This article is a review of Michael Ablemen's work chronicling his journey in search of real food and the people who grow it.

This is an interesting book detailing some of the greatest pioneers in sustainable farming. The premise is that farmers only have time to visit other farmers in the winter, when the fields permit them to leave. One such farmer, Michael Ablemen is one of the founders of the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens in central California. He decides to leave his small farm in Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, and travel around to sustainable farms all over the northern USA and British Columbia, Canada. He and his oldest son are looking for answers to some basic questions:

"How do we make sure that pure food is available to all, not just those who can afford it? How can we grow food without depending on vast amounts of energy and foreign oil? …How do we protect and enhance Biodiversity and the natural environment within and around our farms?"

To find the answers, they visit farms when their crops are still in the ground in order to get a proper idea of what exactly is grown, how it is raised, and what those crops taste like.

At each of the farms, which grow anything from melons to cheese and everything in between, Ablemen takes pictures and receives goods to take on to the next farm. From Anthony and Carol Boutard's 144 acre farm outside of Portland, OR; a true collection of heirloom crops, to Eliot Colman's winter greens farm on the coast of Maine, Michal Ablemen visits and discusses some of the most inspiring farms in North America. He visits a cheese farmer whose pride is the fungus she grows in her cheese cave—she treats each wheel as if it were a beloved pet. Toward the end of the journey he visits Polyface, a farm run by agricultural author Joel Salatin. There, they discuss the problems that small meat farmers encounter when trying to get around legislation designed with only large-scale production factories in mind.  

Not only informative, Fields of Plenty is a truly beautiful book. Published by Chronicle Books LLC, these 256 pages are a joy to have on any coffee table, as well as just to read or to fill your mind with its lovely agrarian images. At the end of every chapter is a collection of three to five recipes from the farms featured in that section. Not every page contains images, but the quality of images that are featured more than make up for that. Each photo is well-composed and conveys the feeling and atmosphere of each farm while not detracting from the text. This book makes me nostalgic for getting my hands dirty, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to visit farms from all over North America without ever leaving the comfort of your favorite reading spot.