Th
Southern SOIL
orm w k oo B e
reading the best and weeding the rest REVISITING LOCAL FOOD BOOKS BY LOCAL AUTHORS I love reading books about food and food systems - books on permaculture, books on food justice, cookbooks, books about gardening - well, you get the idea! The Bookworm is my opportunity to share with you the good books that I read and let you know a little about them so you can decide if you’d like to read them too. In this edition of Bookworm, I’m sharing three reviews of books from local authors that we’ve featured so far. Buy a great book and support a local author, you can’t beat that. 44
In her book The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution
it’s also essential
to Save Food, Janisse Ray discusses the vital work that
to preserve the
seed savers are doing to protect our food sources and
cultural heritage
biodiversity.
that is integrally connected to the
In her conversational approach to storytelling, Ray conveys
seed.
the dire impact that corporations have had on our collective seed supply, not only through genetic modification and
Ray’s book acts
patenting but also through the process of selecting to
as a seed itself,
preserve seeds that work well commercially regardless of
holding within
other considerations (like a little thing called taste).
it the spark of life and
But thankfully there are still those among us who are
hope that lies
working diligently to save a wide variety of heirloom plants
ready to take
through the process of seed saving - which requires a great
root within
deal of seed planting and growing as well!
the reader,
Ray has traveled the country to meet with a few of this quirky cast of characters and shares their stories and those of their seeds; conveying the message that not only is it important to protect biodiversity through seed saving but
germinating the desire to protect our plant heritage, and cultivating the need to put hands in soil and take part in the revolutionary act of gardening.
