The Earth Knows My Name
FOOD, CULTURE, AND SUSTAINABILITY in the GARDENS OF ETHNIC AMERICANS
WINNER OF AN AMERICAN BOOK AWARD FOR 2007

WINNER OF AN AMERICAN BOOK AWARD FOR 2007
"There is so much in each chapter of this extraordinary book that you might want to grasp it in one large bite, but you can't, for here the world of farm and garden and food takes us to a far deeper place than we're used to going, to a world that is not separate from politics, despair, refuge, beauty and ultimately the salvation of heart, life and culture."
"It lifts my heart to find the kind of intelligence, grace, and regard that are in this book's pages. Patricia Klindienst has accomplished something wonderful."
"...Patricia Klindienst steers the conversation about immigrants and immigration in a more humane direction, reminding us that, whether we are first generation Asian-Americans or eighth generation descendants of Spanish settlers, almost all American families emigrated to this land. And land lies at the heart of this book: homeland and adoptive land, farmland and forgotten land… And it is here, in the gardener's recognition of the connectedness of the social and natural world, that The Earth Knows My Name offers its greatest lesson."
"Warning: this book is powerful. Don't be surprised if, come spring,
you find yourself planting a cottage garden..."
--Best Book of the Year, 2007, Money Changes Things blog, Philadelphia, PA
Inspired by a torn and faded photograph that shed new light on the story of her Italian immigrant family’s struggle to adapt to America, Patricia Klindienst traveled the country to write this book, gathering stories of urban, suburban, and rural gardens created by people rarely presented in American gardening books: Native Americans and immigrants from across Asia and Europe, and ethnic peoples who were here long before our national boundaries were drawn: Hispanics whose ancestors followed the Conquistadors into the Rio Grande Valley, and Gullah gardeners of the Sea Islands, descendants of enslaved Africans. With eloquence and passion, blending oral history and vivid description, Klindienst offers a fresh and original way to understand food, gardening, and ethnic culture in America.
"A moving tribute to those who keep the ancient love of the land in their hearts, and who stand up to the giants of agrobusiness in their fight to preserve their cultural heritage."
"This provocative, wide-ranging work looks at the deep connections between people and the land. Pick up a book that will leave you blessing the ground you walk on and appreciating every petal and leaf you see."
"An original and exemplary kind of cultural study, The Earth Knows My Name is essential reading for anyone seriously interested in the growing reality that an ancient ecological relationship, imaginative and religious in its intensity, is slipping away."
"In her deeply moving and profound work, Klindienst brings together uplifting stories of gardeners who have, through their gardens, powerfully resisted the cultural imperialism of assimilation, and in so doing, enriched us all."