We don't need to poison the earth in order to grow better food, and what is harmful to the environment when improperly disposed of often can be turned back to the soil in a beneficial way through composting - if you know how. Here's how. Malcolm Beck's Garden-Ville is one of the largest commercial composting operations in the country. He shares his insight into the processes of decay that can transform everything from lawn trimmings to sewer sludge into life-giving earth. Coupled with Beck's insight into nature and practical advice are remarks from Charles Walters, author, founder of Acres U.S.A.

Ecological gardening with ease and simplicity. Gardening Naturally offers a wealth of information and practical advice for growing indoor and outdoor plants based on sustainability, a rejection of artificial chemicals, and respect for biodiversity and the natural world. From advice on planning your garden and dealing with disease, insects, and the arrival of cold weather, to tips for starting your own compost, repotting effectively, and choosing which local and native flowers to best attract pollinators, Gardening Naturally will interest anyone who wants to add flowers, edibles, and greenery to their daily life, no matter the size of their balcony or the extent of their garden.

"[A] tome that holds the secrets to science-based organic and sustainable food crops. It joins a handful of essential books on the topic, and delves deeper and in more granular detail into the process of gardening with nature than any other book I know of."-Jeff Cox, author of From Vines to Wines and The Organic Cook's Bible, and contributing editor of Horticulture magazine Dismantle your gardening myths. Grow a garden grounded in fact. Edible landscaping pioneer Robert Kourik deftly guides the reader through the mysteries of growing plants and designing landscapes in temperate climates and suburbs, and the use of all-natural, sustainable methods to grow and maintain a healthy variety of plants. Would you like to garden without digging, composting, buying fertilizers, spraying with pesticides, or lamenting low yields? If so, Sustainable Food Gardening is the book you've been waiting for, with over 450 pages, 13 chapters, and 487 color photos, illustrations, charts, and graphs. Author Robert Kourik began his career in natural landscape design and maintenance in 1974, with one of the first sustainably oriented organic gardening businesses in the country. In Sustainable Food Gardening, you'll learn to: Design your own "edible landscapes." Use no-till techniques to preserve the integrity of your soil Adapt your growing space to fit into a wide range of USDA garden zones Review alternative ways to change "guilds' (well-intended clusters of trees and shrubs jumbled together) to more effective and labor-saving plantings. Grow new kinds of beautiful and productive Victory gardens Plant Native American "Three-Sisters" gardens that actually work Learn many myths about roots, and what to do to help them thrive Attract many beneficial insects to your garden with strategic flower plantings Here are some of the other topics covered in depth: Rainwater catchment/cisterns. Hugelkulturs (do you really need raised garden beds filled with rotten wood?). Options for better, faster ways to maximize and improve soil. "Dynamic accumulation"-a myth with some useful guidelines. Avoiding hours of tree-pruning and encouraging fruiting with a few dozen clothespins. Clever ways to install and simplify drip irrigation Using plants to lure good insects that prey upon pests. Promoting beneficial soil life. Adding food crops to a native-looking landscape. In Sustainable Food Gardening you'll learn how to achieve that Holy Grail of gardening-productivity, tasty food, and a beautiful, sustainable garden, yard, or landscape.

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.

Many people mistakenly think that ecological gardening--which involves growing a wide range of edible and other useful plants--can take place only on a large, multiacre scale. As Hemenway demonstrates, it's fun and easy to create a "backyard ecosystem" by assembling communities of plants that can work cooperatively and perform a variety of functions, including:

Building and maintaining soil fertility and structure

Catching and conserving water in the landscape

Providing habitat for beneficial insects, birds, and animals

Growing an edible "forest" that yields seasonal fruits, nuts, and other foods

This revised and updated edition also features a new chapter on urban permaculture, designed especially for people in cities and suburbs who have very limited growing space. Whatever size yard or garden you have to work with, you can apply basic permaculture principles to make it more diverse, more natural, more productive, and more beautiful. Best of all, once it's established, an ecological garden will reduce or eliminate most of the backbreaking work that's needed to maintain the typical lawn and garden.

Discover everything you need to know to kick-start your composting journey! Dig into compost basics and get to grips with the many benefits of composting and the tools you'll need to get the job done. It's time to let your garden grow! You don't have to be a horticulture expert to get started, this indispensable compost gardening book for beginners will take you through every single step! It includes: - Gardening tips on how to make compost at home - Packed with practical, jargon-free advice, and simple DIY composting techniques - Easy-to-follow format to help grow your gardening knowledge Perfect for first-time gardeners, this is your no-fuss guide to composting! From making your own fertiliser for plants to building your own compost bin, this sustainable gardening book will help you give your vegetable and flower garden a boost. Gorgeous, full-colour photography provides plenty of inspiration to get you started! Expert tips and step-by-step instructions on every page help make sure that you care for your garden in the right way for them to flourish. Make your green-fingered dreams a reality with the Grow Series from DK. Learn how to brighten up even the trickiest areas in Grow Containers, or discover how to garden more sustainably in Grow Eco-Gardening. Alternatively, there are more titles to explore such as Grow Pruning & Training and Grow Houseplants.

From the best-selling author of Practical Magic Nikki Van De Car comes an essential guide to cultivating magical self-sufficiency and enchanted resilience through spell work, gardening, herbal remedies, and more. Whether we live on a farm or in a high rise, we can always create a life that is entwined with the natural world. A homestead is not a log cabin or a hermitage out in the woods -- it is a way of being, a life lived with the intention of returning to our roots and tapping into the essential elements of fire, water, air, and earth. And a homesteading witch isn't just a person who lives atop a beautiful mountain, but anyone who understands that by harnessing and honoring these elements you can create whatever it is that you need. The Witchy Homestead is your guide to finding, creating, and living this essential magic -- it is a comforting companion as you build a wellspring of magical self-sufficiency, and a seasoned teacher as you cultivate enchanted resilience. Through this book, author Nikki Van De Car will offer magically-tinged suggestions for growing or finding your own food regardless of where you live, engaging in natural healing practices, connecting to the ancient magic of the world around you, and for protecting all that you have created.

Charles Dowding (the guru of no dig gardening) shares his organic, no-dig approach to soil and plants. He reveals revealing the techniques that enable him to grow healthy, vibrant crops while maintaining a healthy soil. His success is based on these key principles * No-dig * Spread organic matter on the soil surface * Clean & improve the soil in the first 3-12 months * Weed every 10 days or so, when weeds are small. By using a system of permanent, slightly raised beds, Charles shows how to grow a delicious variety of fruit and vegetables sustainably and organically: what to choose; when to sow, plant and harvest; and how best to avoid pests and diseases.

As the earth's neighbour, the moon affects not only ocean tides but also the growth and development of plants. In this finely illustrated, full-colour book - packed with practical tips for the novice as well as the advanced gardener - Peter Berg offers a clear summary of the basics of lunar and biodynamic gardening, together with in-depth sections on: activating and enlivening the soil; biodynamic preparations; making good compost; crop rotation and green manuring; cultivation work and care of the garden; practical plant protection; rich harvesting; saving your own seed. Building on the the intensive research of his mentor Maria Thun and the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, Berg explains how the subtle influences from the cosmos work on the plant world, distinguishing between 'root', 'leaf', 'blossom' and 'fruit' days in the working calendar. An understanding of such natural processes, in conjunction with the practical knowledge described in this book, can lead to productive, chemical-free gardening, with healthy plants and abundant harvests.

A permaculture expert and popular YouTube Homesteader shares the skills and the delights of becoming a part of your own food story in this inspiring, accessible, and beautiful invitation to a more abundant, healthy, and connected life. Have you ever wanted to experiment with growing your own food but didn't think you had the space, the time, or the knowledge? Justin Rhodes thought the same thing--until after years battling systemic illness and struggling to provide the kind of wholesome food he wanted for his family, he bought a seed packet at the grocery store and was hooked! Justin discovered the miraculous potential and empowerment of working with nature to grow food for his family, and since that discovery, he has shared his self-taught skills with hundreds of thousands of growers via his popular YouTube channel and website. Whether you're looking for greater food security, better health, tastier food, to save or earn money, connect with your food source, this book is for you. If you're looking for a different kind of life--a life focused on health and wellness--take a look down the road less traveled. Looking for every opportunity to pass his hard-earned knowledge onto others, Justin Rhodes created this inspiring and practical invitation to growing your own food and experiencing a more connected, sustainable lifestyle, no matter where you live or how much space you have. Filled with beautiful and inspiring photographs from the Rhodes' homestead and chock full of resources, including gardening plans, everything you need to know about raising chickens, tips for how to get your kids involved, and even recipes for how to serve up your home-grown goodness, The Rooted Life provides you with the inspiration, the encouragement, and the practical wisdom that you need to begin the journey to a more rooted life.

From the author of The Humanure Handbook, an expert guide to compost toilets you can build yourself The Compost Toilet Handbook is an illustrated instructional manual explaining how to make, use, and manage compost toilets, which are waste-free toilets that rely on the biological process of composting to recycle toilet material. It is based on the author's 40+ years of first-hand experience with "composting as a sanitation alternative." The 254-page indexed book has 161 pages of color photos including 203 photos or illustrations from 13 countries where compost toilet systems are in use. The 2nd half of the book includes case study reviews of compost toilet projects in African prisons and schools; Haitian schools, orphanages, and villages; schools in Mozambique; neighborhoods in Mongolia; a school and village in Nicaragua; and an ecovillage in the US. Along with the nuts and bolts of compost toilet construction, use, and management, the book covers emergency preparedness, cold weather composting, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, health, and safety.

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. He shows how North American gardeners can successfully use that sun to raise a wide variety of traditional winter vegetables in backyard cold frames and plastic covered tunnel greenhouses without supplementary heat. Coleman expands upon his own experiences with new ideas learned on a winter-vegetable pilgrimage across the ocean to the acknowledged kingdom of vegetable cuisine, the southern part of France, which lies on the 44th parallel, the same latitude as his farm in Maine. This story of sunshine, weather patterns, old limitations and expectations, and new realities is delightfully innovative in the best gardening tradition. Four-Season Harvest will have you feasting on fresh produce from your garden all through the winter. To learn more about the possibility of a four-season farm, please visit Coleman's website www.fourseasonfarm.com.

Discover how to keep your garden in the best of health. Ideal for first-time gardeners, Grow Pests & Diseases contains everything you need to know to prevent and treat a wide range of plant pests, diseases, disorders, and more. Far more than a simple list of treatments, this book shows you how to keep plants in top condition, recognise the signs of ill-health, and decide whether or not intervention is needed, while the fully illustrated ailment directory is organised by symptom and plant type for quick and easy identification. Packed with practical, jargon-free know-how, this easy-to-use guide has everything you need to know to help your garden Grow.

First published in 1977, this book--from one of America's most famous and prolific agricultural writers--became an almost instant classic among homestead gardeners and small farmers. Now fully updated and available once more, Small-Scale Grain Raising offers a entirely new generation of readers the best introduction to a wide range of both common and lesser-known specialty grains and related field crops, from corn, wheat, and rye to buckwheat, millet, rice, spelt, flax, and even beans and sunflowers.

More and more Americans are seeking out locally grown foods, yet one of the real stumbling blocks to their efforts has been finding local sources for grains, which are grown mainly on large, distant corporate farms. At the same time, commodity prices for grains--and the products made from them--have skyrocketed due to rising energy costs and increased demand. In this book, Gene Logsdon proves that anyone who has access to a large garden or small farm can (and should) think outside the agribusiness box and learn to grow healthy whole grains or beans--the base of our culinary food pyramid--alongside their fruits and vegetables.

Starting from the simple but revolutionary concept of the garden "pancake patch," Logsdon opens up our eyes to a whole world of plants that we wrongly assume only the agricultural "big boys" can grow. He succinctly covers all the basics, from planting and dealing with pests, weeds, and diseases to harvesting, processing, storing, and using whole grains. There are even a few recipes sprinkled throughout, along with more than a little wit and wisdom.

Never has there been a better time, or a more receptive audience, for this book. Localvores, serious home gardeners, CSA farmers, and whole-foods advocates--in fact, all people who value fresh, high-quality foods--will find a field full of information and ideas in this once and future classic.

This is the organic cookbook that includes over 140 imaginative and inspiring recipes. It is the organic gardening book that is an essential reference guide to natural techniques, with advice on applying organic principles to all aspects of garden planning, design and maintenance. It is an expert and practical guide for the home cook on understanding the issues around organic food and drink. It features a comprehensive survey of organic ingredients, from fabulous fruit and vegetables to tender meat and poultry, hearty breads and handy storecupboard items. It is packed with practical advice and clear, step-by-step sequences to show you how to achieve the best results in ornamental, wildlife and kitchen gardens. Reflecting our growing interest in producing and eating healthy organic food, this boxed book set is perfect for those who love cooking and gardening. There is advice on all aspects of organic gardening, from growing, watering and feeding to pruning and propagation. The cookbook provides tips on storing and using organic ingredients, as well as 140 recipes for all types of meals, from light lunches to dinner parties. Try seasonal dishes such as Asparagus with Lemon Sauce or Summer Berries in a Sabayon Glaze. A directory of vegetables, herbs and fruit provides clear information on growing and cooking healthy produce, with handy hints for gardeners and cooks.

Practically Pagan - An Alternative Guide to Gardening takes the spooky out of alternative and keeps the magic. Elen Sentier brings together, and expands on, recent scientific discoveries, and shows how close they are to the old ways that were labelled as superstition in the 20th century. Sentier's writing is accessible and opens up the down-to-earth practicalism of pagans as people of the land to all, for that's what the word pagan means, 'of the land'. Sentier doesn't preach or proselytise folk to become pagan, but brings to light how you've been thinking this way for years. Elen Sentier is a best-selling author of British native shamanism. She also writes paranormal mystery-suspense novels. She's a wilderness woman, born on Dartmoor and grew up on Exmoor in a family who had practiced the old British magic for hundreds of years. Her books include Pagan Portals - Merlin: Once and Future Wizard (Moon Books, 2016), and Gardening with the Moon & Stars (Moon Books, 2015).