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Books > Gardening > Specialized gardening methods
'Lyrical, moving and never self-pitying... a lovely book' The Times
'An extraordinary and powerful book, full of vitality' Tristan
Gooley I came to the woods over a decade ago. I came to the woods
because there was a fire in my head. On the outside, Ben Short
looks like he has it all - a successful career in advertising, a
flat in a trendy area of London, an expensive motorbike ... But
inside, he's a wreck. Years of suffering with an anxiety disorder
and depression have broken him, and his 'creative' career has
become sterile and suffocating. A drastic change is needed. Like
his neighbour's rescue hawk, he acts on instinct and escapes the
city. For a time, he takes on odd jobs - gardening, hedge-laying
and labouring in the Cambridgeshire Fens and in the Devon
countryside, trying to find somewhere he belongs. That is until he
feels the call of the furnace: a glowing charcoal kiln in the West
Dorset woods, where he can re-forge his thoughts, put the years of
suffering behind him and start afresh by immersing himself in the
ancient ways of woods and fire. He lives in huts and old wagons in
the woods, hauling water from wells and foraging for his supper.
But this is no idyll - the road is hard, the work back-breaking,
the woods dark and brimming with powerful energies. Exquisitely
written and laced with folklore and the history of burning, the
right way to lay a hedge and the age-old wisdom of the woods, Burn
is a hopeful story of transformation, a celebration of manual work
and craft, and a love letter to the English landscape. 'Beautifully
written, Burn is melancholy and hopeful in equal measure. Like
taking a forest ramble in changeable weather, reading it leaves you
feeling ruffled but alive.' Mail on Sunday
Track Vegetable Growing, Gardening Activities and Plant Details Gardening Organizer Notebook for Garden Lovers
Public Gardens and Livable Cities changes the paradigm for how we
conceive of the role of urban public gardens. Donald A. Rakow,
Meghan Z. Gough, and Sharon A. Lee advocate for public gardens as
community outreach agents that can, and should, partner with local
organizations to support positive local agendas. Safe
neighborhoods, quality science education, access to fresh and
healthy foods, substantial training opportunities, and
environmental health are the key initiative areas the authors
explore as they highlight model successes and instructive failures
that can guide future practices. Public Gardens and Livable Cities
uses a prescriptive approach to synthesize a range of public,
private, and nonprofit initiatives from municipalities throughout
the country. In doing so, the authors examine the initiatives from
a practical perspective to identify how they were implemented,
their sustainability, the obstacles they encountered, the impact of
the initiatives on their populations, and how they dealt with the
communities' underlying social problems. By emphasizing the
knowledge and skills that public gardens can bring to partnerships
seeking to improve the quality of life in cities, this book offers
a deeper understanding of the urban public garden as a key resource
for sustainable community development.
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