There's something to be said for buying food directly from the people who grew it. It's reassuring to see the worn hands of the man or woman who toiled in the soil for those beets or that potato.

It can take longer to find such food at a farmers market or roadside stand than at your nearest grocery store, but if you have yet to make the trip, it's worth the time.

And it's the connection between food and community that the authors of "Organic Marin: Recipes from Land to Table" seek to foster.

Marin County, near San Francisco, is home to more than 60 certified organic food producers turning out hundreds of items from beef to milk to lettuce. The county has become a poster child for the organic farming movement in America, starting 30 years ago when people "put their post-sixties values about clean living, community and collective effort into action," the book says.

"Organic Marin" includes short features about farms there, including the Straus Family Creamery, an organic dairy that turns manure from its cows into methane for power. That process saves the farm up to $6,000 a month in utility costs and keeps the methane from escaping into the atmosphere, which is harmful to the ozone layer, the book says.

The recipes included come from restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area that buy from the organic farmers and ranchers.

Each dish is joined with a cooking tip, a story about the restaurant that provided the recipe, and the difference between organic and regular ingredients.

There are a few organic items you may have trouble finding but on the whole, the ingredients are easy to find in the ordinary variety if not organic, which, I know, kind of defeats the purpose.

We made a carrot flan with peppercress and mustard vinaigrette. After brief deliberations, we dropped the vinaigrette and just made the flan. The dish sounds strange, but it was delicious. The flan was made of carrot juice and carrots, heavy cream, vanilla extract, eggs, sugar, salt and pepper.

As with a traditional flan, you make a thin layer of caramel for the top. It took little time to make and the book gives great instructions. The hardest part was letting the flans cool for four hours in the fridge without eating one.

We also made the Tunisian Vegetable Tagine with -- take a deep breath -- turmeric, saffron, star anise, ginger, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, orange zest, yellow onion, carrot, sweet potato, parsnip, fennel, bell peppers, chickpeas, tomatoes, currants and zucchini. It's served over couscous with pistachios and cilantro.

The sweet potato infuses the dish and you add ingredients according to their cook time so you have varied textures. You mix the spices, then sauté the vegetables and then simmer it all together. It, too, was easy and tasty.

So, did we use all organic ingredients? No. Most? Probably not. And that's the part I'll leave you with. The cookbook stands on its own but it's also an education on organic farming. Nice, easy reading with a cup of coffee -- maybe at the farmers market.
Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or omeola@timesdispatch.com.