The Santa Clara Valley, with its rich soil and sunny weather, has been home to great diversity and great innovation long before it became known as Silicon Valley.California's first immigrants from Mexico were astonished by its beauty. "The land is moist and the hills have an abundance of rosemary and herbs, sunflowers in bloom, vines as plentiful as a vineyard," wrote one. From the movie stars of Hollywood's golden era who once came to play to billionaires who grew...

Picked warm from a tree, a California apricot opens into halves as easily as if it came with a dotted line down its center. The seed infuses the core with a hint of almond; the fruit carries the scent of citrus and jasmine; and it tastes, some say, like manna from heaven. In these pages, Robin Chapman recalls the season when the Santa Clara Valley was the largest apricot producer in the world and recounts the stories of Silicon Valley's now lost orchards. From the Spaniards in the eighteen...

For centuries, California's environment has nurtured remarkable people. Ohlone Lope Inigo found a way to protect his family in troubled times on the shores of San Francisco Bay. Pioneer Juana Briones made a fortune from her rancho yet took the time to care for those in need. Innovator Thomas Foon Chew discovered a climate for success, in spite of the obstacles. Around the region that became Silicon Valley, filmmaker Charlie Chaplin found inspiration, poet Robert Louis Stevenson uncovered a...

The perfume of the orange blossoms . . . the beauty of every scene, combine to make me wonder whether I am not in Paradise,' wrote one visitor to Winter Park, Florida, in 1918. Just five miles north of Orlando, Winter Park's oak-lined brick streets and its quiet lakes have been attracting visitors since the late 19th century, when U.S. president Chester A. Arthur declared, 'This is the prettiest spot I have seen in Florida.' The New England'like city in the heart of the subtropics was once...

The remarkable, amusing and inspiring adventures of a Canadian couple who make a year-long attempt to eat foods grown and produced within a 100-mile radius of their apartment.When Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon learned that the average ingredient in a North American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate, they decided to launch a simple experiment to reconnect with the people and places that produced what they ate. For one year, they would only consume food t...

2012 IACP Award Winner in the Food Matters categorySupermarket produce sections bulging with a year-round supply of perfectly round, bright red-orange tomatoes have become all but a national birthright. But in Tomatoland, which is based on his James Beard Award-winning article, "The Price of Tomatoes," investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 billion fresh tomato industry. Fields are sprayed with...

ALA Best Book for Young Adults ∙ School Library Journal Best Book ∙ Publishers Weekly Best Book ∙ IRA/CBC Children's Choice ∙ NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language ArtsA Vietnamese girl plants six lima beans in a Cleveland vacant lot. Looking down on the immigrant-filled neighborhood, a Romanian woman watches suspiciously. A school janitor gets involved, then a Guatemalan family. Then muscle-bound Curtis, trying to win back Lateesha. Pregnant Maricela. Amir from India. A sen...

I have grown tomatoes in scorching arid regions, as well as cool alpine climates and everything in between. This is my simple guide to just getting out there to grow your tomatoes. And remember, they are so good for you. The tastiest tomato is the one you just picked from your own garden -get on with it now!

The Cheese Chronicles is an insider's look at the burgeoning world of American cheese from one lucky person who has seen more wedges and wheels, visited more cheesemakers, and tasted more delicious (and occasionally stinky) American cheese than anyone else. Liz Thorpe, second in command at New York's renowned Murray's Cheese, has used her notes and conversations from hundreds of tastings spanning nearly a decade to fashion this odyssey through the wonders of American cheese. Offer...

From the author of Europe Central, winner of the National Book Award, a journalistic tour de force along the Mexican-American border – a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle AwardFor generations of migrant workers, Imperial Country has held the promise of paradise and the reality of hell. It sprawls across a stirring accidental sea, across the deserts, date groves and labor camps of Southeastern California, right across the border into Mexico. In ...

Situated beautifully at the intersection of Michael Pollan, Ruth Reichl, and Barbara Kingsolver, Heirloom is an inspiring, elegiac, and gorgeously written memoir about rediscovering an older and still vital way of life.Fourteen years ago, Tim Stark was living in Brooklyn, working days as a management consultant, and writing unpublished short stories by night. One evening, chancing upon a Dumpster full of discarded lumber, he carried the lumber home and built a germination ...

In this intimate guide to Alberta's sustainable food scene, writer, poet, professional chef, and food advocate Dee Hobsbawn-Smith profiles more than seventy-five of the province's growers and producers. Learn the A to Z's of each producer, from Asparagus growers to Zizania cultivators, and enjoy the twenty-six original recipes, one for each type of produce.The book also examines the ground that farmers stand on: government involvement, sustainability and the environment, animal wel...