The book is co-written with her husband Steven Hopp, a biology professor, and 19-year-old daughter Camille. One of the earliest lessons in poultry husbandry we had to teach her was 'Why we don't kiss chickens on the mouth.'' Kingsolver writes: 'Other little girls have ballerinas or Barbie posters on their bedroom walls my daughter has a calendar titled 'The Fairest Fowl'. It must have helped that nine-year-old Lily, at least, was predisposed towards farm life. She is incredibly proud of her daughters and they embrace the year of local food with an endearing lack of brattiness. Kingsolver's love of nature, food and family shines through. She's also whip smart and funny, and has a topical tale to tell, albeit one without much conflict. Kingsolver has written 11 novels, so she approaches non-fiction as a storyteller, describing in a warm and folksy way the dumb-as-dirt idiocy of newborn turkeys, the correct way to harvest asparagus and the pleasure to be had in bottling homemade tomato sauce in a kitchen warmed by a crackling fire. But this book is an exception.Īnimal Vegetable Mineral is Barbara Kingsolver's memoir about the year when she moved with her husband and two daughters from Tucson Arizona to a farm in Appalachia, determined to live off local produce for a year.
So I know that not everyone finds tales of life on the land thrilling reading. I had tried to sell an urban girl on the merits of a book about agriculture. She assured me as we walked out of the noisy bar that it wasn't because only half of what I'd said was audible, and slightly less than a third coherent, it was that the topic sounded dead boring.
Kirsten Alexander: I recently tried to recommend Barbara Kingsolver's new book Animal Vegetable Mineral to a friend and it didn't go at all well.
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