Field Days

Book excerpt: "This is an insider's view, and Raskin offers readers insights into a hidden California. The impact of his book is to return culture to agriculture in a state dominated by agribusiness."—Gerald Haslam, author of The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland “Jonah Raskin has lived and taught in this area for well over thirty years and has the credibility to write about the evolution of farming here. His book is a magical mixture of journalism and memoir. I loved his interviews with local farmers and growers. He explores the questions that we all are asking about our relationship to food and what it means to eat locally, who grows it, and will they be able to continue to do so.”—Ianthe Brautigan, author of You Can't Catch Death: A Daughter's Memoir "'Think global, buy local' takes on new meaning in this intriguing synthesis of memoir and reportage on the slow and local food movements."—Peter Laufer, author of Wetback Nation and The Dangerous World of Butterflies “Anyone wanting to know what it's like to live in the paradise that is Sonoma County must read Field Days. Jonah Raskin brings this blessed region and its communities of environmental champions vividly to life.”—Jeff Cox, author of The Organic Cook's Bible and The Organic Food Shopper's Guide “In Jonah Raskin's wonderfully observant ramble through Sonoma County's farms, orchards, and vineyards, it becomes abundantly clear that American farming has not been killed off by agribusiness, or the Department of Agriculture's call to 'get big or get out'. With Raskin we meet a rich community of amazing people who have stayed on the land, or gone back to it, sharing a new kind of ecologically informed consciousness about our intimate connections to the land and the people who work it. Anybody who reads this book, wherever they live, will gain a new appreciation of this new generation of farmers. Thanks to them, we're learning to eat well—a basic necessity in the hard times ahead.”—Ernest Callenbach, author of Ecotopia "In Field Days, Jonah Raskin becomes the George Plimpton of organic farming. Instead of getting out on the playing field to measure his stuff against pro athletes, he toils long days beside farm workers. Soulful and always curious, Raskin traces the tradition of responsible farming practices in Northern California, and explores the meaning of living locally."—Bart Schneider, author of The Man in the Blizzard