Kingsolver, along with her husband and daughters, start a farm in Virginia where they grow and can different varieties of tomatoes, learn about rooster husbandry, make cheese, and adjust to eating foods only when they are locally in season.

The book contrasts this with the ecological costs of growing food in factory farms, transporting it thousands of miles, and adding chemical preservatives so it will not spoil.

[3] An audio recording of a May 16, 2007 discussion between Kingsolver and her husband at an hour-long bookstore presentation in Corte Madera, California is also available.

[5] Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2007, ranking it at #7.

[6] Rick Bass wrote in The Boston Globe that "this text will fold quietly into the reader's consciousness, with affecting grace and dignity, because of its prose and sensibilities.