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The Designer's Field Guide to Collaboration

The Designer’s Field Guide to Collaboration provides practitioners and students with the tools necessary to collaborate effectively with a wide variety of partners in an increasingly socially complex and technology-driven design environment. Beautifully illustrated with color images, the book draws on the expertise of top professionals in the allied fields of architecture, landscape architecture, engineering and construction management, and brings to bear research from diverse disciplines such as software development, organizational behavior, and outdoor leadership training. Chapters examine emerging and best practices for effective team building, structuring workflows, enhancing communication, managing conflict, and developing collective vision––all to ensure the highest standards of design excellence. Case studies detail and reflect on the collaborative processes used to create award-winning projects by Studio Gang, Perkins+Will, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners, Gensler, CDR Studio, Mahlum Architects, In.Site:Architecture, and Thornton Tomasetti’s Core Studio. The book also provides pragmatic ideas and formal exercises for brainstorming productively, evaluating ideas, communicating effectively, and offering feedback. By emphasizing the productive influence and creative possibilities of collaboration within the changing landscape of architectural production, the book proposes how these practices can be taught in architecture school and expanded in practice. In a changing world that presents increasingly complex challenges, optimizing these collaborative skills will prove not only necessary, but crucial to the process of creating advanced architecture.

The Detroit Public Library: An American Classic (Painted Turtle)

For the last century, the Detroit Public Library has ranked as one of the most beautiful buildings in Detroit — an important landmark as well as a significant monument serving generations of Detroiters. The Detroit Public Library: An American Classic was born out of “Discover the Wonders,” an art and architectural tour of the main library that began in December 2013. Since the tour’s inception, around seven thousand people have visited this structural gem. The Detroit Public Library was the result of numerous requests for a book that showcases the library’s many artistic and architectural wonders. As the photographs in this book reveal, the Detroit Public Library stands as an enduring symbol of the public library, one of the most democratic institutions in America. The design of the Detroit Public Library was Cass Gilbert’s vision for Detroit’s Early Italian Renaissance-style library. This book honors his work with a chronological and photographic timeline of the conception and building of the 1921 Woodward Avenue Library, the 1963 Cass Avenue addition, and the library as it is today. The book goes through the library’s transformative years, documenting the contributions of local and national artists such as Mary Chase Perry Stratton, Gari Melchers, and John Stephens Coppin, and includes photographs of the rooms they have decorated with murals, mosaics, painted windows, bronze works, architectural elements, and ornamentation. In preparing The Detroit Public Library, the authors had two fundamental desires, as they note in their preface. The first was to celebrate the main library’s design using both historic and contemporary images, the latter contributed by a number of photographers presently working in Detroit. The second was “to share with the world the beauty and elegance of a grand building in a great city that, even through the most difficult times, has sustained one of the most magnificent neo-classical buildings in the country.” The Detroit Public Library unites the interests of history buffs, art enthusiasts, library lovers, and Detroit-area locals with a tribute to one of the city’s most impressive structures. This book will appeal to those looking to learn about the builders, the history, and the stories that brought the Detroit Public Library to fruition.

The Dictionary of Science for Gardeners: 6000 Scientific Terms Explored and Explained (Science For Gardeners Ser.)

A Library Journal Best Reference Pick of 2015! Every gardener is a scientist. Pollination, native plants, ecology, climatology—these are just a few of the scientific concepts that play a key role in a successful garden. While the ideas are intuitive to many gardeners, they are often discussed in unfamiliar scientific terms. The Dictionary of Science for Gardeners is the first of its kind to provide practical scientific descriptions for gardening terms. Highlighting 16 branches of science that are of particular interest to gardeners, with entries from abaptation to zoochory, Michael Allaby explores more than 6,000 terms in one easy-to-use reference.

The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species

The Dirt-Cheap Green Thumb: 400 Thrifty Tips for Saving Money, Time, and Resources as You Garden

Discover how frugal gardening can lead to fantastic results! Rhonda Massingham Hart provides practical, time-tested tips that stretch your dollar even as they yield beautiful, bountiful plants. From starting seeds to preserving produce, Hart&’s advice ensures that you won&’t waste time and money while growing your own vegetables, flowers, houseplants, or landscape foliage. Perfect for thrifty gardeners of all levels, The Dirt-Cheap Green Thumb covers everything you want to grow, indoors and out.

The Disaster Preparedness Handbook: A Guide for Families

Ninety-nine percent of the time, the world spins like a top, the skies are clear, and your refrigerator is full of good food. But the world is a volatile place—storms rage, fires burn, and diseases spread. No one is ever completely safe. Humans live as part of a very complex ecosystem that is unpredictable and merciless. Could you protect your family in the case of an emergency—domestic or global?The Disaster Preparedness Handbook will help you to establish a practical disaster plan for your entire family (covering all fourteen basic human needs) in case the unpredictable happens. Additional information is also presented for those with special needs, including the elderly and disabled, children, pregnant women, and even pets. Well-researched by an army veteran and current NASA engineer, this is the essential guide every family should have, study, and keep handy, in case the unthinkable should occur.

The Disaster-Ready Home: A Step-by-Step Emergency Preparedness Manual for Sheltering in Place

A complete, step-by-step manual for safely sheltering-in-place at home so you are prepared for any disaster or disease.If a disaster forces you to shelter in place, do you think you have everything you need to safely and comfortably stay put in your home? If the answer is no, The Disaster-Ready Home will help you create a safe, well-stocked place to weather out any emergency. Survival expert and bestselling author Creek Stewart gives you a step-by-step emergency preparedness plan to meet your food, water, heat, and sanitation needs during any disaster. Including detailed lists, photographs, and complete instructions to make the plan easy to follow, this book is the only resource you need for a disaster. You&’ll learn how to: -Create an emergency pantry stocked with enough food for the timeframe of your choice—from two weeks to three months to a full year -Select and store food that fits your taste, diet, and budget -Easily rotate and use your emergency food supply, so nothing goes to waste -Set up long-term water storage and renewable water sources -Cook food and boil water when your kitchen appliances aren&’t working -Safely heat and light your home when the power is out -Effectively manage sanitation issues if running water is unavailable -And much more! With daily headlines dominated by disease and disasters, the need to be prepared has never been more evident. This practical, field-tested guide will help you protect and provide for your family when any situation arises.

The Dissolution of Place: Architecture, Identity, and the Body (Ashgate Studies in Architecture)

Postmodern architecture - with its return to ornamentality, historical quotation, and low-culture kitsch - has long been seen as a critical and popular anodyne to the worst aspects of modernist architecture: glass boxes built in urban locales as so many interchangeable, generic anti-architectural cubes and slabs. This book extends this debate beyond the modernist/postmodernist rivalry to situate postmodernism as an already superseded concept that has been upended by deconstructionist and virtual architecture as well as the continued turn toward the use of theming in much new public and corporate space. It investigates architecture on the margins of postmodernism -- those places where both architecture and postmodernism begin to break down and to reveal new forms and new relationships. The book examines in detail not only a wide range of architectural phenomena such as theme parks, casinos, specific modernist and postmodernist buildings, but also interrogates architecture in relation to identity, specifically Native American and gay male identities, as they are reflected in new notions of the built environment. In dealing specifically with the intersection between postmodern architecture and virtual and filmic definitions of space, as well as with theming, and gender and racial identities, this book provides provides ground-breaking insights not only into postmodern architecture, but into spatial thinking in general.

The Dog Lover's Survival Guide: Helpful Hints for Solving Your Most Pesky Pet Problems

Here's how to keep your dog happy and healthy-while also keeping your household in order. Author Karen Commings offers practical advice on protecting your dog from household hazards as well as avoiding ordeals when it's time for bathing and grooming. You'll also find tips on dealing with dog hair, paper training and housebreaking, brushing and combing, controlling fleas and ticks, solving canine obedience problems, rescuing free-roaming dogs, coping with aging problems, and more.

The Domestic Space Reader

Tune in to HGTV, visit your local bookstore's magazine section, or flip to the 'Homes' section of your weekend newspaper, and it becomes clear: domestic spaces play an immense role in our cultural consciousness. The Domestic Space Reader addresses our collective fascination with houses and homes by providing the first comprehensive survey of the concept across time, cultures, and disciplines.This pioneering anthology, which is ideal for students and general readers, features writing by key scholars, thinkers, and writers including Gaston Bachelard, Mary Douglas, Le Corbusier, Homi Bhabha, Henri Lefebvre, Mrs. Beeton, Ma Thanegi, Diana Fuss, Beatriz Colomina, and Edith Wharton. Among the many engaging topics explored are: the impact of domestic technologies on family life; the relationship between religion and the home; nomadic peoples and housing; domestic spaces in art and literature, and the history of the bedroom, the kitchen, and the bathroom. The Domestic Space Reader demonstrates how discussions of domestic spaces can help us better understand our inner lives and challenge our perceptions of life in particular times and places.

The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create The World's Great Drinks

Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley, tequila from agave, rum from sugarcane, bourbon from corn. Thirsty yet? In The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart explores the dizzying array of herbs, flowers, trees, fruits, and fungi that humans have, through ingenuity, inspiration, and sheer desperation, contrived to transform into alcohol over the centuries.Of all the extraordinary and obscure plants that have been fermented and distilled, a few are dangerous, some are downright bizarre, and one is as ancient as dinosaurs—but each represents a unique cultural contribution to our global drinking traditions and our history.This fascinating concoction of biology, chemistry, history, etymology, and mixology—with more than fifty drink recipes and growing tips for gardeners—will make you the most popular guest at any cocktail party.

The Dry Garden

'I return to Beth Chatto's books constantly. For those who are new to her work, you are entering into a life-long relationship with a wise friend and gardener' Monty Don'Invaluable to those who want to plant a trouble-free, all-year-round garden with minimum care - or watering' FLORAIn today's climate of increasingly hot summers and dry winters, gardeners need guidance on plants that will thrive in dry conditions. In Beth Chatto's classic book, she uses plants that need very little attention and are naturally adapted to flourish in dry conditions to provide a year-round display of beautiful foliage and flowers. Drawing from her own immense experience, she provides valuable guidance on types of soil and on basic principles of design. She discusses the plants and plantings suited to dry conditions and includes a detailed list of plants, with notes and advice on their characteristics.

The Dynamic Landscape: Design, Ecology and Management of Naturalistic Urban Planting

The last quarter of the twentieth century witnessed a burgeoning of interest in ecological or naturally-inspired use of vegetation in the designed landscape. More recently, a strong aesthetic element has been added to what was formerly a movement aimed at creating nature-like landscapes. This book advances an innovative fusion of scientific and ecological planting design philosophies which can address the need for more sustainable designed landscapes. It is a major statement on the design, implementation and management of ecologically-inspired landscape vegetation. With contributions from experts at the forefront of development in this area across Europe and North America, this work gives the reader a valuable synthesis of current thinking.

The Dynamics and Mechanism of Human Thermal Adaptation in Building Environment: A Glimpse to Adaptive Thermal Comfort in Buildings (Springer Theses)

This book focuses on human adaptive thermal comfort in the building environment and the balance between reducing building air conditioning energy and improving occupants’ thermal comfort. It examines the mechanism of human thermal adaptation using a newly developed adaptive heat balance model, and presents pioneering findings based on an on online survey, real building investigation, climate chamber experiments, and theoretical models. The book investigates three critical issues related to human thermal adaptation: (i) the dynamics of human thermal adaptation in the building environment; (ii) the basic rules and effects of human physiological acclimatization and psychological adaptation; and (iii) a new, adaptive, heat balance model describing behavioral adjustment, physiological acclimatization, psychological adaptation, and physical improvement effects. Providing the basis for establishing a more reasonable adaptive thermal comfort model, the book is a valuable reference resource for anyone interested in future building thermal environment evaluation criteria.

The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture, And Sustainability In The Gardens Of Ethnic Americans

Inspired by her own family's immigrant history, Patricia Klindienst traveled the country, gathering stories of urban, suburban, and rural gardens created by people rarely presented in books about American gardens: Native Americans, immigrants from across Asia and Europe, and ethnic peoples who were here long before our national boundaries were drawn. In The Earth Knows My Name, she writes about the beautiful gardens she discovered, each one an island of hope, offering us a model-on a sustainable scale-of a truly restorative ecology. "A moving tribute to those who keep the ancient love of the land in their hearts, and who stand up to the giants of agrobusiness in their fight to preserve their cultural heritage." -Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, UN Messenger of Peace, and author of Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating "Carefully weaving the threads of the cultures that were here before with those that came later, Klindienst makes her case for the deep, life-giving integrity of the earth . . . This is a poignant book that shows, without undue sentimentality, the underlying element we all share and can bring to life with our hands." -Edie Clark, Orion Patricia Klindienst is a master gardener and an award-winning scholar and teacher. She lives in Guilford, Connecticut, and teaches creative writing each summer at Yale University.

The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants

&“An informative and celebratory resource.&” —Booklist In this beautiful and empowering book, Jennifer Jewell—host of public radio&’s award-winning program and podcast Cultivating Place—introduces 75 inspiring women. Working in wide-reaching fields that include botany, floral design, landscape architecture, farming, herbalism, and food justice, these influencers are creating change from the ground up. Profiled women include flower farmer Erin Benzakein; codirector of Soul Fire Farm Leah Penniman; plantswoman Flora Grubb; edible and cultural landscape designer Leslie Bennett; Caribbean-American writer and gardener Jamaica Kincaid; soil scientist Elaine Ingham; landscape designer Ariella Chezar; floral designer Amy Merrick, and many more. Rich with personal stories and insights, Jewell&’s portraits reveal a devotion that transcends age, locale, and background, reminding us of the profound role of green growing things in our world—and our lives.

The Easy Organizer: 365 Tips for Conquering Clutter

Say Goodbye to Clutter Do you feel overwhelmed by the "stuff" in your life? Are you tired of sifting through piles every time you or your family need one particular thing? The Easy Organizer can solve your problems. This book has 365 home organization tips that will simplify the way you organize your home. Each tip is full of quick, to-the-point instructions that will give you immediate results. You'll declutter your life in no time. Inside you'll find creative ideas for how to organize: closets and clothing children's toys and artwork storage areas entryways and mudrooms the kitchen the dining room living areas bedrooms bathrooms linen closets and laundry areas craft and hobby materials Plus the book's time management tips will help you get more done in less time and there's a bonus chapter with twenty-one key organizing concepts. When you apply these concepts to your home on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, being organized will become a way of life. Let the advice in this book help you create a clutter-free home and life you truly enjoy.

The EcoNest Home: Designing & Building a Light Straw Clay House (Mother Earth News Books for Wiser Living)

“Every aspect of creating a beautiful, sensible, and healthy home is explored and demonstrated with elegance and clarity.” —Martin Hammer, architect, co-director, Builders Without Borders An EcoNest is not just a home—it is a breathtakingly beautiful structure that nurtures health and embraces ecology. This unique approach to construction combines light straw clay, timber framing, earthen floors, natural plasters, and other natural techniques with the principles of Building Biology to create a handcrafted living sanctuary. By bringing together time-honored traditions and modern innovations, owners of EcoNests enjoy living spaces that reflect the best of both worlds.The EcoNest Home is an in-depth exploration of the benefits of choosing this technique over conventional alternatives, combined with a complete practical guide for prospective designers and builders. Authors Paula Baker-Laporte and Robert Laporte draw on their own extensive experience to provide:A detailed explanation of the nature-based science behind EcoNestsFully-illustrated, step-by-step instructions to guide you through constructionDozens of inspiring photos of completed projectsThe most comprehensive, North American resource on light straw clay construction, written by its leading proponents, The EcoNest Home is a must-read for anyone considering building their own healthy, affordable, environmentally friendly, natural home.“A great new book for the ecological designer, builder and homeowner.” —Sukita Ray Crimmel, coauthor of Earthen Floors“The EcoNest Home is made from well designed, sophisticated techniques rooted in simplicity. This book demonstrates the outstanding results that arise to their steadfast commitment to creating healthy, natural homes.” —Adam Weismann and Katy Bryce, authors of Using Natural Finishes

The Ecological Farm: A Minimalist No-Till, No-Spray, Selective-Weeding, Grow-Your-Own-Fertilizer System for Organic Agriculture

The breakthrough resource for fruit and vegetable growers at every scale who want to go &‘beyond organic&’ and build higher soil quality and fertility using fewer inputs through a unique ecosystem-balancing approach&“Atthowe&’s book takes ecological farming to the next level. It is packed with useful, field-tested, innovative techniques for farming more gently without sacrificing productivity. . . This is the future of farming. I highly recommend this book.&”—Ben Hartman, author of The Lean FarmThe Ecological Farm is the go-to guide for ecological growing, with a unique focus on reduced tillage, minimizing farm and garden inputs, and pest control.Reflecting the wisdom that farmer, consultant, and educator Helen Atthowe and her late husband, Carl Rosato, gained during decades of farming experience, this book guides readers on how to reduce or eliminate the use of outside inputs of fertilizer or pesticides—even those that are commonly used on certified organic orchards and market gardens. In clear language and with color photographs, charts, and graphs throughout, the book emphasizes the importance of managing the details of an entire growing system over the full life of the enterprise.Based on advances in scientific research in ecological food production, farmers, homesteaders, permaculturists, and gardeners alike will learn methods to:design a farm system that maintains a growing root in the soil year-round to feed the microbial community instead of just crops.strengthen the &“immune system&” of a farm or gardensupply crop needs using only on-farm inputs such as cover crops and living mulchmaximize the presence of beneficial insects and microbes that support healthy crop developmentminimize ecological impact in dealing with insect pest and disease problemsThe Ecological Farm also features a crop-by-crop guide to growing more than 25 of the most popular and profitable vegetables and fruits, including specific management advice for dealing with pests and diseases.The Ecological Farm makes complex, sometimes messy, ecological concepts and practices understandable to all growers, and makes healthy farming—in which nature is invited to participate—possible.&“[This book] will guide all of us as we learn to farm in harmony with an ecosystem and to become obedient to the whole rather than being distracted by the urge to tinker with the parts.&”—Wes Jackson, cofounder and president emeritus, The Land Institute

The Ecological Gardener: How to Create Beauty and Biodiversity from the Soil Up

Design a garden for the future—because what we grow matters. "Matt Rees-Warren explains why every square inch of Earth, including our gardens, has ecological significance... Excellent, timely, essential!" —Douglas W. Tallamy, author of Nature’s Best Hope Transform your garden into a self-sustaining haven for nature and wildlife. Ecological garden designer Matt Rees-Warren shares inspirational design ideas and practical projects to help you create a garden that is both beautiful today and sustainable tomorrow. The Ecological Gardener will give you the tools to create an abundant, healthy garden from the soil up—a garden that welcomes birds and bees and allows native planting and wild flowers to flourish, with minimal carbon impact or need for fresh water. This book can guide both novice and experienced gardeners alike in their journey to a more ecological approach, and is full of practical projects and information, including: Finding the right design for your space Creating a wildflower meadow Building rainwater catchments and other tips for water conservation Making compost from kitchen waste, leaf mold, compost tea and more Creating a space for wildlife such as hedgehogs, bees and other pollinators Finding beauty in your garden during the winter Matt will show you how to re-imagine how you garden, working with nature instead of controlling it, to create a space that promotes both wildlife and beauty.

The Ecological Gardener: How to Create Beauty and Biodiversity from the Soil Up

Design a garden for the future—because what we grow matters."Matt Rees-Warren explains why every square inch of Earth, including our gardens, has ecological significance... Excellent, timely, essential!" —Douglas W. Tallamy, author of Nature&’s Best HopeTransform your garden into a self-sustaining haven for nature and wildlife. Ecological garden designer Matt Rees-Warren shares inspirational design ideas and practical projects to help you create a garden that is both beautiful today and sustainable tomorrow.The Ecological Gardener will give you the tools to create an abundant, healthy garden from the soil up—a garden that welcomes birds and bees and allows native planting and wild flowers to flourish, with minimal carbon impact or need for fresh water. This book can guide both novice and experienced gardeners alike in their journey to a more ecological approach, and is full of practical projects and information, including: • Finding the right design for your space• Creating a wildflower meadow• Building rainwater catchments and other tips for water conservation• Making compost from kitchen waste, leaf mold, compost tea and more• Creating a space for wildlife such as hedgehogs, bees and other pollinators• Finding beauty in your garden during the winterMatt will show you how to re-imagine how you garden, working with nature instead of controlling it, to create a space that promotes both wildlife and beauty.

The Ecology of Kalimantan

The Ecology of Kalimantan starts by examining each of the major ecosystems in Kalimantan and the interrelationships of some of the component species. The book takes a look at Bornean peoples, describing their traditional attitudes to and relationships with their forest environment. The book then examines the potential of different land units for the development of artificial production systems such as agricultural cropping, plantations, and agroforestry, and the development options open for forests, wetlands and coastal resources.

The Ecotechnic Future

"[John Michael] Greer's work is nothing short of brilliant. He has the multidisciplinary smarts to deeply understand our human dilemma as we stand on the verge of the inevitable collapse of industrialism. And he wields uncommon writing skills, making his diagnosis and prescription entertaining, illuminating, and practically informative. Not to be missed."--Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute and author of Peak Everything"There is a great deal of conventional wisdom about our collective ecological crisis out there in books. The enormous virtue of John Michael Greer's work is that his wisdom is never conventional, but profound and imaginative. There's no one who makes me think harder, and The Ecotechnic Future pushes Greer's vision, and our thought processes in important directions." --Sharon Astyk, farmer, blogger, and author of Depletion and Abundance and A Nation of Farmers "In The Ecotechnic Future, John Michael Greer dispels our fantasies of a tidy, controlled transition from industrial society to a post-industrial milieu. The process will be ragged and rugged and will not invariably constitute an evolutionary leap for the human species. It will, however, offer myriad opportunities to create a society that bolsters complex technology which at the same time maintains a sustainable interaction with the ecosystem. Greer brilliantly inspires us to integrate the two in our thinking and to construct local communities which concretely exemplify this comprehensive vision." --Carolyn Baker, author of Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse, and publisher/editor, Speaking Truth to PowerIn response to the coming impact of peak oil, John Michael Greer helps us envision the transition from an industrial society to a sustainable ecotechnic world--not returning to the past, but creating a society that supports relatively advanced technology on a sustainable resource base.Fusing human ecology and history, this book challenges assumptions held by mainstream and alternative thinkers about the evolution of human societies. Human societies, like ecosystems, evolve in complex and unpredictable ways, making it futile to try to impose rigid ideological forms on the patterns of evolutionary change. Instead, social change must explore many pathways over which we have no control. The troubling and exhilarating prospect of an open-ended future, he proposes, requires dissensus--a deliberate acceptance of radical diversity that widens the range of potential approaches to infinity.Written in three parts, the book places the present crisis of the industrial world in its historical and ecological context in part one; part two explores the toolkit for the Ecotechnic Age; and part three opens a door to the complexity of future visions.For anyone concerned about peak oil and the future of industrial society, this book provides a solid analysis of how we got to where we are and offers a practical toolkit to prepare for the future.John Michael Greer is a certified Master Conserver, organic gardener, and scholar of ecological history. He blogs at The Archdruid Report (www.thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com), and is the author ofThe Long Descent.

The Edible Asian Garden

Most of us have sampled Asian cuisine at some point in our lives-but what if we could grow pae choi or bamboo shoots in our own garden, and prepare healthy, delicious, and authentic Asian meals right at home? Rosalind Creasy, the doyenne of edible landscaping, has considered the full array of Asian herbs and vegetables and made it possible for the average person to grow and enjoy them right from the backyard. With beautiful photography and region-specific growing tips, Creasy features delicacies from Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and southeast Asian cuisines.With plant information and practical how-to, Creasy takes us on a tour of three of her own successful Asian gardens-one suitable for cool weather, another for warmer weather, and a stir-fry garden-to show the variety of vegetables that can be grown in a range of climates and for a variety of purposes.In "The Asian Garden Encyclopedia," Creasy gives information for 108 distinct varieties of Asian vegetables. Looking for a novel ingredient to add to Friday night stir-fry supper? Why not grow it-the Resources section offers many seed sources for Asian vegetables that are easier to plant than to find at your local market.Finally, in the Recipes section, Creasy presents common Asian ingredients and cooking methods. Enjoy a piping-hot bowl of miso soup as a fortifying breakfast as the Japanese do, or brew some chrysanthemum tea instead. For lunch, sample the classic Indonesian salad called gado-gado;for dinner, try a luscious red Thai curry. In the evening , relax in front of the TV and watch the ball game with beer and fresh-shelled soybeans-considered a popular snack in Asia. Asian cuisine is certainly delicious-and unlike far too many of life's pleasures, it's also good for you.

The Edible Balcony: Growing Fresh Produce in Small Spaces

You don't need a sprawling backyard or spacious raised beds to grow delicious fruits, vegetables, and herbs of your own. In The Edible Balcony, longtime urban gardener Alex Mitchell shows how to transform whatever space you have, from a balcony or rooftop to a fire escape or window box, into a profusion of fresh, seasonal produce.While raising your own produce is eco-friendly in itself, you'll learn how to plant, grow, and water as sustainably as possible to ensure your edible Eden remains green and productive all year long. Plus, with a collection of innovative, step-by-step projects for designing colorful pots and plant supports with recycled containers and other household paraphernalia, you'll double your eco-friendliness, avoid hours of shopping, and be able to infuse your space with your own personal flair and style. Who knew saving time, money, and the environment could be so much fun?A collection of practical advice, fabulous container projects, and stunning examples of how gardeners around the world are successfully transforming urban spaces into abundant fruit and vegetable plots, The Edible Balcony is your guide to creating attractive, responsible, and thoroughly rewarding small space gardens—and perhaps never having to settle for grocery store produce again.