Beyond the Store

Ellen M. Martin was told she had about three years to live. After seven years of cancer treatment, she stopped waiting quietly in the hallway and started asking the questions nobody in the waiting room was asking: What is really in our food? What is missing from it? And how can ordinary people take back control of what they grow, store, and put into their bodies? Beyond the Store is her answer: a complete, illustrated guide that follows real food from your garden, to your table, to your medicine cabinet. Inside you will find:• The plain truth about ultra-processed food, additives, and the food system, backed by real research instead of hype• Mindset tools that keep you going when the harvest and the doubts arrive at the same time• How to plan and grow a garden that feeds you all year, from a balcony to an acre• Step-by-step freezing, drying, fermenting, water-bath canning, and pressure canning, with tested USDA processing times• 64 recipes, from sauerkraut, pickles, and fire cider to crushed tomatoes, green beans, elderberry syrup, and a homestead salve• A 72-entry A-to-Z encyclopedia of crops, herbs, and techniques• Safety boxes, Little Secrets, Try This Today actions, and a 30-day start plan This is not a miracle-cure book. It is a practical, honest handbook for anyone who wants more real food on the table, more skill in their hands, and more say over their own health. Real food. Real skills. Real life.