New Farm Language

The author Joe Lewis has led an amazing life. Starting from his childhood on a cotton farm in the south, we learn how he saw the world a little differently. Eventually, the Wolf Prize winner for research in insect and plant communications became a teacher of thousands around the world, and now has put his life's research and life story down on paper. Not only will you learn how the author overcame challenging odds to gain an education, you will learn how to see the world differently than you ever have before. Smart wasps, talking plants and many more characters fill this book, which not only will inspire the reader, but will also inform them of how natural systems work, behave and drive our ecosystems.

The inspiring and sometimes hilarious story of a family that quit the rat race and left the city to live out their ideals on an organic farm, and ended up building a model for a new kind of agriculture. You know those books where the city folks move to the country and have all kinds of crazy misadventures? Where the barnyard is a place of bucolic harmony and each passing season brings the author closer to understanding his proper place in the natural order? You know those books where the primary objective is not so much farming, but writing about farming? This isn’t that kind of book. It’s true that Brent Preston and Gillian Flies did leave the city and move to the country, and they did make a lot of stupid mistakes, some of which are pretty funny in hindsight. But their goal from the beginning was to build a real farm, one that would sustain their family, heal their environment, and nourish their community. It was a goal that was achieved not through bucolic self-reflection, but through a decade of grinding toil and perseverance. Told with humour and heart in Preston’s unflinchingly honest voice, The New Farm is the story of one family’s transition from die-hard urbanites to bona fide farmers and passionate advocates for a more just and sustainable food system. It’s the story of how a couple of young professionals learned not just how to grow food, but how to succeed at the business of farming. And it’s the story of how a small, sustainable, organic farm ended up providing not just a livelihood, but a happy, meaningful and fulfilling way of life.

The new owner of a run down farm repairs the farmhouse, barn, and equipment, cares for the sheep, chickens, and cows, and looks after the gardens and orchards.

A hardworking duck is rescued from life with a lazy old farmer in this classic tale of justice. Farmer Duck isn't your average duck. This duck cooks and cleans, tends the fields, and cares for the other animals on the farm—all because the owner of the farm is too lazy to do these things himself. But when Farmer Duck finally collapses from exhaustion, the farmyard animals come to the rescue with a simple but heroic plan.

Combining stunning visuals with insights and a lexicon of more than 200 agricultural terms explained by today’s thought leaders, Local showcases and explores one of the most popular environmental trends: rebuilding local food movements. When Douglas Gayeton took his young daughter to see the salmon run—a favorite pastime growing up in Northern California—he was devastated to find that a combination of urban sprawl, land mismanagement, and pollution had decimated the fish population. The discovery set Gayeton on a journey in search of sustainable solutions. He traveled the country, photographing and learning the new language of sustainability from today’s foremost practitioners in food and farming, including Alice Waters, Wes Jackson, Carl Safina, Temple Grandin, Paul Stamets, Patrick Holden, Barton Seaver, Vandana Shiva, Dr. Elaine Ingham, and Joel Salatin, as well as everyday farmers, fishermen, and dairy producers. Local: The New Face of Food and Farming blends their insights with stunning collage-like information artworks and Gayeton’s Lexicon of Sustainability, which defines and de-mystifies hundreds of terms like “food miles,” “locavore,” “organic,” “grassfed” and “antibiotic free.” In doing so, Gayeton helps people understand what they mean for their lives. He also includes “eco tips” and other information on how the sustainable movement affects us all every day. Local: The New Face of Food and Farming in America educates, engages, and inspires people to pay closer attention to how they eat, what they buy, and where their responsibility begins for creating a healthier, safer food system in America.

Illustrations of familiar objects introduce the animals, plants, people, and equipment on the farm.

Brief text and illustrations introduce the characteristics of a variety of domestic animals.