelous." - Helen Macdonald, New York Times bestselling author of H IS FOR HAWK"Captivating... A book about continuity and roots and a sense of belonging in an age that's increasingly about mobility and self-invention. Hugely compelling." - Michiko Kakutani, The New York TimesSome people's lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks' isn't. The first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, his family have lived and worked in the Lake District of Northern England for generations, further back than recorded history. It's a part of the world known mainly for its romantic descriptions by Wordsworth and the much loved illustrated children's books of Beatrix Potter. But James' world is quite different. His way of life is ordered by the seasons and the work they demand. It hasn't changed for hundreds of years: sending the sheep to the fells in the summer and making the hay; the autumn fairs where the flocks are replenished; the grueling toil of winter when the sheep must be kept alive, and the light-headedness that comes with spring, as the lambs are born and the sheep get ready to return to the hills and valleys.The Shepherd's Life the story of a deep-rooted attachment to place, modern dispatches from an ancient landscape that describe a way of life that is little noticed and yet has profoundly shaped the landscape over time. In evocative and lucid prose, James Rebanks takes us through a shepherd's year, offering a unique account of rural life and a fundamental connection with the land that most of us have lost. It is a story of working lives, the people around him, his childhood, his parents and grandparents, a people who exist and endure even as the culture - of the Lake District, and of farming - changes around them.Many memoirs are of people working desperately hard to leave a place. This is the story of someone trying desperately hard to stay. Read more

“You’llnever think of bees, their keepers, or the fruits (and nuts) of their laborsthe same way again.” —Trevor Corson, author of The Secret Life of LobstersAward-winning journalist Hannah Nordhaus tells the remarkable story of John Miller, one of America’s foremost migratory beekeepers, and the myriad and mysterious epidemics threatening American honeybee populations. In luminous, razor-sharp prose, Nordhaus explores the vital role that honeybees play in American agribusiness, the maintenance of our food chain, and the very future of the nation. With an intimate focus and incisive reporting, in a book perfect for fans of Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire,and John McPhee’s Oranges, Nordhaus’s stunning exposé illuminates one the most critical issues facing the world today,offering insight, information, and, ultimately, hope. Read more

Whether you’re running a farm or interested in keeping a few backyard birds, Storey’s Guide to Raising Poultry covers everything you need to know to successfully raise your own chickens, turkeys, waterfowl, and more. Stressing humane practices throughout, Glenn Drowns provides expert advice on breed selection, housing, feeding, behavior, breeding, health care, and processing your own meat and eggs. With tips on raising specialty species like doves, ostriches, and peafowl, you’ll be inspired to experiment with new breeds and add diversity to your poultry operation.  Read more

Based on the documentary THAT SUGAR FILM, this is an explosive exposé of the dangers of sugar.When Australian actor and filmmaker Damon Gameau met a girl he wanted to impress, he decided to get healthy by reducing his sugar intake. In no time he was slimmer, calmer, fitter and happier. But he was also curious: why did the elimination of sugar have such beneficial effects? He decided to experiment by eating 40 teaspoons of sugar a day over the course of 60 days. The results were staggering. Gameau gained nearly 20 pounds; he developed signs of fatty liver disease; and doctors warned him that he was on the road to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. His journey took him not just down a path to illness, but deep into an investigation into how our food is made and marketed. Gameau interviewed experts and discovered that 80% of products on our supermarket shelves contain sugar, and that 90 million Americans have fatty liver disease directly linked to their sugar consumption.Expanding on That Sugar Film, That Sugar Book offers 30 recipes, in-depth interviews, and colorful graphic images to reveal the truth behind the world's alarming and health-destroying sugar habit. It contains sensible advice on kicking the sugar addiction; lists which foods to avoid; and explains how to shop, how to read labels, and how to cook sugar-free food. A riveting, funny, meticulously well-researched, and shocking exposé, That Sugar Book is destined to change the eating habits of a generation. Read more

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Wandile Sihlobo and Johann Kirsten chose to write The Uncomfortable Truth about South Africa's Agriculture in a candid, direct and unfiltered tone, not out of disregard, but with the hope of stirring South African agricultural stakeholders from inertia that may have taken hold over time.One clear example of inertia is the endless policy discussions. When the government proposes policy positions – either good or bad – time is spent discussing these policies instead of anything substantive being done. The divisions amongst South African farmer organisations is the core issue behind the interminable conversations and this results in a 'performance of productivity' among participants in these meetings, creating an impression of progress simply because discussions are taking place.While politicians and farmer representatives debate, farmers suffer, the unemployed languish, and small towns crumble. Poor roads and rising costs choke market access, while collapsing municipalities pile pressure on agribusinesses.Things don't have to be this way, and the South African agricultural sector still has great potential to grow, increase employment, and revitalise the rural economy. This book will empower the reader with a clearer understanding of the agricultural constraints and how to overcome them and mobilise the much-needed sectorial focus to implementation.While the contents may be uncomfortable for some, this book is intended to ignite an urgent call for decisive policy and programme implementation and to demand stronger collaboration among social partners. Read more

Only once we understand the long history of human efforts to draw sustenance from the land can we grasp the nature of the crisis that faces humankind today, as hundreds of millions of people are faced with famine or flight from the land. From Neolithic times through the earliest civilizations of the ancient Near East, in savannahs, river valleys and the terraces created by the Incas in the Andean mountains, an increasing range of agricultural techniques have developed in response to very different conditions. These developments are recounted in this book, with detailed attention to the ways in which plants, animals, soil, climate, and society have interacted.Mazoyer and Roudart’s A History of World Agriculture is a path-breaking and panoramic work, beginning with the emergence of agriculture after thousands of years in which human societies had depended on hunting and gathering, showing how agricultural techniques developed in the different regions of the world, and how this extraordinary wealth of knowledge, tradition and natural variety is endangered today by global capitialism, as it forces the unequal agrarian heritages of the world to conform to the norms of profit. During the twentieth century, mechanization, motorization and specialization have brought to a halt the pattern of cultural and environmental responses that characterized the global history of agriculture until then. Today a small number of corporations have the capacity to impose the farming methods on the planet that they find most profitable. Mazoyer and Roudart propose an alternative global strategy that can safegaurd the economies of the poor countries, reinvigorate the global economy, and create a livable future for mankind. Read more