Three books for you today as the FoodShed Summer Reading Pick(s) of the Week!
The Organic Garden Book: The Complete Guide to Growing Flowers, Fruit, and Vegetables Naturally (by Geoff Hamilton). This one is my favorite. It's the one to which I return over and over again, mostly because of the dozens of photographic step-by-step instructions and informative illustrations. Need to know how to grow eggplants up canes and tie in their shoots as they grow? One look at this illustration and you'll never forget. Want to see exactly how to plant, harvest and store potatoes? Trying to identify tomato diseases? Not sure what to do in the garden to prepare for each season? Don't know the names of tools? It's all here.
Organic Gardening For Dummies (by Ann Whitman). This book is a latecomer to my library. I got it as a gift and was sure it would be all old hat to me. But no. There's always something new to learn, and this book is filled with useful information, tips, top ten lists, warnings, and lots of humor. Plus, I love the little icon throughout the book that alerts you to "garden jargon." Things like drip lines and macronutrients, percolation and rootstock. Demystifies things.
The Newman's Own Organics Guide to a Good Life: Simple Measures that Benefit You and the Place You Live (by Nell Newman with Joseph D'Agnese). I love finding out people's "stories", and this book gives me a dip into the life of the Newmans, whose contribution to the organic marketplace has been enormous, both in available mainstream products and the contributions they make to charity with their profits. I love the story about how Nell convinced her dad to develop organic products in the first place, and I love that Nell was then charged with heading up the new division of Newman's Own. There's only one chapter on food in this book, but the rest touches on areas in which you may be interested as well--transportation, energy and water, communication, shopping, petcare, cleaning, and more. There is a particularly interesting chapter on money and investing, and a fitting epilogue on generosity that kicks off with two of my favorite quotes (the second of which hangs in my office):
You must be the change you want to see in the world. (Mahatma Gandhi)
Whatever you can do or dream, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. (Goethe)
And so, if you are thinking about gardening, begin it. May these books and the plethora of other resources out there inspire you and provide practical help on your journey.
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