Synopses & Reviews
Twenty years ago, just beyond his 40th birthday, Keith Stewart exchanged life in New York's corporate grind for a farm in Orange County, NY, where he and a small crew of seasonal workers grow about 100 organic vegetables and herbs. What started as a yearning--to live on a piece of land, closer to nature; to work outside with my body as well as my brain; to leave behind the world of briefcases, computers, corporate clients, and non-opening windows--has become a life more full, more varied and often more demanding and exhausting, but always more real. Stewart sells everything he grows directly to consumers and restaurateurs, and in doing so has developed loyal and growing ranks devoted to his Rocambole garlic, herbs, heirloom tomatoes, and other organic produce. Now, in It's a Long Road to a Tomato, Stewart presents interlocking, complementary essays, addressing his mid-life development as a farmer; some of the nuts and bolts and how-to's of organic vegetable growing and selling in an urban market; humorous and philosophical stories about domestic and wild farm animals and the natural world; and some of the political, social, and environmental issues surrounding agriculture today and why it matters to all of us.
Review
"Beguiling and enlightening"
—
Booklist
"Keith Stewarts essays afford a fine way ‘in to the compelling realities of life on a small organic farm in the twenty-first century. His writing is precise and evocative: immediacy bound with a strong meditative underpinning that is an enduring pleasure to read. Like all really good writing, it illuminates a great deal more than the subject at hand."
—Sally Schneider, syndicated columnist and author of
A New Way to Cook"Keiths writing reads with the force and love of natures elements—strong, refreshing, beautiful, and true. Its as fresh as his delicious carrots, and as poignant as his incomparable garlic!"
—Leslie McEachern, owner of the Angelica Kitchen, New York City
"Keith Stewart has been providing New Yorkers with magnificent vegetables for two decades. Now, as if to prove he can do anything, he provides all Americans with a compelling story about his own approach to farming. And at precisely the right moment, just as millions of people across the country are rediscovering the pleasure, and the importance, of eating close to home."
—Bill McKibben, author of Wandering Home and The End of Nature
"To combat urban crowding, copies of Its a Long Road to a Tomato should be airlifted into major cities. The captivating charm of organic farming, so deliciously described in Keith Stewarts essays, would surely have hordes of city dwellers packing their bags. Stewarts stories transport me into the precious and full life of an organic farmer. I more than appreciate it; I now feel part of it."
—Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception
"Keith Stewart opens this engaging book by transforming himself abruptly from midlife executive into novice organic farmer. The twenty years that follow on an upstate New York farm are sampled here in true-life tales that—without denying the sometimes harsh realities of the small producers life—leave the reader in no doubt of the joys that keep this small farmer on the land."
—Joan Dye Gussow, author of This Organic Life
"Ever dreamed of living on a farm or growing your own food? Heres the clearest picture of what farm life really looks like. The romance of a pastoral life isnt shattered by Stewarts depiction of the gritty reality of farm life. They coexist, side by side, mirroring Stewarts organic and integrated approach to farming. Stewarts book is a gift to cooks. Now, each time I cook with food from a farmer I know, I have a deeper and clearer idea of what really goes into growing healthy and delicious food and why our farmers are heroes."
—Peter Hoffman, chef/owner of Savoy Restaurant, New York City
“[A] heartfelt chronicle, sobering and amusing by turn. Although focused on the particular, it transcends Keiths Farm and illuminates exactly what it is that we are putting on our plates, whether we shop at Keith Stewarts stand in the Union Square Greenmarket or at a farmers market elsewhere. Its a delicious read—but what makes it an important one is that it has so enriched the ongoing conversation about food.”
—from the new foreword by Deborah Madison
Review
"Keith Stewart's essays afford a fine way 'in' to the compelling realities of life on a small organic farm in the twenty-first century. His writing is precise and evocative: immediacy bound with a strong meditative underpinning that is an enduring pleasure to read. Like all really good writing, it illuminates a great deal more than the subject at hand."
--Sally Schneider, syndicated columnist and author of A New Way to Cook
Review
"Keith's writing reads with the force and love of nature's elements--strong, refreshing, beautiful, and true. It's as fresh as his delicious carrots, and as poignant as his incomparable garlic!"
--Leslie McEachern, owner of the Angelica Kitchen, New York City
Review
"Keith Stewart has been providing New Yorkers with magnificent vegetables for two decades. Now, as if to prove he can do anything, he provides all Americans with a compelling story about his own approach to farming. And at precisely the right moment, just as millions of people across the country are rediscovering the pleasure, and the importance, of eating close to home."
--Bill McKibben, author of Wandering Home and The End of Nature
Review
"To combat urban crowding, copies of
It's a Long Road to a Tomato should be airlifted into major cities. The captivating charm of organic farming, so deliciously described in Keith Stewart's essays, would surely have hordes of city dwellers packing their bags. Stewart's stories transport me into the precious and full life of an organic farmer. I more than appreciate it; I now feel part of it."
--Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception
Review
"Keith Stewart opens this engaging book by transforming himself abruptly from midlife executive into novice organic farmer. The twenty years that follow on an upstate New York farm are sampled here in true-life tales that--without denying the sometimes harsh realities of the small producer's life--leave the reader in no doubt of the joys that keep this small farmer on the land."
--Joan Dye Gussow, author of This Organic Life
Review
"Ever dreamed of living on a farm or growing your own food? Here's the clearest picture of what farm life really looks like. The romance of pastoral life isn't shattered by Stewart's depiction of the gritty reality of farm life. They coexist, side by side, mirroring Stewart's organic and integrated approach to farming. Stewart's book is a gift to cooks. Now, each time I cook with food from a farmer I know, I have a deeper and clearer idea of what really goes into growing healthy and delicious food and why our farmers are heroes."
--Peter Hoffman, chef/owner of Savoy Restaurant, New York City
Review
"Beguiling and enlightening"--Booklist Booklist
Review
"[A] heartfelt chronicle, sobering and amusing by turn. Although focused on the particular, it transcends Keith's Farm and illuminates exactly what it is that we are putting on our plates, whether we shop at Keith Stewart's stand in the Union Square Greenmarket or at a farmers' market elsewhere. It's a delicious read--but what makes it an important one is that it has so enriched the ongoing conversation about food."--from the new foreword by Deborah Madison
Synopsis
Keith Stewart, already in his early forties and discontent with New York's corporate grind, moved upstate and started a one-man organic farm in 1986. Today, having surmounted the seemingly endless challenges to succeeding as an organic farmer, Keith employs seven to eight seasonal interns and provides 100 varieties of fresh produce to the shoppers and chefs who flock twice weekly, May to December, to his stand at Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan--the only place where his produce is sold. It's a Long Road to a Tomato opens a window into the world of Keith's Farm, with essays on Keith's development as a farmer, the nuts and bolts of organic farming for an urban market, farm animals domestic and wild, and the political, social, and environmental issues relevant to agriculture today--and their impact on all of us.
Synopsis
A New York organic farmer presents addresses his mid-life development as a farmer; some of the nuts and bolts and how-to's of organic vegetable growing and selling in an urban market; and some of the political, social, and environmental issues surrounding agriculture today.
Synopsis
Starting as a one-man operation, short on experience and with modest expectations, Keith Stewart soon found that life on an upstate farm, despite its numerous challenges, suited him better than the New York corporate grind. Today he has a crew of up to eight seasonal workers and grows about 100 varieties of vegetables and herbs. What began as a yearning to live closer to nature and to work outside with his body, as well as his brain, soon became a life more full, more varied, often more demanding and exhausting, but always more real. Now, in It's a Long Road to a Tomato, Stewart presents interlocking essays addressing his midlife development as a farmer, along with some of the how-tos of organic vegetable growing and selling in an urban market. Stewart includes humorous and philosophical stories about domestic and wild farm animals, as well as insights into the political, social, and environmental issues surrounding agriculture today and why they matter to all of us.
Synopsis
A new edition of longtime farmer Keith Stewarts deeply personal and highly acclaimed book on the hows and whys of running a small organic farm in 21st century America—updated with five new essays, a foreword by Deborah Madison, and gorgeous new woodcuts by Flavia Bacarella
Keith Stewart, already in his early forties and discontent with New Yorks corporate grind, moved upstate and started a one-man organic farm in 1986. Today, having surmounted the seemingly endless challenges to succeeding as an organic farmer, Keith employs seven to eight seasonal interns and provides 100 varieties of fresh produce to the shoppers and chefs who flock twice weekly, May to December, to his stand at Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan—the only place where his produce is sold. Its a Long Road to a Tomato opens a window into the world of Keiths Farm, with essays on Keiths development as a farmer, the nuts and bolts of organic farming for an urban market, farm animals domestic and wild, and the political, social, and environmental issues relevant to agriculture today—and their impact on all of us.
About the Author
Keith Stewart is a NOFA-NY certified organic vegetable grower in Westtown, New York, who has been selling to the NYC Union Square Greenmarket since it began. Keith’s garlic has been called “the most soulful garlic on earth” by Time Out New York. The New York Times said, “Keith’s farm grows garlic from another planet compared with the stuff in supermarkets.” He is the author of It’s a Long Road to a Tomato: Tales of an Organic Farmer Who Quit the Big City for the (Not So) Simple Life. His essays appear in The Valley Table, “the Hudson Valley’s only magazine devoted to regional farms, food, and cuisine.”