From Farm to Feast: Recipes and Stories from Saltspring and the Southern Gulf Islands

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

British Columbia’s Gulf Islands have successfully created a local
tourism industry based on small-scale agriculture. The Islands are
famous for their many organic farms, where food is produced through
hands-on nurturing by farmers who respect their land and the
environment.

Richards and Snook contrast the Islands’ human-scale agricultural
enterprises with the out-of-control mega-industrial farming practices
that they see as exhausting the earth’s nonrenewable resources to
produce vast quantities of food of questionable quality.

The book is structured around farm products (fruit, nuts, milk, honey,
grains, vegetables, meat, and wild edibles). Well-written essays
introduce several farmers as individuals, giving their personal history,
loves and strengths, a bit on the history of their land, and a few
select recipes. Each of the recipes (less than 50 in total) is the
expression of a farmer’s personal love affair with food that is
respectfully grown on his or her own land, using strictly organic
practices. Some wonderful examples include Pecan Crusted Sheep’s Milk
Cheese with Blueberries, Salt Roasted Duck Legs with Honey, and Wild
Dandelion Greens with Goat Cheese Croutons—back-to-the-land lifestyle
meets gourmet tastes.

These fascinating recipes form only a small part of the work. The
essays on 18 of the Islands’ farms and farmers, their crops,
attitudes, and philosophies dominate. A dynamic layout and generous
quantities of good color photos make the book visually attractive and
complete this most appealing package.