Novelist and nature writer Richard Horan embarked on an adventure across America to reveal that farming is still the vibrant beating heart of our nation. Horan went from coast to coast, visiting organic family farms and working the harvests of more than a dozen essential or unusual food crops--from Kansas wheat and Michigan wild rice to Maine potatoes, California walnuts, and Cape Cod cranberries--in search of connections with the farmers, the soil, the seasons, and the lifeblood of America.

Sparkling with lively prose and a winning blend of profound seriousness and delightful humor, Harvest carries the reader on an eyeopening and transformational journey across the length and breadth of this remarkable land, offering a powerful national portrait of challenge and diligence, and an inspiring message of hope.

This step-by-step guide will answer all of your questions about how to create beautiful gardens designed to welcome beneficial pollinators across the South. Combining up-to-date scientific information with artful design strategies, Danesha Seth Carley and Anne M. Spafford teach gardeners of all levels to plan, plant, and maintain successful pollinator gardens at home and in shared community sites. Everyday gardeners, along with farmers, scientists, and policy makers, share serious concerns about ongoing declines in pollinator populations, and here Spafford and Carley deliver great news: every thoughtfully designed garden, no matter how small, can play a huge role in providing the habitat, nourishment, and nesting places so needed by pollinators. This book explains all you need to be a pollinator champion. Covers USDA hardiness zones 6, 7, 8, and 9, including twelve southern states; Explains what makes pollinators happy-bees, for sure, and many others, great and small; Brings science and art together in gardens of all types, including urban, food, container, community, school, and large-scale gardens; Provides step-by-step instructions, from choosing locations, preparing soil and garden beds, selecting the best plants, designing, landscaping, and sustaining your garden through the seasons, and much more; Richly illustrated with photographs, design plans, and handy charts and lists.

There is something uplifting about having butterflies in your flowerbeds, frogs in your water feature and birds in your bushes, and knowing they're there because of you. Rich in detail and accessible in style, Gardening for Wildlife is the crucial companion to novices and expert gardeners alike. Adrian Thomas dispels myths and offers new insights and ideas, helping everyone understand what to do so gardens, large or small, can become ideal homes for wildlife. Building on the success of the award-winning first edition, this expanded and updated edition reflects the latest research and developments in nature-friendly gardening. The book serves as an expert guide to the practical aspects of this rewarding pastime and educates readers about the ecological principles involved, while exploding commonly held misconceptions that often deter people from pursuing a kinder approach to gardening. Adrian Thomas provides a detailed guide to the many and varied species that can contribute to a natural and healthy garden. Practical sections help you create entire habitats, such as woodland and meadow gardens, in your garden. And the massively expanded catalogue of the top 500 best garden flowers, shrubs and trees for wildlife, now includes colour photos of every species. If you love wildlife and want to encourage more to visit your garden, this inspirational book will help you sow the seeds and reap the rewards.

Nature is humankind's greatest gift, and it must be appreciated and nurtured. In Gift from the Garden, Richard and Connie Jones celebrate their garden life. Through photographs and stories they convey to the reader their passion for gardening and the love and respect they have for the urban paradise they have created. These are their everlasting moments.

Agrarian Landscapes in Transition researches human interaction with the earth. With hundreds of acres of agricultural land going out of production every day, the introduction, spread, and abandonment of agriculture represents the most pervasive alteration of the Earth's environment for several thousand years. What happens when humans impose their spatial and temporal signatures on ecological regimes, and how does this manipulation affect the earth and nature's desire for equilibrium?
Studies were conducted at six Long Term Ecological Research sites within the US, including New England, the Appalachian Mountains, Colorado, Michigan, Kansas, and Arizona. While each site has its own unique agricultural history, patterns emerge that help make sense of how our actions have affected the earth, and how the earth pushes back. The book addresses how human activities influence the spatial and temporal structures of agrarian landscapes, and how this varies over time and across biogeographic regions. It also looks at the ecological and environmental consequences of the resulting structural changes, the human responses to these changes, and how these responses drive further changes in agrarian landscapes.
The time frames studied include the ecology of the earth before human interaction, pre-European human interaction during the rise and fall of agricultural land use, and finally the biological and cultural response to the abandonment of farming, due to complete abandonment or a land-use change such as urbanization.

One of the earliest scientific works on all aspects of compost and manure. Still of value today, especially to those interested in organic agriculture. Howard is the author of the very ground breaking "An Agricultural Testament."

RSPB ID Spotlight Ladybirds is a reliable fold-out chart that presents illustrations of 27 of our most widespread and familiar ladybirds by renowned artist Richard Lewington. - Species are grouped by family and helpfully labelled to assist with identification - Artworks are shown side by side for quick comparison and easy reference at home or in the field, or the chart can be fixed to the wall as a beautiful poster - The reverse of the chart provides information on the habitats, behaviour, life cycles and diets of our ladybirds, as well as the conservation issues they are facing and how we can support them The ID Spotlight charts help wildlife enthusiasts identify and learn more about our most common species using accurate colour illustrations and informative, accessible text.

This title shows you how and when to prune all the key plants in your garden, with step-by-step photographs. It clearly explains the different methods of pruning, such as deadheading, shaping, clipping and trimming. It describes specific pruning techniques for different types of plants, including roses, shrubs, climbers and hedges. You can learn how to restrict the size of evergreens, trim vines, rejuvenate conifers, train apple trees and shorten the growth on soft fruit bushes to maximize their yield. It includes an at-a-glance seasonal chart to remind you when to prune, and a list of plants' common names. Most plants benefit from a prune for healthy growth and visual appeal, but many gardeners approach the task with trepidation. This accessible handbook provides a clear, easy-to-follow guide through the complexities, explaining why we prune, and giving step-by-step instructions on the different techniques. There is also advice on selecting and using equipment, an extensive section on pruning specific types of plants, and two useful charts showing methods of pruning and seasonal pruning. The book contains all the information you need to keep your plants beautifully healthy, flowering and fruiting prolifically, and looking just as you want them.

Most books on bonsai cover matters such as history, cultivating techniques, designing and training principles, general care and maintenance and propagation techniques. Very few books are available on designing and styling bonsai. However, it is essential that the bonsai enthusiast should master these challenging techniques in order to train plant material into quality bonsai. Practical Guide to Bonsai Styles of the World is a comprehensive guide to more than forty bonsai styles, covering the traditional Japanese and Chinese styles as well as six unique African styles. Each style is illustrated and discussed in detail, with line drawings and photographs showing the characteristics and variations of the style, suggestions for plants suited to each individual style and for the most appropriate containers. Now in its third edition, the book has been completely updated with additional information and full-colour photographs throughout, and a user-friendly design and colour-coding that makes the book easy to use.