These days, with the garden demanding less time outdoors, the move indoors prompts me to surround myself with books. I naturally gravitate to books on garden design and food, yet lately have been drawn to read about the environment. I am focused less on what I know and more on my journey to learn something new.
Here are a few titles that I’ve been reading that are refueling my mind for another gardening season ahead, and guiding me to tap into a larger network of like minded people who are dedicated and focused on creating more positive planetary changes for the future.
Amy Seidel, an ecologist and gifted writer, shares a platform with Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver, yet with a personal twist. In Early Spring, she writes about climate change by observing nature through family walks in the woods with her two girls, and closely observing changes as she sees them, combining science with nature. She brings home the message of global warming by considering how it has altered her life, the natural communities around her, and the traditions of her small Vermont town. Her newest book, On Higher Ground is next on my list.
I first heard Peter Forbes speak at a NOFA –VT conference when his book , Coming to the Land (collected essays) was first published and filled a notebook with ideas. His message and his powerful stories rang clear with a deep examination of the value of preserving land to preserve our culture and our souls. As the visionary co-founder of The Center for Whole Communities, Peter gives the reader a new approach and new hope to work to heal the great divisions and losses we see around us each day. Information about the many workshops and inspiring books and articles can be found on their website as is worth a visit.
Perhaps it was serendipity that I picked up Gatherings by Diane Ott Whealy and turned to a page about her trip to a seed grower in Holland that matched my experience as a seed collector. I was drawn to the cover featuring a Moon and the Stars watermelon, one of my favorite heirloom seed varieties and find the down-to earth narrative refreshing and humble. Seed Savers Exchange began as a simple exchange of seeds among passionate gardeners who sought to preserve the rich gardening heritage their ancestors had brought to this country and has grown from a small coterie to more than thirteen thousand and will continue to grow as our seed future becomes more important.
I recently found a used copy of French Dirt by Richard Goodman, at a library sale. While I had read it in 1991 when it was originally published, it was timeless in nature since it involved the experience of a first garden. The writing is fast, witty and full of good humor in a slightly self-absorbed style, the plot is focused on the vegetable garden that Goodman kept during a year spent in a tiny French village near Avignon. This book is really an account of living as an outsider in a tightly knit community and how connections and friendships were made through the garden.
The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball is one of the best books I’ve read on how to leave a comfortable career in favor of a new life on an old farm in upstate New York growing food. Kimball is a brilliant writer and brings humor, grace and dignity to the story. She does not make the work or the lifestyle look glamorous, yet instead shares all the worry and the problems they face, while she and her husband share a deep passion to succeed. Brilliant and fun to read, a good book for anyone who has a farm, wants a farm or who is a member of a CSA.
