Here are some of the books we have been reading and have found packed with great information. Full Circle Farm donates all of the profits from books purchased through this web site to the non profit group, Stewardship Partners. You can read more about the great work they do by visiting their Web site.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp

Novelist Kingsolver recounts a year spent eating home-grown food and, if not that, local. Accomplished gardeners, the Kingsolver clan grow a large garden in southern Appalachia and spend summers "putting food by," as the classic kitchen title goes. They make pickles, chutney and mozzarella; they jar tomatoes, braid garlic and stuff turkey sausage. Nine-year-old Lily runs a heritage poultry business, selling eggs and meat.

Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty
by Mark Winne

In Closing the Food Gap, food activist and journalist Mark Winne poses questions too often overlooked in our current conversations around food: What about those people who are not financially able to make conscientious choices about where and how to get food? And in a time of rising rates of both diabetes and obesity, what can we do to make healthier foods available for everyone?

Coming Home to Eat
by Gary Paul Nabhan

A celebration of food and culture with a social conscience, in the tradition of M. F. K. Fisher and Frances Moore Lappé.

Gary Paul Nabhan's experience with food permeates his life as a first-generation Lebanese American, as an avid gardener and subsistence hunter-gatherer, as an ethnobotanist preserving seed diversity, and as an activist devoted to recovering native food traditions to restore the health of Native Americans in the Southwest.

Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
by David R. Montgomery

Dirt, soil, call it what you want, it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern environmental calamities, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are, and have long been, using up Earth's soil.

Fields of Plenty: A Farmer's Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It
by Michael Ableman

In the face of a fast-food nation, a growing community of farmers and food artisans are producing sustainable nourishment that is respectful to the land and rich in heritage, flavour and commitment. This is their story, told by one of their own.

Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen
by Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry

Combining a straight-to-the-point exposé about organic foods (organic doesn't mean fresh, natural, or independently produced) and the how-to's of creating an affordable, easy-to-use organic kitchen, Grub brings organics home to urban dwellers. It gives the reader compelling arguments for buying organic food, revealing the pesticide industry's influence on government regulation and the extent of its pollution in our waterways and bodies.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
by Michael Pollan

A bracing and eloquent manifesto that shows readers how they might start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich their lives and enlarge their sense of what it means to be healthy.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." These simple words go to the heart of Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, the well-considered answers he provides to the questions posed in the bestselling The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally
by Alisa Smith, J.B. Mackinnon

The authors write about their experiment: For one year they would eat only food produced within 100 miles of their Vancouver home.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan

The surprising answers Pollan offers to the simple question posed by this book have profound political, economic, psychological, and even moral implications for all of us. Beautifully written and thrillingly argued, The Omnivore’s Dilemma promises to change the way we think about the politics and pleasure of eating.

Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots
by Sharon Lovejoy

Sharon Lovejoy presents 12 spirited, easy-to-implement ideas for theme gardens that parents and kids can grow together. Illustrated throughout by the author's own lyrical watercolors, each garden includes a plan, the planting recipe — seeds, seedlings, and growing instructions spelled out step-by-step — and activities. There's the Pizza Patch , a giant-size wheel garden planted in "slices" of tomatoes, zucchini, oregano, and basil. A Flowery Maze to get lost in. A Moon Garden of night-blooming flowers, including a moonflower tent. And Mother Nature's Medicine Chest.

Sharing the Harvest
by Elizabeth Henderson and Robyn Van En and Joan Dye Gussow

In Sharing the Harvest, the authors lay out the basic tenets of CSA, provide useful information for both farmers and consumers on starting and running a successful community farm project, and describe hundreds of useful strategies that have worked (or not worked) for CSAs from Alaska to Florida. An inspirational yet highly practical handbook for a growing movement, Sharing the Harvest is a must-read for: Farmers, Consumers, Backyard gardeners, Food activists, chefs, and others.

Slow Food: The Case for Taste (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)
by Carlo Petrini

Slow Food is poised to revolutionize the way Americans shop for groceries, prepare and consume their meals, and think about food. The book not only recalls the origins, first steps, and international expansion of the movement from the perspective of its founder, it is also a powerful expression of the organization's goal of engendering social reform through the transformation of our attitudes about food and eating. As "Newsweek" described it, the Slow Food movement has now become the basis for an alternative to the American rat race, the inspiration for "a kinder and gentler capitalism."

Other publications we recommend
(purchase information listed by publication)

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SARE 20/20: Celebrating Our First 20 Years, Envisioning the Next
Published annually, 12-20 pages

This special 20th anniversary edition chronicles 20 years of agricultural innovation–from SARE’s beginning in 1988 to present-day stories of farmers, ranchers, researchers and educators working across America to develop and implement sustainable marketing and production practices.

Check out our recommended Cookbooks as well!   Just click here.