Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste

Heirloom Seed Savers in Appalachia

De: Bill Best

Narrado por: Pete Ferrand

The Brown Goose, the White Case Knife, Ora's Speckled Bean, Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter - these are just a few of the heirloom fruits and vegetables you'll encounter in Bill Best's remarkable history of seed saving and the people who preserve both unique flavors and the Appalachian culture associated with them.

Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste will introduce listeners to the cultural traditions associated with seed saving, as well as the remarkable people who have used grafting practices and hand-by-hand trading to keep alive varieties that would otherwise have been lost. As local efforts to preserve heirloom seeds have become part of a growing national food movement, Appalachian seed savers play a crucial role in providing alternatives to large-scale agriculture and corporate food culture. Part flavor guide, part people's history, Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste will introduce you to a world you've never known - or perhaps remind you of one you remember well from your childhood.

©2013 Ohio University Press (P)2014 Redwood Audiobooks

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Perhaps only once in a lifetime, we read a book that is a true treasure of American lore, one that no other person could write. Bill Best should be considered a National Treasure Keeper, for his beans, tomatoes, and corn - as well as his stories - are irreplaceable and therefore of immeasurable value." (Gary Nabhan, author of Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods)

"This animated narrative offers a glimpse into American folklore, migration patterns, and the glory of the family farm as it is known through its seeds, which live on season after season, offering distinctive local flavor." ( Publishers Weekly)

My father-in-law's passion .

So , I put World War One on hold for this book!
What I mean is, I put the Audible book about WWI on a shelf for a book about heirloom vegetables . Now, I know you're asking yourself, Self? Was the book about the First Great War boring? Well , no, it was not! It was really good, but as it happens, Bill Best (Author) is my father-in-law and I found his book on Audible and had to listen to it immediately. Bill knows, I do not enjoy recreational reading, so I wanted to report to him , that I had finally read one of his books (cheating of course). I married Barbara Best back in 1991 (daughter of Bill and Irmgard Best). I have since visited the Best Family Farm pretty much once or twice a year. Barbara and I settled in my home Town/County in northeast North Carolina, about 11 hours east of Berea KY. From the beginning I have known Bill to be a dedicated farmer. He has a work ethic like none I have ever seen. Every normal day starts with breakfast and the news , then outside to work. Always making sure everyone knows what he's doing and where he will be to start the day. Bill normally comes back to the house for a snack or lunch, but always takes a 15 to 20 minute power nap .Then he is off for the afternoon grind until it's time for a snack or supper , and more importantly the power nap. Then after supper, it's time to visit and discuss anything from news/weather/family/tomatoes/beans and with us , almost always grandkids. After that it's another 15 minute power nap, and back out to get everything hemmed up until morning. This is pretty much everyday, and he appears to me, to be as happy as anyone I know. All of this would not be possible without his bride of 63 years , Irmgard. She makes sure that Bill is properly fed and all the "little things" are taken care of. The little things being...pretty much everything else but the farming. I say this only because, they are an incredible team , and I don't think Bill would argue too much with that assessment.
About the book. I am not a gardener myself. As a matter of fact, I absolutely hated when my parents made me work in the garden when I was a brat. But through the years Barbara and I have always planted flowers and herbs and in the last several years vegetables. What I will say moved me most about the book was the feeling I came away with at the end. Which was, I want to be a become a better gardener! I want to go all in next spring and really try to have a nice, SMALL garden. I want to prep my soil, and go out every day to monitor progress and the needs of my plants and then take appropriate measures to keep everything healthy. Barbara and I have discussed it, and that's our plan.
Being a history fanatic, my favorite parts of the book were the detailed stories told by folks older than myself about how it was done when they were children along with the pride taken by the story tellers knowing they were preserving a family tradition.
And finally, my absolute favorite quote in the book , from a daughter-in-law to her father-in-law after attending a seed swap. "I never thought I would meet so many people as crazy as you, about a bean ".
If you are at all interested in gardening, and the history of how it kept folks alive for generations, this book is a must read/ listen!
-PT

Great history about Appalachian Seed Savers

I loved the voice of the narrator. Having been born in Tennessee, his voice had down home authenticity and personal authority. This is a wonderful book with inspiring stories of all the seed savers that protected our unique culinary heritage that we inherited from Native Americans from their gifting to us and sometimes by our taking their their land and seeds.
The way early settlers saved seeds that they acquired by intermarriage and then passing down through multiple generations until today is inspiring and reveals the closeness of families and their pride in maintaining genetic purity, taste and nutrition from these precious heirloom seeds that were and still are important to these hardy and resourceful people who have given us the gift of the choice over modern versions that emphasize color, shipping hardiness, and toughness to withstand mechanical harvesting over taste, quality and regional traditions and variety.

Great book, ZZZZ narrator

This is a great book and you should buy it...in print. The narrator was so monotone and monotonous the words lost all meaning at times.