Books | Other Writing
Reclaiming Our Food: How the Grassroots Food Movement is Changing What We Eat Indie Bound | Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Borders Watch Reclaiming Our Food trailer to learn more!
Named 1 of Top 10 Books on the Environment in 2012, by Booklist!
Praise for Reclaiming Our Food
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“One-third chicken soup for the soul, one-third chicken poop for the soil, and three thirds great stories of real people doing positive practical and transformative work with food.” — Wayne Roberts, Canadian food policy analyst and writer, former manager of the Toronto Food Policy Council
“…meticulously researched, fascinating book… includes tips for backyard gardening, raising urban livestock, and getting involved in community gardening…readers will feel empowered.” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“If you want to feel good about America again, read this book!” — Frederick Kirschenmann, Author of Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays From a Farmer Philosopher
“Insightful, empowering, emotional, Reclaiming our Food is a wonderful boost to our collective healing.” — Joel Salatin, Polyface Farm, author of You Can Farm and Salad Bar Beef
“If Michael Pollan convinced you that we’ve got to do something to repair our relationship to food, land, and water, then read this book. Tanya Denckla Cobb will inspire you to act.” — Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, and author of The Happiness Hypothesis
“…a portrait of yes-we-can hope and inspiration for anyone who has even the slightest interest in the ways that real, honest food can change the world.” – The Austin Chronicle
“People constantly ask me what kinds of things they can do to get involved in the food movement and where to start. Now I can just hand them Reclaiming Our Food.” — Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, and author of What to Eat.
“…surveys community food projects across the country, following organizations and individuals making an effort to avoid corporate farms by growing dinner close to home.” – Washington Post
“Now is the time for bravery. Seize your destiny. Join the fleet of farmers, makers, doers, eaters and connectors who are reclaiming America, one shovelful at a time.” — Severine Von Tscharner Fleming, Greenhorns
“…focuses on real-world activities rather than pie-in-the-sky claims… Reclaiming Our Food is all about doing.” – HORTIDEAS
“With a keen ear and thoughtful insight, Tanya Denckla Cobb not only showcases some of the most promising work, she explores the motivations and theoretical models that are leading the charge to fundamentally and permanently transform the way we grow and eat food.” — Charlie Jackson, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project
“…takes that story to yet a higher level with its superb collection of photos and clearly written “how-to” tales of local food heroes and their epic achievements.” – Mark Winne – author of Food Rebels, Guerilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin’ Mamas: Fighting Back in the Age of Industrial Agriculture
“…rich with hope that yes, our food, even our overall food system, can be reclaimed… Tanya has masterfully told the stories…” — Lynda Fanning, RD, MPH, MA, founding member of the Virginia Food System Council, Sustainable Chair of the Virginia Dietetic Association, Steering Committee of the UVa Food Collaborative
“… actual people, doing actual work to build a more sustainable agriculture… returning the humanity to an overly industrial food system.” — Shepherd Ogden, Adjunct Lecturer in Sustainable Agriculture, Shepherd University, and Agricultural Development Officer, Jefferson County, WV
“…a practical guide for building a local food system. Where others have made the case for the local food movement, Reclaiming Our Food shows how communities are actually making it happen. This book offers a wealth of information on how to make local food a practical and affordable part of everyone’s daily fare.” —Market Central
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK
All across the country, Americans are seeking more fresh, local foods – at home, in their schools, in restaurants, and at food markets. Grassroots community food projects from Boston to Nashville to Birmingham to Seattle are rising to meet this demand. Led by innovative, creative people from all walks of life, these projects are building community by creating valuable jobs, preserving cultural traditions, building local knowledge about growing food, and educating school-children.
Inspirational stories of nearly 60 grassroots food programs provide hundreds of useful “lessons learned,” offering an enduring handbook for everyone hoping to join the movement. You’ll learn about best practices for school gardens, community gardens, urban farms, sustainable and regenerative farming. You’ll gain insights on how to work with youth, run a successful CSA or buying club, or market and sell your local food. You’ll learn important tips on creating partnerships, incubating new food businesses, selling to institutions, and even creating restaurant cooperatives.
This book is for you if you’re interested in food and health, whether it’s your own personal, family, or community health. You’ll learn how schools are improving their cafeteria food while also teaching youth about nutrition and their environment.
You’ll also learn how communities are changing their laws to accommodate backyard chickens, goats and bees. And learn how community gardens prevent conflicts by setting things up right at the beginning. You’ll also learn how new and experienced farmers are making their farming businesses profitable.
Whether you like to buy local food, raise a garden, or are a new or experienced farmer, a school nutritionist, or economic development guru, this book can help you.
You’ll be inspired and, more, you’ll learn a host of important lessons from community food leaders across the U.S. Their successes offer both inspiration and practical advice.
Acclaimed photographer Jason Houston provides photo essays of eight community food projects, detailing their unusual work.
Reclaiming Our Food is a practical guide for building a local food system.
Where others have made the case for the local food movement, Reclaiming Our Food shows how communities are actually making it happen. This book offers a wealth of information on how to make local food a practical and affordable part of everyone’s daily fare.
To honor the food leaders across America who have contributed to this book, the author will contribute 10% of personal profits from the sales of this book to food projects highlighted in the book.
The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food Indie Bound | Amazon | Barnes&Noble Before it was a book, The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food was organic gardener Tanya L. K. Denckla’s highly prized personal database, the distillation of years of careful research and hands-on, real-life, dirt-under-the-fingernails experience in growing her own vegetables, herbs, fruits, and nuts. Now available to all, this easy-to-read sourcebook offers much to gardeners of all skill levels, answering questions quickly and authoritatively so more time can be spent enjoying the garden. Six comprehensive chapters cover vegetables, fruits and nuts, herbs, organic remedies, and allies and companions.
Within each chapter plants are arranged alphabetically, making needed information eminently accessible. Individual plant entries provide specific information on planting; temperature; soil and water needs; measurements; seed-starting dates; pests, diseases, allies, companions, and incompatibles, as applicable; when to harvest; how to store produce; and overviews of selected varieties.
Fully half of the book is dedicated to organic remedies that can prevent or combat plant diseases and garden pests. Hundreds of common diseases and pests are discussed, as well as which plants are likely to be affected, how to recognize the problem, and tried-and-true natural remedies. The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food demystifies how to work collaboratively with the complex natural systems of the environment, making gardening a little easier and definitely more fun.
Praise for Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food
“Tanya Denckla presents a wealth of gardening information in an accessible format, while showing that creating a healthy soil and working with the earth’s natural systems are the foundation of a productive, sustainable, and satisfying garden!”– John Jeavons, Ecology Action
“Why choose organic gardening over conventional methods when it requires greater commitment? This book will inspire you to take on the challenge, and the result will be delicious food from a garden that is healthy for the children to play in and for the gardener to tend.” – Nora Pouillon, Restaurant Nora, 1st organic food restaurant in Washington DC
“Sure is nice to have all the organic information in one source, rather than having to run from book to book.” – Rosalind Creasy, author of The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping
“If it isn’t in this book, you don’t really to need to know it.” – Ed Smith, author of The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible
“A great gift for any vegetable gardener who prefers Earth-friendly methods.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“…a practical guide to growing fruits and vegetables the organic way.” – Seattle Post- Intelligencer
”Denckla’s guide to growing organic food covers 765 varieties of vegetables, herbs, fruits, and nuts. There are instructions on temperature, soil and water needs, planting depth and space between plants, propagation, harvesting, first and last seed-starting dates, storage requirements, and support structures when needed. With each entry is a list of selected available varieties. Denckla also tells gardeners how to control 201 pests and diseases organically.” – Booklist
The Organic Gardener’s Home Reference: A Plant-By-Plant Guide to Growing Fresh, Healthy Food Amazon | Barnes&Noble This is truly a one-stop comprehensive guide to organic gardening: it is a big book filled with techniques, definitions, solutions to gardening problems, and a huge listing of organic gardening resources. It’s one of the most thorough guides I have seen for organic gardeners–it is well indexed and annotated, and covers all climate zones and growing conditions. If this book doesn’t get your motor running about the garden, well, maybe you’ll want to try a different hobby. It should be a part of any true gardener’s library, covered with notes, muddy fingerprints, and with the well-worn pages.
Praise for the Organic Gardener’s Home Reference and the earlier edition, Gardening at a Glance
“This book is a masterpiece of detailed gardening information. You may never have to ask another question.” – Bob Thomson, author and host of the PBS Victory Garden show
“Everything the organic gardener would want to know is in this handy book.” – ALA Booklist
“A valuable reference to those gardeners seeking alternative methods or approaches to their problems.” – Dr. Carl Totemeier, horticulturist, retired Vice-President of the New York Botanical Garden
“A handy reference to sit on top of any vegetable gardener’s refrigerator.” – Jeff Ball, author of Rodale’s Garden Problem Solver and Glower Garden Problem Solver, columnist, host of a cable TV gardening show
“Leave the pretty books on the coffee table and drag this one out to the potting shed where it will get dirty and used.” – Bloomsbury Review
“The desire for chemical-free foods is leading many people to start their own gardens or switch to safer growing methods. These people will find all the information they’re looking for.” – San Antonio Light
“The most extensive and up-to-date lists of non-chemical remedies in print. A terrific job of gathering information from hither and yon.” – HortIdeas
Gardening at a Glance: The Organic Gardener’s Handbook on Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, and Herbs Amazon | Barnes&Noble
