‘It's a Long Road to a Tomato,' but an easy visit to The Bookstore

Warwick — As spring approaches and thoughts of gardening return, The Bookstore will welcome author and organic farmer Keith Stewart to celebrate his new book, “It’s a Long Road to a Tomato,” on Saturday, April 15. Twenty years ago, just beyond his 40th birthday, Stewart exchanged life in New York’s corporate grind for a farm in Orange County. There, he and a small crew of seasonal workers grow about 100 organic vegetables and herbs. What started as a yearning “to live on a piece of land, closer to nature; to work outside with my body as well as my brain; to leave behind the world of briefcases, computers, corporate clients, and non-opening windows,” has become a life “more full, more varied” and often “more demanding and exhausting, but always more real.” Stewart sells everything he grows directly to consumers and restaurateurs, and in doing has developed a loyal following for his garlic, herbs, heirloom tomatoes, and other organic produce. “It’s a Long Road to a Tomato,” presents interlocking, complementary essays addressing Stewart’s mid-life development as a farmer. It includes some of the nuts and bolts and how-to’s of organic vegetable growing and selling in an urban market, plus humorous and philosophical stories about domestic and wild farm animals and the natural world, and some of the political, social, and environmental issues surrounding agriculture today. The book also features over 40 original woodcut illustrations by artist Flavia Bacarella. Stewart will offer book-signing from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 15, at The Bookstore at 20 Main Street in Warwick. For more information, call 986-8880.