In this comprehensive guide, you'll learn everything you need to know about the various methods of composting and how to adapt them to your home and garden. With full-color photographs and easy-to-follow instructions, this will be an essential addition to every gardener's library. Great compost is one of the most important secrets of successful organic gardening. Topics covered here include: What you can and can't throw on your compost pile How to balance nitrogen and carbon in your pile for quick decomposition and rich compost Buying or building the best tools and containers Vermicomposting How to compost indoors Troubleshooting smelly compost, dry compost, and other problems How and when to apply the compost to your garden beds With growing concerns about the use of pesticides, herbicides, and GMOs in mainstream gardening practices, more and more families are turning to their backyards to grow their own food using methods they know are safe. The need for clear, straightforward instruction on organic gardening techniques has never been greater. With Composting for Absolute Beginners, readers will get the information they need to prepare their gardens for healthy, abundant crops.

Learn to grow, harvest, and use your own healing herbs. Dig into the world of herbal medicine with this complete guide to cultivating and harvesting plants with healing properties. For thousands of years, people have been utilizing herbs and cultivating weeds found to speed the healing of wounds, soothe skin irritations, calm uneasy stomachs, and ward off illnesses. In these pages, you’ll learn the basics of gardening in your backyard—or on your windowsill or porch—including instructions for: Garden design Composting Garden maintenance Harvesting Recipes for salves, lotions, and poultices And more! You’ll also find profiles of useful herbs that are easy to grow or wildcraft, along with inspiring stories, medicine-making instructions, and recipes for your home medicine chest. Known to boost immunity, reduce blood pressure, aid digestion, and relieve arthritis among other medicinal properties, powerful plants such as garlic, Echinacea, yarrow, elderflower, mint, elecampane, and many more are included in this illustrated guide.

This cookbook provides delicious recipes and meal plans as well in-depth information about nutrition and food tailored for those with intestinal disease. The book, written by a Crohn's patient, will also feature tips on living a more holistic lifestyle. This is an informative addition to the Living With series, which, as a whole, aims to give patients up-to-date and authoritative but practical and accessible information to deal with every aspect of their condition.