Harvest: An Adventure into the Heart of America's Family Farms

Horan (Seeds: One Man's Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers from Faulkner to Kerouac, Welty to Wharton) is a gifted observer of Americana. In his earlier work, he used trees as a unique lens to examine writers and writing. This time, he looks at the family farm. In a time when discussions of food and farming are deeply political and hotly argued, Horan's simple approach turns the focus back to individuals. In working on the book, he contacted small and organic farms, volunteering to help with the harvest. His travels take him from New York (blueberries) through the Midwest (green beans, red raspberries, and Brussels sprouts) to California (walnuts and grapes), with a few more stops in between. The highlight of the work is his ability to capture the voices of those he interviews—often literally, whether it is the cadence of a French potato farmer in Maine or the northeastern accents of a tomato farmer in Massachusetts.