FOOD AT HOME
BY
JOHN G. BEMIS
B.A., HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1968
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTER OF
ARCHITECTURE
at the
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
May
Signature of Author
,
1975
Dep
t
AArchih.te
tectur
u e
May 9,1975
(/Dea17 i r
Certified by
Theslis Supervisor.
Accepted by
SChai rman, Departmental CoJnmittee.
on Graduate Students.
otch
Ass.i 're
JUN
3 1975
P&8RARIES
ti.
ABSTRACT
Food at Home
John G. Bemis
Submitted to the Department of Architecture on May 9, 1975, in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Architecture.
These pages suggest some ways that home environments may more
facilitate the potential of people to provide themselves with
food.
I would hope that anyone glancing through the pages might be
attracted to the idea of a garden, processing some foods at home,
helping to establish a food co-op, and learn enough to get them
started acting on the idea. I would want them to demand a
pantry in their home. Most of all I would hope they learn to
value the agricultural productivity of land, respect it, and
want to grow something, somewhere, somehow - building up soil
not just on it.
Thesis Supervisor:
Jan Wampler
Title:
Assistant Professor of Architecture
thanks
thanks
thanks
thanks
thanks
to
to
to
to
to
one grandfather who cared about houses
his son for remembering
another grandfather who was a farmer
my brother for remembering
Jan for reminding me
For the past few years food has been a news headline in
America: starvation in the world, inflationary food prices here
at home. Population growth; bad weather; fertilizer and
insecticide scarcities; the energy crisis of rising fossile fuel
costs; are themes presented to explain a "Food Crisis."
Undeniably they are decisive determinants. As small groups, as
individuals, as architects, we could make concerted efforts to
have fewer children and to be more attentive to wasteful,
unnecessary use of energy resources. Such efforts and concerns
would have a long term effect on what is a global problem. They
could have little right now effect on the immediate food problems
of each of us. There is another theme of global scale to which
we may react which can supply both an immediately beneficial
individual effect as well as nurture a profound reversal of a
long term international pattern.
Economic growth has been considered essential to economic
stability and to political stability and power. The "third world"
countries exploited by more developed country supported business
established an early dependence on the export of natural resources,
raw materials, and agricultural goods. Tillable land in Latin
America has been converted and expanded to grow coffee, fruit and
sugar for foreign tastes, peanuts and soy for American livestock,
meat for our tables. In India much good land is used to produce
tea for export. Little good land is used for local or even
national food production in these countries. Imported fertilizers
and insecticides go to cash crops not to local food crops. The
promises of the Green Revolution, intended to produce food for
the consumption of these countries' peoples, of course fall through,
not receiving the high technology resources their cultivation
demands. Food is imported. There is no sense to it; even the
farmers face starvation, forced to eat imported foods because
they cannot afford to grow food for themselves.
1
In the United States food prices until recently were low.
IN iTH1E -'NATION:.,
We grow our own food - or at least most of it.- American farmers
5th"farm price, decline
Associated Pressi4)
,
,f
WASHINGT'1ONA Prices farmers receiye (or rawag
ricultural products~drqppe#i 2 percera from Feb. 15 to
March 15, tlieirfifth conseoutive m2 nthly decline the Ag7
rigulture Department said yesterday.
The, dCrop"Rerting BQard said lower prices fon
wheat, corn,;coton, spybeans, ronatoes and milk contrib
t uted most to the decrease. Higher prices ,for cattle, onions,
and apple; helped offset part of the decline.
Retail food prices, meanwhile, ave continued -to rise,
1
because pf higherjniddleman postdor transporting, prep
cessing and selling the prodiUcts,.Department officials say.,
ithosezwill continue to push 'yp consgmei food costs
pace than in the
a
Lthrogg inidyear although -Jesse
i
1974
of
ors,
nths
i x
.-
B stn\
9
,
Apt-; 1, M976
4
have been incredibly productive. The independent farmers are,
however, diminishing despite being more productive than the
corporate farms that take them over, or than the bull-dozed
treeless yards of the subdivisions that might take their places.
The independent, small farms do not generate the economic
growth of their replacements. A farmer produces food. A
corporate farm is a business and it produces money as well as
food. The independent farmer has almost no control over the price
of his produce. The consumer is far away, separated by packers,
processors, trucks, trains, wholesalers, supermarkets. The
middlemen now control the price of food, not individually but as
parts of a process expanded to generate economic growth. The
corporate farm is managed by a business enterprise which often
also manages elements of the middlemen. Itenters food production
to control, to profit, to expand control and profit more. The
consumer is at one end, the small farmer at the other. Neither
has control if they accept the process of the middle.
Food Production provision in the United States is now big
business, profit growth oriented, energy and resource consumptive.
With the rising costs of energy, increasing recognition of the
limits of its most utlized supply, our food is now on the table
of international trade, an element of international politics and
power. We have become like a third world country.
Whether an American bothered by rising food costs or an
Indian facing starvation a problem is similar: how can we take
some control over the price of food and our access to it? I
want to encourage an attitude for individuals, for- small groups,
for architects, for us as citizens of an advanced industrial
and agricultural society, which would permit us to effect some
control. On a massive scale we now pay for food to be grown
and brought "conveniently" to us. Simply by intervening in that
process, performing some of the work of providing the food
ourselves, we may immediately save some of the cost. In the
long run we may discourage the expansive, exploitative, profit
motivated business growth which, though not necessarily bad,
tends to interject money as a priority over individual human
needs,. happiness and health. Ifwe could produce more food
2
on a small, local scale for ourselves, large scale agriculture
might produce more - at lower cost - for those who cannot grow it
themselves. Producing more fun ourselves, the peoples of other
countries might be forced less into producing for export and
allow them to grow their own food. The more local production then
the less energy need be consumed to preserve for and to transport.
Eliminating middlemen here, some there, permits more consumer
control, lower cost, and less fossil fuel energy consumption.
Intervention demands assumption of some responsibility,
some organization, some work, some time. Most people are capable
of and can share the demands. The type of level of intervention,
and ease with which the intervention may be incorporated into a
person's daily life is enormously effected by the designed
environment. Therefore in addition to encouraging an attitude
I want to suggest some avenues/vehicles of intervention and some
physical elements of designed as well as natural environments
that might make intervention more accessible. The availability
of tillable land is crucial. The amount of kitchen related work
and storage space is important. The existence and nature of
neighborhood and community, group shared building space can be
influential. Are resources for alternative intervention provided,
do they exist? Is there potential within an already built
framework.
Knowing how to do something and having the tools to help do
it might appear to be most of a job. In fact doing the job is
the job. There has evolved a pretty degree of separation between
the misnomer "bread-winner" and really sensing the basic importance of working(earning money) to produce (buy) food. The
supermarket media culture of today tells us that food should be
convenient, recreation and liesure the goals of our work and
living. Food co-op members, home gardeners, farmers and their
families can speak of the satisfaction that comes from being able
to identify working with the provision of food.
We eat most of our food at home.
Home is the place to start.
3
The homes of 100 years ago and before were well equipped with
facilities for food production, processing and storage - home
food provision. Though some dry goods, spices and herbs might be
transported long distances, transportation networks generally
demanded sufficient time delays such that the absence of large
scale preservation techniques discouraged inter-regional commerce
in food produce. Home growing of produce was common. Local farm
production was supported by and encouraged by local demand. Small
farms were essential to the viability and growth of a community.
Rural homes had fields, pastures, orchards, gardens, barns,
outbuildings, cold cellars, summer kitchens. Urban homes had
extensive kitchen work areas, always a pantry.
Catherine Beecher initiated a domestic revolution, which
ultimately enlisted industry's support, transforming the kitchen
into a streamlined center for the preparation of meals. An urban
industrial, commercial society was growing. Increasing numbers
of people relied on farm and commercial production of foods.
Food production became a business, no longer a way of life.
Transportation networks expanded. Processing and storage
facilities became more sophisticated. Further population
centralisaction eroded the balance of local food production/
provision capabilities. Small farms succumbed to economic
pressures, particularly farms in the path of urban expansion.
Home became predominantly a focus for the pursuit of liesure,
a place to retreat from work. Food provision became a matter of
money and convenience. The physical elements which might facilitate involvment in home food provision began to disappear.
4
There are those who will deny any disappearance of farm life, reminding
us that America's modern farms which now "feed the world," are greater by
far than they were a hundred years ago. This is quite true but it is the/small
"personal" farm that has disappeared from the over-all scene, while the big
commercial farms have grown. Imagine yourself as the average business man
of 1856. There were no automobiles then, so you necessarily had a horse. Perhaps you had two or three. Therefore you had a barn, and pasture, and a
hay field. With that much, you probably had a few chickens and some livestock too. Even the smallest house was incomplete without a barn and outbuildings behind it. When the family horse left the scene, farm life for the
average person was on its way out. Soon the family car took over the old
barn, the pasture was sold for real estate development, and home life lost its
rural flavor so much that the American landscape reflected the change.
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A HEALTHFUL AND ECONOMICAL HOUSE.
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case of weak eyes.
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55
Despite the erosion of home food provision capabilities
there is still potential for individual and group intervention
in the process of food provision. The trip from land to home,
far longer and more complicated than it used to be, can still be
as simple and may offer a range of interventions suitable for
the wide variety of present living situations.
There is still land in suburban, even urban areas. There
are still small farms in suburban towns. Modern technology
may be an advantage. More people may allow facilities for local
food orovision that would be too expensive for fewer, as well
as decreasing time commitments by sharing the necessary work
resoonsibilities.
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Home production, processing, and storage of foods requires
some knowledge, skill. Experience makes any work easier,
particularly starting; but experience also builds, so that
having had a garden once, or after one attempt at canning, a
second attempt may be approached with more confidence. Sharing
the experiences of others whether through reading or working
with them can be helpful. The best way to be successful is to
do it; start doing it; keep doing it. There are various
physical facilities and capacilities(potentials for facilities)
which are needed or which permit greater flexibility in and
utilization of a particular activity.
18
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24
ood Prices Drive Millions to GIW
'dening" was the headline of an
article by pollster George Gallup
last-fall in which he predicted.
that final data would show that 30.2
million-American fanilies grew' at least
part of their own vegetables in 1974.
Even the-White House is planting a
vegetable garden.
Doesn't the, thoyght of saving food
dollairs appeal to you? For the price of
one head of lettuce you can buy enough
seeds to grow 200. If you cafft eat that
much lettuce this year, save part of the
seeds,tore' them in a cool dry place
and use them within the next six years.
A package of ,cantaloupe seeds, equal
to the cost of a single tasteless, pickedtoo-early 'market melon,'will provide
you with-abouti100 mouth-watering
fruitIs,
Anyone who has ever grown his own
garden knows that commercial varieties,
chosen for, their; ability to withstand
shipping, simply aren'tas tender, flavorsome or vitamin-rich when they reach
marketas are the home-grown varieties.
Garden expert james U. Crockett shows how it's done,
He'll launch his own weekly TV'show on PBS April 16.
Crow
OwViliaes!
by James U: Crockett
..Choosing a garden site
Sunshine isthe single most important
element in growing vegetables. Select a
spot that receives direct sun for at least
five to six hours daily.
Nearly any soil can be adapted to
vegetable culture provided it has sufficient drainage. When natural drainage
is inadequate, grow your plants on
w Su.w
PAK ADE. , B05-kw%
.mounded beds.
' Tree and shrub roots can steal moisture and plant foods from your-garden.
Seal 1hem off by trenching two feet
deep around the garden, inserting a
metal or plastic root barrier
Big crops from small plot
A 300-'to 600-square-foot garden (15
by 20 to 20 by 30 feet) can supply most
of the summer vegetable needs of a
family of four with asurplustfor canning
or freezing. Space rows closely and
cultivate by hand. Only-such basic tools
as a spade or spading fork,.rake and hoe
are needed.
Get a head start by sowing long-term
warm-weather crops such as tomatoes,
peppers, eggplants, okra, 'cucumbers
and melons indoors four to eight weeks
before night temperatures are expected
to remain above 55 degrees. Grow a
.succession of crops in each row; intercrop fast-maturing radishes, turnips,
spinach and lettuce with slower-growIng cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and
tomatoes. 'Grow vertical crops; plant
pole rather than bush beans; train
cucumbers and melons on a fence;
stake tomatoes. Maintain asmall nursery
bed from which seedlings can .be
quickly transplanted to.fill vacancies.
Improving the soil
All soil is composed primarily of
-arious-sized pieces of rock. The layger
the bits of rock, as in sand, thi more
9Uobc.,
% Apr t IR75
.
25
How to use ktilizers
porous or "light" the soil. So-called'
"heavy" soils, such as clay soils, are
made up of particles so small that the
soil feels greasy when wet and becomes
very hard when dry. Neither sand nor
clay is an ideal garden soil; a soil containing both large and small segments
and known as a medium loam is best.
It is a rare homeowner who finds an
ideal garden soil in his backyard. Fortunately, nearly all soils can be made
suitable for vegetable culture. The way
to improve any soil isto add to it partially decomposed organic matter such
as peat moss, decayed sawdust, ground
bark or leaves, as well as manure and
compost
Organic or not
Very early a new gardener discovers
two things about .fertilizers: (1) the
major elements needed for plant
growth are nitrogen,- phosphorus and
potash and (2) gardeners are divided as_
to how to apply these nutrients, organically or chemically..
To help soothe the passions aroused
by the organic-inorganic controversy,
consider that soil-bome nutrients are
~absorbed in a water-soluble form. It
makes no difference whether fertilizers
are applied as water-soluble chemicals
or as organic manures, which must decompose before plants can use them,
Orginic fertilizers take longer. than inorganic ones to become available toplants--that's all. Wise growers use
organic fertilizers, for' enhancing thesoil texture and for the long-term release of nutrientsand inorganic chemical fertilizers to give speedy growth.
Fertilizer packages bear a three-numeral label such as 5-10-5, 5-87 or 10 balance of soils. Agronomists use a pH
10-10. In sequence the numbers stand scale pf 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral;
for the percentages ofaltrogen, phos- lower numbers denote acidity, higher
phorus and potassium-or potash in the ones alkalinity.
mixture; the remaining material is filler Most vegetables do best with a pH
used to prevent caking and to make dis- Qf 6.0 to 7,0. You can determine the
pH of your soil and the amount of lime
tribution easier.
or
sulfur to add by using a simple soil
All vegetables need a nitrogen-phostest
kit available at. any garden center
phorus-potash, fertilizer. Nitrogen proor
by
seriding a soil'sample to a state
motes fast growth and is-especially valuable for leafy crops such as lettuce, cab -. laboratory forAnalysis.
bage and Swiss. chard. Phosphorus
Planting your grden
builds strong roots; potatoes, beets, carWait until excess spring moisture has'
rots and turnips benefit by extra phosdrained
away before digging your
horus. Potash helps plants . esist
garden.
After
turning over the soil to a
drought and. diseases and acts as a
depth
of
8
inches
or so, rake it smooth
catalyst for-other elements.
Before digging over your garden in and stake out your rows to width to
the spring, spread 4 to 5 pounds of 'suit the plants.you will be. growing. It
5-10-5 or 58-7 fertilizer or 2 .to' 3 helps to have a plan on paper.
Plant seeds following the directions
pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 100
on
the back of each package and sow.
square feet. During the growing season
seeds
sparingly. Most of them will have
use supplementary surface feedings of
to
be
destroyed If they are too dose.
3 to 5 ounces of fertilizer to each 10
together.
feet of row. every three to four weeks.
If you haven't started cabbage, lettuce and broccoli seedlings indoors,
Acid-alkaline balance
Calciumi in the form of lime, is essen buy some plants-and set them into the
tial in acid-soil regions to raise the pH ground early, -'during 'cool weather,
or -"sweeten" the soil, while sulfur is Psanh onion sets, peas, carrots, beets,
used in alkaline areas to lower the pH., radishes, turnips' spinach and Swiss
The term pH refers to the acid-alkaline chard as early aspossible. Plant beans
and corn about the date your last spring
frost is expected., Wait until night temperatures remain above 55 degrees before setting out tomatoes,peppers and
eggplants, or planting melons, squash
and pumpkins.
,
Pest and disease control
Most of the terrifying insects and
diseases we hear about rarely appear in
home gardens. When they do, a gardener ought to respond with the mildest
remedy that will control them. For instance, buy disease-resistant varieties
and disease-treated seeds, -Control
weeds. Protect transplants from cutworms by encircling them with cardboard collars. Keep plants -well nourished and healthy. Plant crops in-different parts of your garden from year to
year. Destroy all infected plants immediately. Shake insects off your plants into
a can of water coated with a skim of oil.
Use nontoxic plant-derived insecticides
such as pyrethrum and rotenone. Use a
forceful spray of plain cold water to
wash away aphids and red spider mites.
Control worms on cabbages; broccoli
and cauliflower-with nontoxic Biotrol,
Dipel or Thurcide. As a last resort, use
malathion or carbaryl insecticides because their effects dissipate quickly.
Therapy, too
Weight- and exercise-conscious persons find gardening immensely satisfying. Bending and stooping for a purpose beats-exercise-by-rote..
Ergotional tensions and gardening are
incompatible. It's nearly impossible to
be angry when admiring your first ripe
tomato. Gardening offers a richly rewarding way to "slow down and live
longer."
26
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Shipping we ight 240 pounds.
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To fit these elements in a home, and encourage these
activities to occur there are some minimum space requirements
that should be recognized. Examining them it is not surprising
that the work of developers creates homes without land for
potential gardens. Greater profits to the developer result
from higher densities. What seems disturbing is that in fact
they might build at a reasonably high density and still permit
both garden space and home contact with the ground. There should
be some promise in that fact.
36
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Homes today do not have many of the facilities that
accommodate flexibility in providing food at home. However,
there is potential in existing home situations. Looking at
that potential illustrates elements which can be improved when
considered with regard to future home and home site design.
Each of us may make a particular adaption in applying an idea to
our own homes and communities.
40
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tolling pastures sets the hoiticutdral
Bridgewater Center. left o to rotie
Pcomrmunity built on100'acres Of
atmosphere of Waterford Village.
4ive Bend Fartn and its year roUnd
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14. Open daiyad Sun
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66
Ben Logan.
The Land Remembers: The Story of a Farm and its People.
New York. 1975. pages 220-223.
I ran on to the house. The wind was carrying the smoke off
in a straight line from the kitchen chimney, flies few up in a
swarm when I opened the screen door. The kitchen was warm and
steamy, filled with the smell of cooking tomatoes. Mother pushed
her hair back from her face and gave me a quick smile.
"You're home early".
"Teacher said we'd be needed."
"Bless her."
"What needs to be done?"
"Everything. Your Father says the ground will be frozen by
morning. Everything has to come in from the garden. I've only
done the tomatoes."
I began by pulling up the carrots, beets, turnips, and
long, white-rooted vegetable oysters. Some of the carrots were
so long and so wound around each other I had to use a five-tined
manure fork to get them up. An old white hen joined me, the same
one that liked to follow the corn-cultivation in the summer. She
scratched in the new-turned ground and ate worms until a gust
caught her and sent her running and cackling toward the chicken
house, her feathers fanned out by the wind.
There was a dull rumbling as Lyle came by with a wagonload
of potatoes, horses trotting, potatoes jumping and rumbling in
the bottom of the wagon box. There was another sound that was
something like that. When a summer storm was coming with its
far-off beginning of thunder, Father used to say, "Potato wagon
coming."
Lyle waved to me and said something. The wind carried his
67
words off in the opposite direction. He may have counted on that.
It was the kind of day he liked to say, when he thought no one
would hear him, "By God, it's colder than a left-handed tit on a
cast-iron witch."
I picked the last of the green beans and lettuce. The
lettuce leaves were too big and would be bitter, but they were the
last we would have for seven months.
Junior and Lee came home from High School. Laurance was
working for my Uncle Lou that fall. Lee hurried out to help with
the potatoes. Junior took the car and went to get sand from
along the road. We would need it for storing the root vegetables.
I picked up hundreds of ground cherries, bright yellow and
round as marbles in their paper-lantern husks. Later, we would
take them across the field to a neighbor's, where a blind old
lady would sit in her rocking chair and husk them for us, her
hands seeing the good ones and bad ones, sorting them with never
a mistake.
Leaves were blowing along the ground and the
the big maple rattled in the wind. There was ice
cup at the well. Once when I went inside to warm
handed me two dish towels. "Let's chase the flies
bare limbs of
in the drinking
my hands Mother
out."
We propped the outside door open and started in the dining
room, waving a cloth in each hand, driving the flies toward the
door. They tried to turn back when they felt the cold, but we
herded most of them out.
The kitchen was piled high with carrots, turnips, and beets
still needing their tops cut off. The pressure cooker, filled
with cans of string beans, was puffing and clicking like a steam
engine.
I kept checking with Mother for instructions. Each time I
saw her she seemed to have something different cradled in her
apron - empty canning jars from the cellar, tomatoes, string
beans, lettuce, some flowers still in bloom, a clump of dill weed.
68
"Want me to dig the horseradish?"
"No. We have plenty from last year. But get the rhubarb."
"All of it?"
"Only the biggest and reddest stalks."
"What about the cabbage?"
"Pull the heads up and pile them next to the wood-shed. We'll
let them freeze. The men will cover them with sawdust tomorrow."
"What about the squash?"
"Only the hard ones."
Some of the squash vines were twenty feet long. I trailed
them off into the grass and weeds, finding squash on some, bright
yellow blossoms on others. I also found burdock burrs and Spanish
bayonets that hung on to my clothes and stuck through into the
skin. The big Hubbard squash were dark green with a deep prange
spot where they lay against theground. As I was carrying a bag
of them in, one got away and clattered down the cellar steps ahead
of me. It didn't even crack.
Mother came to the door once to look up at a long, wavering
line of wild geese. They were flying with the wind, so high we
could hardly hear their honking. "I hope they didn't wait too
long." Mother said.
I knew what she was seeing in her mind. The migrating ducks
and geese would come down somewhere for the night. Sometimes a
quick freeze caught them in the sloughs along the rivers and froze
them into the ice. They did there or were eaten alive by foxes
and mink.
We kept passing each other at work, too busy to talk. Lyle
and Junior were carrying baskets of potatoes into the cellar,
dumpting them into the big bin that ran all along one side.
Father was putting tar paper around the foundation of the house
and piling sawdust against it to keep out the wind. On days
like that, Father walked fast, leaning forward more than usual,
69
carrying half the world on his back.
Finally, the garden was done, except for the flowers. I
went on to the orchard and helped Lee with the apples. The wind
was still knocking them down, the big Wolf Rivers, some of them
six inches across, making loud thuds as they landed. Mother
liked to joke about those giant apples. "Bring me a Wolf River,"
she'd say, "I want to make a pie".
Lee climbed the trees and knocked apples down, not always
one at a time. I stood below, trying to catch them. There were
Wealthy's and Sweet Apples on the ground with the Wolf Rivers.
Some had fallen earlier. They were split open and had been
"working" in the warm sun. Even with the cold wind stinging our
noses, there was the sharp smell of cider in the orchard.
Bees clung to some of the apples. They had made one too
many trips to collect the oozing juice and were too cold to fly
back to the hive. We sorted apples as we picked them up, finding
that the bees weren't too cold to sting. The good apples went
to the cellar. The damaged ones went to the crowded kitchen to be
canned for applesauce or to become the rich dark brown of Mother's
apple butter, better on a slice of fresh white bread than any
other food in the world.
Full darkness came. The wind began to fall and the cold
was bitter, with a little snow spitting down. I lighted a
lantern and Mother and I went out to dig the flower bulbs. The
little gladiolus bulbs were like small pointed brown onions.
Some of the clumps of dahlia tubers were as big as a gallon
bucket. We knocked the dirt off and piled them into boxes.
Mother sighed as we finished, realizing that we had forgotten,
as we had forgotten each year as long as I could remember, to
mark which clump of roots went with which color flower.
Mother sent me to tell Father it would be better to do the
milking before supper. No food was started, unless we wanted to
open a newly sealed jar of green beans. I found Father on his
back under the Model T Ford, draining the water out of the
radiator. I left the lantern with him and went back to the
kitchen.
70
Mother got supper, cutting the potatoes up small so they'd
cook fast. I sat half asleep behind the close warmth of her
stove, cutting tops off beets, carrots, and turnips so I could
bury the roots in the boxes of sand in the cellar.
That night, with the chores done and a fire roaring in the
dining-room stove, the house was warm and steamy, filled with
good earthy smells from the orchard and garden. Except for some
late corn still drying in the fields, harvest was over. We had
lived another growing season in partnership with the land. Now
the land's gifts were safely stored in the cellar, barnes,
granary, corncrib, and haystacks. Suddenly it didn't matter that
the bright days of Indian summer were over and that the ground
would be frozen by morning.
-71
Bibliartp~g of
&fJff
I
&N~
A "Food Crisis"
"An Inventory of Hope."
Saturday Review/World.
December 14, 1974.
Barnet, Richard & Ronald Muller. "A Reporter at Large:
Multinational Corporations." The New Yorker. Part I,
December 2, 1974; Part II,December 9, 1974; Part III,
January 6, 1975.
Barraclough, Geoffrey. "The Great World Crisis I."The New York
Review of Books. Vol. XXI, No. 21 & 22. January 23, 1975.
Clark, Wilson. "U.S. Agriculture in Growing Trouble as well as
Crops." Smithsonian. January, 1975.
Green, Wade. "Triage. Who Shall be Fed? Who Shall Starve?"
The New York Times Magazine. January 5, 1975.
Shumacher, E.F., Small is Beautiful:
Mattered. New York. 1973.
Economics as if People
Scrimshaw, Nevin S. "The World-Wide Confrontation of Population
and Food Supply." Gordon F. Bloom & Ronald C. Curhan.
"Technological Change in the Food Industry." Technology
Review. Vol. 77, No.2. December 1974.
Beecher, Catherine. Housekeeper & Healthkeeper. New York. 1873.
Beyer, Glen H. The Cornell Kitchen. Cornell. 1952.
Bromfield, Louis. Pleasant Valley. New York. 1943
Malabar Farm. New York. 1947.
Giedion, S. Mechanization Takes Command. New York. 1948.
Long, Amos Jr., The Pennsylvania German Family Farm.
Breinigsville, Pa., 1972.
Sloane, Eric. American Yesterday. New York. 1956.
Diary of an Early merican Boy. New York. 1962.
Our Vanishing Landscape. New York. 1955.
Whyte, William. The Last Landscape.
F 10a r
wm-
fw
New York. 1968.
;~
04"!:f it-
Hunter, Beatrice Trum. Consumer Beware. New York. 1971.
Ronco, William. Food Co-ops. Boston. 1974.
Wickstom, Lois.
1974.
The Food Conspiracy Cookbook.
San Francisco.
Hertzberg, Ruth. Beatrice Vaugh. Janet Greene.
Putting Food By. Brattleboro, Vt. 1973.
73
Ball Corporation. Blue Book.
Freezer Book. Muncie, Indiana. 1974.
Gilmore, Grant & Holly. The Homestead Kitchen & Cellar.
New York. 1973.
USDA. Complete Guide to Home Canning, Preserving, and Freezing.
New York. 1973.
I
1Cer-tetwAup
mi-
Rodale, J.I. and Staff. How to Grow Vegetables & Fruits by the
Organic Method. Rodale Books, Inc., Emmaus. Pa. 1971.
Expensive, but thorough in a slightly disorganized fashion.
Rodale, Robert. The Basic Book of Organic Gardening, New York.
1971.
- paperback.
The Pfeiffer Garden Book. Bio-dynamics in the Home Garden.
Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association, Inc.
Stroudsburg, Penna., 1967.
A specific method - concisely informative about good general
practices.
Thomson, C.L. "The Home Vegetable Garden." Cooperative Extension
Service. USDA. University of Massachusetts. Not organic,
free. Only worth listing to emphasize the service potential
of the Extension Service. Visit one in your local area and
see how they can help you.
Seymour, John & Sally. Farming for Self-Sufficiency.
New York. 1973.
An English experience. They know what they're doing.
Organic Gardening and Farming. published monthly by Rodale Press,
Inc., Emmaus, Penna. 18049.
Subscriptions: one year $6.85: two years $12.25:
three years $16.65.
74
The advertising is as important as articles, a
subsciption puts you on lists to receive seed catalogues.
W. Atlee Burpee Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 19132.
Farmer Seed & Nursery Co., Faribault, Minn. 55021.
Stokes Seeds, Inc., Box 548, Buffalo, New York 14240.
Johnny's Selected Seeds, catalogue ($.25) N. Dixmont, Maine 04932.
Especially for varieties adapted to colder climates,
many organically grown seeds.
Fruit and Nursery stock is best ordered from a company in the
same or a colder climate than where you live.
Kelly Bros. Nurseries, Inc., Dansville, N.Y. 14424.
J.E. Miller Nurseries, Inc., Canandaigua, N.Y. 14424.
New York State Fruit Testing Cooperative Association,
Geneva, N.Y. 14456 (send a donation when writing for a
catalogue).
Mellinger's Inc., 2310 West South Range Rd., North Lima,
Ohio 44452.
For a catalogue with all kinds of stock, cheap.
75
Equipvena and
als
Greenhouses:
Lord & Burnham, Irvington, New York 10533
(local offices in Belmont, Mass.)
Hand tools:
Your local hardware store or garden center
auctions.
Sears, Roebuck and Company: Farm and Ranch
Catalogue.
Roto-tillers/tractors:
Ariens Company: power tiller
805 West Ryan Street, Brillion, Wisc. 54110
Garden Way Manufacturing Co., Inc.
Troy-Bilt Roto Tillers - Power comosters
102nd Street & Ninth Avenue, Troy, N.Y. 12180
Gravely - convertible tractor
4503 Gravely Lane, Clemons, N.C. 27012.
Many books may be ordered through:
Garden Way Publishing Co., Dept. 50073, Charlotte, Vermont 05445.
Mother's Bookshelf, P.O. Box 70, Hendersonville, N.C. 28739
(The Mother Earth News)
Write for lists of publications and available books.
76