The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-reliance in Uncertain Times

by Deppe, Carol

• ISBN13: 9781603580311
• ISBN10: 160358031X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-11
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Pub Co

Summary

Scientist/gardener Carol Deppe combines her passion for gardening with newly emerging scientific information from many fields - resilience science, climatology, climate change, ecology, anthropology, paleontology, sustainable agriculture, nutrition, health, and medicine. InThe Resilient Gardener, Deppe extends these principles with detailed information about growing and using five keystone crops that are especially important for anyone seeking greater self-reliance: potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and eggs. In this book you'll learn how to: Garden in an era of climate change and unpredictable weather Grow, store, and use more of your own staple crops Garden efficiently and comfortably (even if you have a bad back) Save your own seed potatoes, or find sources who sell certified seed Grow, store, and cook different varieties of potatoes Grow corn to make your own fast-cooking polenta, cornbread, parching corn, corn cakes, and even savory corn gravy Make whole-grain corn-based breads and cakes using the author's original gluten-free recipes involving no other grains, artificial binders, or dairy products Grow and use popbeans and other grain legumes Grow, store, and use summer, winter, and drying squash Keep a home laying flock of ducks or chickens, while integrating them with your gardening activities and growing most of their feed,/li> The Resilient Gardeneris both a conceptual and a hands-on gardening book, and is suitable for gardeners at all levels of experience. "Resilience" here is broadly conceived, and encompasses a full range of problems, from personal hard times such as injuries, family crises, financial problems, health problems, and special dietary needs (gluten intolerance, food allergies, carbohydrate sensitivity, and a need for weight control) to serious regional and global disasters and climate change. In the end, though, this is a supremely optimistic as well as realistic book about how resilient gardeners (and their gardens) can flourish even in challenging times and help their communities to survive and thrive through everything that comes their way - whether it's tomorrow or in the next thousand years.

Excerpts

The Resilient Gardeneris so essential, timely and important, and I will recommend it to everyone I know. It doesn't matter if you garden or if you don't-this is practical wisdom good for humans to know, passed on by a careful student who has deeply studied her life. Carol Deppe's lens is the garden-which is great for gardeners, but really, she speaks clearly to all of us. If you try to think like Deppe, you will find you have a new view of your life no matter who you are. This is a wise and intelligent book. Hats off to Carol Deppe!--Deborah Madison, Author of Local Flavorsand Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone