Gretchen Legler says some people may describe her as “woodsqueer,” a somewhat obscure term for those “who’d been in the woods too long.” Her latest book, “Woodsqueer: Crafting a Sustainable Rural Life,” embraces the moniker wholeheartedly, with an emphasis on both “woods” and “queer.” Part memoir and part natural history, this place-based collection of essays
Somehow, I naively thought that forest gardening involved growing crops in the forest. While people do harvest nuts, fruits and herbs from the woods, “forest gardening” has come to mean gardening “like a forest.” In “The Home-Scale Forest Garden,” Dani Baker shows how to design a multi-layered garden of edible plants that mimics the ecology
Kat Maier has been a practicing herbalist for over 30 years and it is clear from her writing in “Energetic Herbalism: A Guide to Sacred Plant Traditions Integrating Elements of Vitalism, Ayurveda, and Chinese Medicine” that she is well versed in her craft. This new book explores the underlying energetic connection with nature that many
Gather ‘round, friends! Today only! Two reviews for the price of one! And what a lovely duo we have to delve into. On the surface, “The Wild Dyer” by Abigail Booth and “Natural Palettes: Inspiration from Plant-Based Color” by Sasha Duerr seem in obvious competition with one another. Both books being born and written from
Years ago as a graduate student navigating a faculty-student social mixer, I asked a respected professor about his subject of expertise. After a moment’s reflection, he patiently explained that my question was misleading, that all subjects are interconnected portals to understanding collective experience. Reading “Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning,”edited by Saru
Sometimes when you pick up a book or read a post claiming to be a “guide,” it can fall short of being a functional step-by-step instruction manual on the actual mechanics of the topic. This is not the case with “The Vertical Veg Guide to Container Gardening” by Mark Ridsdill Smith. The book is replete
Whether you’re a gardener, a farmer, or just an eater of food, the production of food is going to change as the climate changes. We’re seeing it already — droughts, fires, extreme heat, torrential rains, changes in habitats, catastrophic weather events that happen regularly. There are depleting soils, more poisons like PFAS in the environment,
It was only by accident that artists Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano created Hortus Arboretum & Botanical Gardens in Stone Ridge, New York, just two hours north of the city. In 1999 they moved to the 3-acre property and immediately began acquiring plants that could be used for their botanically inspired artwork. In their quest
Alan Bergo’s relationship with food and foraging is influenced by both his background in the culinary arts (he’s worked in high-end kitchens across the Twin Cities) and his insatiable curiosity about the world around him. In “The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora” — which, according to Bergo’s well-known blog, is set to be the first
“Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science,” by Enrique Salmón, focuses on 80 plants that are culturally relevant to North American native people. In the introduction of the book Salmón explains what the concept of Iwígara is in his Rarámuri tribe, and how the Rarámuri see themselves as part of an “extended ecological family,” setting
