Just this month, a new title that dissects women’s involvement in the shift to sustainable farming hit bookshelves. Titled “Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat” (Gibbs Smith, 2010), the paperback is an easy and intriguing read, highlighting the like stories of females nationwide in chapters that focus on building new farm-to-eater relationships and networks for sustainable food.

Just as the sunlight lingers farther and farther into the evening hours, the Farmer Jane book release seems to be perfectly in-season. Amid the fireflies and warm early summer breezes, I pored over the pages, the backyard garden a few steps away.

Stories like that of Dru Rivers, farmer at Full Belly Farm, who is inspiring a new generation of earth cultivators through training programs and clever community initiatives, have the ability to nourish the soul as well as the body. But it’s not just Dru and author Temra Costa who are spearheading the female farmer efforts in America. From 2002 – 2007, women farm operators grew 30 percent, leading a bounty of communities, businesses and homes to reconnect with their nutritional sources.

More than delivering satisfying stories, Farmer Jane is a call to action. Advocating social change through gardening at home, shopping the local farmers market, and tax reform on food and farming subsidization, the book details to-dos for eaters, farmers and food business owners and operators, encouraging each of us to do our part to ensure the success of our nation’s farms.  More @ farmerjane.org.

(photo credits:  farmerjane.org; bart nagel and olivia sargeant)