Two reviews and an odd little story.
An update on recently mentioned books:
If you find gardening the slightest bit amusing or relaxing, or if the idea of growing your own food produces some romantic sense of accomplishment, read *The $64 Tomato*. It's well written, funny, informative... just a really good read. Perhaps his book was more meaningful and hilarious to me in light of the fact that I once thought we should maximize our own 1/2-acre by planting 80 fruit trees. Let's just say my level headed husband got me down to 5 trees and I think that's about all we'll be able to handle. The author, William Alexander, has no such spouse. He had the notion that it'd be great to produce most of his own food, organically, the way nature intended and the way people (including his father) used to do on their own land, by their own toil. So with the help of a landscape architect, he designs a garden with 22 beds. Yep, twenty-two beds of soil waiting to be planted, weeded, weeded, weeded and then harvested at some point (with luck). There are definitely unforeseen challenges, but the book is not so self-depricating that he loses all the readers' respect. Really, read this book. It doesn't have a genre, so don't say to yourself, "I just don't know if that's the kind of book I'd like." Unless you've never bought even a houseplant hoping for miracles, you'll be able to relate.
And another quick review on a book that definitely falls into a genre:
Just got done with *Me Times Three* by Alex Witchel. Super-duper chick lit fluff and good stuff at that. Want a little romance, a little deceit, a few handsome dudes, and bad bosses all set in NYC? Then this is the book for you. I hadn't found a good, fun read like this for a while, so I was happily turning the pages through this one. Definitely no Pulitzer Prize in the future, but it has the kind of ending that makes you hope for a sequel so you can find out what happens after they get the house in the suburbs. Sigh. Sometimes our brains just need a little break. Even from gardening.
And one more thing that falls into the this-should-be-in-another-post-but-it's-not:
Have you heard about this? So a bunch of letters apparently addressed to a now-deceased pastor wash up on the Jersey shore, and no one with any connection to the pastor can be found. There's no family, no friends to speak of, and basically no one wants to claim responsibility for these letters. And so these letters, which consist of many people's deepest secrets, are going to be sold... on ebay. I'm as curious as the next guy about what written in them, but doesn't this seem a little cold? These are people begging for forgiveness for abortions they've had, or hoping the father of their baby will marry them... hmm. Hope my family's skeletons aren't in that closet.
If you find gardening the slightest bit amusing or relaxing, or if the idea of growing your own food produces some romantic sense of accomplishment, read *The $64 Tomato*. It's well written, funny, informative... just a really good read. Perhaps his book was more meaningful and hilarious to me in light of the fact that I once thought we should maximize our own 1/2-acre by planting 80 fruit trees. Let's just say my level headed husband got me down to 5 trees and I think that's about all we'll be able to handle. The author, William Alexander, has no such spouse. He had the notion that it'd be great to produce most of his own food, organically, the way nature intended and the way people (including his father) used to do on their own land, by their own toil. So with the help of a landscape architect, he designs a garden with 22 beds. Yep, twenty-two beds of soil waiting to be planted, weeded, weeded, weeded and then harvested at some point (with luck). There are definitely unforeseen challenges, but the book is not so self-depricating that he loses all the readers' respect. Really, read this book. It doesn't have a genre, so don't say to yourself, "I just don't know if that's the kind of book I'd like." Unless you've never bought even a houseplant hoping for miracles, you'll be able to relate.
And another quick review on a book that definitely falls into a genre:
Just got done with *Me Times Three* by Alex Witchel. Super-duper chick lit fluff and good stuff at that. Want a little romance, a little deceit, a few handsome dudes, and bad bosses all set in NYC? Then this is the book for you. I hadn't found a good, fun read like this for a while, so I was happily turning the pages through this one. Definitely no Pulitzer Prize in the future, but it has the kind of ending that makes you hope for a sequel so you can find out what happens after they get the house in the suburbs. Sigh. Sometimes our brains just need a little break. Even from gardening.
And one more thing that falls into the this-should-be-in-another-post-but-it's-not:
Have you heard about this? So a bunch of letters apparently addressed to a now-deceased pastor wash up on the Jersey shore, and no one with any connection to the pastor can be found. There's no family, no friends to speak of, and basically no one wants to claim responsibility for these letters. And so these letters, which consist of many people's deepest secrets, are going to be sold... on ebay. I'm as curious as the next guy about what written in them, but doesn't this seem a little cold? These are people begging for forgiveness for abortions they've had, or hoping the father of their baby will marry them... hmm. Hope my family's skeletons aren't in that closet.
posted by Left Coast Sister at 10:46 PM
3 Comments:
wow - approaching the "Smart Sisters" but loved about the new gardening adventures and becoming an orchardist - I do speak with a some previous experience - being in the "business" for 50 years -with 50 acres of trees, and that adds up to 150 trees per acre if you want to do the math!!! so - a count of 5 trees will do just as well.
The organics is a wonderful way of life, so get a lot of soap to wash down the trees now and then for the little critters that will fly in and take up residence - and for the ones that are not soaped out - get a special knife - those little worms just love juicy fruit. Don't let the worms stop you - they are very easily cut out - we have just been programed that they are bad - it just takes a little more work and a good knife. Yes, you can even have tree ripened fruit - most fruit will hang on the tree until is is ultra ripe - bright yellow, etc., so it will take some time to learn when it's ripe to pick!!!!! especially a lovely, juicy pear must still be picked green - then the cool basement in a paper bag treatment so it will turn into that juicy, golden yellow we love to have drip on our shirts.
Enjoy every tree - they are beautiful, each season, you may even have fruit to spare in time.
What happened to all those trees??? they have gone by the wayside, some even 100 plus years old. I have now turned into an arranger, not a gardner. My fingernails are even clean, as I sit and watch the leaves at the neighbors fall.
I just had to do this - keep on gardening. It is wonderful time with your children. Nature is beyond compare.
part of the Extrem - crew
That story about the letters is fascinating! Sounds like the opportunity for a bunch of short films to be made "Letters to God"! I sure hope those people's prayers were answered . . .
Carrie
So great to have some book recommendations! Now let's just hope the library will come thru...
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