Agricultural Sciences

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

A national bestseller that has changed the way readers view the ecology of eating, this revolutionary book by award winner Michael Pollan asks the seemingly simple question: What should we have for dinner? Tracing from source to table each of the food chains that sustain us— whether industrial or organic, alternative or processed—he develops a portrait of the American way of eating. The result is a sweeping, surprising exploration of the hungers that have shaped our evolution, and of the profound implications our food choices have for the health of our species and the future of our planet.

Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Delicious Cheeses

The classic home cheese making primer has been updated and revised to reflect the increased interest in artisanal-quality cheeses and the availability of cheese making supplies and equipment.

Here are 85 recipes for cheeses and other dairy products that require basic cheese making techniques and the freshest of ingredients, offering the satisfaction of turning out a coveted delicacy. Among the step-by-step tested recipes for cheese varieties are farmhouse cheddar, gouda, fromage blanc, queso blanco, marscarpone, ricotta, and 30-minute mozzarella. Recipes for dairy products include crFme frafche, sour cream, yogurt, keifer, buttermilk, and clotted cream. There are also 60 recipes for cooking with cheese, including such treats as Ricotta Pancakes with Banana Pecan Syrup, Cream Cheese Muffins, Broiled Pears and Vermont Shepherd Cheese, Prosciutto and Cheese Calzones, and Grilled Vegetable Stacks with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. Profiles of home cheese makers and artisan cheese makers scattered throughout the text share the stories of people who love to make and eat good cheese. Plus information on how to enjoy homemade cheeses, how to serve a cheese course at home, cheese tips, lore, quotes, cheese making glossary, and more.

The Self-sufficient Life and How to Live It

The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more. This new edition includes 150 new full color illustrations and a special section in which John Seymour the father of the back to basics movement explains the philosophy of self-sufficiency and its power to transform lives and create communities. More relevant than ever in our high-tech world, The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the ultimate practical guide for realists and dreamers alike.

The End of Food

Paul Roberts, best-selling author of The End of Oil, turns his attention to the modern food economy and finds that the system entrusted to meet our most basic needs is failing dramatically.
In this carefully researched, vividly recounted narrative, Roberts lays out the stark economic realities beneath modern food—and shows how our system for making, marketing, and moving what we eat is growing less and less compatible with the billions of consumers that system was built to serve.
At the heart of The End of Food is a grim paradox: the rise of large-scale, hyper-efficient industrialized food production, though it generates more food more cheaply than at any time in history, has reached a point of dangerously diminishing returns. Our high-volume factory systems are creating new risks for food-borne illness—from E. coli to avian flu. Our high-yield crops and livestock generate grain, vegetables and meat of declining nutritional quality. Overproduction is so routine that nearly one billion people are now overweight or obese worldwide—and yet those extra calories are still so unevenly distributed that the same number of people—one billion, roughly one in every seven of us—can't get enough to eat. In some of the hardest-hit regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, the lack of a single nutrient—vitamin A—has left more than 5 million children permanently blind.
Meanwhile, the shift to heavily mechanized, chemically intensive farming has so compromised the soils, water systems, and other natural infrastructure upon which all food production depends that it's unclear how long such output can be maintained. And just as we've begun to understand the limits of our industrialized superabundance, the burgeoning economies of Asia, where newly wealthy consumers are rapidly adopting Western-style, meat-heavy diets, are putting new demands on global food supplies.
Comprehensive and global, with lucid writing, dramatic detail and fresh insights, The End of Food offers readers new, accessible way to understand the vulnerable miracle of the modern food economy. Roberts presents clear, stark visions of the future and helps us prepare to make the decisions -- personal and global -- we must make to survive the demise of food production as we know it.

Paul Roberts is the author of The End of Oil, which was a 2005 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award Finalist. He has written about the resource economics and politics for numerous publications, including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and Rolling Stone, and lectures frequently on business and environmental issues.

The Art of Raising a Puppy

The monks of New Skete have been breeding and training dogs at their New York monastery for more than 20 years. Their philosophy of raising dogs accentuates the essential human-canine bond, whereby owners must learn to understand a dog's instincts, needs, and behavior. Understanding a dog, the monks say, is the key to successfully training him. They first published this philosophy in their 1978 classic guide How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend. Now the monks concentrate on the first three months of a puppy's life in The Art of Raising a Puppy.

The book observes a litter of monastery puppies from birth to 12 weeks. Tender photographs and dialogue reflect these precious first few weeks of life. Even at this time, the human-canine link is vital; the monks stress the importance of gentle touch to help forge this connection. Basic puppy training techniques are explored and executed, all of which puppy owners should find easy to implement. Virtually all types of dog problems and dog training are examined in the book, always in compassionate and easily comprehensible language. The monks also look well beyond surface training techniques to analyze the roots of dogs' problems and explain how training can help. Owners are taught how to gently assert dominance over their dog, which will make for a long-lasting and fulfilling relationship. Beautiful black-and-white photographs of monastery puppies will pull at every heartstring.

The monks of New Skete have been breeding and training dogs at their New Yorkmonastery for more than 20 years. Their philosophy of raising dogs accentuatesthe essential human-canine bond, whereby owners must learn to understand a dog'sinstincts, needs, and behavior. Understanding a dog, the monks say, is the keyto successfully training him. They first published this philosophy in their 1978classic guide How to Be YourDog's Best Friend. Now the monks concentrate on the first three months ofa puppy's life in The Art of Raising a Puppy.The book observes a litter of monastery puppies from birth to 12 weeks. Tenderphotographs and dialogue reflect these precious first few weeks of life. Even atthis time, the human-canine link is vital; the monks stress the importance ofgentle touch to help forge this connection. Basic puppy training techniques areexplored and executed, all of which puppy owners should find easy to implement. Virtually all types of dog problems and dog training are examined in the book,always in compassionate and easily comprehensible language. The monks also lookwell beyond surface training techniques to analyze the roots of dogs' problemsand explain how training can help. Owners are taught how to gently assertdominance over their dog, which will make for a long-lasting and fulfillingrelationship.Beautiful black-and-white photographs of monastery puppies will pull at everyheartstring.

The authors of the classic guide How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend now tell you everything you need to know about the crucial first months of your puppy's life. From the decision to adopt a pup through the practical steps of choosing the right breed, preparing your home, caring for your new charge, and practicing basic obedience exercises, the monks of New Skete offer clear, compassionate guidelines for raising a puppy.

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

"A bread baker, like any true artisan or craftsman, must have the power to control outcomes," says Peter Reinhart, author of The Bread Baker's Apprentice. "Mastery comes with practice." As in many arts, you must know and understand the rules before you can break them. Reinhart encourages you to learn the science of bread making, but to never forget that vision and experimentation, not formulas, make transcendent loaves. The Bread Baker's Apprentice is broken into three sections. The first is an amusing tale of Reinhart's visit to France and his discovery of pain à l'ancienne, a cold-fermented baguette. The second section comprises a tutorial of bread-making basics and Reinhart's "Twelve Stages of Bread." And finally, the recipes: Ciabatta, Pane Siciliano, Potato Rosemary Bread, New York Deli Rye, Kaiser Rolls, and Brioche, to name a few. All recipes include bread profiles and ingredient percentages. Reimagined for modern bakers, these mouthwatering classic recipes are bound to inspire. --Dana Van Nest

Co-founder of the legendary Brother Juniper's Bakery in Sonoma, California, author of the landmark books Brother Juniper's Bread Book and Crust & Crumb, and distinguished instructor at the world's largest culinary school, Peter Reinhart has been a leader in America's artisanal bread movement for over fifteen years. Never one to be content with yesterday's baking triumph, however, Peter continues to refine his recipes and techniques in his never-ending quest for perfect bread. In THE BREAD BAKER'S APPRENTICE, Peter shares his latest bread breakthroughs, arising from his recent pilgrimage to study in several of France's famed boulangeries and the always-enlightening time spent in the culinary academy kitchen with his students. First you'll peer over Peter's shoulder as he learns from Paris's most esteemed bakers, people like the brothers Poilâne and Phillippe Gosselin, whose pain ancienne has revolutionized the art of baguette making. Peter then walks readers through the twelve steps of building great bread, his clear instructions accompanied by over 100 step-by-step photographs. Then it's on to over 50 new master formulas for such classic breads as rustic, chewy ciabatta, hearty pain de campagna, old-school New York bagels, and the book's Holy Grail—Peter's version of the famed pain ancienne. En route, Peter distills hard science, advanced techniques, and food history down into a remarkably accessible and engaging resource that is as rich and multitextured as the loaves you'll turn out. This is original food writing at it most captivating, teaching at its most inspired and inspiring—and the rewards are some of the best breads under the sun.

Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible

With 512 full color pages and 1120 full color photographs and illustrations, Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible is the most complete cultivation book available. The Fifth Edition of the former Indoor Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor Bible was originally published in 1983, when it immediately became a best seller. More than 500,000 copies of the Indoor Bible are in print in Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish. New greenhouse and outdoor growing chapters make this a book both indoor and outdoor growers will keep under thumb. The other 15 chapters (17 total) are all updated with the most current information, completely rewritten and significantly expanded. For example, Dr. John McPartland contributed an all new medical section - The books credits list more than 300 contributors and reads like a who's who in the world of cannabis cultivation.

Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens: Care / Feeding / Facilities

Expert advice on selecting breeds, caring for chicks, producing eggs, raising broilers, feeding, troubleshooting, and much more.

The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty

The New York Times bestseller, now in paperback: a scandal-plagued story of the immigrant family that built—and then lost—a global wine empire Set in California’s lush Napa Valley and spanning four generations of a talented and visionary family, The House of Mondavi is a tale of genius, sibling rivalry, and betrayal. From 1906, when Italian immigrant Cesare Mondavi passed through Ellis Island, to the Robert Mondavi Corp.’s twenty-first-century battle over a billion-dollar fortune, award-winning journalist Julia Flynn Siler brings to life both the place and the people in this riveting family drama. A meticulously reported narrative based on more than five hundred hours of interviews, The House of Mondavi is a modern classic.

Weber's Big Book of Grilling

The grilling experts at Weber share their time honored secrets of cooking wisdom in this ultimate barbecue handbook. Destined to become a sauce stained classic, its packed with more than 365 of the tastiest recipes ever to hit the grill, mouthwatering full color photos, and all the tips and techniques you need to become a certified Backyard Hero. Want to know the secret of perfect ribs or how to grill a 20 pound turkey without letting them see you sweat? Whether youre the neighborhood grilling guru or youve never done much more than flip a burger, youll find tricks of the trade, great advice, and infinite ways to grill up fabulous food thats as red hot as the coals!