This is the time of year that Destination: Books is kind of like my plot at the community garden. I am in the midst of assessing what went right gardening-wise (eggplant and peas), what didn’t go so well (broccoli and cucumbers) and starting to make plans for the following Spring.
The same is true with our pop-up booth scheduled for Saturday morning, October 30th at the Freedom Farmers Market at the Carter Center in Atlanta. (The weather won't be ideal, but we will be there.)
Certain books on Okra, Edible Landscaping, or Braiding Sweetgrass do consistently well, but books that feature someone’s personal story about sustainability or gardening don’t necessarily get a lot of attention. But during this downtime I was able to look at a couple of books of this kind in more depth.
One was The Ecological Gardener: How to Create Beauty and Biodiversity From the Soil Up by Matt Rees-Warren. This gorgeously printed book waxes poetic about re-thinking one's garden but he also takes the time out explain techniques ( e.g. building a vermi-compost stack house, selecting plants, or adding a pond) that can transform a lawn space into a more sustainable and tranquil environment. He’s not that into vegetables, but author Carol Deppe The Tao of Vegetable Gardening: Cultivating Tomatoes, Greens, Peas, Beans, Squash, Joy and Serenity certainly is. Deppe concentrates of the more popular vegetables, and she has chapter on developing your own seeds and another chapter called “Nurturing and Weeding” which is a positive way to look at that necessary chore.
We also have books on worms, indoor gardening and mushrooms. This is the time to spend some time honing your gardening and sustainability skills. Before you know it will be Spring -- the busiest time of year.
And one final note, many of our gardening books will be on sale.