Agriculture History

Building on and connecting histories of food and work, literary criticism of the pastoral and georgic, histories of elite and vernacular science, and histories of reading and writing practices, among other areas of inquiry, Digging the Past offers fine-grained case studies of projects heralded as innovations both in the 17th century and in our own time: composting and soil amendment, local food, natural wine, and hedgerows.

Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the 'hunter-gatherer' tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. Accomplished author Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers that suggests that systems of food production and land management have been understated in modern retellings of Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia's past is required.

When Rudolf Steiner gave these lectures 80 years ago, industrial farming was on the rise and organic methods were being replaced in the name of science, efficiency, and technology. With the widespread alarm over the quality of food in recent years, and the growth of the organic movement and its mainstream acceptance, perceptions are changing. The qualitative aspect of food is once again on the agenda, and in this context Rudolf Steiner's only course of lectures on agriculture is critical to the current debate.

Rural America is struggling. The average farmer is now 57 years old. Family agriculture is gradually fading, and prime farmland is often converted into environmentally harmful applications. But food cultivation has ecological consequences, too. Farms consume 80 percent of the nation’s water. Although they often prevent sprawling development, improve water quality, or provide wildlife habitat, they also pollute rivers, drain wetlands, or emit destructive greenhouse gasses.

In We Are What We Eat, Alice Waters urges us to take up the mantle of slow food culture, the philosophy at the core of her life’s work. When Waters first opened Chez Panisse in 1971, she did so with the intention of feeding people good food during a time of political turmoil. Customers responded to the locally sourced organic ingredients, to the dishes made by hand, and to the welcoming hospitality that infused the small space - human qualities that were disappearing from a country increasingly seduced by takeout, frozen dinners, and prepackaged ingredients.

This is the true biography of an AFRICAN LIVING LEGEND- who hails and live in a rural setting and became one of the greatest men of our time. He started as a humble Primary school teacher, delved into farming, cooperative movement and industrial revolution still without stepping out of the village where he was born and bred. Today, in Isoko land , Delta state , Niger Delta Region and in Nigeria , he is honoured and highly respected as the greatest farmer with local, National and International awards and recognition above his contemporaries. But what are the secrets of this great African ...

Over the past decade, Kevin Alexander saw American dining turned on its head. Starting in 2006, the food world underwent a transformation as the established gatekeepers of American culinary creativity in New York City and the Bay Area were forced to contend with Portland, Oregon. Its new, no-holds-barred, casual fine-dining style became a template for other cities, and a culinary revolution swept across America. Traditional ramen shops opened in Oklahoma City. Craft cocktail speakeasies appeared in Boise. Poke bowls sprung up in Omaha.

This is the touching story of the benevolent naturalist who roamed the Ohio valley in the early 1800s, planting apple orchards, making friends, and spreading goodwill along his way. Known to early settlers as a gentle soul with a reverence for all life, Johnny never missed a chance to save an abandoned animal or to savor a delicious apple pie. Garrison Keillor's narration is accompanied by original music by Mark O'Connor. Ages five and up.

Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the 'hunter-gatherer' tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. Accomplished author Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers that suggests that systems of food production and land management have been understated in modern retellings of Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia's past is required.

The perfect biography to "bite into" at the start of a new school year! Children are sure to be fascinated by the eccentric and legendary Johnny Appleseed, a man who is best known for bringing apple trees to the Midwest. Over John Chapman’s lifetime, he saw the country grow and start to spread westward. Traveling alone - in bare feet and sporting a pot on his head! - Johnny left his own special mark planting orchards that helped nourish new communities.

In 2012, 25-year-old Jackie Moyer—the daughter of a forbidden marriage between a white American father and a Punjabi American mother—was a new organic farmer with 10 acres of land in Gold Hill, California. With a fractured relationship to her heritage, Moyer saw an opportunity for repair when she decided to grow an heirloom wheat variety called Sonora. Sonora wasn’t just an heirloom wheat strain; it was her own cultural heirloom. Jackie uncovers how the history of this hardy wheat mirrors her family's multigenerational story of resilience.

This groundbreaking study of agriculture's role in the war defies long-held notions that Northern industrialization and urbanization led to clashes between North and South. Huston argues that the ideological chasm between plantation owners in the South and family farmers in the North led to the political eruption of 1854-1856 and the birth of a sectionalized party system.

Thousands of years ago, the Mesopotamians made many discoveries that we enjoy today.

Framed by the author’s personal experience with backyard hens, Chickens: Their Natural and Unnatural Histories explores the history of the chicken from its descent from the dinosaurs to the space-age present. En route, Lembke surveys chickens in ancient Greece, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the 19th century, and modern times, including the role of chickens in Jewish and Muslim practices. She also investigates the birds’ contributions to science and their jaunty appearances in literature.

This meticulously researched book tells the story of Midwestern agriculture during a period of epochal change in farm technology, farm management, and farm life. The hard work, tight communities, and values that had characterized the family farm were replaced by large corporate enterprises with massive acreages, high-tech methods, and global outlooks. While many decry this change as loss, Nordin and Scott find a net gain. This is their richly detailed account of one of the great transformations in American life.

We know that eating animals is bad for the planet and bad for our health, and yet we do it anyway. Ask anyone in the plant-based movement and the solution seems obvious: stop eating meat. But, for many people, that stark solution is neither appealing nor practical. In Meat Me Halfway, author and founder of the reducetarian movement Brian Kateman puts forth a realistic and balanced goal: mindfully reduce your meat consumption.

Anyone who is as fascinated about the era surrounding the establishment of the Republic of Texas as I am, will understand my excitement on discovering this book in German written in 1840.G.A. Scherpf was a German who had been living for some time in New York and decided to undertake an expedition to see with his own eyes which of the conflicting reports about Texas were true.He became so enamored with the country that he decided to settle there himself.As an economist and a highly educated person, he has taken painstaking trouble to collect all the data which would be relevant to anyone ...

Fields of Antiquity offers an in-depth exploration of the agricultural practices that underpinned one of the most influential civilizations in history. This meticulously researched book delves into the farming techniques, tools, and innovations of ancient Greek society, shedding light on how agriculture not only sustained Greek city-states but also shaped their economy, culture, and religious life.

¿Quiénes llegaron primero, los olmecas o los mayas? ¿Los olmecas o los incas? Camine con nosotros entre cabezas colosales y algunas de las primeras pirámides de Mesoamérica, ¡sí! ¡Pirámides de todo el mundo desde Giza y Egipto! Acompáñenos en el viaje para descubrir dónde empezó y terminó esta asombrosa cultura, y por qué seguimos estudiando a los olmecas hoy en día. Los historiadores y los estudiosos aún se debaten sobre los orígenes—y las razones—del declive de algunas de las civilizaciones formativas de Mesoamérica.

Insurrección Cultural explora los distintos panoramas (culturales, ecológicos, naturales) para encontrar un camino a seguir: la construcción de una ecología de la cultura. Jonathan Nossiter se inspira en la viticultura rebelde y en el gesto fraternal de muchos productores de vino natural que hace tiempo vienen generando nuevas propuestas para una mejora de la calidad de vida y de la cultura, artesanos de la tierra, verdaderos artistas que volvieron a retomar el papel de la protesta, la disidencia, últimamente abandonado por los artistas.