The Town That Food Saved How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food (Audible Audio Edition) Ben Hewitt Arthur Morey Inc Blackstone Audio Books
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Over the past several years, Hardwick, Vermont, a typical hardscrabble farming community of three thousand residents, has jump-started its economy and redefined its self-image through a local, self-sustaining food system unlike anything else in America. Even as the recent financial downturn threatens to cripple small businesses and privately owned farms, a stunning number of food-based businesses have grown in the region-Vermont Soy, Jasper Hill Farm, Pete's Greens, Patchwork Farm & Bakery, Applecheek Farm, Claire's Restaurant and Bar, and Bonnieview Farm, to name only a few. The mostly young entrepreneurs have created a network of community support, meeting regularly to share advice, equipment, and business plans and to loan each other capital. Hardwick is fast becoming a model for other communities hoping to replicate its success. The captivating story of a small town coming back to life, The Town That Food Saved is narrative nonfiction at its best, full of colorful characters and grounded in an idea that will revolutionize the way we eat.
The Town That Food Saved How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food (Audible Audio Edition) Ben Hewitt Arthur Morey Inc Blackstone Audio Books
I live only 14 miles from the town of Hardwick and have witnessed its amazing transformation - in a good way. I love how the author shows both sides of this transformation because it's so apparent that the citizens of the surrounding (as well as the citizens of Hardwick) area have been so supportive of all that's going on there--both in purchasing the local products as well as supporting the new businesses, in word and deed. I wanted to read this book because I've noticed how things have changed in Hardwick and am delighted it is so. Onward and upward Ben Hewitt...am loving your books! Thank you for your keen sense of observation and the gift of knowing the right questions to ask. But best of all, you know you don't have all the answers, but by putting this type of work out there, I believe the right answers will unfold all by themselves.Product details
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The Town That Food Saved How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food (Audible Audio Edition) Ben Hewitt Arthur Morey Inc Blackstone Audio Books Reviews
I was expecting a little more personal stories about his town and a little less science
Inspired me to buy organic, non-gmo seeds for my garden and makes me want to visit that area.
This book has been on my 'to read' list for a few years, so when I finally got around to reading it, I suppose I was expecting to be swept off my feet with new insights and a Disney-ish story about food literally saving a town. But really, this is a story about a small town---Hardwick, Vermont---that has gradually grown, both economically and philosophically, through agrepreneurialism. Essentially, a number of local residents have started food-based businesses that have pumped vitality into this economically challenged town that was once home to 300 granite companies. Today it boasts High Mowing Organic Seeds, Jasper Hill Cheese, True Yogurt, Pete's Greens, the Highfield Center for Composting, and a large CSA with 1,000 members for a community of 3,200. All told, it's probably added about 100 jobs, maybe more, so not exactly a renaissance. It hasn't been 'saved', but it's a good start, and it could be a model for other areas.
Hewitt's main argument is that a centralized food system is bad for our country. And while I don't disagree, I don't buy his argument that the centralized industrial food system could collapse at any time. I think he overstates that possibility. Yet to understand how centralized our food system has become, he offers some statistics in 1900 there were 76 million Americans and about 30 million farms. Today there are 307 million Americans and 2 million farms. A lot of food is being produced in a few places and trucked all over the country. Local food, he argues, is better for our people, our environment, and the well-being of our communities. I agree. Perhaps the problem I had with this book is that I've read so much of this before. Hewitt introduced me to the town of Hardwick and its residents and their personal stories, but not to the concept of local vs. industrial food. Michael Pollen did that years ago.
Apparently Hardwick has received a lot of national attention (especially since the author wrote an article for Gourmet Magazine about the town a few years ago), but some of the attention has not been well-received by residents. Many of them are just doing what they've always done and don't see the big deal in it. Those residents who like the limelight would like to "sell" Hardwick's model to other towns, and if it can work, it's not a bad thing. I'm just not sure Hewitt needed over 200 pages (much of it, unnecessary detail) to tell this town's story.
Locally raised and produced food is a hot topic, but much of what has been written about it is either hopelessly theoretical and preachy, or too personalized to be of much use (i.e., "I grew an amazing tomato and connected with the soul of my dead grandmother"). Mr. Hewitt starts from the premise that local food is better food, and some might fault him for that. But if you are in general agreement, then this book is a welcome examination of whether food can be raised, processed, and marketed locally in a way that benefits the entire community. The author thinks it can, and he makes his case through the stories of the individuals in an unlikely rural town who somehow came together to start a small, yet significant, revolution of sorts. Will it last? Can it be replicated elsewhere? These questions are, as yet, unanswered. Nonetheless, the success of Hardwick to date makes a fascinating case study, and a very engaging read. An additional bonus Mr. Hewitt writes with a real wit and economy of style.
This is a somewhat glib, but lively look at a fascinating local economy in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Hewitt's profiles of the people he talks with are often funny and a little edgy, but his "what do I know about any of this" attitude wears a little thin over the course of the book. This may be a generation gap issue; his tone seemed very, very familiar and typically Millennial. There is a lot of information here that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else (other than by visiting yourself), so in that sense it is an invaluable account.
I live only 14 miles from the town of Hardwick and have witnessed its amazing transformation - in a good way. I love how the author shows both sides of this transformation because it's so apparent that the citizens of the surrounding (as well as the citizens of Hardwick) area have been so supportive of all that's going on there--both in purchasing the local products as well as supporting the new businesses, in word and deed. I wanted to read this book because I've noticed how things have changed in Hardwick and am delighted it is so. Onward and upward Ben Hewitt...am loving your books! Thank you for your keen sense of observation and the gift of knowing the right questions to ask. But best of all, you know you don't have all the answers, but by putting this type of work out there, I believe the right answers will unfold all by themselves.
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