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Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home
Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman, Kathy Bray
(Illustrator), Barbara Damrosch
"Winter inspiration! Eliot Coleman's fine book has
given rise to a gentle whisper deep in my thoughts. That
whisper says, "Fresh veggies - in the winter! And it's not
even difficult..." I find myself daydreaming about winter
gardening, planting winter crops in my imagination,
planning beds and trellises and cold frames full to
bursting with delicious greens. I entertain the radical
notion of a four-season independence from boring,
tasteless supermarket vegetables for the price of a very
small effort. This wonderful book tells you everything you
need to know about four-season harvesting, provides
planting dates for a broad variety of garden delicacies,
and shares tried and true labor-saving methods. It will
inspire you and inform you! An excellent reference, a good
choice for a beginnner, and a perfect gift for the avid
gardener." Reviewed by ladyanna from Shreveport, LA |
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Solar Gardening: Growing Vegetables Year-Round the
American Intensive Way (The Real Goods Independent Living
Books) by Leandre Poisson
"...a continuous food-producing
system that provides an ideal growing environment for the
entire plant. By creating and maintaining a deep,
well-balanced, fertile soil, the system optimizes growing
conditions below the ground. By using heat-assisting
devices to create beneficial microclimates for seedlings
and mature plants, it ensures optimum growing conditions
above the ground. The authors have designed solar
devices--insulated pods, cones, and pod extenders--to
ensure fresh harvests even in winter. These solar
structures capture and retain the sun's heat in winter and
diffuse strong sunlight and protect tender plants in
summer. The book gives step-by-step instructions on
building the solar devices and offers a month-by-month
gardening guide for the three main North American growing
zones--northern, moderate, and southern. There is advice
on garden sites and soil, harvesting, storage, and
seed-savings, as well as growing tips on 90 vegetables
divided into heat-loving, cool-hardy, and cold-tolerant."
George Cohen of
Booklist |
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Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms: Shokuyo Oyobi
Yakuyo Kinoko No Saibai by Paul Stamets
Detailed growth parameters for 25 mushrooms
species, mycological landscaping, state-of-the-art
production techniques for home and commercial cultivation,
and more. "Most up
to date and exciting information I have ever read! The
best! Tops, hands down, expands upon knowledge gained in
The Mushroom Cultivator and the authors enthusiasm for
mushrooms shines through. Everything I ever needed to know
on cultivations, history, and medicinal properties are
contained within.. Kudos!" reviewed by "bubba". |
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Gardening for the Future of the Earth by Howard-Yana,
Ph.D. Shapiro, John Harrisson "TRULY INSPIRATIONAL...
This is a truly wonderful book and a very good read for
anyone interested in the well being of the earth. Subjects
such as permaculture, improving soil, water harvesting,
seed saving and the importance of seed diversity are all
discussed here with input from some of the masters on
these subjects. This book is not only a reminder of the
damage that we have done to the earth but also an
inspiration so that we may change our ways and improve the
environment. One quote that stuck with me from this book
is from E. O. Wilson ..."what humanity is doing now in a
single lifetime (to our planet) will impoverish our
descendents for virtually all time to come." Having said
this, take this book, read it, practice what you have
learned and share this info with all you know. As
individuals, we can do our part to make a difference for
the future.... On a similiar subject, I found "Gaia's
Garden" and "Forest Gardening" both to be very good reads
as well." Reviewed by daughternature from atlanta, ga |
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Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by
Toby Hemenway
"Ecological garden design and food for thought. At
last, a readable, information-packed, well-designed book
that presents deeply ecological 'gardening' (via
Permaculture, an ecological meta-design process) to a
broad North American/temperate zone audience. Hemenway
carefully structures the book to present ecological
observations, elements of ecological designing drawn from
natural systems, and then their synthesis in the
'ecological garden', where the whole is always greater
than the sum of the parts. Though focusing on 'home-scale'
designing, the book invites readers to notice how these
observations, design elements and syntheses have
implications and applications well beyond home-scale.
Besides the conceptual richness, the book offers us
illuminating windows into a variety of real-life examples.
It also provides annotated plant and animal species lists,
with ecologically integrated applications, that are
relevant to temperate climates (such as North America).
This sort of specific information, especially collected in
one place, has been until now quite a chore to find." John
Schinnerer, Seattle, WA USA |
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Forest Gardening: Cultivating an Edible Landscape by
Robert A. De J. Hart A forest for every home!
Since reading Robert Hart's classic book I
have seen forest gardens sustaining life in Mexico, Fiji,
Australia, South Africa and Britain. Around the world
perennial 'home gardens' have been grown for millennia.
Yet in temperate climates we seem to have forgotten how.
This book has inspired me to increase the diversity and
productivity of my own small garden in England, so far
with good results. It is inspirational, but it is also
practical. The Appendices offer suggestions for a variety
of uses and climates. I would recommend as a companion
volume, Patrick Whitefield's 'How to Grow a Forest Garden'
for further details of the practicalities. But Hart's
description of his own forest garden at Wenlock Edge
stands alone and is an invaluable guide to practical
sustainability. reviewed by "bookchoice", Oxford,
England |
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How to Make a Forest Garden by Patrick Whitfield
"perennial paradise... In many climates around
the world, forest is the natural state of vegetation. It
grows without anyone's say-so. It takes no human effort at
all for nature to be sustainable, diverse, productive,
multi-dimensional, and beautiful. However, most people's
gardens, even food gardens, are really none of these,
despite large amounts of effort on the part of the
gardeners. So what would it be like to garden in tune with
nature, to grow a forest garden, with many of the features
of a natural forest, and little of the labour usually
involved in gardening? Robert Hart pioneered this approach
to growing food sustainably, based on his long experience
of agro-forestry around the world. He applied his wisdom
to his backyard and wrote about it in the classics,
'Forest Gardening' and 'Beyond the Forest Garden'.
However, much of what Hart wrote was general and
philosophical - explaining the 'why' perhaps more than the
'how'. Patrick Whitefield has produced this intensely
practical guide to the 'how' of forest gardening, starting
from first principles and including all manner of precise
details. Whitefield is an experienced permaculture
practicioner and teacher, and he rightly places the forest
garden in context as a very useful component of a larger
system of sustainable living. On the strength of this book
I am in the process of transforming my standard suburban
plot into a beautiful forest garden, with apples, pears,
cherries, raspberries, loganberries, figs, redcurrants,
perennial herbs and salads. It has proved to be an
invaluable and much thumbed manual, and an inspirational
work. It is directly applicable to temperate climates, and
will be of use to those living elsewhere too.
Reviewed by " bookchoice" Oxford, England |
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Permaculture in a Nutshell by Patrick Whitfield
"This is an informative, short and cheap general
introduction to permaculture, the design of sustainable
living. It has been re-issued due to popular demand.
Experienced British permaculture designer and teacher
Patrick Whitefield explains how permaculture can enrich
our lives in the city, on the farm and in the community...
it is immediately apparent that by careful design both
work and pollution can be minimised. Nature, of course,
does this without having to think about it, which is why
permaculture systems attempt to emulate natural processes.
Though this book is less than a hundred pages long, it has
enough detail to get you started on some serious practical
projects. The information on 'making a mulch bed'
transformed my stony, undiggable back yard into a highly
productive vegetable garden in just one growing season,
with very little effort (and thankfully no digging!). The
book also includes plenty of contact details for taking
permaculture further, which, after reading Permaculture in
a Nutshell, you will be unable to resist! Reviewed by " bookchoice" Oxford, England |
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The Sustainable Vegetable Garden: A Backyard Guide to
Healthy Soil and Higher Yields by John Jeavons, Carol
Cox "A Good
Introduction to Biointensive Gardening. A revised
edition of Lazy-bed Gardening (1993), The Sustainable
Vegetable Garden is a concise and easy-to-read
introduction to concept of biointensive gardening.
Essentially a resurrection of ancient farming practices,
biointensive gardening is supposed to increase yields (the
authors claim four times higher than one should expect
from a standard garden) while maintaining a garden
ecosystem that preserves the vitality of the soil for
future gardens and generations of gardeners. For one to be
able to subscribe to the system that Jeavons and Cox
outline, one really has to have a sizeable garden plot, so
that one can grow calorie-crops as well as compost-crops,
so in this respect the book is not suited for the typical
urban backyard gardener with only a few square meters of
plot." Reviewed by Ken Scheffler from Canada
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The Edible Flower Garden (Edible Garden Series) by
Rosalind Creasy "Create a Garden full of Edible
Flowers... Use what is fresh. In this case, that means
the flowers too! In The Edible Flower Garden, Rosalind
Creasy shares and explains the beautiful world of cooking
with colorful and tasty flowers. Emphasis is given to
creating gardens that will supply those flowers. It takes
a lot of flowers for most recipes, so it is good to know
how many of each to plant and when to harvest. While
traditional herbal flowers like lavender and borage are
included, there are also selections on vegetable flowers,
as well as, some more unusual flowers like lilacs, apple
blossoms and begonias. I particularly enjoyed Ms. Creasy's
experiences with Alice Waters of Chez Panisse and the
edible flower gardens they create to supply fresh flowers
for their world renowned restaurant. Of course, the
beautiful photos of the Edible Flower Canapes, the
Pineapple Sage Salsa and the Rose Petal Sorbet weren't bad
either." Reviewed by V.J. Billings from
Mountain Valley Growers, Squaw Valley, CA |
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The Edible Flower Garden: From Garden to Kitchen:
Choosing, Growing and Cooking Edible Flowers by Kathy
Brown |
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Taylor's 50 Best Herbs and Edible Flowers : Easy Plants
for More Beautiful Gardens "This is an
extremely informative book for beginners. I decided to
start an indoor herbal garden, and this was one of the
first books I picked up. Not only was it informative about
plant care, it also provided some very interesting
recipes, concoctions, folklore, and tips on storing and
processing the herbs." Reviewed by TJ Currey from
Bellevue, Washington
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Empty Harvest: Understanding the Link Between Our Food,
Our Immunity, and Our Planet by Mark Anderson
"A Book EVERYONE Should Read! Empty Harvest clearly
explains the link between the lack of minerals in our crop
soils and the modern day diseases associated with mineral
deficiencies (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.). The
author shows many excellent examples of how mankind is
slowly destroying it's future by robbing the Earth of the
very things that give us and support life itself. Empty
Harvest is a "wake-up call" for us to start changing our
destructive ways, or poor physical and mental health and
disease will dominate our lives into the 21st Century and
beyond! By following many of the guidelines in Empty
Harvest (especially eating foods grown in nutrient rich
soils & taking plant derived major & trace mineral
supplements from organic sources), we can maintain or
regain optimum health. Anyone who thinks they are getting
all the essential vitamins and minerals they need from the
produce section at their local supermarket needs to read
Empty Harvest TODAY!" Reviewed by Wayne Wasserman from The
Garden State |
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Saving Seeds: The Gardener's Guide to Growing and Storing
Vegetable and Flower Seeds by Marc Rogers
"Revive an almost lost heritage! Save Your Non-Hybrid
Seeds NOT buying seeds from catalog! Saving
seeds is a time-honored tradition. This book tells you all
you need to know about how to raise, harvest, and store
seeds for the easiest-to-grow and most popular vegetables
and ornamental plants. Answers hundreds of frequently
asked gardening questions. Reviewed by
retreating@y2kwise.net from 'The' Reading Room |
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Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and
Vegetables by Mike Bubel "A
Must-Have for Your Library! Outstanding book! "The
amount of information included makes this book well worth
its price. The month-to-month calendar of what one can eat
from their root cellar is especially helpful. The
pictures, and descriptions, of several existing root
cellars in various parts of the country was especially
appreciated, and will definitely be utilized when I build
my own root cellar. If you are interested in being
self-sufficient, this book will be of great assistance."
Reviewed by a reader from San Diego, CA |
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Fruit, Berry and Nut Inventory: An Inventory of Nursery
Catalogs Listing All Fruit, Berry and Nut Varieties
Available by Mail Order in the United States by Kent
Whealy Sounds like the perfect Mid-Winter
Night's Dream book. |
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More Books:
Healthy Natural Homes, Healing Home Decor
Herbs for
Health and Beauty
Immortality, Rejuvenation, Life Extension, Longevity
Juices and Juicing
Loving Relationships and Lovemaking
Metaphysics and Spirituality
Natural
Beauty and Cosmetics
Natural Fitness, Spiritual Bodywork
Natural
Health and Healing
Natural Remedies
Organic
Gardening and Permaculture
Personal Growth
Raw Food Lifestyle and Theory
Sprouts and Sprouting, including Wheatgrass
Uncookbooks
Wild Food and Foraging |
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