Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community, by H.C. Flores (Chelsea Green Publishing, $25)This book gives you all the basics for growing food on that most wasted ground in America, the manicured lawn. The lawn itself is a hold over from romanticizing Colonist's desire to best the "old country". Our suburbs and cities do not have the acreage to support vistas of lawns for each household and the result is a cramped bit of yard. Why not turn it over and quit using the chemical broadleaf suppressant fertilizers? You'll mow less, and eat better.
Flores' work in Eugene has now blossomed into a global movement, and you can find many resources at foodnotlawns.com.
The community building suggestions here are quite simple, seed exchanges, offering surplus produce to neighbors and helping supply your local food bank to Superhero Bike Rides.
It's gardening season again, and even if you're still snowed in, it's never too early to dream of tender green lettuces and those late summer tomatoes. Our gardening section has many titles to help you and if we don't have what you're looking for, we'd be happy to track down a copy for you. And, every book ordered through the Book Report or Second Life gets a publisher's advance copy included as a thank you from us.
This year I'll be getting some raised beds going, and I also get to redo a large piece of the back border, thanks to a car dropping by in the middle of the night.
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