The book is finally out and available at stores and on the web. It has been an 18 month project to see it in print and I believe it is a great tool for the home cook to discover the beauty of cooking with fresh local ingredients. Even a bad cook could find something to prepare and I challenge anyone who is uncomfortable cooking to pick up a copy of the book and start to cook. If we are ever to get away from breakfast, lunch and dinner that is served up as a commodit

Even in the dead of winter sunchokes (also called Jeruselam artichokes) are available locally. The are a tasty marriage of waterchestnuts and waxy potatoes. Reheated this makes a great brown bag lunch.

It's 5:30 on a weeknight in October. You find yourself the last in a line of cars at the nearest burger joint. The choice seemed easy. Grab some grub on the way home for the family. They have 45 minutes to eat before Johnny's hockey's game. You don't have time to think about the choice and really don't want to be bothered. You hand over a remarkably small amount of money and are handed a sack full of food. You check to see if the order is complete. Four burgers and a fried chicken sandwich

Part of finding a more connected way to cook and eat is dealing with abundance when you are blessed with it and scarcity when nature demands it. The traditional coming and going of scarcity and abundance linked us with timeless rhythms of nature and the earth and ourselves. We had to think and plan ahead. We had to treasure and conserve abundance. We had to manage and endure scarcity. We had to take what the world gave us and it taught us discipline, reverence and humility.These lessons are hard