Format: Paperback  

ISBN: 978-0-86571-652-0

Pages: 349

Copyright Year: 2009

Availability: Usually ships within 24 to 48 hours unless otherwise noted in the product description.

Author Sharon Astyk tackles all the nuts and bolts of preserving foods, and provides tips on how to bulk buy and preserve food inexpensively. Independence Days is packed with valuable secrets to home food preservation, including canning and dehydrating techniques, root cellaring, season extension, and a host of broader issues. In addition, it focuses on how to enjoy a delicious, high-quality diet at home year-round, how to preserve food on a community scale, and how to reduce reliance on industrial agriculture by creating self-sufficient and vibrant local economies.

In just a few decades, America's approach to food has changed radically from the self-sufficiency of our grandparents to the convenience foods of mega-supermarkets. The recent economic crisis has seen millions of North Americans move from being middle class to poor, and from poor to hungry. At the same time, the trend toward self-sufficiency, whole foods health and eating locally is shifting from being a pricey fringe activity to an essential element of getting by. But how can you eat locally, not just when the farmers markets are bountiful, but all year-round? Who really knows anymore how to eat outside of the supermarket, and who really knows how to eat a balanced diet based on easily stored and home preserved foods?

About the author: Sharon Astyk is a former academic who is a writer, subsistence farmer, parent, activist and profile blogger (SharonAstyk.com). She farms in upstate New York with her family, raises livestock, and grows and preserves vegetables. She is the author of Depletion and Abundance, and co-author of A Nation of Farmers.