It's a Long Road to a Tomato : Tales of an Organic Farmer Who Quit the Big City for the (Not So) Simple Life

by Stewart, Keith

• ISBN13: 9781569243305
• ISBN10: 1569243301
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-13
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

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.

Author Biography

For 18 years, Keith Stewart has been the proprietor of Keith's Farm, in Orange County, New York, where he grows, with the assistance of 6 or 7 seasonal workers, and under certified organic conditions, 100 varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Stewart is one of the longest-standing purveyors at NYC's Union Square Greenmarket (Wednesdays and Saturdays—he's parked right in front of B&N), where his stand has a devoted following that includes many restaurateurs and food writers (Peter Hoffman, Savoy; Sally Schneider, A New Way to Cook; Jessie Saunders, Not on Love Alone), among thousands of others. Stewart has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, including the Food Channel's "Follow that Food" and the Leonard Lopate Show, has been featured in publications including The New York Times and Gourmet, and over more than 6 years his writing has attracted legions of fans in The Valley Table, the Hudson Valley's only magazine devoted to regional farms, food and cuisine. Illustrator Flavia Bacarella, Stewart's wife, is an artist who teaches at Lehman College in New York.