Florida's Food Forest Garden Cookbook

Florida Food Forest Cookbook is the resource cooks need to use the produce they grow or buy to create healthy, easy-to-prepare, zero-waste meals. For those looking to convert their lawns and backyards into healthy food forest gardens (using the author’s Transforming Florida Yards), this companion cookbook gives 345 sweet and savory recipes and menus for 20 easy-to-grow, sustainable plants that are free of pesticides, herbicides, toxins and additives. Recipes – containing no more than 6 ingredients-- are quick and easy to prepare.
Florida has high rates of food insecurity and prevalence of chronic diseases. One-third of Florida’s children are food insecure, one in three is overweight and one in 6 has learning disabilities, both attributable to poor diet and lifestyle. If the trend continues, three-fourths of the Florida population will be overweight to obese and half will be suffering from diabetes by 2030.
The Florida Food Forest Cookbook is a back-to-basics manifesto that can empower home gardeners to enhance their quality of life and culinary knowledge and improve their health and landscape.

Amanda Pike, PhD, ATR-BC is a board-certified art therapist, professional educator, certified educational leader, and past president of the Florida Art Therapy Association. Dr. Pike grew up spending summers exploring her grandparents' farmland, and lived in Cuernavaca, Mexico for multiple years, working for a holistic wellness company. During this time, she learned to grow and use plants to create health and beauty products. During her master's and bachelor's degrees, she lived and worked on farms and therefore brings to her writing the groundedness of first-hand experience. She currently owns a two-acre, permaculture farm in Jupiter, Florida where she manages her food forest complete with free-roaming chickens and 26 beehives. At present, Dr. Pike also serves as Education Chair and Chapter Representative for the Palm Beach County chapter of the Native Plant Society and provides on-going consultations for educational and community-based programs. Her last book, Eco-Art Therapy in Practice, published internationally by Routledge, highlights the importance of growing and using plants in educational and therapeutic settings. In particular, this text highlights Dr. Pike's knowledge on cultivating natural settings like food forests to enhance physical, mental, and emotional health. As a certified educational leader and local 4-H program facilitator, Dr. Pike helps make food forestry an accessible and practical landscaping option.