In The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island, Kathleen Alcalá walks, wades, picks, pokes, digs, cooks, and cans, getting to know her neighbors on a much deeper level. She learns to better understand how we once fed ourselves, acknowledging that there may be a future in which we could need to do so again. Combining memoir, historical records, and a blueprint for sustainability, Kathleen shows us how an island population can mature into responsible food stewards.

Also today, best-selling author and returning guest Katherine Neville joins us to talk about Smithsonian Libraries Adopt-A-Book Program.

Conversations Live with Vicki St. Clair airs Mondays at noon Pacific or Fridays at 6AM on KKNW 1150AM or 94.9FM HD. Like us on Facebook and follow Vicki on Twitter for exclusive updates and contests!

As friends began “going back to the land” at the same time that a health issue emerged, Kathleen Alcalá set out to re-examine her relationship with food at the most local level. Remembering her parents, Mexican immigrants who grew up during the Depression, and the memory of planting, growing, and harvesting fresh food with them as a child, she decided to explore the history of the Pacific Northwest island she calls home. The result was The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island, written to remind the reader that innovation, adaptation, diversity, and common sense will help us make wise decisions about our future. Kathleen is the author of a collection of essays, The Desert Remembers My Name: On Family and Writing; three novels, including Treasures in Heaven; and a collection of short stories. She lives on Bainbridge Island.

Katherine Neville is a best-selling author and public speaker who had the honor of being the first author chosen to become a member the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Libraries in Washington, DC. As a great devotee of reading and research herself, Neville has co-created several awards and grants presented by the Smithsonian Libraries.

Listen to PODCAST –