Farmacology: Total Health from the Ground Up

One thing I’ve become passionate about is the local food movement. Yeah it’s an old one, but I’m a latecomer. There are a lot of books that link human health directly to food and those are necessary, but this book looks at the connection between the soil that grows that food (whether it be animal or vegetable) and our health. As a general practitioner, Dr. Miller became frustrated at her inability to “fix” some of her patients through modern methods and turned her attention outside of that. There are a lot of topics that get touched on in each chapter; gut flora and its differences across cultures and how that reflects in people’s health, egg production and how pastured v. factory affects egg nutrition, how a winery show more approaches integrated pest management and how that connects to cancer research, how urban farming can change individuals and neighborhoods for the better, natural skincare that actually works and much much more.

She spends time with a variety of farmers, most of whom are dedicated to biodiversity and soil health. The idea that if you feed the soil first, anything you produce from it will be more healthy both for consumption and for the mechanism of the farm itself. I expected a chapter on Polyface farm with Joel Salatin, but even without him and the case is made well. Mono-agriculture and a lot of the techniques that follow on are just plain destructive and do not improve the health of people or anything else that eats what it grows. No, the book isn’t perfect and she makes some leaps of logic without tracing back to how she reached those conclusions, but it is a heartfelt book that seeks answers to difficult health questions. If you’re interested in how polyagriculture farming can improve your health, this is a good place to start. show less

Some interesting lines drawn here between sustainable agriculture practices and treating the human body in a like respectful manner, acknowledging the complexities and inter-relationships with our environment. The first chapter is kind of a review of what biodynamic farming is, chapter 2 emphasizes the best ways to encourage resilience in children, with special emphasis on asthma. Chapter three compares eggs produced two ways, and the levels of stress the chickens endure. Chapter 4 talks about IPM (integrated pest management) in a wine orchard and reflects on a very new approach to cancer management. Chapter 5 was perhaps the best, discussing ALL of the benefits that community gardening promotes, from lower crime rates to community show more engagement and beauty. Chapter 6 begins a discussion of aromatics distillation that I'd like to learn more about. By the end of the book, it was apparent that Dr. Miller loves to gad about the globe on any pretext. She does a thoughtful job of considering what she learns. show less

I just read this book for work and really enjoyed it. I thought she did a great job of appealing to trendy farm types, the medical community, and casual readers looking for a way to feel better. I also like that while she does promote farmers markets and healing plants, she's not extremist about it -- she still believes in modern medicine when it's truly needed.