Farmstead Chef

Mother Earth News Wiser Living

by John D. Ivanko, Lisa Kivirist

The proprietors of Inn Serendipity show how easy it is to cook homemade and homegrown meals that help the planet and go easy on your budget.Join Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko, proprietors of the award-winning Inn Serendipity, as they launch a return to our roots of independence, self-sufficiency and frugality, blended with the spice of modern living. Farmstead Chef whips up a quirky, homespun tale of how we can eat well, nourish our bodies, and restore the planet. Rediscover the benefits of homegrown and homemade cooking, preserving the harvest, stocking the pantry, all while building community.From breakfasts to mouth-watering desserts, Farmstead Chef showcases the creative and budget-friendly side to eating lower on the food chain more often while taking responsibility for the food we put into our bodies—by growing it, sharing it and savoring it. Recipes Feta PancakesWinter Squash FrittersHerb-infused Spare RibsStrawberry Dessert PizzaHomemade Graham CrackersAfter your meal, pull up a chair and enjoy inviting slice-of-life “Kitchen Table” features, such as interviews with local food heroes and visionaries transforming our food system. Farmstead Chef also shares tips practical cooking tips and lively short essays inspired by John and Lisa’s organic, self-reliant homestead and bed & breakfast. This fully illustrated cookbook will show you how to reconnect with nature through food, especially when shared with friends.Praise for Farmstead Chef“Farmstead Chef stirs up revolution, moving us back into the kitchen, our home gardens and local farmers markets. It captures the renaissance of homemade and homegrown cooking where key ingredients include fresh, seasonal and local food along with a deep-rooted conviction that our every bite can make a difference in transforming our world.” —Nell Newman, Co-founder and President of Newman's Own Organics“This book put a big smile on my organic farmer face. Why? With playful people like Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko kissing off corporate America, the serious nature of taking back our food supply becomes a belly-laugh, belly-full party that even the most skeptic will want to attend. For good food and good laughter, Farmstead Chef is the place to be.” —MaryJane Butters, publisher of MaryJanesFarm

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Gardening, Food, Cooking

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 13, 2011

About the author

In addition to co-authoring Homemade for Sale (homemadeforsale.com), Farmstead Chef (farmsteadchef.com), the award-winning ECOpreneuring (ecopreneuring.biz), Rural Renaissance (ruralrenaissance.org) and Edible Earth, John Ivanko has co-authored, with Maya Ajmera, six multicultural children's books, including the highly acclaimed To Be a Kid, Be My Neighbor, Animal Friends, Back to School and To Be an Artist.

Ivanko is a regular writer or photographer for numerous national publications including Mother Earth News, BackHome Magazine, Urban Farms, Natural Awakenings, Mother Earth Living and Hobby Farms. He was the lead writer/photographer for the book Renewing the Countryside: WISCONSIN and a regular contributor to projects with the non-profit organization, Renewing the Countryside.

With his wife (and co-author), Lisa Kivirist, and son, Ivanko operates the award-winning Inn Serendipity Bed & Breakfast (innserendipity.com) on a small organic farm in southwestern Wisconsin, completely powered by renewable energy and featuring vegetarian cuisine prepared with ingredients from the Inn’s organic garden.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, on Hoopla this book is described as a collection of essays, but in the introduction the authors call it a cookbook and it was definitely both. Basically, this is a cookbook geared toward eating and preserving local, seasonal food. But, it's also a collection of essays by the authors about their journey from city folks to full time farmers. I really liked the essays and pretty much agree with them almost 100% on their food philosophy and anyone who quotes Joel Salatin gets points from me. There were also several recipes I'd like to try. My only complaint is that being an ebook I didn't get to see all the pictures of the recipe food as you might in a print book. There were some pictures, but often the ebook is a different experience. Overall, I did like it and it was a solid cookbook and collection of food essays.

Some quotes I liked:

"This cookbook redefines healthy eating in a way that reaches out to a more balanced worldview on food beyond calorie count and fat-free or 'meat-free' fake food. There's sugar, flour and salt in many of our recipes. Cheese and butter, too. No swearing off alcohol or caffeine..." (p. 14)

"This reality of third-party food providers, combined with a growing awareness of what's happening to the planet and how we treat our animals, the land and the farmers, has spawned a diverse range of declared dietary preferences, from omnivore to vegan to locavore to flexitarian - and now, there's someone we call the farmsteadtarian, a person who eats as much as possible from their own gardens, community and, when necessary, from carefully selected sources as close to the farmers, ranchers, food artisans, beekeepers, brewers or growers as possible." (p. 16-17)

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concept was good, but you can find similar recipes that are just as good, for free, on any popular food blog.