Four Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman, is encouraging to every gardener and would-be gardener living in a cold climate.

He’s got a newer book out on the same topic, The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses, so I wasn’t sure about adding this one to my blog, but evidently both are selling well at Amazon.  This is an increasingly important topic, as we move toward greater self-reliance and local food.

I really like the way Coleman writes. His books are sometimes on my bedside table, interesting enough for a bit of reading but not likely to keep me awake!– Zana

If you love the joys of eating home-garden vegetables but always thought those joys had to stop at the end of summer, this book is for you. Eliot Coleman introduces the surprising fact that most of the United States has more winter sunshine than the south of France. Read the rest >>>

Many years ago, my mother had a garden in Southampton, NY, near the ocean on Long Island. She collected seaweed on the beach and used it for mulch. What I remember most was the abundance of tomatoes that she grew, along with beans, lettuce, cucumbers, squash, and numerous other things.

This afternoon, I came across her garden notebook for 1978 and read through it. Here are some of the excerpts regarding tomatoes. She was diligent about logging how many she picked, but she must have been less diligent about logging how many she froze or gave away, as you can tell from the numbers below. She and my stepdad couldn’t have eaten all the rest… could they?

I hope this inspires you to grow tomatoes sometime!

May 8 and 9. Planted Big Girl tomatoes (raised from seed) in garden.

May 31. Clarence gave me 6 fine tomato plants. Put 3 near western edge of garden and used 3 to replace some poor-looking home-grown tomato plants.

June 14. Started making new wire cages for tomatoes — always forget how hard and time-consuming a job it is, even with my good new wire cutters.

June 15. Finished making wire cages and put them up. Tomatoes seem very small for this late in the spring. Most of the ones I bought [and didn't describe in her journal -- Zana] bloomed before the plant was more than a foot high — a bad sign? Pinched out the blossoms but I don’t know. Read the rest >>>

Subtitled How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System, this book is a classic — and it’s one I got not long after it came out. We were llama ranching in the mountains near Ashland, Oregon,  in those days, and living in two old 8×40 trailers we had parked in a V, creating a large enclosed south-facing living room between them.

I set up my worm bins in the unused and minimally heated second kitchen. My teenager thought it was gross, and my husband was dubious, but it did work! I’ve lived in a lot of different places since then and haven’t used my old copy of Worms Eat My Garbage lately, but think I will soon. — Zana

The definitive guide to vermicomposting-a process using redworms to recycle food waste into nutrient-rich food for plants.

Newly revised and updated, this 162 page manual provides complete illustrated instructions on setting up and maintaining small-scale worm composting systems.

Topics include Read the rest >>>

I like this guest article because it looks at the huge issue of climate change and takes it right down to the simple step of you planting ONE tree.  Don’t have a place to do that or the physical capacity? The end of this article has an alternative idea. — Zana

Planting Trees to Save the Planet
By Tomer Treves

We all know that our planet Earth is warming up and that something needs to be done on a global scale. However, until the governments of the world unite in action, we can all do our share and contribute to a worldwide effort to save our climate from going crazy.

One of the best things a person can do to help our suffering planet is to plant a tree. Yes, one tree can make a real change. If you ask yourself how one tree can make a difference, please read the next few paragraphs. Read the rest >>>

Here’s an idea that combines simple living with earning some money. Good combo! — Zana

Make Money With No Start-Up Costs by Gardening – Three Ways to Do It

By Robert A Robertson

When people think of how to make money with no money from home, they seem to think mainly of office activities or perhaps of artistic endeavors. One way to work at home and make money that is often overlooked is by gardening. More and more people are wanting to eat locally produced food nowadays — for better flavor, freshness, and nutrition as well as to help cut the ecological burden of the oil used in transporting food thousands of miles. Read the rest >>>

Gaia’s Garden, by Toby Hemenway, now in a second edition, is one of the best books you could get on permaculture. (That link takes you to a page about what permaculture is.) One great thing about permaculture is that once you get a system going, it is not that hard to maintain. Sounds good to me! This book covers the topics listed below, and is meant for urban dwellers as well as those of us with more space. — Zana

• ISBN13: 9781603580298
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher.

Product Description
The first edition of Gaia’s Garden, sparked the imagination of America’s home gardeners, introducing permaculture’s central message: Working with Nature, not against her, results in more beautiful, abundant, and forgiving gardens. This extensively revised and expanded second edition broadens the reach and depth of the permaculture approach for urban and suburban growers. Read the rest >>>