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Earth Day Book Recommendations from the Acres U.S.A. Community

Happy Earth Day! This year, we asked some of our authors, employees, partners, and speakers for book recommendations. We wanted to know what book they felt was a “must-read” for anyone who wanted to celebrate Earth Day. Here’s what they said.

Gabe Brown, speaker and author of Dirt to Soil

My book of choice would be Nourishment by Dr. Fred Provenza. I feel that Nourishment should be required reading for not only ranchers but consumers as well. As herbivores selectively graze to nourish themselves, there is a real lesson to be learned as to how we should nourish our bodies. Human health is directly related to the biodiversity of our environment. -Gabe Brown

Bob Quinn, speaker and co-author of Grain by Grain

If you are looking for a book to read to commemorate Earth Day this year, why not check out Grain by Grain (A quest to revive ancient wheat, rural jobs and healthy food) by Bob Quinn and Liz Carlisle.  It was my first book and a labor of love as it is the story of my quest to live more in harmony with the earth.  It starts with the conversion of my farm from raising commodities with chemicals to producing high nutrient dense food using a regenerative certified organic system.  Many other lessons I learned regarding the high cost of cheap food are sprinkled throughout the book.  It is a message of hope, filled with ideas and solutions to the current situation we see around us of the decline in the health of rural America, the health of our planet and the health of our people.  We can do better and together, we will!!!  Happy Earth Day – your friend in Montana – Bob 

Jessica Castleberry, Acres U.S.A. Customer Service

An inspirational portrayal of the power of nature to grow, recover, and thrive, my Earth Day recommendation is Wilding: Returning Nature to Our Farm by Isabella Tree. It tells the story of an English family who, after seeing the ravaging effects conventional agriculture was taking on their country estate, chose to “rewild” their land. A conservation strategy that reestablishes wilderness by letting nature grow freely, rewilding has turned the estate into a much-needed haven in the United Kingdom for native plants and wildlife. Elegantly fusing personal narrative with historical and biological information, Isabella offers a deeply educational experience while painting an intimate portrait of her family’s personal journey toward a new understanding of and relationship with nature. Filled with many applicable lessons, this narrative acts as a powerful reminder of the respect and responsibility we owe the natural world.

Doug Fine, speaker and author of American Hemp Farmer, Hemp Bound, and many others

The River Why by David James Duncan is one of my favorite books not just about the importance of wild ecosystems (which I think of as the Earth has bestowed) but the impact on humans of living in one. Ostensibly a love story between an intense fly fisherman and an even more intense fly fisherwoman (she swims au naturel while fishing), the book hits home for me about what living a life on Planet Earth feels like. Intense and present with a lot of love and good smells. In my own life on the Funky Butte Ranch, the local bee drone provides the morning sound track. This is where my sanity resides and why for me every day is Earth Day. -Doug Fine, author Farewell, My Subaru, American Hemp Farmer, Too High to Fail and Hemp Bound

Hannah Fields, Acres U.S.A. Sales Admin

If I had to recommend one book for Earth Day, I’d probably go with The Waste Between Our Ears by Gerry Gillespie. Gerry makes the case for building a sustainable society and regenerating the Earth as a community. Human beings are very wasteful, we throw so much food and reusable materials away every year and our current infrastructure doesn’t give us many alternatives. Gerry brings up an important point that many people overlook: we cannot restore our world if we do not shift the way we live as a society and how we deal with our waste.