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Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation [Paperback]

Sharon Astyk (Author)
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Product Description

Hard times aren’t just coming, they are here already. The recent economic collapse has seen millions of North Americans move from the middle class to being poor, and from poor to hungry. At the same time, the idea of eating locally is shifting from being a fringe activity for those who can afford it to an essential element of getting by. But aside from the locavores and slow foodies, who really knows how to eat outside of the supermarket and out of season? And who knows how to eat a diet based on easily stored and home preserved foods?

Independence Days tackles both the nuts and bolts of food preservation, as well as the host of broader issues tied to the creation of local diets. It includes:

  • How to buy in bulk and store food on the cheap
  • Techniques, from canning to dehydrating
  • Tools—what you need and what you don’t

In addition, it focuses on how to live on a pantry diet year-round, how to preserve food on a community scale, and how to reduce reliance on industrial agriculture by creating vibrant local economies.

Better food, plentiful food, at a lower cost and with less energy expended: Independence Days is for all who want to build a sustainable food system and keep eating—even in hard times.

Sharon Astyk is a former academic who farms in upstate New York with her family. She is the author of Depletion and Abundance, the co-author of A Nation of Farmers, and she blogs at www.sharonastyk.com.

About the Author

Sharon Astyk is a former academic who is a writer, subsistence farmer, parent, activist and prolific blogger (www.sharonastyk.com and http://henandharvest.com/). She farms in upstate New York with her husband and four children, raises livestock, and grows and preserves vegetables. She is the author of Depletion and Abundance, and co-author of A Nation of Farmers.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: New Society Publishers; First Edition edition (November 1, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0865716528
  • ISBN-13: 978-0865716520
  • Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #51,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #42 in  Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Canning & Preserving

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Sharon Astyk
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Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation
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44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Not just about the canning jars, October 27, 2009
This review is from: Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation (Paperback)
Independence Days is a book about food security. Like Sharon Astyk's two previous books (Depletion and Abundance; A Nation of Farmers), this one focuses on the need to assume personal responsibility for food self-sufficiency and for shortening the supply chain from farm/garden to table. Unlike Asktyk's previous books, this one is also a how-to, as well as a why-we-should, complete with helpful instructions for creating and managing a food storage pantry, preserving fresh foods, and cultivating a frugal and self-reliant life style.

Astyk's arguments for the importance of personal food security ("one of the central issues of our time") are compelling. A looming energy crisis, soil and water depletion, and the threat of global warming--these are all reasons to be concerned about the reliability of our food supply and the need to take personal control, as far as possible, over the food we put on our family's table. "Independence days" (a concept Astyk borrows from Carla Emery) are days when we're eating food we grow ourselves or obtain locally. For Astyk, true independence is freedom from the industrial food system that feeds most Americans.

Hence this book, which recommends various methods for food preservation (canning, pickling, dehydrating, fermenting); for purchasing, stocking, and storing food in pantry, root cellar, and freezer; for acquiring tools and equipment, in addition to adequate supplies of water, medicine, and other necessities; and for creating and using community resources. All of this advice is sound, helpful, and inspiring. It is also very credible, for Astyk practices what she preaches, and it's good to know that she has tried the methods that she advocates. The various sections are also illustrated with recipes, more or less effectively. Some of the recipes contain non-local foods--coconut milk, quinoa, salmon--which I found distracting in a book about shortening the supply chain, and not all of them illustrate the principle she'd like to teach: baked apples and cranberries are good comfort food but the recipe doesn't fit very comfortably in a section on medicines. Recipes/formulas for home-grown herbal remedies would have been a better choice.

But these are minor quibbles. I like Sharon Astyk because she always tells me why I should do something, before she tells me how, and this book continues that practice. "This isn't just about the rice or the garden or the canning jars," she says. "This is a small but important step in making a better way of life." Yes, truly. I learned from Independence Days, and it strengthened my desire to be as independent as possible. If you're concerned about food security, this is a good book to read and use. If you're not, read it anyway. You'll learn why the American food supply should be at the top of your list of things to think about.

by Susan Wittig Albert
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars More WHY than HOW, June 24, 2010
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This review is from: Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation (Paperback)
I found this book a disappointment. It was more why you would want sustainable food storage and preservation than how to do it. Not what I was looking for. More theory than how-to. I returned this book.
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30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Effective, Useful and Practical Ideas on Food Storage and Preservation, November 7, 2009
This review is from: Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation (Paperback)
My initial reaction on seeing this book was:

I like the book cover a lot and how the title is uniquely written in message form on a nicely decorated fruit post-it note pasted onto a jar of preserved vegetables. That alone gave me the incentive to want to quickly flick through the pages for its contents.

Independence Days reminds me of the 4th July, that of the declaration of a certain lifestyle that also includes a variety of practical guidance on ways to effectively use local suppliers as our main source of getting our food and vegetables as opposed to worldwide suppliers.

A practical reference guide which chronically lists ideas of how to preserve and replenish our food stock, all year round, as a modern day Mrs Beeton would do and who had all the answers to preserving food when fridges didn't exist.

The first chapter begins with mentioning rhubard, one of my favourite desserts, so that got me looking further down the page for more tips and advice on food preservation and in turn how to be self sufficient, no matter our background and lifestyle - for even farmers could benefit from reading this and hence the title.

To follow on from the idea of Independence Days, challenges are set daily and/or weekly as for instance Point 4 (under heading `Challenges'), mentions ideas to `Minimise Waste'; an explanation is then given and further along, Point 7 discusses how to `Manage your reserves'.

Chapter 3 links our thoughts back to the book title of independent thinking, of common protests against food storage and preservation and on `Getting Your Household Onboard'. This self sufficient thought process is reinforced by arguments against the cost of clearing space for this surplus stock of food/vegetables and essentially the reasons for contemplating such ideas which turn out to be cost-saving in the long run.

Clearm, concise suggestions to the protests going through our minds ensue and they are rational and practical:

Food storage/preservation helps us to:
1. Clear space for a healthier lifestyle
2. Become less dependent on large corporations for our daily food sustenance
3. Implement A Five Dollar Plan - a very useful economic guideline
4. Plan ahead on understanding the beneficial mechanics of food storage and other related ideas on how to
economise with buying in bulk and ways to store this surplus, to create a full food cupboard, accessible all the time

As an extra bonus, simple, easily prepared recipes such as that of homemade cream of mushroom soup base and other really useful and cheap recipes offer practical solutions to consuming the food we have at home. It even explains how to cook when we have a power failure!

Further to this are guidelines on how to store our medicines effectively, on health care and special diets with reference to other resources in preserving, storing and buying in bulk.

It is a book to delve into regulary for ideas on ways to use the space we have to better use that will mean we save time and money by economising through bulk buying and by having a continual supply of food that can be replenished without any food wastage. Each chapter is neatly organised so that you can see at a glance, the ideas on how to and what to do with preserved and/or stored food.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars It's not really a guide to preservation...
It's not that I didn't like this book, or find some of the information presented useful. I'm all for preservation and sustainable eating, buying from farmers and growing your own... Read more
Published 8 days ago by Paige Costner

5.0 out of 5 stars This book really changed the way I view food
I recently planted a more extensive vegetable garden than usual because of my family's current economic uncertainty. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Moorhead

4.0 out of 5 stars good info
While I do not necessarily subscribe to the author's global warming concerns, nor some of her other political views, I found the book entertaining and full of useful information... Read more
Published 3 months ago by N. R. Evans

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This Book Right Now.
I bought this book based on these same reviews, and oh my goodness am I glad I did it. This book is a valuable resource. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Jeannie Blankenship

5.0 out of 5 stars preparedness
Great book on being prepared for any emergency that may arise - without hitting the panic button. Easy and fun to read with great advice on getting started with food security for... Read more
Published 7 months ago by seed saver

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent information for a new view on food
I love how this author places some glimmer of hope for the reader. Most books about the food industry lately are very gloomy. Read more
Published 8 months ago by tallmisto

5.0 out of 5 stars Sharon keeps providing great information
I follow her blogs, have read her two previous books, and completely enjoyed this one. Lots of information I can use now, next year and in the future. Read more
Published 8 months ago by R. A Gill

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