The Zero-Mile Diet

Heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer -- the four leading causes of death in industrialised nations today -- are all chronic diseases linked to diet. It has only taken two generations for the majority of people to forget how to grow their own food. Most city dwellers have become alienated from the source of what sustains them, and have little understanding of the environmental and health impacts of processed and packaged food. Ten years ago, in order to pacify her concerns about an increasingly uncertain future, Carolyn Herriot decided to grow as much of her own food as possible. Carolyn start-ed The Garden Path, a plant nursery and display garden, in 1990. The Garden Path closed in 2006, and Carolyn now runs Seeds of Victoria, an organic seed company. In the process of her work with gardening she has discovered that it only takes five years to become self-sufficient in fruits and vegetables year round. This book follows a year of sustainable home-grown food production, growing healthy organic food, eating seasonal recipes from the garden, saving seeds for future harvests and putting food by for the winter. Growing a "Zero-Mile Diet is a fun way to in-crease regional food security while cooling down the planet.