These are some of my latest book acquisitions. All have some sort of relevance to my mission, but I am sharing this list because no matter where you are or what you are doing this information is critical. I am including only the books that I find to be excellent:
- How To Grow More Vegetables, John Jeavons
- The best growing practices combined in a clear easy to follow plan. Follows the life cycle of the garden. You could literally start from page one and work as you read and come out with a beautifully functional garden. Emphasis is placed on growing soil, compost plans to improve soil quality, closer plant spacing to create a micro climate, which leads to healthier plants on less land using less resources. BUY THIS BOOK
- California Master Gardener Handbook, UC ANR, Dennis Pittenger
- A University of California research based book that is so complete and comprehensive on whatever you could want to know about the workings of the garden. Includes a vegetable profile for everything you could possibly want to eat. It is an academic read, however if you are serious, you want this. For some it might be too much information, that’s okay. But for us garden nerds out there is there ever enough information? I would not recommend to a first timer there are simpler books that can get the job done. The imposed audience is scholarly.
- Solar Living Source Book, Real Goods, John Schaeffer
- THE go to book for all things necessary to become truly self sufficient. I liken it to the old Sears catalogue’s but for the environmentally obsessed. It will educate you and save you time and research . There are things in this book that make you wanna set out on the new frontier or just make the old frontier much better.
- The Plant Propagator’s Bible, Miranda Smith
- My favorite topic and quickly becoming my specialized obsession. There is not one thing that isn’t covered. If you are financially challenged (broke) and need to garden on the cheap this is the book for you. Shows you how to start from seed of course but walks you through propagation methods that are mind boggling. A really fun book for garden geeks.
- Planting the Future, Rosemary Gladstar
- A very comprehensive guide on planting medicinal herbs. If you have ever tried to start from seed you are surely aware that medicinal herb seeds can be small, stubborn, and like to be spoiled. I have had a dickens of a time getting mine going. This book demystifies the art and gives a wonderful account of their benefits and use.
- Root Cellaring, Mike and Nancy Bubel
- Okay so you have harvested all 30 of your beets, now either you had better get grubbin or find some way to store them. A person can only eat so much borscht… This comprehensive guide gives tips on the best way to store all one hundred of your zucchini. Now you won’t feel so pressured to eat it all at once. And the good news is they take into account that not everyone is in the Midwest and offer ideas for those of us who are city and/or desert dwellers.
- Food Storage 101: Where Do I Begin?, Peggy Laton
- This lady takes food storage to new heights. A short and sweet manual to help you get prepared for being responsible for your food. Grocery store? As we all know because of the recent string of natural disasters the local Albertson’s or Piggly Wiggly is not always there for you to just run and pick up something. Food security is more than just pretending your banana is a gun, It’s something every individual needs to take responsibility for. Our reliance on convenience needs to be tempered with a bit of reality. Laton asserts that “food in the storage is more valuable than money in the bank”. In a crisis I think we would all agree, let’s just not wait that long.
- Keeping the Harvest, Nancy Chioffi and Gretchen Mead
- How to keep the stuff that doesn’t keep. Comprehensive book on canning, jams and jellies, freezing, drying, curing, and cold storage. The other books tell you how too store (macro), this one teaches you how to prepare the food to store (micro). Includes plans on building a dehydrator…cool!
- Build it With Bales, MacDonald and Myhrman
- Another topic I love is alternative building methods. I have had this book for 10 years now and the reason it is on the list is because in all of those years I have not found another book that is as instructional as this one. I have others and they have pretty pictures and neat stories but when the rubber hits the road and you want to build, instructions will be more helpful than pretty pictures. I do like pretty pictures though…
- How To Build Your Own Greenhouse, Marshall
- Right now my greenhouse is an upside down aquarium. I don’t have room for a real one but the aquarium does the trick at the moment. So when it is time to get serious about it, you will want to buy this book. The directions are easy to read and the plans (yes, there are plans, booyah) are thorough and include foundations. I was really impressed, the cover didn’t sell the contents, and since I ordered it on-line I didn’t have much to go on. A pleasant surprise.
- Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply Catalogue, www.groworganic.com
- This catalogue is to gardening what Solar Living is to, well, living. Everything you could need for the mini-farm is in here. And the best part is I think you can get the catalogue for free. Almost all of the seeds are open pollinated, if not they tell you, and there are a lot of heirlooms and biodynamic seeds available.
- Bountiful Gardens Catalog, bountifulgardens.org
- You can get How To Grow More Vegetables here and all the tools you need to do just that. The seeds are all open pollinated. The tools are simple . The product choices are top quality and limited to what you actually do need. A great catalog for googly-eyed shoppers that need to be roped in to the basics. (that would be me)
For a complete and formal review of the listed books check out Amazon.com with the exception of the last 2 seed catalogues.
WARNING: I am a visual learner and most of these books are geared toward the visual learner. If you are not a visual learner these books may not do it for you.
If you have any books you think I should look into I would love to hear your recommendations.
tune in,
dandelioness
