Destination: Books

A Variety of Bee Books

There is almost as many different types of bee books as there are bees. There are books like The Bees in Your Backyard an encyclopedia that can help you identify bees—like the one that stung me when I was working in my garden the other day.  (But it was probably a wasp defending its tennis ball home.) 

There are bee narratives, such as Bee People and the Bugs They Love a confessional about the secret world of beekeeping or Dancing with Bees: A Journey into Nature, the story of a woman who reconnected with the natural world via her interest in bees.

And there are books like Plant Partners: Science-based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden. This book dedicates an entire chapter explaining the importance of native bees and how to attract these pollinators to your garden. (The first thing they teach you in every bee book is that the well-known honeybee is not native to North America.)

We will have all these books at our next popup book stall on Saturday morning, June 25th at the Carter Center Freedom Farmer’s Market in Atlanta.  If you cannot make it, we do sell them online here, but its better when you can check them out firsthand to select the one that works best for you.

Georgia Pollinator Census

The Georgia Pollinator Census is scheduled for August 19th and 20th.  For more information on how you can participate in this statewide effort visit here. 

Soil Improvement

Last summer, inspired by Amy Stewart’s book The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms (a Destination: Books bestseller reviewed here on my companion blog), I replaced my old worm tub with a four-story worm tower, a Father’s Day gift from my daughter Bonnie. The tower provides a steady supply of worm castings for my patio planter boxes and a generous scoop or two when I plant any veggies or herbs.

This was only the beginning. Earlier this year I participated in the Scott Community Garden's project that replaced our crumbling worm bins with some vermin proof, industrial-sized bins. Fortunately, one of the gardeners at Scott was an expert woodworker and along with a few strong backs we put something together over a period of a few months. There was even a little ceremony in Decatur with a photo opportunity to celebrate.

My garden is looking very good so far this year. Not only did I use my castings, and some composted soil from the Food Well Alliance (they provided the bin grant too) but even mixed some alpaca manure into my soil before planting. Daughter Bonnie who raises alpacas in rural Alabama “donated” a fresh, 5-gallon bucketful of alpaca bounty for my garden. 

Most of our basic how-to gardening books provide simple guidance on how to get started improving your soil.  We even have a few books like The Living Soil Handbook for those who want to take it to the next level. I usually don’t display books like this during our popup (our next one is at the Freedom Farmer’s Market at the Carter Center on Saturday morning June 25th,) but if you get me talking about soil, I will pull them out.

And if there is any doubt about the importance of healthy soil, check out Trevor Noah's short interview with Sadhguru on The Daily Show.