Review: Growing Beautiful Food

Farmer and photographer Matthew Benson, a fierce proponent of organic farming, gives us an intimate window into Stonegate Farm in Balmville, New York, his three-acre organic operation situated at what was once the site of Echo Lawn, a grand, sprawling estate built circa 1850 to 1860.

In the last 15 years, Benson and his wife have turned land designed for viewing during genteel carriage rides into a farm that feeds a 50-member CSA, complete with eggs and honey, vegetables and heirloom fruit. They also give tours of the property and host farm dinners, workshops and performances. Creating an organic community hub is central to Benson’s message, which is that we should all be growing food as long as we have a sunny space with proper drainage (or can arrange for proper drainage using the right techniques).

The book is part garden guide, part diary – charming “Notes from the Wonderground” are scattered through its pages, offering adoring descriptions of life on the farm, along with pretty tableaus that illustrate them. If you’re a novice gardener and/or worried about the time and commitment even small-scale growing demands, you’ll find these vignettes comforting and inspiring, confirmation that what you get out of tending the land will be worth what you put in.

There’s plenty of hardworking information about growing food – Benson provides an overview of essential tasks like fencing and seed starting, as well as detailed instructions on keeping bees and chickens, all accented with stunning photos from his farm. The most useful sections are on fruit and vegetables. What’s grown at Stonegate is highlighted page by page, alphabetically and by type, so it’s easy to look up whether currants will thrive in you growing zone (check the section on fruit) or when to plant potatoes (that’s in tubers, roots and bulbs).

Some of the suggestions in this book may strike you as a little too dear – Benson readily admits that he’s been referred to as the farm’s “creative director” for swapping lightweight harvest boxes with heavier but more photogenic ones, for instance. But he’s an award-winning and much-published photographer, so of course aesthetics are a priority. Regardless, his food-growing advice and recommendations are solid, and his way of interpreting what farming means to him and how valuable it is to the world is lovely and engaging. It’s good to see someone express those thoughts so thoroughly, and in a way that is useful to others tending the land.

Growing Beautiful Food
by Matthew Benson

264 pages. Rodale Books. March 2015