芭芭拉金索夫在住了25年的亞利桑那後，深感多年來在超級市場買到的食物都是從遠地運來的，為了保持食物的新鮮和賣相，少不了添加各種化學物，運費也使食物的價格偏高，於是2004年舉家遷回雨水充沛、作物茂盛的肯塔基。
在一年的實驗生活中，金索夫一家只吃自己種出來的蔬果和飼養的雞，不足部分則向一小時車程範圍內的鄰居購買，徹底實踐「食物里程」這個當紅的概念。改變飲食習慣和種菜養雞固然辛苦，然而當每一天的餐桌上都擺滿自製的新鮮美味食物（包括自製乳酪）時，一切付出都得到報償。
書末，這位知名小說家營造出本書的最高潮：他們從小養大的母火雞終於懂得和同類交配（先前「她」看上的是男主人史帝文）、懂得孵蛋，也終於奇蹟似的孵出了十隻小火雞，讓這一家的實驗生活劃下成功的句點。
Hang on for the ride: with characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that's better for the neighborhood and also better on the table.
Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life, and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.
