here and everywhere.

            This weekend I ventured out of the city for a visit to the Hamptons. The weather was grand—surprisingly warm for October, and the warm, round autumn light fell in great big shafts across the landscape. It’s the kind of natural light that painters dream of.  I spent the day breathing in fresh air—fresh air! I had forgotten what a little oxygen can do for the mind and spirit. The inviting, open terrain got me thinking about Windrose Farm. I knew I had been forgetting something…

             

             My little outing gave me the same invigorating feeling that I experience each time I pay a visit to Barbara and Bill over at Windrose. A lot of it has to do with their diehard commitment to a progressive vision of community. The farm is a wonderful resource that has taught me a lot about the relationship between my social and physical environments. I love that Windrose welcomes everyone to the farm, and eagerly shares knowledge with anyone who is willing. Last February David and I stopped in for a late supper on our way to the Bay Area, and we brought some fresh seafood along with us. The snapper was perfectly complemented by that day's morning harvest. David put together a  raw salad of fennel, cherry tomatoes, young garlic, and agretti—a crunchy, green vegetable that tastes both salty and bitter, and is technically a succulent shrub. 

             There was lots of rosé to go around, and the dinner conversation continued long after the last morsel of food had been eaten. I was delighted when Bill handed me the Windrose Farm Book List on my way out the door. At the very top it says: Books for those who wish to welcome the knowledge of others & engage in the future of man, here and everywhere. I felt like I needed to start reading immediately. It’s certainly an ambitious list, and I’m determined to work my way through it. Join me?

Windrose Farm Book List

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken

Stolen Harvest by Vandana Shiva

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Anything! by Wendell Berry

Bad Dirt—Wyoming Stories 2 by Annie Proulx

People with Dirty Hands by Robin Chotzinoff

Hope’s Edge by Frances Moor and Anna Lappé

Hot, Flat, & Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman

1491: New Revelations of the Americas 
before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Collapse by Jared Diamond

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea

Across Realtime by Vernor Vinge

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, & a Raucous 
Year of Eating Local by Alisa Smith

Real Food by Nina Planck

The Last Farmer: An American Memoir by Howard Khon

The Rise and Fall of Alexandria Birthplace of the Modern World by Justin Pollard

The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka

The Ethics of What We Eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason

Wisdom of the Last Farmer by Mas Masamoto

Foot Matters by Mark Bittman

Taming the Tiger Within by Thich Nhat Hanh

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

The End of Materialism by Charles T. Tart, PH.D.