The idea is that you can have the best of both worlds: plants that bring beauty to your landscape and food to your table. The author has chosen 36 plants that are beautiful and that provide fruit, nuts, herbs, and seeds that you can cook with, eat raw, or preserve. "Eat Your Yard" does the selecting for you - Chase has done research on which plants provide the most beauty and culinary use. It also includes recipes and tips for preserving the fruit (canning and pickling, freezing, dehydrating, fermenting, and juicing). Not only are the obvious fruits selected (apples, pears, peaches) but she has also included 'exotic' fruits (quince, persimmons, kumquats and more), demystifying them and making readers realize how easy and wonderful these unique fruits are to grow.