John Jeavons - How to Grow More Vegetables

In the early days at Chez Panisse, 40 years ago, we had to scrounge for decent beans, pick lemons from neighbors trees, and hunt far and wide for a variety of produce of any quality whatsoever. But farming has evolved in California. We now work with, at last count, nearly fifty local, small-scale, family-run farms that groworganically and sustainablythe seasonal fruits and vegetables that are the foundation of our cooking. In large part, we have John Jeavons to thank for this.

I met John on the twentieth birthday of Chez Panisse just as he was preparing for the twentieth anniversary of Ecology Action. We both had a lot to celebrate. The work that John had begun in a small garden at Stanford had inspired small farms on nearly every continent; he had already worked with the Peace Corps in Togo, helped found an agricultural center in Kenya, taught in Mexico, and supported programs in Russia and the Philippines. His work has gone right on inspiring, and at a pace that is fast enough to give us real hope that we will be able to grow sustainable communities around the world.

Johns methods are nothing short of miraculous. He has shown that almost any soil can be prepared for the planting of food, and that astonishing quantities of high-quality produce can be grown on even the most devastated land. He has worked tirelessly to bring self-sufficiency to the poorest people in the poorest parts of the world. As I was writing this, he was preparing to share his methods with the expected five thousand small-scale farmers from one hundred thirty-one countries at Terra Madre, the biannual gathering of farmers in Turin, Italy, organized by the eco-gastronomes of Slow Food International. I can think of no more appropriate place for the dissemination of his ideas.

Vandana Shiva, the outspoken Indian food activist, has said that farms are zones of peace on this planet. A peaceful revolution in agriculturewhat I like to call the delicious revolutionhas begun, and John is one of its most brilliant leaders. How to Grow More Vegetables may be one of the most important how-to guides ever written.