Growing My Organic Gardening Library

I had fallen asleep last night, satisfied with my garden to-do list for a balmy January Saturday.  So, you can imagine my dismay when I awoke to black ice warnings from my weather app.  A peek out the window confirmed that yesterday's drizzle had become an ice coating overnight.  So, not wanting to risk another tumble down slick steps, I snoozed for a little while, then reached for the book currently at the top of the stack:  Sustainable Market Farming by Pam Dawling.  It's been in the stack for a while--I started reading it last January (just about the time I started a permaculture class!).

Before we go any further, let me just say it outright:  this is an epic book.

While it is almost epic in length, it is encyclopedic in its information about sustainable practices--pitfalls and all.  Author Dawling has organized the book into two parts:  Techniques and Crops.  It's taken me nearly a year to digest the first part for one excellent reason:  there is so much information.  In the Techniques section, Dawling devotes several chapters each to planning, planting, sustainable crop protection, soil and crop quality, and harvest.  In doing so, she lays a sure foundation for concepts and techniques she references in the second part of the book.

Her writing style is friendly, but quite matter-of-fact, which makes her extremely detailed explanations easier to understand.  She includes many pictures, reference tables, and in-text publication recommendations from numerous university/extension resources.  There is so much information, that you cannot read this book quickly.

Because I needed, at least for a while, something a little lighter, I spent a bit of time reading some of Fortier's The Market Gardener, but abandoned it as I realized that their farm is 12 degrees of latitude higher than mine, and the techniques, like those of Eliot Coleman, would need to be adjusted considerably.  I do plan to finish Fortier at some point, especially to learn about hand-cultivation techniques

So, I returned to Dawling, realizing that, being only 3 degrees of latitude higher, the information in her book was more directly applicable to my garden.  Reading with a renewed enthusiasm, I began to see that Dawling's garden faced many of the same challenges at mine.  I finally finished the first part, then mapped out my plan for attacking the "Crops" section.

Dawling, you see, grows everything.  She has chapters for anything you could possibly want to grow--far more than I am trying to cultivate.  So, I flagged the chapters for my main crops:  brassicas, tomatoes, peppers, cowpeas, summer squash, cucurbits, among others.  I've been working my way through them in the order in which I will start them in the greenhouse--  brassicas, tomatoes, peppers--before reading about the crops I hope to direct-sow--cucurbits, summer squash, cowpeas, corn--again in the order I expect to sow them.  By reading about the plant groups in "planting order," I'm beginning to develop a better sense of how my year will be organized.

Although I really enjoy reading on Kindle, I recommend that you buy a paper copy of the book.  The information is so comprehensive, I can see it traveling with me in my farm truck for several seasons.  It's a heavy book, softcover but good-quality paper, and I've been customizing it to make it my de facto field manual.  I've flagged chapters, and marked the edges of important reference pages with permanent marker so I  can flip right to them.

So, if you're looking for one book which can put together the puzzle of sustainable, intensive, organic gardening practices, this is the one.  You'll mark it up and refer back to it for years to come.

Well, the sun has melted the frost, and I cannot wait to put some of Dawling's recommendations to good use!

What about you?  What Savory books are you reading?

Nancy

Resolve to Read More Frugally!

For Christmas, I was given a plaque of a quote of Thomas Jefferson:

It is so, so, so true.  As you may guess, I have books stacked everywhere.  Usually, I am reading more than one book at a time, which can become cumbersome when commuting.  Reluctantly, I have embraced the e-book evolution and have found that I like it!  Going beyond that, though, is the desire to listen to books when I'm mowing, or riding, or doing things which require hands.  

Amazon has purchased the wonderful Audible, and the cost of the Kindle+Audible combo is often less than the cost of the hardback!  Add in the fact that the apps WhisperSync with each other (Audible will pick up where you left off reading on the Kindle, and vice-versa), I've begun buying both, whenever feasible.

Still, that can become an expensive proposition, especially when I want to read the classics.  While browsing through the Audible "stacks" (and suffering sticker shock in the process) for a recording of Sherlock Holmes, my brain tripped over the memory of one of those jewels of the Internet, LibriVox.

Great audiobooks since 2005!

LibriVox is the audio kin of the beloved Project Gutenberg.  Both make public-domain texts available in digital formats:  Gutenberg is text and LibriVox is audio.  Both rely upon volunteers world-wide to transcribe or read texts.

Since 1971, the world's great books
have been available in digital
format!

The sheer variety available on Gutenberg is mind-boggling.  Interested in browsing the classic Dore Gallery of Bible Illustrations on your Kindle?  Download it for free.  The same for 4 different historic Bible translations.  Ditto for The History of Herodotus in English and Greek.  Plain-text as well as e-reader versions are available for many, and both GoogleCloud and DropBox are supported.  In my opinion, this is an example of the noblest use of the Internet.

Now this is all well and good, but, what about my problem this summer, when I wanted to listen to Sherlock Holmes stories whilst bushhogging?  Well, I could have downloaded the text versions and have some text-to-speech app read them to me but, lo and behold, there they were on LibriVox!

I could have downloaded the MP3s onto my phone (which fits nicely into my shirt pocket) for mobile listening, but, even more felicitously, I found a free app for LibriVox in the Google Play store!  It's well-designed, and works seamlessly.  Although my house is fruitless, Google tells me that there is a free LibriVox app in the iTunes store, too.

Admittedly, the quality of the readers is variable, at times, but, given that all readers are volunteers, they are impressive.  Most of the popular titles have multiple recordings to choose from, and, at times, multiple languages, too.

If two of your New Year's resolutions are to 1)be more frugal, and 2)read more, Gutenberg and LibriVox can make both possible!

What about you?  What, and how, are you reading this year?

Nancy

Digital Devotion

Wow, it's been forever since I've written here, but it's not because I've not been reading.  I have been reading a variety of things, but have been going increasingly digital because, simply, it's just easier to carry a variety of books with me on my minitablet.

I've been surprised at how much I really enjoy reading on it.  The backlight makes the print easier to read.  At 7", it's the size of a paperback, so it fits in my purse.  Highlighting is very easy, and note-taking is relatively simple.

While I had already purchased The Archaeological Study Bible, I went in search of some decent free Kindle Bibles.  Most just felt clunky and awkward, but two seemed to work:  The Jubilee Bible and the Holman Christian Standard Bible.  The Jubilee Bible is paraphrased into very modern language along the line of Peterson's The Message.  It's very accessible, but seems a bit too blithe for me.

So, I turned to the Holman edition and found my free Bible choice.  Easy to navigate, virtually no formatting glitches, red-letter text, good quality translation.  All-in-all, a serviceable edition.

And you can't beat the price.

So, instead of carrying my Bible with me just on Sundays, it's with me all the time.  I like that.

What do you think about digital Bibles?

What Savory books are you reading?

Nancy

Working My Way Through the Stacks

Hi, my name is Nancy and I am a book addict.

There; I've said it, and I feel much, much better.  I enjoy reading them, but my recent purchases far outstrip my reading pace.  While I do read some fiction, by far, I prefer non-fiction, informational texts.  Many of them will become part of the permanent library, but I've decided to pass on most of my books as I read them.  Currently in the stack:

• For Everything a Season
• Jesus Mean & Wild
• Team of Rivals
• Founding Gardeners
• The Heirloom Life Gardener
• Edible Landscaping
• "A Rich Spot of Earth":  Thomas Jefferson's Revolutionary Garden at Monticello

I have a lot of reading to do!  For Everything a Season tops the list, and I should finish it this week.  Team of Rivals is entertaining but dense, so it should be digested in shorter bites and will probably last the summer.  I'm thinking that Edible Gardening should follow Season since prime planting season is almost here.  I'll probably tackle The Heirloom Life Gardener after that since Founding Gardeners and "A Rich Spot of Earth" are histories rather than how instructional.  That should be enough to keep me entertained in between weeding and watching for pests.

In addition to the reading stack, a number of books are heading to the Reference shelf:

• The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control:  A Complete Guide to Maintaining a Healthy Garden and Yard the Earth-Friendly Way
• Common Weeds of the United States
• The Gardener's Home Companion:  How to Raise and Propagate More Than 350 Flowers, Herbs, Vegetables, Berries, Shrubs, Vines, and Lawn and Ornamental Grasses
• The Art of the Kitchen Garden
• Gardening with Heirloom Seeds:  Tried-and-True Flowers, Fruits, & Vegetables for a New Generation
• Rodale's Book of Practical Formulas:  Easy-to-Make, Easy-to-Use Recipes for Hundreds of Everyday Activities and Tasks

So, there it is, the current stack.  Perhaps I can make a dent in it before it becomes as tall as Everest.

What about you?  What are you reading?

Nancy

Stressing the Important Things

I remember my 20s.  Puffy hair.  Shoulder pads.  Yikes.  What I remember most is not having someone older to talk to--someone real.  Well, I made it through my 20s, and, now, my daughter is in her 20s.  As much as I'd like to be her older, wiser girlfriend, I realize that's not likely to happen.  When I read the description for Sarah Francis Martin's StressPoint:  Thriving Through Your 20s in a Decade of Drama, I realized this was a book I would have enjoyed during that turbulent decade.  It took me quite a while to get into the book, probably because I'm 30 years to old for it. I found it thoughtful and full of good advice. The formatting was a little too chopped up for these old eyes, but I'm confident it will appeal to my daughter's generation.

Martin's book is straight talk for young women who want to life their faith in a faithless world.  She covers topics like career, body-image (especially good), love/dating, friends and family, money, and spiritual maturity.  Each chapter begins with her introduction, then three "girlfriend" stories, and includes topic and space for journaling within the text of the book.  It's an active, long-term study, useful for the individual or for groups.  In fact, she has videos on her website (www.liveitoutblog.com) to accompany each chapter, which should appeal to her targeted audience.

Do I recommend the book? I do. In fact, I'm recommending it to my daughter. I suggest you do, too.

Save the Books: Willie and Joe Have Lessons To Teach Us

I grew up with Willie and Joe.  Who?  Willie and Joe, the immortal philosophers who wryly chronicled World War II from the perspective of a dogface infantryman.  Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin, they provided Americans a decidedly un-rosy lens through which they could view the war.  From the beaches of Italy through the liberation of Europe, Willie and Joe watched each other's backs, tweaked the officers, and tried to make sense of the senseless.

One of my favorites, from Up Front, portrays Willie and Joe pinned down in a firefight with one of them declaring that he could not get any closer to the ground because "me buttons is in the way!"

Mauldin followed his dogfaces home in Back Home, where they faced a recession, unemployment, a housing crunch, and Jim Crow laws.  He was especially hard on the Veterans Administration.  One memorable cartoon shows a young veteran, in pajamas and wheelchair.  Spanish moss-laden trees surround him and his wheelchair sits in several inches of water.  He himself recognizes the irony when he says, "I remember how much my Daddy laughed when he sold the VA this swamp."  Willie and Joe might have become civilians, but Mauldin's pen waged a campaign to ensure that returning veterans would receive the care they deserved.

Mauldin was not one to suffer fools, or injustices, silently and his books reflect that.

Since I already own both Up Front and Back Home, you know how thrilled I was to find a copy of Bill Mauldin's Army in the library discard bin.  Of course, I snatched it up and brought it home for my personal collection.

While I was savoring my find, I was saddened to know that such a jewel was leaving public access.  Too many books are being discarded and many important voices are being forgotten.  We are not burning books; we are discarding them.  And we are poorer for it.

So, help me save the books; time is running out.

What are you reading?

Nancy

Save the Books!

Save the Books!

Libraries across the country are clearing the shelves and emptying the stacks of low-demand books.  It makes sense; why waste expensive "real-estate" on books very few people read?  Why not fill the shelves with high-demand titles?

But there's a problem with that rationale.  It presumes that high-demand is equal to high-quality.  

It is not.

Let's face it:  very little of popular fiction deserves to be called literature.  By its very nature, popular fiction (and non-fiction, for that matter), is disposable.  I say this with all due respect to authors of popular fiction; I'm desperately working on a novel of my own.  But I'm under no illusion that it is great literature.  

So, the libraries are clearing the shelves of low-demand titles, especially non-fiction.  It's a shame, really.  Wonderful books are being discarded to make room for popular titles many of which will be discarded within 5 years (or much less).  With the proliferation of e-readers, many of those titles are not even being read on paper.  Even I have stopped purchasing my own leisure fiction on paper; I read it on my phone or my computer.  Still, many wonderful old titles are being pitched.

Admittedly, much of the subject matter is arcane:  maps of medieval Europe published in the 1920s, anyone?  But these are history.  They provide a snapshot of culture at the time of their printing.  Many are worth saving.  So, I'm starting a campaign to Save the Books!  It is up to us, the readers, to preserve these treasures.

To whet your appetite, here is one I've saved recently:

The granddaddy of them all . . .

Southern Harmony and Musical Companion by William Walker

Much of modern Protestant hymnody is based on the original frontier songbook from the 1850s.  This modern reprint, from University of Kentucky Press, is a treasure which explains the history of the particular text and its usage among the singing Christians on the frontier.  Many of the songs will be familiar, and also are the basis for the Big Singing in Benton, KY.  This book documents the warp on which the weft of modern hymnody is woven.

So, for the next few weeks, I'll be sharing some of my treasures in the hope that you, too, will join the campaign to Save the Books!