Homegrown Pantry

Starred review from February 15, 2017
Out of the noise and disconnect that ended 2016, Pleasant delivers a guidebook of soul-saving coherence, practicality, thoroughness, and deeply seated wisdom, and reconnects our imagination to our soil to our labor to our mouths. The heart of the book is a showcase of 28 pantry vegetables, from asparagus to winter squash. Each entry includes explanations of varieties, of the portion size to plant for your household, and how to grow, harvest, store, and preserve it. Pleasant gives a conversational yet comprehensive walk-through, with photos, of the five preservation methodscold storage, freezing, drying, canning, and fermenting. Her seasonal calendar of food preservation is a great idea, and she smartly includes a planting timetable working back from the first-frost date of autumn, though not a planting calendar working forward from the last frost of winter/spring (not a biggie; planting dates are still found in each vegetable entry). This one's a keeper.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)