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Books > Sport & Leisure > Natural history, country life & pets > Plant life: general
"Offering clear and comprehensive instructions for low-tech growing
for a range of budgets, interests, and scales, this book offers
practical inspiration and a sense that "hey, I can do this!" --
DANIELLE STEVENSON, owner, DIY Fungi DIY Mushroom Cultivation is
full of proven, reliable, low-cost techniques for home-scale
cultivation that eliminate the need for a clean-air lab space to
grow various mushrooms and their mycelium. Beautiful full-color
photos and step-by-step instructions accompany a foundation of
mushroom biology and ecology to support a holistic understanding of
the practice. Growing techniques are applicable year-round, for any
space from house to apartment, and for any climate, budget, or
goal. Techniques include: Setting up a home growing space
Inexpensive, simple DIY equipment Culture creation from mushroom
tissue or spores Growing and using liquid cultures and grain spawn
Growing mushrooms on waste streams Indoor fruiting Outdoor mushroom
gardens and logs Harvesting, processing, tinctures, and cooking.
Whether you hunt mushrooms or dream about growing and working with
them but feel constrained by a small living space, DIY Mushroom
Cultivation is the ideal guide for getting started in the
fascinating and delicious world of fungiculture.
This guide to common and unique plants found in forests of the
Southeast thoroughly covers 330 species of forbs (herbaceous
plants), grasses, vines, and shrubs, with a special emphasis on the
plants' role in wildlife sustenance. Packed with detailed color
photographs, the book is a must-have for forest landowners, game
and wildlife managers, biologists, outdoors enthusiasts, students -
anyone with an interest in the intricate and often unexpected
interrelationships between the flora and fauna of our region's
forests.
Also known as "The Natural Remedy Bible," "The Herb Book" provides
a comprehensive resource for building a livelier, healthier,
happier life. More than 2,000 listings offer remedies for ragged
nerves, nightmares, and coughing fits as well as suggestions for
adding spice to recipes, coloring fabrics, freshening breath, and a
host of other benefits. Complete and concise descriptions of herbs,
illustrated by more than 275 line drawings, offer the most
comprehensive catalog of "miracle plants" ever published.
Written by an expert and pioneer in the field, this easy-to-use
reference features three parts. The first presents introductory
historical information and background for using the rest of the
book. The second part features individual numbered listings of
medicinal plants with their botanical descriptions and uses. The
third part emphasizes the variety of uses for the plants listed in
Part 2, including mixtures for medicinal treatments, nutritious and
culinary plants, cosmetic and aromatic purposes, plant dyes, and
other applications. The book concludes with a captivating look at
plant-related astrology, lore, and legends.
An exuberant tale of craftsmanship for nature lovers and rugged
outdoor types everywhere Robert Penn cut down an ash tree to see
how many things could be made from it. After all, ash is the tree
we have made the greatest and most varied use of over the course of
human history. Journeying from Wales across Europe and Ireland to
the USA, Robert finds that the ancient skills and knowledge of the
properties of ash, developed over millennia making wheels and
arrows, furniture and baseball bats, are far from dead. The book
chronicles how the urge to understand and appreciate trees still
runs through us all like grain through wood.
Where mountains meet ocean in Alaska's Alexander Archipelago, white
skeletons of dead yellow cedar trees stand prominently amidst a
verdant landscape of old-growth forests. Researchers spent nearly
three decades deciphering the cause of the majestic species' death
and uncovering climate change as the culprit. Lauren E. Oakes, a
young scientist at Stanford University, was one of them. But even
as she set to record the demise of a species, she soon found
herself immersed in an even bigger, and totally unexpected, story:
how the people of Alaska were adapting to the tree's disappearance,
and how the tree itself, seemingly doomed, was adapting to a
changing world. In Search of the Canary Tree is the story of six
years that Oakes and her team spent in the Alaskan wilds, studying
thousands of trees and saplings along the archipelago of southeast
Alaska. Far from losing faith in the survival of our woodlands, she
discovered the resiliency of forgotten forests, flourishing again
after years of destruction and decomposition. And, through deep
encounters with loggers, naturalists, Native weavers, and
enthusiasts of the yellow cedar, Oakes discovered how the people of
Alaska were determined to develop new relationships with the
emerging environment. Where many scientists and commentators have
found in climate change an unmitigated disaster, Oakes found
beacons of hope even in the disorienting death of a species. Above
all else, Oakes shows us that, although we can respond to climate
change with either fear or denial, we can also find in it a new
world, and one that doesn't necessarily have to be for the worst.
Eloquent, insightful, and deeply heartening, In Search of the
Canary Tree shows how human and natural resilience can help
preserve ourselves, even in our rapidly changing world.
From cattails to wild garlic, this guide uncovers the edible wild
foods and healthful herbs of Pennsylvania. Aimed at people who want
to know more about foraging, including those who are absolute
beginners and perhaps don't even know where to start, the book will
provide clear, easy to follow instructions for plant
identification. Readers will learn to recognize important
similarities and differences between plants and will carefully
cover all aspects of safety including possible lookalikes. Clear
photos will assist in identifying wild edibles with certainty.
The Quick Guide for Sedges of the Northern Forest contains two
double-sided photographic charts that allow users to see high-res,
close-up images of the more than 200 sedges in the Northern Forest
region. The map-sized folding charts are water-resistant and
field-friendly, the perfect companion to the Photographic Guide.
This product was produced by the Northern Forest Atlas Foundation.
An exquisite, lovingly crafted meditation on plants, trees, and our
place in the natural world, in the tradition of Robin Wall
Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass and Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at
Tinker Creek "Sumana Roy has written-grown-a radiant and wondrous
book."-Robert Macfarlane, author of The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot
"Beautiful. . . . Roy weaves together science, nature, personal
narrative, literature, sociology, and more to keep the reader
turning pages-and to turn us all into tree-lovers."-Kateri Kramer,
The Rumpus A Publishers Weekly Holiday Gift Guide 2021 selection "I
was tired of speed. I wanted to live to tree time." So writes
Sumana Roy at the start of How I Became a Tree, her captivating,
adventurous, and self-reflective vision of what it means to be
human in the natural world. Drawn to trees' wisdom, their
nonviolent way of being, their ability to cope with loneliness and
pain, Roy movingly explores the lessons that writers, painters,
photographers, scientists, and spiritual figures have gleaned
through their engagement with trees-from Rabindranath Tagore to
Tomas Transtroemer, Ovid to Octavio Paz, William Shakespeare to
Margaret Atwood. Her stunning meditations on forests, plant life,
time, self, and the exhaustion of being human evoke the spacious,
relaxed rhythms of the trees themselves. Hailed upon its original
publication in India as "a love song to plants and trees" and "an
ode to all that is unnoticed, ill, neglected, and yet resilient,"
How I Became a Tree blends literary history, theology, philosophy,
botany, and more, and ultimately prompts readers to slow down and
to imagine a reenchanted world in which humans live more like
trees.
Trees and woods offer great potential for rebuilding our wider
relationship with nature, reinforcing local identity and sustaining
wildlife. We need more trees and woods in our lives, to lock up
carbon, to mitigate flooding, to help shade our towns and cities
and bring shelter, wildlife and beauty to places. Living with Trees
is a cornucopia of practical information, good examples and new
ideas that will inspire, guide and encourage people to reconnect
with the trees and woods in their community, so we can all discover
how to value, celebrate and protect our arboreal neighbours.
Evergreen your landscape with the beauty and benefits of conifers
Growing Conifers is a beautifully photographed, comprehensive
gardening guide for selecting and cultivating conifers. Coverage
includes: Conifer taxonomy, classification, and geographic
distribution Selecting conifers for size, shape, color, and texture
Best practices for placement and planting of trees, shrubs, and
groundcovers in urban and rural gardens Growing needs and low-input
maintenance Building healthy soil, minimizing water stress, and
integrated pest management Benefits of conifers including habitat,
water and air quality, carbon sequestration, aesthetics, and food.
Conifers are often overlooked in gardening and landscaping in favor
of deciduous trees and shrubs. Yet conifers come in a wide variety
of shapes, sizes, and colors and offer tremendous aesthetic and
ecological benefits for any garden. Growing Conifers is an
essential, comprehensive resource for gardeners and landscape
professionals looking to develop beautiful, sustainable landscapes.
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New Society Publishers is an activist, solutions-oriented publisher
focused on publishing books to build a more just and sustainable
future. They pride themselves on holding the highest environmental
standards of any publisher in North America. In 2002, they
committed to printing all their books (including their full color
books) on uncoated 100% post-consumer recycled paper, processed
chlorine-free, with low-VOC vegetable-based inks. In doing so, the
Growing Conifers' print run alone saved 66 fully grown trees, 5300
gallons of water, and 28,000 lbs of greenhouse gases. When you buy
New Society Publishers' books, you are part of the solution!
This beginner's guide from the authoritative pen of Lawrie Metcalf
forms an easy-to-grasp introduction to over 80 of New Zealand's
best-known trees. Though free of jargon and extraneous information,
the text is lucid and packed with all the key facts on shape and
appearance, foliage, blossom and fruit details that will enable the
layperson to identify the species they commonly see in bush,
reserve and beyond. Each entry is accompanied by a succinct data
panel and a full-page, full-colour portrait photograph.
"A volume for a lifetime" is how The New Yorker described the first
of Donald Culross Peatie's two books about American trees published
in the 1950s. In this one-volume edition, modern readers are
introduced to one of the best nature writers of the last century.
As we read Peattie's eloquent and entertaining accounts of American
trees, we catch glimpses of our country's history and past daily
life that no textbook could ever illuminate so vividly. Here you'll
learn about everything from how a species was discovered to the
part it played in our country's history. Pioneers often stabled an
animal in the hollow heart of an old sycamore, and the whole family
might live there until they could build a log cabin. The tuliptree,
the tallest native hardwood, is easier to work than most softwood
trees; Daniel Boone carved a sixty-foot canoe from one tree to
carry his family from Kentucky into Spanish territory. In the days
before the Revolution, the British and the colonists waged an
undeclared war over New England's white pines, which made the best
tall masts for fighting ships. It's fascinating to learn about the
commercial uses of various woods -- for paper, fine furniture,
fence posts, matchsticks, house framing, airplane wings, and dozens
of other preplastic uses. But we cannot read this book without the
occasional lump in our throats. The American elm was still alive
when Peattie wrote, but as we read his account today we can see
what caused its demise. Audubon's portrait of a pair of loving
passenger pigeons in an American beech is considered by many to be
his greatest painting. It certainly touched the poet in Donald
Culross Peattie as he depicted the extinction of the passenger
pigeon when the beech forest was destroyed. A Natural History of
North American Trees gives us a picture of life in America from its
earliest days to the middle of the last century. The information is
always interesting, though often heartbreaking. While Peattie looks
for the better side of man's nature, he reports sorrowfully on the
greed and waste that have doomed so much of America's virgin
forest.
Discover the Secrets and Beauty of the World's Rarest Trees Did you
know that the resin of the dragon tree was so prized that it was
used and traded as medicine by the Roman Empire? Or that the
Bornean ironwood is one of the only timbers dense enough to sink in
water? Trees have adapted to thrive on steep mountains, high in
cloud forests, on dry savannahs, in parched deserts, and in
tropical wetlands. Our own human history--and our future--are
interwoven with the trees that define the character and
environments of our green planet. Rare Trees offers a stunning
visual presentation of 60 of the most fascinating, bizarre, and
threatened tree species on the planet, from conifers to magnolias
to oaks. With color photographs showing trees and their most
unusual features, maps of growing regions, callouts of memorable
facts, and examples of poignant cultural and historical uses by
Indigenous populations, Rare Trees will give everyone who loves
trees an armchair tour of unique specimens from around the globe.
You will be inspired to help preserve this critical canopy of life.
Fill your home with gorgeous flowers every day with this
beautifully designed book. The Flower Garden brings to life over 50
varieties of flower with exquisite botanical illustrations. The
innovative paper design allows you to press each illustration out
of the page, transforming your book into a lovely object for you to
display. Sunflowers, lilies, frangipani and birds of paradise are
brought into your home and described in lyrical detail by botanist
Michael Scott. This stunning bunch of blooms is the perfect gift
for any lover of flowers to treasure for years to come. To see how
your Paperscapes book transforms, check out the video below (just
above the reviews) or have a look at the Paperscapes author page.
An up-to-date, comprehensive and brilliantly illustrated book on
fungi foraging in Britain and Europe. It covers every known edible
species, and all the poisonous groups, as well as a few very common
species and a handful of mushrooms included for their interesting
or unusual characteristics. Identify edible and poisonous
mushrooms. Distinguish between 'lookalike' species. Know when is
the best time and place to hunt for each species. Identify edible
species which should be left alone because they are threatened
Photos show each species in its natural habitat, to aid
identification. Perfect for all ability levels - from absolute
beginner to the experienced fungi forager who'd like to become an
expert. Each edible species is ranked according to its
difficulty/danger level, so beginners can start with the easiest
ones, while experienced foragers can learn how to safely forage for
the trickier species that other mushroom foraging guides leave out.
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