To the Best of Our Knowledge: Back to the Farm

In this hour, writer Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food) tells Steve Paulson that a lot of what's on supermarket shelves isn't food and that Americans have many options if they want to improve the quality of their diet. He recommends going organic, shopping at farmer's markets and using CSA's. He says healthy food may cost more up front, but it all evens out when you factor in the health care costs of eating junk.

Next, we visit the Dane County Farmer's Market, just a few blocks from our studios, and hear from the farmers who sell their crops there. And Brad Kessler was a writer in New York City. He's still a writer, but now he lives on 75 acres in Vermont with a small herd of goats. His book Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese talks about what it's like to live with the animals that feed you. Kessler tells Jim Fleming about his life, his goats, and making chevre.

Then, we hear a bit more from the farmers of the Dane County Farmer's Market about what they've brought to market today. Also, writer and cartoonist Lynda Barry (Ernie Pook's Comeek) is an outspoken left-wing intellectual with an urban sensibility who now lives off the grid in rural Wisconsin. She tells Steve Paulson how that happened. Barry's latest graphic novel is called What It Is.

And finally, writer Michael Perry is the author of Truck: A Love Story" and "Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting. He talks with Anne Strainchamps about his life combining writing with the new "back to the land" movement, and how he reconciles aspects of animal husbandry like butchering with raising his small daughters. [Broadcast Date: August 4, 2010]