The Blueberry Years is a mouthwatering and delightful memoir based on Jim Minick's experiences as an organic blueberry farmer. This story of one couple, one farm, and one thousand blueberry bushes transports readers so that they experience the joys and frustrations of creating and operating one of the mid-Atlantic's first certified-organic, pick-your-own blueberry farms. Written by a farmer who is also a poet, The Blueberry Years follows in the vein of The Omnivore's Dilemma or Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, where lyrical writing captures a well-told story about food, family, and the choices we make with every bite.

For more than a decade, the author and his wife planned, planted, pruned, and picked, filling their lives with blueberries. And every summer, they opened their fields to hundreds of people who came to harvest blueberries. These pickers shared blueberry-flavored moonshine and sober religion, warm hugs and cool hats, and always bushels of stories.

To give a larger context to this one farm's story, Minick includes brief chapters on national issues such as organic foods, farmers' markets, and the many problems caused by industrial agriculture. He also includes short interludes on all things blueberry, like the fruit's many health benefits or the blueberry in song, literature, and film. Ultimately, though, this book tells the story of a young couple pursuing their blueberry dream.

Jim Minick, in addition to the Summer 2010 Okra Pick The Blueberry Years, has also written a collection of essays called Finding a Clear Path, two books of poetry called Her Secret Song and Burning Heaven, and he edited All There Is to Keep by Rita Riddle. In 2008, the Virginia College Bookstore Association awarded Burning Heaven the Jefferson Cup for best book of the year. Minick has won awards from the Appalachian Writers Association, Appalachian Heritage, Now and Then Magazine, and Radford University, where he teaches writing and literature. He's garnered grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, and a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Minick's work has appeared in many publications, including Shenandoah, Orion, San Francisco Chronicle, Encyclopedia of Appalachia, Conversations with Wendell Berry, The Sun, Appalachian Journal, Bay Journal News, and Wind, and for thirteen years, he wrote a monthly column for the Roanoke Times New River Current. Currently, he's working on a novel about fire, healing, and Pennsylvania Dutch folklore. He lives, hikes, and gardens in the mountains of Virginia with his wife and four dogs.

 

 
ABOUT FICTION ADDICTION
Fiction Addiction is a local, woman-owned, independent bookstore established in 2001. The store carries a mixture of new and used fiction and nonfiction, including children's books, as well as gift items. For more information, visit our website at http://www.fiction-addiction.com or call us at 864-675-0540.

 

ABOUT BOOK YOUR LUNCH
The Book Your Lunch author event program was launched in September 2009, and is a new way to bring authors and readers together -- right here in Greenville. This luncheon series provides the ultimate food for thought with a wide range of authors -- from mystery writers, to award-winning regional novelists to nonfiction and cookbook authors. Jill Hendrix, the owner of Fiction Addiction, founded the event program and is responsible for booking the authors. Book Your Lunch is co-sponsored by Greenville's independent restaurant group, Table 301. For more information about Book Your Lunch, please visit our website at http://www.bookyourlunch.com.