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From Seed to Table - A Practical Guide to Eating and Growing Green
by Janette Haase
Insomniac Press
ISBN 978-1-897178-1
Published January 2009 - Softcover - 245 pages - $22.95

If you've not heard by now about growing your own vegetables (or eating those for sale at farmers' markets), you're either a kid or not from this planet.  Author/gardener Janette Haase says, "I wanted to use the garden as inspiration for menu ideas and recipes while exploring what it means to eat seasonally and locally in a northern climate.  I also wanted to include a discussion of some of the issues that surround food production because they contribute to many of our current environmental, social, and health problems".  That, in a nutshell, is what her book is all about.  I agree with her in that you can grown your own vegetables (obviously not every single vegetable known to man) at home - be they grown in troughs, pots, rows, or trenches.  Just get out and start digging.  The great thing is that this book takes a month-by-month approach - extremely helpful to those new to gardening and who don't want to be rushed.  It's all so encouraging, and there's nothing intimidating about starting your own vegetable garden.  Check out the helpful garden plans on pages 61-65.  There's more to the whole aspect of producing your own food, you also get to devise new recipes, and Ms. Haase has included many delicious and seasonal recipe choices.  The thought of Terminator Seeds (page 82) is frightening and smacks of "ultimate control" and has to be stopped.  Also, genetically modified seeds are a problem, not only healthwise, but also for organic farmers because of cross pollination (pages 79-82).  I hated hearing about the many "dead zones", but was happy that much of what we do to pollute the planet (garbage waste, burning of fossil fuels, etc.), can and is being seriously looked at, finally.  There is so much to learn from reading this book, which is why I recommended that it should be read by everyone.
Conclusion - So very sensible and necessary.  We can and should all be doing this.  Ms. Haase has given us more than food for thought with her book.  Bravo!