* Demystifies and explains the process for acquiring local harvest, non-commercial sources of meat
* Written for urban dwellers who want to eat fresh, sustainable, and healthy meat – like they do back on the farm
* Features 45 original recipes for beef, pork, goat, and lamb

As folks like Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin have been preaching for years, commercial meat production isn’t good for the animals, our bodies, or the planet. Yet the organic, sustainably-raised pork, beef, and lamb one finds at supermarkets and specialty stores are often pricey, and the marketing labels can be beyond confusing. What if you just want to eat meat as healthfully and enjoyably as possible, all while sticking to a budget?

Uncle Dave’s Cow: And Other Whole Animals My Freezer Has Known shows you how to find and evaluate local farmers, form a buying group, plan out cuts and quantities, store and preserve your purchases, and dish up an entire animal one part at a time. Author Leslie Miller, a busy Seattle mother who hails from a long lineage of Central Washington farmers, shows readers how to go whole hog – or cow, or goat, or lamb, for that matter – as she takes the reader along on her own educational journey, from the moment she locates and buys her first pig, all the way to her last forkful of tender pulled pork. Miller explores local farmers markets and 4H fairs, talks to dedicated farmers and butchers, and explains how even her children connect to the cow in the freezer. By sharing her whole-food experiences, readers also will connect to the source of their food, while her 45 original recipes show them how to cook mouthwatering meals from the abundance of whole animals.

Written with urban charm and a knife-sharp sense of humor, Uncle Dave’s Cow is a friendly and accessible guide to sourcing and eating local meat for parents, foodies, and everyone who wants to learn how to be a well-prepared consumer and cook through to the bone.

PRAISE FOR UNCLE DAVE’S COW

In an age when children think chicken comes from grocery stores and pink slime has become part of our vernacular, Leslie Miller offers an alternative to the disconnect created by the industrial food system. With Uncle Dave’s Cow, Miller invites us to get up close and personal with our meat and participate in the process as she’s done so remarkably well-with an open mind, a sense of humor, and compassion for the stewards of our land.

• Kim O'Donnel, author of The Meat Lover’s Meatless Celebrations

At last, a funny and practical book that offers doable and delicious ways for ordinary people to eat good, honest meat. Whether you live in a tiny walk-up or closer to the farm, Leslie Miller lays out every detail you need to buy half a hog or a whole lamb to feed your family for months. And you don’t have to be a chef to enjoy the charming recipes. Anyone want to go in on a cow?

• Chef and restaurateur Ethan Stowell

For those of you who can’t (or, more sanely, don’t want to) raise a pig in your backyard but want fresh, local pork, this book is for you. Believe me, Leslie Miller’s approach is much less smelly but just as delicious. Uncle Dave’s Cow is full of practical advice-and tasty recipes-that make eating meat with wisdom about the whole animal possible again.

• Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City