cloth, 225 pp., $24.95
This work of freelance journalist Jeremy N. Smith focuses on the efforts of a community-based experiment in food production for the general welfare of a specific community. Smith describes the effectiveness of neighborhood-based farms, community, and school gardens in providing the residents of Missoula, Montana, with local food produce. Challenged by a short growing season and the needs of 20 percent of the local population living below the poverty level, organizers of this effort report on their separate targets of operation, how they worked, and then changed over time. This inspiring story contains handsome photographs that graphically illustrate the volunteer efforts of different segments of society.
— Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden