Book Review: The Alternative Kitchen Garden

Book Review:

The Alternative Kitchen Garden an A-Z by Emma Cooper

The author of this book started a weekly podcast called "The Alternative Kitchen Garden" a few years ago.  Emma provided vegetable growing tips that were primarily for those with a similar climate to her native Britain.  But the most interesting topics of the podcasts (to me, at least) were those such as "Goji Berries", "Achocha" and "Oca".   Podcast listeners were entrained into Emma's adventures in growing these and other usual food crops.  These podcasts inspired me to grow things like ground cherry and pak choi.

The book originates from the podcasts that Emma created and it's full of interesting topics.  It is not, however, a step-by-step guide to growing fruits and vegetables.  It is a collection of short (1-2 page) discussions of various topics related to gardening told from a sustainable (yet, witty!) point of view.  The part I love best is the honesty of the text.  Readers are not only told about the successes in the garden, but also the failures.  This is so important, and something that gardening books usually do not include.  For example, "From my two containers, I got what looked like a reasonable harvest of tiger nuts (about 200g in total).  However, they were very hard and not at all sweet.  They were fiddly to clean and not at all tasty.  I don't know what went wrong, because tiger nuts are supposed to be nice…" 

Successes in the Alternative Kitchen Garden include leaf beet and Welsh onions, which can be harvested almost all year long.  I plan to find seeds of each and grow them in the spring.

The writing style is highly conversational, which may be pleasant or off-putting, depending on your preference.  When discussing decomposers, the author states, "If they didn't munch their way through all of the dead animals, dying plant material and (let's face it) poo then we wouldn't be knee deep in the stuff because we wouldn't be here - there would be nothing left for us to eat."  I find this style more engaging, personally.

The Alternative Kitchen Garden an A-Z is for garden newbies and veterans who are interested in trying something new. 

Book Review: How to Pick a Peach

How to Pick a Peach by Russ Parsons

Interesting take on how to "best" eat from our current food system. It still seems crazy to me that some people might not realize that tomatoes doen't grow in January in the US. But apparently we need to be told what to eat when. But Parsons' book is more entertaining than that. He approaches fruits and vegetables in the same sort of way that I do: as works of art at their best and lumps of coal at their worst. I enjoyed his analysis of many popular produce items. Parsons helps us figure out when selected vegetables are most likely to taste good, as well as how/if to store them. Some of the text was a bit of old news for me, likely due to all of the other information I've read on the topic of food. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. The (mostly) simple recipes were a nice addition, too.

Book Review - Golden Gate Gardening

Golden Gate Gardening: the complete guide to year-round food gardnening in the San Francisco Bay area & coastal California (2nd edition)
by Pam Pierce

This book has taught me so much over the last 2 years. It is so thorough and detailed. I believe everyone who grows vegetables near the coast in central California should read it, if not own it. I have checked it out from the library 3 times this year. (Yes, I know I should just buy it!) My Google Documents contain several scanned pages from the book, such as the monthly planting times for all of the major crops, as well as suggestions on crop rotations. The book begins with an introduction to our region (and subregions) and the difficulties and rewards of growing here. There are, of course, lots of tips for beginners, but I truly believe that even the most seasoned gardener has something to learn from Pam. I really enjoy the detailed write up of each type of crop. We're not just talking about the major ones either. Pam lets us in on all her growing secrets, from the mildly exotic kohlrabi, to the obscure Bolivian Sunroot (one of her new favorites). Golden Gate Gardening is a must read for central CA, ya'll!

Just checked Amazon and the soon-to-be-released 3rd edition is available for pre-order ($20). The book cover says that it will now include info on edible flowers and cut flowers, as well as fruit trees and shrubs. It should be shipping to my house in February 2010!

By the way, I just found out that Pam has a blog, aptly named Golden Gate Gardener.

Book Review - Harvest: a year in the life of an organic farm

Harvest: a year in the life of an organic farm
by Nicola Smith

I grabbed this book from the library shelf for 2 reasons:
1) the title
2) the cover picture

I was slightly afraid that the book might inspire me to give it all up, buy a little plot of land, and start a CSA. That's basically what this married couple of farmers did after finishing their Master's Degrees in Science. Sounds romantic, no? But then comes drought, animal sickness, and a harsh Vermont winter. The farming couple struggles to survive all of this while simultaneously raising a small child. I read this book rather quickly, in 2 days. I admit skipping through some paragraphs that I believed were extraneous. There is a strong emphasis on the "animal" side of farming, with very little said about the growing of the vegetables. It is a personal tale, not a how-to book. I shouldn't have been surprised to see so much text devoted to the animals, since this was the primary focus of the farmers. I guess I'm just biased toward plants, since I don't raise animals and eat very, very few of the ones that live on land. Anyway, I liked the book, but I'm not rushing out to tell my friends about it. And no, I don't want to become a professional farmer. This book scared that dream right out of my head!

Gardening-related Book Review: Farm City

Farm City
The Education of an Urban Farmer
by Novella Carpenter

The tale of a woman and her inner city farm...complete with pigs and all!

The book begins like this:

"I have a farm on a dead-end street in the ghetto. My back stairs are dotted with chicken turds. Bales of straw come undone in the parking area next to my apartment. I harvest lettuce in an abandoned lot. I awake in the mornings to the sounds of farm animals mingled with the neighbor's blaring car alarm."

There's been a lot of hype surrounding this book. I've heard about it several times in various ways. I was 5th in line for it at the library and had to wait several weeks to get it. And it's even been reviewed on NPR. Would it live up to all the buzz? My answer? An emphatic "YES!" I absolutely loved it. Novella is a very entertaining writer. I was so sad to see the last page coming. Have you ever savored a book before?

The book is all about an urban farm that Novella and her boyfriend created in an abandoned lot next to their apartment in Oakland...the rough part of Oakland. It's a beautiful tale of hope and survival. It's gritty, real, funny and clever. If you've ever gardened in an urban or suburban setting, it a must read. Unless you are too prissy, of course. Dirt under your fingernails is a prerequisite ;) It's not only about the "Farm"...it's also about the "Urban". Take this passage for instance:

"So we were in our element in Oakland, with its mammoth piles of junk placed on curbs, clutter dropped under overpasses and, sometimes, in the middle of the street. The junk piles became so bad that at one point there were billboard ads urging people to DUMP BOYFRIENDS, NOT APPLIANCES. It was a strange campaign - stranger when half the lights on the billboard went out, leaving only the illuminated command DUMP BOYFRIENDS."

Yeah. It's freaking awesome.

Gardening-related Book Review: Wicked Plants

This is a completely unsolicited book reviews, but I hope it's not unwelcome :)

"Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities" by Amy Stewart

First of all, look at the book!
Nice, huh? I know we shouldn't 'judge a book by it's cover', but it's okay this time. The great design and illustrations match quite well with this interesting read. (Love the gold tassel!) The book is laid out like a series of (very) short stories on individual or related groups of wicked plants. "Wicked plants" might fall into one of these categories: illegal, dangerous, deadly, etc. It was interesting to learn about the sordid history of so many plants from all over the world. Plants have even changed the course of history a time or two. We tend to think of plants as "innocent" and "lovely", but some folks think of them as murder weapons. Ouch! And then, there are the people looking for an escape from reality...geez, people get high off all kinds of vegetation. Who knew? Well, Amy Stewart does and she'll tell you all about it in Wicked Plants. You can find out more on her blog. I've read all of Amy's books and my personal favorite is "From the Ground Up", about her adventures in starting a first garden in Santa Cruz, CA.