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LINKS & RESOURCES
Here is a sampling of websites and books compiled by the SFUSA Programs Department that focus on issues ranging from sustainable agriculture and food policy to local foodways and sense of place. This is not a static list but a growing reference for members and the general public on a wide variety of issues related to good, clean and fair food.
Awards
Please consider nominating an Ark Producer for the Betsy Lydon Ark Award!
Established in 2004 by Jeffrey Lydon, our Betsy Lydon Award recognizes a US farmer, grower or food producer, whose work--if better known and celebrated-- would benefit the wider community. The awardee's accomplishments reflect Slow Food USA's vision of sustainable, socially just and delicious food; regional diversity; and healthy food communities. The award also serves as a memorial to Betsy Lydon, whose life and work
profoundly expressed her passionate support for local producers.
Award
recipients receive a money grant, travel and accommodations to Slow Food Nation, travel and accommodations to Terra Madre, and support in marketing their product and reaching a wider audience. Send inquiries to: lydonaward@slowfoodusa.org.
Click on the links to download the Nomination Form and more background information.
Foodways/Folklore/Folklife
Webography
America Eats Exhibit
In the 1930s the federal government, under the auspices of the Work Progress Administration (WPA), created the Federal Writers' Project to provide work for unemployed professionals during the depression. One task was to chronicle 1930s American foodways. Each region had its own “America Eats” team. This remarkable WPA project has never been published. Their writings, photographs and scripts for weekly radio programs has never been published and are tucked away in collections around the country. Learn more about it through the Kitchen Sister’s Hidden Kitchens program about America Eats.
American Folklife Center
The American Folklife Center website is an introduction to the activities of the American Folklife Center and its Archive of Folk Culture, and includes news about programs and activities, online presentations of multiformat collections, and other resources to facilitate folklife projects and study.
The American Folklore Society
The American Folklore Society website provides an overview of the society’s activities, the field of folklore, and to the work of folklorists.
Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism
This site, run by the University of Louisiana-Lafayette’s Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism, provides a guide to Louisiana's vast cultural resources.
The Cultural Conservancy
The Cultural Conservancy is a Native American nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of indigenous cultures and their ancestral lands.
Food History News
Food History News hosts this website which includes food history news, a directory of food and beverage museums and collections, historic recipes, information debunking fake foodlore, and links to culinary historian groups.
Hidden Kitchens
Hidden Kitchens is a series on NPR's Morning Edition that explores the world of street-corner cooking, hidden kitchens, legendary meals and eating traditions -- how communities come together through food.
International Storytelling Center
The International Storytelling Center provides the experiences, knowledge, and tools necessary to inspire and empower individuals and families, organizations and institutions, and communities and cultures around the nation and the world to use storytelling to create positive change.
Jack Tales
A project of Media Working Group, Jack Tales is a storytelling resource for students, teachers and seekers that includes listings of websites, storytellers, books, and recordings.
Key Ingredients - America By Food
This is the online educational companion to the Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibition, Key Ingredients: America by Food. Explore 500 years of American Food and the American Cookbook Project and find out where the exhibition is headed next.
Louisiana Folklife Center – Louisiana Voices
The Louisiana Folklife Center, an agency of Northwestern State University of Louisiana, has been involved in folklife programs of public interest. The Folklife Center is a research facility that coordinates the Natchitoches/NSU Folklife Festival and serves as an archival repository for many folklife materials.
National Council for the Traditional Arts
NCTA is the nation's oldest private non-profit presenting organization that deals with folk, ethnic and tribal arts. Their site provides information on all past and current activities (which include festivals, tours, concerts, recordings and other media programs). Their links list is small but eclectic and includes several independent record labels that specialize in various forms of traditional music.
National Storytelling Network
NSN is a non-profit, member driven organization dedicated to advancing the art of storytelling - as a performing art, teaching aid, and cultural transformation process.
National Task Force on Folk Arts and Education
Under this sponsorship of City Lore, this task force is a national advocacy network of folklorists, traditional artists and other cultural specialists, working for he inclusion of folk and traditional culture in the nation’s education. Their C.A.R.T.S. website (Cultural Arts Resources for Teachers and Students) includes national and regional resources for folklife and education, national listings for teachers workshops, interactive activities, and more.
Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is a research and educational unit of the Smithsonian Institution promoting the understanding and continuity of diverse, contemporary grassroots cultures in the United States and around the world. The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage provides two free, downloadable guides to conducting local histories: For The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide on conducting local histories, click here. For Folklife and Fieldwork: A Layman’s Introduction to Field Techniques, click here.
Southern Foodways Alliance
The Southern Foodways Alliance documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South. SFA stages symposia on food culture, produces documentary films, publishes compendiums of great writing, and preserves, promotes, and chronicles the region’s culinary standard bearers.
Story Corps
A national project to instruct and inspire people to record each other’s stories in sound.
Bibliography
Algren, Nelson, David E. Schoonover. America Eats. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1992.
In the Thirties, before he made his name with The Man With the Golden Arm, Algren was one of several soon-to-be-famous hungry writers hired by the WPA for the Illinois Writers Project's regional guides. Algren's guide to midwestern food customs, though WW II disrupted the project, was finally published in 1992.
Civitello, Linda. Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People, 2nd edition. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2007
Now in its second edition, Civitello’s Cuisine and Culture is an illuminating account of how history shapes our diets.
Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. New York:Oxford University Press, 1999.
Over 20 years in the making, Alan Davidson's Oxford Companion to Food is a huge and authoritative dictionary of 2,650 entries on just about every conceivable foodstuff, seasoning, cuisine, cooking method, historical survey, significant personage, and explication of myth and it is supplemented by some 40 longer articles on key items.
Divina, Fernando and Marlene. Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2004
A comprehensive cookbook covering the full range of native cuisine from all the diverse original inhabitants of the Americas including the North American Plains tribes as well as from the peoples of Mexico, South America, the Arctic, and even Hawaii.
Egerton, John, ed. Cornbread Nation I: The Best of Southern Food Writing. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
The first volume in a semi-annual collection, Cornbread Nation gathers the best of recent Southern food writing. In fifty entries--original features and selections previously published in magazines and journals--contributors celebrate the people, places, traditions, and tastes of the American South.
Elie, Lolis Eric, ed. Cornbread Nation 2: The United States of Barbecue. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
Southern barbecue and barbecue traditions are the primary focus of Cornbread Nation 2, the Southern Foodways Alliance’s second collection of the best of Southern food writing.
Harris, Patricia, David Lyon and Sue McLaughlin. The Meaning of Food. Guilford: The Globe Pequot Press, 2005.
This book explores the role of food in our lives, going on location to thirteen ethnic communities across the United States and examining, through stories, pictures, and interviews with food experts, the many ways that food is an expression of our humanity. It parallels a three-part PBS series hosted by acclaimed New York chef Marcus Samuelsson.
Levenstein, Harvey. Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America
Revised Edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
In this sweeping history of food and eating in modern America, Harvey Levenstein explores the social, economic, and political factors that have shaped the American diet since 1930.
Levenstein, Harvey. Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
In this wide-ranging and entertaining study Harvey Levenstein tells of the remarkable transformation in how Americans ate that took place from 1880 to 1930.
Lundy, Ronni, ed. Cornbread Nation 3: Foods of the Mountain South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005.
The stories, poems, and essays gathered in Cornbread Nation 3: Foods of the Mountain South were born along the winding roads of Appalachia, in the vales of the Ozarks, and in the flatlands beyond, where mountain people traveled in the hillbilly diaspora. Here, wisdom is gleaned in coal-mining camps, at roadside vegetable stands, at dinners on church grounds, and on shady front porches.
Nathan, Joan. The New American Cooking. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
The New American Cooking by Food Culture USA guest curator, Joan Nathan, is based on years of fieldwork in communities across the United States. Through the voices of cooks, chefs, and growers, Nathan describes the union of tradition and innovation in the contemporary American food landscape.
Mariani, John F. The Dictionary of American Food and Drink. New York: Hearst Books, 1994.
A food-lover's resource containing more than 2,000 terms and descriptions that detail American gastronomy's 300-plus-year history, more than 500 recipes, and a wealth of culinary lore and anecdotes.
Menzel, Peter and Faith D’Alusio. Hungry Planet: What The World Eats. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005.
Photographer Menzel and writer D'Aluisio introduce us to 30 families, representing every continent, each family photographed with the food they had for the week they were interviewed. The household range is from the most affluent in the developed countries to the neediest.
Oliver, Sandy. Saltwater Foodways: New Englanders and Their Food at Sea and Ashore in the Nineteenth Century. Mystic: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1995.
Written by Food History News editor Sandy Oliver, this history of New England foodways also pairs authentic recipes with updated modern versions. The book combines color photographs of dishes made from these recipes with black-and-white photographs and prints.
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Producing a Slow Dinner
Webography
Chefs Collaborative
Chefs Collaborative works with chefs and the greater food community to celebrate local foods and foster a more sustainable food supply. The Collaborative inspires action by translating information about our food into tools for making knowledgeable purchasing decisions. Through these actions, Collaborative members embrace seasonality, preserve diversity and traditional practices, and support local economies.
The Earth Dinner
Organic Valley Family of Farms’ guide for how to organize a local, sustainable and organic foods dinner in honor of Earth Day. The on-line guide and Earth Dinner Creativity CardsTM (for purchase from Organic Valley) share ideas for how to explore where each ingredient on your Earth Day dinner table comes from with your guests.
Getcha Grub On
An online resource and companion Website to the book, Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. The site includes recipes, community resources and ideas on how to plan a Grub Party in your area.
Slow Food International – Convival Pursuits
Convivial Pursuits is Slow Food International’s on-line guide to organizing Slow Food activities, projects and events. This guide includes stories of convivia events around the world.
Slow Food USA – Planning an Endangered Foods Meal
Tips from SFUSA Ark-Presidia Committee member Elissa Rubin-Mahon on how to create an endangered foods meal with Ark of Taste products
Sustainable Table
Sustainable Table celebrates the sustainable food movement, educates consumers on food-related issues and works to build community through food. Here are some of Sustainable Table’s ideas related to hosting a home-cooked, locally grown dinner party.
Bibliography
Joachim, David and Rochelle Davis. Fresh Choices: More than 100 Easy Recipes for Pure Food When You Can't buy 100% Organic. Emmaus:Rodale, 2004.
Filled with more than 100 dishes, Fresh Choices confronts the issues consumers face when they want to know where their food comes from. The book also includes lists for buying seasonal produce, a resource section, and information on buying the purest and safest meats, poultry, seafood, and dairy products.
Lamb Hayes, Joanne and Lori Stein, with Maura Webber. Recipes from America's Small Farms: Fresh Ideas for the Season's Bounty. New York:Villard, 2003.
Culled from stakeholders in the local and seasonal food movement, the compiled recipes hail from small family farms, CSA members, and chefs. Each chapter provides details about the history, characteristics, and nutritional qualities of specific fruits and vegetables.
Lappé, Anna and Bryant Terry. Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. Jeremy P. New York:Tarcher/Penguin, 2006.
An engaging exposé on industrial food and chemical agriculture paired with hands-on tools and menus to create healthier lives for ourselves and our communities.
Peterson, John and Angelic Organics, with Lesley Littlefield Freeman. Farmer John's Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables. Layton:Gibbs Smith, 2006.
Created by the cooks at Angelic Organics’ farm kitchen and the Angelic Organics’ shareholders, the recipes and preparation tips for more than 35 vegetables are just one inspiring aspect of this book. Stories, fresh insights and intriguing “food for thought” by nutrition experts, enthusiastic farm shareholders, dedicated field hands, and Farmer John himself introduce new ways to think about food and farms.
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Sustainable Agriculture
Webography
American Community Gardening Association
ACGA and its member organizations work to promote and support all aspects of community food and ornamental gardening, urban forestry, preservation and management of open space, and integrated planning and management of developing urban and rural lands.
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) is a nonprofit membership organization working to protect over 150 breeds of livestock and poultry from extinction. Founded in 1977, ALBC is the pioneer organization in the U.S. working to conserve historic breeds and genetic diversity in livestock.
Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas
ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service is managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and is funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. It provides information and other technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, extension agents, educators, and others involved in sustainable agriculture in the United States.
Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association
BFGA sees Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and biodynamic farms and gardens as an essential resource for healthy, nutritious food, environmentally wise farming or gardening and community development.
Center for Rural Affairs
The Center for Rural Affairs has evolved into one of the nation’s leading rural organizations known for our pioneering work to rebuild rural America and our national work to reform federal policy.
Center for Sustainable Environments
Northern Arizona University’s Center for Sustainable Environments’ programs address two critical issues challenging the survival of humanity and other species on this planet: (1) reducing the impacts of food production, transport and processing on biodiversity, food security, water and energy consumption; and (2) reducing the ecological impacts of energy use, water use and waste production associated with building, communities and transportation systems.
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
The Community Alliance with Family Farmers is building a movement of rural and urban people to foster family-scale agriculture that cares for the land, sustains local economies and promotes social justice.
Cornucopia Institute
The Cornucopia Institute is dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. Through research, advocacy, and economic development the Institute’s goal is to empower farmers both politically and through marketplace initiatives. Its national survey of organic dairy products helps consumers find regional producers using best practices and ethics.
Earth Pledge
Earth Pledge promotes sustainable development by identifying and implementing innovative technologies that balance human and natural systems. Earth Pledge delivers viable, replicable models to government, industry, and communities nationwide.
The Ecological Farming Association
The Ecological Farming Association is dedicated to the development of ecologically-based food systems, both domestically and throughout the world by educating farmers, the agriculture industry, and other stewards of the land about practical and economically viable techniques of ecological agriculture, informing consumers and policy makers about ecological food production and its connection to the health of people and communities, and promoting alliances between individuals and organizations who share our vision of a transformed global food system.
Family Farm Defenders
Family Farm Defenders’ mission is to create a farmer-controlled and consumer-oriented food and fiber system, based upon democratically controlled institutions that empower farmers to speak for and respect themselves in their quest for social and economic justice. FFD has worked to create opportunities for farmers to join together in new cooperative endeavors, form a mutual marketing agency, and forge alliances with consumers through providing high quality food products while returning a fair price to farmers.
Farmers Market Online
Set up like an open-air farmers' market where vendors offer food, crafts, gifts and supplies, this website provides a space where shoppers from around the world can meet, correspond and purchase products direct from the farm.
Farmland Information Center
The Farmland Information Center is a clearinghouse for information about farmland protection and stewardship. It is a partnership between the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and American Farmland Trust.
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment
GRACE promotes community-based solutions for the production and consumption of food and energy. Working with research, policy, consumer and grassroots communities, GRACE raises public awareness and advances innovative solutions to create an economically and environmentally viable future, and eliminate practices that are harmful to the environment and public health.
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements
Leading the organic movements worldwide, IFOAM implements the will of its broad based constituency - from farmers' organizations to multinational certification agencies, ensuring the credibility and longevity of organic agriculture as a means to ecological, economic and social sustainability.
The International Institute for Ecological Agriculture
The International Institute for Ecological Agriculture is dedicated to healing the planet while providing for the human community by education and implementation of socially just, ecological, resource conserving forms of agriculture; the basis of all sustainable societies.
The Land Institute
The Land Institute is a non-profit organization that seeks to develop an agriculture that will save soil from being lost or poisoned while promoting a community life at once prosperous and enduring.
Local Harvest
Local Harvest is a public nationwide directory of small farms, farmers markets, and other local food sources. The search engine helps people find products from family farms, local sources of sustainably grown food, and encourages them to establish direct contact with small farms in their local area.
The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture
The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture is a diverse nationwide partnership of individuals and organizations cultivating grassroots efforts to engage in policy development processes that result in food and agricultural systems and rural communities that are healthy, environmentally sound, profitable, humane and just.
National Family Farm Coalition
The National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) provides a voice for grassroots groups on farm, food, trade and rural economic issues to ensure fair prices for family farmers, safe and healthy food, and vibrant, environmentally sound rural communities here and around the world. The NFFC represents family farm and rural groups in 30 states whose members' face the challenge of the deepening economic recession in rural communities caused primarily by low farm prices and the increasing corporate control of agriculture.
Native Seeds Search
Native Seeds/SEARCH (NS/S) is a non-profit conservation organization working to conserve, distribute and document the adapted and diverse varieties of agricultural seed, their wild relatives and the role these seeds play in cultures of the American Southwestern and northwest Mexico. NS/S safeguards 2,000 varieties of arid-land adapted agricultural crops and promotes the use of these ancient crops and their wild relatives by distributing seeds to traditional communities and to gardeners world wide.
Organic Consumers Association
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots non-profit public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics.
Organic Farming Research Foundation
OFRF’s integrated strategy of grantmaking, policy, education and networking initiatives supports organic farmers’ immediate information needs while moving the public and policymakers toward greater investment in organic farming systems.
The Rodale Institute Farming Resources
The Rodale Institute’s website reaches a global community of food producers to exchange valuable “farmer-to-farmer know-how.” http://www.NewFarm.org presents expert resources for crop and livestock production, direct marketing, local food systems, policy campaigns and community-building collaborations. This website is an electronic magazine covering the successes and challenges of organic and sustainable farming nationwide and beyond.
Seed Savers Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) is a non-profit organization of gardeners who save and share heirloom seed. SSE is saving the world’s diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.
The Soil Association
The Soil Association is a British non-profit organization offering technical assistance and information for anyone considering going organic.
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
Since 1988, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has helped advance farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities through a nationwide research and education grants program. The program, part of USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, funds projects and conducts outreach designed to improve agricultural systems.
USDA's Alternative Farming Systems Information Center
The Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) specializes in identifying resources about sustainable food systems and practices in support of USDA's effort to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture and farmers worldwide.
Government Agencies
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information.
The National Agricultural Library
The National Agricultural Library is one of four national libraries of the United States, with locations in Beltsville, Maryland and Washington, D.C. It houses one of the world's largest and most accessible agricultural information collections and serves as the nexus for a national network of state land-grant and U.S. Department of Agriculture field libraries.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service
The National Agricultural Statistics Service provides timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture.
National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation
The National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (NCGRP) conserves genetic resources of crops and animals important to US agriculture and landscapes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
The USDA provides national leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, and related issues based on sound public policy, the best available science, and efficient management.
USDA Economic Research Service
The Economic Research Service is a primary source of economic information and research in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.
Publishers
Acres U.S.A.
Acres U.S.A. is the premier source of books on organic/sustainable farming and eco-living, each hand-selected by the editors of Acres U.S.A, North America's oldest, largest magazine covering commercial-scale organic and sustainable farming.
Chelsea Green
Chelsea Green Publishing is regarded as the preeminent publisher of books on sustainable living. While continuing its commitment to remain at the forefront of information about green building, organic growing, and renewable energy – the practical aspects of sustainability – Chelsea Green is dedicated to publish for a new politics of sustainability, nurturing the voices of those who see ever-widening disparities of wealth, the collapse of rural economies, the hegemony of industrial agriculture, the build up of toxics in the environment and other accumulating costs of an ever-accelerating, ever-expanding economy based on material wealth.
Good Earth Publications
Good Earth Publications publishes and sells books, training materials and courses as leveraged change agents that are directed towards life-affirming models. These models are regenerative, sustainable and life supporting for all beings of our planet.
Storey Publishing
Book publishers of titles on country wisdom, do-it-yourself, farming, gardening, and well-being. Their catalog also includes respected guides on a range of livestock.
Bibliography
Ashworth, Suzanne. Seed to Seed, Second Edition. Decorah:Seed Savers Exchange, 2002.
This complete seed-saving guide describes specific techniques for 160 vegetables, including botanical classifications, flower structure and pollination, population size, isolation distances, and techniques for caging, hand-pollination, harvesting, drying, cleaning and storage. This newly updated and greatly expanded Second Edition now includes how to start each vegetable from seed, which has turned the book into a complete growing guide. Expert gardeners from seven regions of the U.S. have shared their seed-starting techniques. An invaluable, comprehensive reference book for maintaining heirlooms and preserving our vegetable heritage.
Christman, Carolyn J., D. Phillip Sponenberg, and Donald E. Bixby. A Rare Breeds Album of American Livestock. Pittsboro:American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, 1998.
A full-color guide to 70 rare breeds of asses, cattle, goats, horses, pigs and sheep. It includes descriptions of each breed's history, characteristics and uses.
Coleman, Eliot, Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long. White River Junction:Chelsea Green Publishing, 1999.
Eliot Coleman introduces the surprising fact that most of the United States has more winter sunshine than the south of France. He shows how North American gardeners can successfully use that sun to raise a wide variety of traditional winter vegetables in backyard cold frames and plastic covered tunnel greenhouses without supplementary heat. Coleman expands upon his own experiences with new ideas learned on a winter-vegetable pilgrimage across the ocean to the acknowledged kingdom of vegetable cuisine, the southern part of France, which lies on the 44th parallel, the same latitude as his farm in Maine.
Coleman, Eliot. The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener. White River Junction:Chelsea Green Publishing, 1995.
With more than 45,000 sold since 1988, The New Organic Grower has become a modern classic. In this newly revised and expanded edition, master grower Eliot Coleman continues to present the simplest and most sustainable ways of growing top-quality organic vegetables. Coleman updates practical information on marketing the harvest, on small-scale equipment, and on farming and gardening for the long-term health of the soil.
Damrosch, Barbara. The Garden Primer, Second Edition. New York:Workman Publishing, 2008.
The beloved classic is revised front-to-back. The new edition has gone 100% organic. It reflects the latest research on plants, soils, tools, and techniques and there is updated and expanded information on planning a garden, recommended plants, and best tools. Ecological issues are addressed much more extensively, covering lawn alternatives, the benefits of native species, wildlife-friendly gardens, and how to avoid harmful invasive species. More attention is paid to plants appropriate to the South, Southwest, and West Coast, while cold-climate gardeners are given detailed advice on how to extend the growing season.
Earth Pledge Foundation. Sustainable Cuisine White Papers. New York:Earth Pledge Foundation, 2000.
A small book with a large message, Sustainable Cuisine White Papers is a collection of 39 essays on the link between food quality, environmental issues and culinary traditions. An eclectic group of chefs, farmers, food writers, environmental experts and others offer food for thought that is all at once whimsical and real.
Ekarius, Carol. Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. North Adams:Storey Publishing, LLC, 2007.
More than 128 birds strut their stuff across the pages of Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds, the ultimate primer for farmers and fanciers alike. Admire the handsome black and white plumage of Lakenvelder roosters, read the fascinating history of the Blue Hens of Delaware, and marvel at the petite size and toylike appearance of Call ducks. And if you’re curious to know which heritage turkeys are making a comeback, look no further. This definitive guide to North American barnyard and wild fowl includes a brief history of each breed, detailed descriptions of identifying characteristics, and colorful photography that celebrates the birds’ quirky personalities and charming good looks.
Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia II: A Source Book of Edible Plants, 2nd edition. Vista:Kampong Publications, 1998.
Revised and updated. Listing 3000 species of food plants and 7000 varieties, this remarkable compendium provides both useful descriptive information and used and lore, plus sources for seed and nursery stock. New features include an easier-to-use index and several new usage categories. An excellent reference for gardeners, small-scale and alternative farmers.
Lee, Andy, Patricia Foreman, and Gene Logsdon. Every Chicken Owner's Guide to Grazing Gardens and Improving Pastures. Buena Vista:Good Earth Publications, 2002.
This is the book that tells you just about everything you need to know to raise poultry on pasture from the egg up through processing. Based on years of hands-on experiences, success and failures the authors hold back nothing about the realities, advantages and disadvantages and the rewards of small-scale poultry production systems for income and community food self-sufficiency. Includes hard-to-find information on raising turkeys and small-scale breeder flocks and incubation production.
Macher, Ron. Making Your Small Farm Profitable. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC, 1999.
This practical, step-by-step guide to operating a small farm in the new millennium examines twenty alternative farming enterprises. Learn how to target niche markets and sustain a farm's biological and economic health.
Mettler, Jr., DVM, John J. Basic Butchering of Livestock & Game. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC, 1986.
This book is for anyone who hunts, farms, or buys large quantities of meat. The author takes the mystery out of slaughtering and butchering by providing clear instructions including information on meat inspection, and processing and preserving.
Pangman, Judy. Chicken Coops - 45 Building Plans for Housing Your Flock. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC, 2006.
Featured designs include basic easy-to-assemble hoop houses, A-Frames, and multi-storied wooden structures, as well as larger models for small commercial farms. The book includes plans for a variety of moveable coops and low-budget coops constructed from found and repurposed materials. A 16-page color section shows detailed photos of many of the featured coop plans, as well as some amazing kits and one-of-a-kind coops built from recyclables.
Porter, Valerie. Mason's World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types, and Varieties 5th Edition. Oxfordshire:CABI Europe, 2002.
The aim of this dictionary is to list the livestock names and synonyms that may be encountered in the literature, including those not only of breeds' but also of other identifiable groups, types, and varieties that have a common origin, or are similar in appearance or are geographically linked. Each entry includes the current recommended English name, region or country of origin, notes on usage, followed by a brief physical description of the breed. Foreign names and synonyms are listed to aid in identification. An important reference tool for anyone interested in breed derivation and history.
Ruechel, Julius. Grass-Fed Cattle. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC, 2006.
As more consumers discover the benefits of grass-fed beef – sustainability, good taste, antibiotic-free – demand continues to grow. For any farmer interested in entering this profitable specialty area, here is the first complete manual on raising, caring for, and marketing grass-fed cattle. Author Julius Ruechel includes advice on herd selection, breeding, pasture management, fencing, winter grazing, diseases, equipment, slaughter, labeling, marketing, and financial planning.
Sayer, Maggie. Storey's Guide to Raising Meat Goats. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC, 2007.
Offers valuable information on every aspect of acquiring, caring for, managing, and marketing meat goats, including: selection, behavior, nutrition, disease prevention, health care, transportation, handling, breeding, showing, and competition.
Seed Savers Exchange. Garden Seed Inventory, Sixth Edition. Decorah:Seed Savers Exchange, 2005.
A comprehensive inventory of 274 U.S. and Canadian mail-order seed catalogs with varietal descriptions and ordering information for 8,494 standard (non-hybrid) vegetables. This updated and expanded Sixth Edition lists 2,657 newly introduced varieties, many of which are heirlooms obtained from Seed Savers Yearbook or Heritage Farm’s seed collections. Vegetable gardeners can search everything commercially available to locate varieties perfect for their climate and resistant to local diseases and pests. Unique sourcebook widely used by gardeners and plant breeders as a preservation tool to purchase endangered varieties while sources still exist.
Sponenberg, Phil and Donald Bixby. Managing Breeds for a Secure Future. Pittsboro:American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, 2007.
Both a theoretical exposition and a user's guide, this book addresses the many challenges of maintaining genetic diversity within species and breeds of domesticated livestock and poultry. It examines conservation issues and provides practical approaches for developing successful strategies for securing both standardized breeds and landraces.
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Local Food and Food Security
Webography
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
This is the companion website to Barbara Kingsolver’s book of the same name, which documented her family’s year of procuring food from local sources. In addition to commentary from Kingsolver, husband Steven L. Hopp and daughter Camille Kingsolver, the website provides recipes and links to other important local food and food security resources.
Center for Food and Justice
With its vision of a sustainable and socially just food system, the Center for Food & Justice at Occidental College engages in collaborative action strategies, community capacity building, and research and education.
Chefs Collaborative
Chefs Collaborative works with chefs and the greater food community to celebrate local foods and foster a more sustainable food supply. The Collaborative inspires action by translating information about our food into tools for making knowledgeable purchasing decisions. Through these actions, Collaborative members embrace seasonality, preserve diversity and traditional practices, and support local economies.
Community Food Security Coalition
The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) is a North American network of social and economic justice, environmental, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, community development, labor, anti-poverty, anti-hunger, and other groups. CFSC provides a variety of training and technical assistance programs for community food projects, supports the development of farm-to-school and farm-to-college initiatives, advocates for federal policies to support community food security initiatives, and provides networking and educational resources.
Eat Well Guide
On this website, produced by Sustainable Table, you can find food in your neighborhood and when you travel that is healthful, humane, better for the environment, and that supports family farmers.
Eat Wild
Eatwild.com is a source for information on safe, healthy, natural and nutritious grass-fed beef, lamb, goats, bison, poultry, pork and dairy products. This site links consumers with reliable suppliers of all-natural, delicious, grass-fed products; provide comprehensive, accurate information about the benefits of raising animals on pasture; to provide a marketplace for farmers who raise their livestock on pasture from birth to market and who actively promote the welfare of their animals and the health of the land.
Edible Communities
Edible Communities, Inc. is a publishing and information services company that creates editorially rich, community-based, local-foods publications in distinct culinary regions throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Through its publications, supporting websites, and events, Edible Communities connect consumers with family farmers, growers, chefs, and food artisans of all kinds.
Farm to School
Farm to School programs connect schools with local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing health and nutrition education opportunities that will last a lifetime, and supporting local small farmers. The National Farm to School Program is a collaborative program of Center for Food & Justice, a division of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College and the Community Food Security Coalition.
FoodRoutes Network
FoodRoutes Network (FRN) is a non-profit organization that provides strategic communications and evaluation tools and information for sustainable farming and local food systems advocates. This website provides up-to-date research and information written by experts and practitioners in the field, as well as a marketplace at http://www.communityfood.com where visitors can order sustainably produced items. FRN also makes available calendars and directories where sustainable agriculture and related organizations can post their information and events.
Health Care Without Harm
Health Care Without Harm is an international coalition of over 460 organizations in more than 50 countries, working to transform the health care sector so it is no longer a source of harm to people and the environment. Health Care Without Harm’s Healthy Food in Health Care initiative encourages food purchasing systems that support sustainable food production and distribution, and provide healthy food on-site at health care facilities.
Local Harvest
Local Harvest is a public nationwide directory of small farms, farmers markets, and other local food sources. The search engine helps people find products from family farms, local sources of sustainably grown food, and encourages them to establish direct contact with small farms in their local area.
The Robyn Van En CSA Center
The Robyn Van En Center is a national resource center on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for people across the nation and around the world.
Sustainable Table
Sustainable Table celebrates the sustainable food movement, educates consumers on food-related issues and builds community through food. Projects include The Meatrix, award-winning, humorous animations on industrial agriculture, and the Eat Well Guide, an online directory of sustainably-raised products from farms, stores, restaurants, and other outlets in the US and Canada.
USDA Food and Nutrition Service
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), formerly known as the Food and Consumer Service, administers the nutrition assistance programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The mission of FNS is to provide children and needy families better access to food and a more healthful diet through its food assistance programs and comprehensive nutrition education efforts.
Bibliography
Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.
In Barbara Kingsolver’s first nonfiction narrative, she takes readers along on her family’s journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it.
Lappé, Anna and Bryant Terry. Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. Jeremy P. New York:Tarcher/Penguin, 2006.
An engaging exposé on industrial food and chemical agriculture paired with hands-on tools and menus to create healthier lives for ourselves and our communities.
Nabhan, Gary Paul. Coming Home To Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Food. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002.
In this book, Gary Paul Nabhan reminds us that eating close to home is not just a matter of convenience, it is an act of deep cultural and environmental significance. This book tells of Gary’s year-long mission to eat only foods grown, fished, or gathered within two hundred miles of his home.
Nestle, Marion. What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating. New York:North Point Press, 2006.
Today’s supermarket is ground zero for the food industry, a place where the giants of agribusiness compete for sales with profits—not nutrition or health—in mind. Nutritionist Marion Nestle walks us through the supermarket, section by section: produce, dairy, meat, fish, packaged foods, breads, juices, bottled waters, and more. Along the way, she untangles the issues, decodes the labels, clarifies the health claims, and debunks the sales hype. She tells us how to make sensible choices based on freshness, taste, nutrition, health, effects on the environment, and, of course, price.
Planck, Nina. Real Food: What to Eat and Why. New York:Bloomsbury, 2006.
Real Food is a thoroughly researched rebuttal to dietary fads and a call for the return to old-fashioned foods. In lively, personal chapters on produce, dairy, meat, fish, chocolate, and other real foods, Nina explains how ancient foods like beef and butter have been falsely accused, while industrial foods like corn syrup and soybean oil have created a triple epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Weinstein, Jay. The Ethical Gourmet: How to Enjoy Great Food That Is Humanely Raised, Sustainable, Nonendangered, and That Replenishes the Earth. New York:Broadway Books, 2006.
Chef and environmentalist Jay Weinstein writes for those who care about both the well-being of the world and flavorful food, covering when organics really matter, where to source humanely-raised meats and other ethically produced foods, and how to make choices with a clean conscience when dining out.
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Food Policy and Advocacy
Webography
The Center for Food Safety
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) is a non-profit public interest and environmental advocacy membership organization established in 1997 by its sister organization, International Center for Technology Assessment, for the purpose of challenging harmful food production technologies and promoting sustainable alternatives.
The Community Alliance with Family Farmers
The Community Alliance with Family Farmers is building a movement of rural and urban people to foster family-scale agriculture that cares for the land, sustains local economies and promotes social justice.
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
CGIAR's mission is to achieve sustainable food security and reduce poverty in developing countries through scientific research and research-related activities in the fields of agriculture, livestock, forestry, fisheries, policy, and natural resources management.
CropChoice
CropChoice is an alternative news and information source for American farmers and consumers about genetically modified crops, corporate agribusiness concentration, farm and trade policy, sustainable agriculture, wind farming and alternative energy, and rural economic and social issues.
Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange, founded in 1986, is the oldest and largest for-profit Fair Trade company in the US. Equal Exchange offers organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by democratically run farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Fair Trade Federation
The Fair Trade Federation is an association of fair trade wholesalers, retailers, and producers whose members are fully committed to providing fair wages and good employment opportunities to economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers worldwide.
Food Alliance
Food Alliance is a nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable agriculture by recognizing and rewarding farmers who produce food in environmentally friendly and socially responsible ways, and educating consumers and others in the food system about the benefits of sustainable agriculture. Food Alliance operates the most comprehensive third-party certification program in North America for sustainably produced food. Food Alliance Certified distinguishes foods produced by farmers, ranchers and food processors that use environmentally and socially responsible practices.
The Food Trust
The Food Trust's mission is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food. Founded in 1992, the Trust works to improve the health of children and adults, promote good nutrition, increase access to nutritious foods, and advocate for better public policy.
GrassRoots Action Center for the Environment
The GRACE Factory Farm Project works to create a sustainable food production system that is healthful and humane, economically viable, and environmentally sound.
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy promotes resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology, and advocacy.
The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First
The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First shapes how people think by analyzing the root causes of global hunger, poverty, and ecological degradation and developing solutions in partnership with movements working for social change.
National Family Farm Coalition
The National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) provides a voice for grassroots groups on farm, food, trade and rural economic issues to ensure fair prices for family farmers, safe and healthy food, and vibrant, environmentally sound rural communities here and around the world. The NFFC represents family farm and rural groups in 30 states whose members' face the challenge of the deepening economic recession in rural communities caused primarily by low farm prices and the increasing corporate control of agriculture.
Oké Banana
Oké Banana USA links banana farmers, Fair Trade organizations, and consumers. Bananas come directly from
farmers who are paid a fair price and receive a Fair Trade premium to invest in their local community. As 30% owners of Oké Banana, farmers also receive a share of the company projects. The owners of Oké Banana are Red Tomato, AgroFair and Equal Exchange.
Oldways
Oldways is a widely respected nonprofit food issues advocacy group praised for translating the complex details of nutrition science into the familiar language of food. Oldways programs are focused on the simple triangle of principles: nutrition (health, science), tradition (pleasure, joy, history) and sustainability (environment, organic).
The Organic Consumers Association
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots non-profit public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics.
Pesticide Action Network North America
PANNA (Pesticide Action Network North America) works to replace pesticide use with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives.
Rainforest Alliance
The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. Companies, cooperatives and landowners that participate in Rainforest Alliance programs meet rigorous standards that conserve biodiversity and provide sustainable livelihoods.
Red Tomato
Red Tomato is a unique nonprofit organization based in Canton, MA. The organization markets fresh fruit and vegetables from family farms in the northeast and southeast US to supermarkets and other customers throughout New England.
The True Food Network
Established in 2000 as a means to engage non-farmers in the struggle against genetically engineered crops, the True Food Network is a 40,000-member network dedicated to stopping the genetic engineering of our food, farms and future, and working with others to create a socially just, democratic and sustainable food system.
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
Bibliography
Danaher, Kevin, Shannon Biggs and Jason Mark. Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grassroots. Sausalito:PoliPointPress, 2007.
Building the Green Economy shows how community groups, families, and individual citizens have taken action to protect their food and water, clean up their neighborhoods, and strengthen their local economies. Their unlikely victories—over polluters, unresponsive bureaucracies and unexamined routines—dramatize the opportunities and challenges facing the local green economy movement.
Gussow, Joan Dye. This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader. White River Junction:Chelsea Green Publishing, 2001.
At the heart of This Organic Life is the premise that locally grown food eaten in season makes sense economically, ecologically, and gastronomically. Transporting produce to New York from California--not to mention Central and South America, Australia, or Europe--consumes more energy in transit than it yields in calories. Add in the deleterious effects of agribusiness, such as the endless cycle of pesticide, herbicide, and chemical fertilizers; the loss of topsoil from erosion of over-tilled croplands; depleted aquifers and soil salinization from over-irrigation; and the arguments in favor of "this organic life" become overwhelmingly convincing.
Halweil, Brian. Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004.
In the United States, food typically travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to plate. For some, the long-distance food system offers unparalleled choice. But it often runs roughshod over local cuisines, varieties, and agriculture, while consuming staggering amounts of fuel, generating greenhouse gases, eroding the pleasures of face-to-face interactions, and compromising food security. Fortunately, the long-distance food habit is beginning to weaken under the influence of a young, but surging, local-foods movement. Entrepreneurial farmers, start-up food businesses, restaurants, supermarkets, and concerned consumers are propelling a revolution that can help restore rural areas, enrich poor nations, and return fresh, delicious, and wholesome food to cities.
Nabhan, Gary Paul. Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods. New York:W.W. Norton & Co., 2002.
Eating close to home is not just a matter of convenience—it is an act of deep cultural, emotional, and environmental significance. In this book, Gary Nabhan documents his year trying to eat only foods grown, fished, or caught within two hundred miles of his home. Gary’s experience with food permeates his life -- as an avid gardener, an ethnobotanist preserving seed diversity, and an activist devoted to recovering native food traditions to promote the health of Native Americans in the Southwest. This is a vibrant portrait of the essential human relation to the foods that truly nourish us, affirming our bonds to family, community, landscape, and season.
Nestle, Marion. Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. Berkeley:University of California Press, 2002.
We all witness, in advertising and on supermarket shelves, the fierce competition for our food dollars. Marion Nestle goes behind the scenes to reveal how the competition really works and how it affects our health. She vividly illustrates food politics in action: watered-down government dietary advice, schools pushing soft drinks, diet supplements promoted as if they were First Amendment rights. When it comes to the mass production and consumption of food, strategic decisions are driven by economics -- not science, not common sense, and certainly not health.
Nestle, Marion. What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating. New York:North Point Press, 2006.
Today’s supermarket is ground zero for the food industry, a place where the giants of agribusiness compete for sales with profits—not nutrition or health—in mind. Nutritionist Marion Nestle walks us through the supermarket, section by section: produce, dairy, meat, fish, packaged foods, breads, juices, bottled waters, and more. Along the way, she untangles the issues, decodes the labels, clarifies the health claims, and debunks the sales hype. She tells us how to make sensible choices based on freshness, taste, nutrition, health, effects on the environment, and, of course, price.
Petrini, Carlo, with Ben Watson and Slow Food Editore. Slow Food: Collected Thoughts on Taste, Tradition, and the Honest Pleasures of Food. White River Junction:Chelsea Green Publishing, 2001.
This is an anthology for cooks, gourmets, and anyone who is passionate about food and its impact on our culture. Drawn from five years of the quarterly journal Slow, this book includes more than 100 articles covering eclectic topics from "Falafel" to "Fat City." From the market at Ulan Bator in Mongolia to Slow Food Down Under, this book offers an armchair tour of the exotic and bizarre. You'll pass through Vietnam's Snake Tavern, enjoy the Post-Industrial Pint of Beer, and learn why the lascivious villain in Indian cinema always eats Tandoori Chicken. The articles are contributed by some of the world's top food writers.
Planck, Nina. Real Food: What to Eat and Why. New York:Bloomsbury, 2006.
Real Food is a thoroughly researched rebuttal to dietary fads and a clarion call for the return to old-fashioned foods. In lively, personal chapters on produce, dairy, meat, fish, chocolate, and other real foods, Nina explains how ancient foods like beef and butter have been falsely accused, while industrial foods like corn syrup and soybean oil have created a triple epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York:The Penguin Press, 2006.
In this groundbreaking book, Michael Pollan focuses on the seemingly straightforward question of what we should have for dinner. He follows each of the food chains that sustain us—industrial food, organic or alternative food, and food we forage ourselves—from the source to a final meal, and in the process develops a definitive account of the American way of eating. He takes us from Iowa cornfields to food-science laboratories, from feedlots and fast-food restaurants to organic farms and hunting grounds, always emphasizing our dynamic co-evolutionary relationship with the handful of plant and animal species we depend on.
Salatin, Joel. Holy Cows and Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer’s Guide to Farm-Fresh Food. Swoope:Polyface Press, 2004
Tackling issues from farmer integrity to consumer kitchens to cultural cheap food policies, Salatin puts producers and patrons on the same team to create a farm friendly food landscape. Ultimately empowering, Holy Cows and Hog Heaven frees every food buyer from feeling enslaved by the industrial food system.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York:Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.
To a degree both engrossing and alarming, the story of fast food is the story of post-war America. Though created by a handful of mavericks, the fast food industry has triggered the homogenization of our society. Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled the juggernaut of American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list of charges, but Eric Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning.
Sen, Rinku and Kim Klein (series editor). Stir It Up. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass, 2003.
Stir It Up identifies the key priorities and strategies that can help advance the mission of any social change group. This book addresses the unique challenges and opportunities the new global economy poses for activist groups and provides concrete guidance for community organizations of all orientations.
Shaw, Randy. The Activist's Handbook: A Primer, Updated Edition with a New Preface. Berkeley:University of California Press, 2001.
The Activist's Handbook is a hard-hitting guide to making social change happen. Shaw, a longtime activist for urban issues, shows how positive change can still be accomplished– despite an increasingly grim political order–if activists employ the strategies set forth in this desperately needed primer.
Simon, Michele. Appetite for Profit: How the food industry undermines our health and how to fight back. New York: Nation Books, 2006.
The United States is currently embroiled in a national debate over the growing public health crisis caused by poor diet. Many people are starting to ask who is to blame and how can we fix the problem, especially among children? The major food companies are responding with a massive public relations campaign. They are pretending to sell healthier food and otherwise position themselves as "part of the solution.” All the while, they continue to lobby against commonsense nutrition policies. This book explains how to fight back by offering reliable resources. Readers will learn how to spot the PR, how to not be fooled, and how to organize, for example, to improve school food. Learn more at Michele’s website, Center for Informed Food Choices.
Staples, Lee, foreword by Richard A. Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. Roots to Power: A Manual for Grassroots Organizing, 2nd Ed. Westport:Praeger/Greenwood,2004.
This handbook is a primer on grassroots community organizing and is a practical handbook for employed community organizers, executive directors of human service and grassroots organizations, lay volunteers, community activists and others who want to make a difference for those who don't have power.
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Sense of Place
Webography
American Memory Collection
Created by the Library of Congress, this site incorporates materials from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, which chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
American Social History Project
This national website is a compilation of primary documents and curricula, and is designed for high school and college teachers of U.S. History courses.
Center for Urban Pedagogy
A New York City-based group that specializes in educational projects about places and how they change.
Eco-Trust
Eco-Trust is a conservation organization committed to strengthening communities and the environment from Alaska to California, in other words, Salmon Nation. Eco-Trust works with Native peoples and in the fisheries, forestry, and food sectors to build a regional economy based on social and ecological opportunities. Check out their website for Salmon Nation.
The National Council for Preservation Education
This comprehensive database of resources for the preservation field includes links to city, state and regional, national and international preservation organizations.
The National Park Service
This auxiliary site of the National Park Service integrates America's cultural resources (buildings, landscapes, archeological sites, ethnographic resources, and more) within their respective histories.
The National Register of Historic Places
This site provides information on agency programs, while also providing engaging exhibits and curricula.
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to saving historic places and revitalizing America's communities.
Project for Public Spaces
Project for Public Spaces is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build communities. PPS provides technical assistance, training, research and other services.
Trust for Public Land
Trust for Public Land is a national, nonprofit land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, community gardens, historic sites, rural lands, and other natural places, ensuring livable communities for generations to come.Website features provide information on programs, useful policy reports, and other resources.
Neighborhood Preservation Center
The Neighborhood Preservation Center is a new non-profit created to provide resources (such as office space, administrative support and information) to support public efforts around improving and protecting New York City neighborhoods.
Bibliography
Brinckerhoff Jackson, John and Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz (editor). Landscape in Sight. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
John Brinckerhoff Jackson, who founded Landscape Magazine in 1951 and taught at Harvard and UC Berkeley, is a seminal figure in creating an understanding and appreciation of the American landscape. This anthology of his most important writings on the American landscape, illustrated with his own sketches and photographs, brings together Jackson's most famous essays, significant but less well known writings, and articles that were originally published unsigned or under various pseudonyms.
Cisneros, Henry. "Preserving Everybody's History." Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research. Special Issue (1996): 85-97
This special issue of Cityscape, the journal published by the Office of Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), presents a series of essays by then-Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Cisneros’ intention was to engage the American public in a discussion of the critical issues confronting our cities—and to explore and expand the range of strategies for resolving them.
Clifford, Sue and Angela King, ed. Local Distinctiveness: Place Particularity and Identity. London: Common Ground, 1993.
A collection of essays from the 1993 conference on Local Distinctiveness hosted by the London-based non-profit, Common Ground.
Franklin, Wayne and Steiner, Michael, ed. Mapping American Culture. Iowa City: University of Iowa, 1992.
An anthology of 13 essays that tackles the question of how “space and place permeate the grand acts as well as the ordinary events of American life,” by a group of scholars culling information from diverse and engaging sources including creative literature, folklore, music, oral history, autobiography, architecture, and photography.
Groth, Paul and Todd Bressi, eds. Understanding Ordinary Landscapes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
Authorities in social history, architectural history, American studies, cultural geography, and landscape architecture explore aspects of the emergent field of cultural landscape studies, demonstrating the value of investigating the many meanings of ordinary settings. While traditional studies in this field have been of rural life, most of the authors in this collection take on urban subjects, and with them the challenging issues of power, class, race, ethnicity, subculture, and cultural opposition.
Hayden, Dolores. The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995.
Based on her extensive experience in the urban communities of Los Angeles, historian and architect Dolores Hayden proposes new perspectives on gender, race, and ethnicity to broaden the practice of public history and public art, enlarge urban preservation, and reorient the writing of urban history to spatial struggles.
Lowenthal, David and Marcus Binney, eds. Our Past Before Us: Why Do We Save It? London: Maurice Temple Smith, Ltd., 1981.
British scholars Lowenthal and Binney discuss British preservation issues and history, and explore the underlying reasons we attempt to preserve our past.
Page, Max and Randall Mason. Giving Preservation A History: Histories of Historic Preservation in the United States. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Leaders in the preservation movement discuss the preservation movement. This book also touches on the European roots of the historic preservation movement; on how preservation movements have taken a leading role in shaping American urban space and urban development; how historic preservation battles have reflected broader social forces; and what the changing nature of historic preservation bodes for the effort to preserve the nation's past.
Ryden, Kent C. Mapping the Invisible Landscape: Folklore, Writing, and the Sense of Place. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1993.
Any landscape has an unseen component: a subjective component of experience, memory, and narrative which people familiar with the place understand to be an integral part of its geography but which outsiders may not suspect the existence of—unless they listen and read carefully. This invisible landscape is made visible though stories, and these stories are the focus of this engrossing book.
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