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Day 7 of 12 Wild Days of Blue – The Countdown Continues!

Books are favorite items for the holiday shopping list, and curling up with the right one is just another way to get a dose of blue this season. Day 7 of our countdown ushers in some of our favorites of the year, and adds a couple of literary wild cards for the person that has everything blue.

Day 7: Good Reads

First up, we revisit Meg Wolff’s A Life In Balance: Delicious, Plant-Based Recipes for Optimal Health (Down East Books 2010). Her latest book provides the map for starting a life of better health and nutrition based on a plant-based diet. Bright colors and a wealth of fruits and vegetable preparations will please the palate and make a major contribution to wellness and disease prevention.

Gail J. VanWart is a Maine writer who is currently the fourth generation to maintain her native wild blueberries farm in Maine. Life Raked In (Out Of The Blue, 2011) condenses such a life’s harvest into a selection of poems, recipes and thoughts on life inspired by this perspective from the fields, a unique take on the wild blueberry life.

You may know Maine writer and food aficionado Kathy Gunst from her blog or her recently published book of the same name, Notes from a Maine Kitchen from Down East Books. She takes on the seasonal bounties of Maine using the calendar as her guide. The book provides a wonderful opportunity to give the gift of regionally-inspired food made from locally-sourced ingredients.

For the person on your list who prides themselves on being just a little odd, Maine’s own humorist Tim Sample and writing partner Steve Bither reveal what’s wild and wacky about their state in this third edition of Maine Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, and Other Offbeat Stuff (Globe Pequot, 2011). One highlight includes the largest blueberry in the country, or as we fondly know it, Wild Blueberry Land in Columbia Falls, the blue geodesic dome  that is part bakery and part theme-park and wholly a piece of Maine wild blueberry culture.

If putting local foods on your plate is your mission, Lisa Turner will help with Eat Local, published by Down East Books. She has collected over one hundred recipes from Maine’s top chefs, farmers, home cooks, and some from her own kitchen, including her mother-in-law’s own Blueberry Buckle – a gift of true blue.

Finally, for the last word on the contribution of this little blue fruit to our everyday lives, comes Virginia Wright’s Wild Blueberry Book from Down East Books. It’s a charming and comprehensive primer of blueberry knowledge that provides an insider look from farmers, growers, scientists, and festival workers, as well as the region’s best recipes.

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