Review
"I have been completely converted by the simplicity and soundness of the system and above all the results . . . Dr. Mittleider, no matter how short or how long your stay in this country you have lit a torch which will burn for a long time." (C.D. Promnitz, Agricultural Officer, Zimbabwe, Africa)
I am pleased to write concerning our experience using the Mittleider Method of growing a large variety of fresh vegetables for the L.D.S. Welfare System . . . My personal feelings and those shared by my associates are, that the Mittleider Method is a most enjoyable means of growing food . . . The results are fantastically more rewarding than I have ever had in my 30 years of growing vegetables by conventional means. The production is heavier, quality higher, and the results more dramatic in every way. I am pleased to recommend the Mittleider Method to everyone for pleasure or profit. (President Charles A. Jones, Sandy, Utah Central Stake, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)
Dr. Mittleider knows one thing that can change the face of the earth, and he's trying to get someone to listen. No matter how poor man, or man's soil is, if there's a way to get water to it, with only a plot of ground 20' X 100', a man can feed his family better than it has ever been fed before . . . He has proven his claims in just about every type of adverse situation in the world . . . The Idaho baker-turned-agricultural wizard, specializes in turning what is known as "devil-land" into unbelievably productive land. The beauty of the program is that the transformation can take place anywhere from three to six months, with food to spare and to share for the effort . . . There's no reason why there is a single person in the world who has to go to bed hungry. -- Dr. William Willoughby, National Courier Correspondent
About the Author
Jacob R. Mittleider was born in Blackfoot, Idaho. After completing formal schooling there, he moved to California and concentrated on a scientific and practical study of agriculture, which he mastered.
His primary interest was raising beautiful flowers and shrubbery, and the result was the founding in Loma Linda, California, of Mitts Nursery, Inc., in 1947. For 15 years his products sold widely and graced the homes and flower gardens of thousands of people from California to Maine.
He invented nine new varieties of carnations, which carry such intriguing names as Moon Moth, Firelight, and April Dawn. Franchise arrangements also produced these in Europe and South Africa.
To speed delivery of his plants, he developed Magic Mitts, a new method of growing, packaging, and delivering plants and flowers through a nation-wide retail chain.
During these years he conquered weeds, harmful insects, and plant diseases and perfected a technique for making soil produce near-perfect plants and flowers in budget-balancing abundance.
In 1964, he closed his successful nursery business and decided to live on his modest annuity so he could devote his remaining years to serving mankind in the field of scientific food production. He was an instructor in the Extension Faculty of Loma Linda University and has been an International Agricultural Consultant and given extensive instruction and successful vegetable-gardening demonstrations in many locations throughout the U. S. A. and Canada, as well as New Guinea, Fiji, Okinawa, the Philippines, Trinidad (West Indies), Mexico, Honduras, Guyana, and Africa. From 1989 to 1996 he conducted season-long gardening courses in Russia, helping those people increase their food crops from 4 (cabbage, potatoes, beets, and carrots) to 23. His gardening books have been translated into Russian, Japanese, and Spanish.
During the time he was teaching in the developing countries, Dr. Mittleider was honored with two Doctorate degrees - one from Florida Beacon College, and the other from Timorazi University in Moscow, Russia (reputedly the most prestigious school in the Russian Commonwealth).
For the past 3 years Dr. Mittleider has been a consultant at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah, supervising the planting and growth of the lawns, trees, and shrubs. He also established an extensive vegetable-garden show-place and supervised and taught gardening classes there. He and his wife, Mildred, are currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah.
