On Our Shelves: Breaking Through Concrete

Breaking Through Concrete: Building an Urban Farm Revival by David Hanson and  Edwin Marty; photography by Michael Hanson; foreward by Mark Winne

“Breaking through concrete journeys through 12 urban farms describing their unique approach to filling the niche offered in each area of the country. The struggles, challenges and solutions of the land, employment, finances,training, profitability, soil quality, community development etc… Read each of the urban farm stories and begin to develop a sense of possibilities. Breaking through concrete peels back some of the mystery as to how we can create food security in our own neighborhoods.”

-Chlarson

In Our Shed: Rodales Garden Answers

Rodale’s Garden Answers : Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs : At-a-Glance Solutions for Every Gardening Problem / edited by Fern Marshall Bradley ; contributors, Linda A. Gilkeson

This is THE manual of Organic Gardening. Not a book you sit down and read cover to cover, but a necessary reference manual to be kept handy at any garden. It has individual sections on most commonly cultivated vegetables, as well as chapters on insects/pests, garden planning, growing fruit and more. It can help you know when to start your seeds, plant your starts, check for health and disease, maintain a healthy soil, test for ripeness, harvest, and put your garden to bed–all done with age-old organic techniques. I recommend the hardback version, as it will likely see a lot of heavy use in the garden from dirty and or wet hands. We keep a copy in our garden shed.

-Bryant

In Praise of Soil

(Thursday, August 9th, 2012)

The documentary Dirt!, was an interesting look at the ways the soil is so valuable to our existence. It covers many facets of the relationships found between humans and the “earth’s skin”–everything from pollution and degradation of soil, to inspiring stories of children eating from edible school yards. It gives me even more motivation for composting and eating delicious veggies from our Library Community Garden!

-Amanda

On Our Shelves: Teaming with Microbes

Hey, everyone. I thought I’d post about one of my favorite gardening books, Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. If you like biology at all (and you probably do if you’re a gardener…), this book will really …