Review: North Wild Kitchen

"My understanding of Norwegian cuisine went from an unfortunate stereotype (meat and boiled potatoes) to a world filled with berry-infused moose sausage, fermented trout, wild nettle soup, rhubarb juice made from birch sap, home-brewed beer, and traditional cheeses and porridges made on the farm," writes food blogger Nevada Berg in the introduction to this exploration of her adopted land's culinary traditions.

Norwegian cuisine has been shaped by centuries of trade and migration and has much in common with the palates of its Nordic neighbors and northern Europe, but what makes it authentic is its use of locally sourced foodstuffs and traditional methods of smoking, curing, and preserving foods in a challenging climate.

Eight chapters explore separate parts of Norway's culinary culture - foraging (Sankingen), fishing (Vann), farming (Seteren), harvesting (Innhostingen), hunting (Katen), preserving (Stabburet), outdoor cooking (Balet), and baking (Jernet, Takken, og Ovnen). Each chapter includes correspondingly traditional recipes along with newer dishes well embedded in the culture. Notes on ingredients and equipment are included along with thoughtful essays and descriptions of each dish.

North Wild Kitchen

Home Cooking from the Heart of Norway

by Nevada Berg

Prestel, 2018

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Reviews Archive

Now Exploring "Out of the Woods"

In this introspective collection of essays, Julia Corbett examines nature in our lives with all of its ironies and contradictions by integrating personal narratives with science and research.  Each essay delves into an overlooked aspect of our relationship with nature — insects, garbage, backyards, noise, open doors, animals, and language — and how we cover our tracks.

Out of the Woods leads to insights into the products, practices, and phrases we take for granted in our everyday encounters with nature and encourages us all to consider how we might re-value or re-imagine our relationships with nature in our everyday lives.

Out of the Woods

Seeing Nature in the Everyday

by Julia Corbett

University of Nevada Press, 2018

Book Notes Wild
Nature Writing and Natural Histories
The Nature Pages

Reading the History: Battle of the Bulge.

In the winter of 1944–1945 , Hitler sought to divide Allied forces in the heavily forested Ardennes region of Luxembourg and Belgium. He deployed more than 400,000 troops in one of the last major German offensives of the war, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge, in a desperate attempt to regain the strategic initiative in the West.

Hitler's effort failed for a variety of reasons, but many historians assert that Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr.'s Third Army was ultimately responsible for securing Allied victory. Although Patton has assumed a larger-than-life reputation for his leadership in the years since World War II, scholars have paid little attention to his generalship in the Ardennes following the relief of Bastogne.

In this book, Captain John Nelson Rickard explores the commander's operational performance during the entire Ardennes campaign, through his "estimate of the situation," the U.S. Army's doctrinal approach to problem-solving. 

Advance and Destroy

Patton as Commander in the Bulge

by John Nelson Rickard Ph.D.

University Press of Kentucky, 2018

Out of the Past
Book List
Artwork: General George S. Patton

Now Exploring "Elkhorn"

Driven by topophilia (love of place), former Kentucky Poet Laureate Richard Taylor focuses on the eight-mile stretch of the creek from the Forks of the Elkhorn to Knight's Bridge a few miles outside of Frankfort to provide a glimpse into the economic, social, and cultural transformation of Kentucky from wilderness to its current landscape. 

Taylor explores both the natural history of the region and the formation of the Forks community. He recounts the Elkhorn Valley's inhabitants from the earliest surveyors and settlers to artist Paul Sawyier, who memorably documented the creek in watercolors, oils, and pastels. Interspersed with photographs and illustrations ― contemporary and historic ― and intermixed with short vignettes about historical figures of the region, this book delivers a history that is by turns a vibrant and meditative personal response to the creek and its many wonders.

Elkhorn

Evolution of a Kentucky Landscape

by Richard Taylor

University Press of Kentucky, 2018

Book Notes Wild
Nature Writing and Natural Histories
The Nature Pages

Reading the History: Victorian Radicals

Starting with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and lasting through the dawn of the 20th century, the Victorian era's painters, writers, and designers challenged every prevailing belief about art and its purpose.

The full spectrum of the Victorian avant-garde is displayed in this book, accompanied by essays that illuminate issues the artists contended with, including the relationship to art and nature, questions of class and gender identity, the value of handmade versus machine production, and the search for beauty in an age of industry.

Characterized by attention to detail, vibrant colors, and engagement with literary themes and daily life, the paintings, works on paper, and decorative objects featured reveal the myriad ways Victorian artists and artisans made sense of a rapidly changing world.

Victorian Radicals
From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts & Crafts Movement
by Martin Ellis, Timothy Barringer and Victoria Osborne
Prestel, 2018

Out of the Past
Book List
History and American West Titles

Review: The Healing Code of Nature

The author of this book, Clemens G. Arvay, is the Austrian biologist who penned The Biophilia Effect examining the healing properties of nature, and forests in particular. This work is a sequel, reporting on the positive effects of plants and animals on the human immune system.

Arvay argues convincingly for the importance of trees in human nature. We evolved from forest-dwelling mammals, after all, and a verdant canopy of leaves is sown deeply into our genetic memory. He cites several clinical studies suggesting strong links between the presence of trees and human health.

"Our immune system is not strengthened by substances from trees," he asserts, "but it is rather weakened by the separation from these substances in modern life. Spending time in nature therefore does not lead to more defense cells; rather it brings their number and activity back to a natural level."

Separation from nature is as much a destroyer as any environmental toxin.

The Healing Code of Nature
Discovering the New Science of Eco-Psychosomatics
by Clemens G. Arvay
Sounds True, 2018

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Health & Beauty

Farm and Garden Picks: In Business with Bees

This book takes serious beekeepers past the beginning stages and learning curves and offers practical, useful advice to move your passion into a part-time or full-time career with measurable results.

It includes in-depth advice on determining what facilities are needed and how to acquire them; getting and installing the right equipment; cooperating with other local businesses; stocking inventory and managing warehouse space; finding customers; raising and selling queens, packages, and nucs; expanding pollination, including contracts to protect you; making and selling peripheral products from wax, propolis, and honey.

In Business with Bees by Kim Flottum
How to Expand, Sell, and Market Honeybee Products and Services including Pollination, Bees and Queens, Beeswax, Honey and More

Husbandry
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