Posted: January 18th, 2010 | Author: W | Filed under: Library, Winter Growing | No Comments »
So after Matt & Dave’s glowing reviews, I finally got ahold of a copy of Eliot Coleman’s Winter Harvest Handbook and have this morning already devoured half of it. Really a remarkable, accessible work that I recommend to everyone!
I already want to know even more about the history of it so I did a little research based on the bibliography and found a few things that might be of interest:
“The Profitable culture of vegetables for market gardeners” by Thomas Smith
“Fields, factories and workshops: or, Industry combined with agriculture” by Petri Aleks Kropotkin
“Manuel pratique de la culture maraichère de Paris” by J. G. Moreau, J. J. Daverne (Français)
Posted: October 26th, 2009 | Author: W | Filed under: Interesting, Library | 1 Comment »
From the Amazon.com description:
Call it “Zen and the Art of Farming” or a “Little Green Book,” Masanobu Fukuoka’s manifesto about farming, eating, and the limits of human knowledge presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of cultivating the earth reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world. As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book “is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical. It is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture.”
Trained as a scientist, Fukuoka rejected both modern agribusiness and centuries of agricultural practice, deciding instead that the best forms of cultivation mirror nature’s own laws. Over the next three decades he perfected his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort.
Whether you’re a guerrilla gardener or a kitchen gardener, dedicated to slow food or simply looking to live a healthier life, you will find something here—you may even be moved to start a revolution of your own
Download a PDF copy of the book HERE. Buy a copy of the book HERE.
