The Year in Books is a project started by Laura of the Circle of Pines Trees blog that anyone can join. The aim is to make more time for books by reading at least one per month. For March I read The Omnivore’s Dilema. What an eye-opener. I thought I was a conscious person about eating well but after reading this book, I realized that I could do a lot more. This is a must-read for everyone. I’m lucky that I have resources for food that is grown/raised responsibly. In the summer when we are at our rural homestead, we eat grass-fed meat from pastured animals from local farms and eat vegetables grown without pesticides from our neighbor’s gardens. In New York city, I have been ordering meat and produce from local farms thanks to an online farmer’s market called Farmigo that let’s you shop for food on their website and then you pick the bags of groceries from a neighborhood drop off point once a week. I also shopped this way in the country through Schoharie Fresh. They even sell homemade pie and yarn from a sheep farmer. This seems to be a new model for the distribution of food from local farms to consumers. I think its a brilliant use of technology and I hope it spreads.

For April, I’ve picked up H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. I was sold by this review. I follow blogs about the urban hawks in New York city. I think birds of prey are fascinating .

In keeping with the goal of buying the monthly books only from independent stores or borrowing from the library,  I went to McNally Jackson, an independent bookstore on the eastern edge of Soho. It is a lively well organized bookstore with a cafe and many events. I’m excited about starting my new book.