Best Organic Gardening & Horticulture

Even if you have never been a farmer or a gardener, this book covers everything you need to know to get started: buying and saving seeds, starting seedlings, establishing raised beds, soil fertility practices, composting, dealing with pest and disease problems, crop rotation, farm planning, and much more. �A concept destined to appeal to that intrepid individual whose independent nature finds the idea of abandoning the grocery store alluring.� ---Booklist Brett L. Markham is an engineer, third-generation farmer, and polymath.

What Stamets has discovered is that we can capitalize on mycelium’s digestive power and target it to decompose toxic wastes and pollutants (mycoremediation), catch and reduce silt from streambeds and pathogens from agricultural watersheds (mycofiltration), control insect populations (mycopesticides), and generally enhance the health of our forests and gardens (mycoforestry and myco-gardening). --From the foreword by Andrew Weil, MD, author of Eating Well for Optimum Health “Stamets is a visionary emissary from the fungus kingdom to our world, and the message he’s brought back in this book, about the possibilities fungi hold for healing the environment, will fill you with wonder and hope.“. --Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire “This is the kind of book I love: highly factual and practical and mixed with the spiritual content that sets the great writers apart from all the rest.“. --John Norris, former deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and founder of the Bioterrorism Institute. “This is the first book to give the Kingdom of the Fungi its proper place in the scheme of things. Stamets’s visionary insights are leading to a whole new understanding of how mushrooms, scarcely seen and rarely appreciated, regulate the earth’s ecosystems.“. --John Todd, founder and president of Ocean Arks International. “This visionary and practical book should be an instant classic in... A manual for healing the earth and creating sustainable forests through mushroom cultivation, featuring mycelial solutions to water pollution, toxic spills, and other ecological challenges.

The Market Gardener is a compendium of la Grelinette’s proven horticultural techniques and innovative growing methods. Ever since its release in Quebec, it has reached thousands of readers and caused a ripple of benefits: people of all ages, especially the young, can now aspire to buy or rent their own land and live a fulfilling—and profitable—life in the countryside, which a few years back was still a wild dream for most of us. He picks up right where Eliot Coleman has left us, applying many of his core principles, but doing it in such a brilliant way as to provide beginning farmers a solid framework of the information they need to start up and become successful small-scale organic growers themselves.—Adam Lemieux, Product Manager of Tools & Supplies, Johnny's Selected Seeds. The Market Gardener is a compendium of La Grelinette’s proven horticultural techniques, packed with practical information on: • Setting-up a micro-farm by designing biologically intensive cropping systems, all with negligible capital outlay; • Farming without a tractor and minimizing fossil fuel inputs through the use of the best hand tools, appropriate machinery and minimum tillage practices; • Growing mixed vegetables systematically with attention to weed and pest management, crop yields, harvest periods and pricing approaches. Based on low-tech, high-yield methods of production The Market Gardener is a complete, modern, micro-scale farming handbook which shows that making a living wage growing food without large capital outlay or access to an acreage may be closer than you think. picks up right where Eliot Coleman has left us, applying many of his core principles, but doing it in such a brilliant way as to provide beginning farmers a solid framework of the information they need to start up and become successful small-scale organic growers themselves- Adam Lemieux, Product Manager of Tools & Supplies, Johnny's Selected Seeds. Jean-Martin Fortier is a passionate advocate of strong local food systems, and founder of Les Jardins de la Grelinette; an internationally recognized model for successful biointensive micro-farming.

His book combines the best of traditional knowledge and techniques with up-to-date, scientifically based practices to provide today’s cider makers with all the tools they need to produce high-quality ciders. An accessible overview of the cider making process for beginners; Recommendations for selecting and growing cider-appropriate apples; Information on juice-extraction equipment and directions on how to build your own grater mill and cider press; A discussion of the most important components of apple juice and how these may influence the quality of the cider; An examination of the fermentation process and a description of methods used to produce either dry or naturally sweet cider, still or sparkling cider, and even ice cider. This book will appeal to both serious amateurs and professional cider makers who want to increase their knowledge, as well as to orchardists who want to grow cider apples for local or regional producers. It starts simply enough, with an overview of the process, apple growing and selection, and seven principles for producing the best, from “good cider needs great apples” to “remember what you did.” After a careful review of dozens of regional apple varieties (and a few pears, to make the cider equivalent called perry), complete with notes on sugar, acidity, tannin, juice yield, harvest date, and pressing season, he dives into the more difficult processes, including juice extraction, fermentation, and troubleshooting. Designed for experienced cider makers as well as for serious beginners, it’s a gold mine for everyone who’d like to make good cider. “Claude Jolicoeur is a true student of the art and science of cider.From clear, concise discussions of the technical aspects of cider making, to the selection of proper cider apples, this is a treatise for all time.The text is straightforward, and can be an excellent guide to novice cider makers, but it is endowed with a wealth of information that will benefit ciderists at all levels of the craft. For anyone who aspires to make the finest quality fermented cider, The New Cider Maker’s Handbook is as indispensable as an apple press.” --David Buchanan, author of Taste, Memory. The New Cider Maker’s Handbook is a practical, approachable, well-organized, extensively researched guide to cider making, from apple selection to pressing to fermentation and beyond. As craft cider grows in popularity and stature throughout the U.S. and Canada, we expect Claude’s book to become North America’s preeminent cider reference.” --Scott Heath and Ellen Cavalli, co-owners, Tilted Shed Ciderworks, Sonoma County, CA. "Based on Claude Jolicoeur’s 25 years experience in craft cider making, The New Cider Maker’s Handbook combines the author’s personal perspectives with solidly researched information from cider makers worldwide, to create a manual which is both practical and inspirational. “Claude Jolicoeur’s New Cider Maker’s Handbook is an invaluable resource for the serious home cider maker. "Award-winning cider maker Jolicoeur provides a comprehensive guide to cider making, covering the selection of apple varieties, chemical formulas and charts, and the construction of mills and presses. It starts simply enough, with an overview of the process, apple growing and selection, and seven principles for producing the best, from 'good cider needs great apples” to “remember what you did.'. After a careful review of dozens of regional apple varieties (and a few pears, to make the cider equivalent called perry), complete with notes on sugar, acidity, tannin, juice yield, harvest date, and pressing season, he dives into the more difficult processes, including juice extraction, fermentation, and troubleshooting.

Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. Most of this work deals with non-Europeans, but Diamond's thesis sheds light on why Western civilization became hegemonic: "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves."

With Aquaponics: The Ultimate Aquaponics Guide - From Beginner To Expert , you’ll learn to create your own aquaponic system in your home or backyards.

He also explains how you can make gardening fun for kids by teaching them the square foot method. "Bartholomew, author of the popular Square Foot Gardening (1981), has refined his original square-foot gardening concept by adding ten improvements, including a new location for the garden that is closer to the house, a special soil mix, and six-inch deep, 4' x 4' above-ground boxes with grids. He clearly explains the square-foot concept, from the rationale behind it (the square-foot garden takes up much less space than traditional row gardening and saves time, money, and aggravation) to how to plan the garden, build the boxes and vertical supports, and employ his planting and cultural techniques.

He also explains how you can make gardening fun for kids by teaching them the square foot method. "Bartholomew, author of the popular Square Foot Gardening (1981), has refined his original square-foot gardening concept by adding ten improvements, including a new location for the garden that is closer to the house, a special soil mix, and six-inch deep, 4' x 4' above-ground boxes with grids. He clearly explains the square-foot concept, from the rationale behind it (the square-foot garden takes up much less space than traditional row gardening and saves time, money, and aggravation) to how to plan the garden, build the boxes and vertical supports, and employ his planting and cultural techniques.