Eugenia Bone, a New York City food writer, was perfectly content with her life, but she knew that her westerner husband was filled with an unexplainable discontent. So when he returned from a fishing trip in the Rockies and announced his desire to purchase a forty-five-acre ranch in Crawford, Colorado (population 255), she reluctantly agreed. Eugenia then packed imported pasta, artichokes in oil, and cured Italian salami into her duffle bag and headed west with her two young children.

At Mesa's Edge is the witty, often moving story of ranch restoration and the struggles with defiant skunks, barbed wire, marauding cows, and loneliness. In the process, Eugenia learns to garden in the drought, to fly-fish, and to forage, discovering the bounty of the region. She fries zucchini flowers in batter and dips them in cilantro-flavored mayonnaise, grills flavorful T-bones from the local ranchers' grass-fed beef, pan-fries trout, fills crepes with wild mushrooms, and makes cherry pies with thick, sugary crusts. Gradually, she begins to adjust to the rhythms of the land.

Partly a memoir and partly a cookbook with 150 appealing recipes, At Mesa's Edge is a transporting tale of rejuvenation, a celebration of everything local, and a reminder that the best food is to be found in our own back yards.

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