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The Courage of Birds: And the Often Surprising Ways They Survive Winter
by null Pete DunneFrom our own backyards to the rim of the Arctic ice, countless birds have adapted to meet the challenges of the winter season. This is their remarkable story, told by award-winning birder and acclaimed writer Pete Dunne, accompanied by illustrations from renowned artist and birder David Sibley.Despite the seasonal life-sapping cold, birds have evolved strategies that meet winter&’s vicissitudes head on, driven by the imperative to make it to spring and pass down their genes to the next generation. The drama of winter and the resilience and adaptability of birds witnessed in the harsher months of the calendar is both fascinating and astonishing.In The Courage of Birds, Pete Dunne—winner of the American Birding Association&’s Roger Tory Peterson Award for lifetime achievement in promoting the cause of birding—chronicles the behavior of the birds of North America. He expertly explores widespread adaptations, such as feathers that protect against the cold, and unpacks the unique migration patterns and survival strategies of individual species. Dunne also addresses the impact of changing climatic conditions on avian longevity and recounts personal anecdotes that soar with a naturalist&’s gimlet eye.Filled with unforgettable facts, wit, and moving observations on the natural world, Dunne&’s book is for everyone; from the serious birder who tracks migration patterns, to the casual birder who logs daily reports on eBird, to the backyard observer who throws a handful of seed out for the Northern Cardinals and wonders how the birds magically appear in the garden when temperatures begin to fall.Praise for Pete Dunne&“Dunne&’s prose is lyrical, sensitive, and full of feeling.&”—Ted Floyd, editor, Birding &“Pete is arguably North America&’s best and best-known birder—and he&’s also a terrific writer.&”—Scott Shalaway, author and former syndicated nature columnistPraise for David Sibley&“There are 47 million birdwatchers. But there is only one David Sibley. . . . He is a boon to both the birding world and the art world.&”—The National Audubon Society&“[His] exacting artwork and wide-ranging expertise bring observed behaviors vividly to life.&”—Birdwatching
There's No Pill for This: A Naturopathic Physician's Personal Prescription for Managing Multiple Sclerosis
by null Michaël Friedman"I truly recommend There&’s No Pill for This because it contains the wisdom of a health care professional who also has the experience of being a patient."—Bernie Siegel, MD, author of No Endings, Only Beginnings and Love, Medicine & MiraclesFrom a doctor living with MS: how to radically improve your quality of life with diet, hormones, supplements, exercise, and other lifestyle adjustmentsMost of us take for granted the little things in life—like walking out to the mailbox, socializing with friends, or enjoying a mug of hot coffee. But what if each daily activity required intensive planning and effort? That&’s what living with multiple sclerosis is like, and author Michaël Friedman knows this from first-hand experience.Since his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis a decade ago, Dr. Friedman has been searching for a cure for the disease. After years of research, he realized that he had some of the answers right in his naturopathic medicine toolbox, and others, surprisingly, lay in the realm of conventional medicine. There&’s No Pill for This tells his story and offers treatment advice and hope to those who suffer from MS. He does not promise a miracle cure but instead provides the personal prescriptions he follows that are delaying the disease process and radically improving his quality of life, including dietary measures and supplements to support a healthy microbiome and hormone therapies that can reduce neuroinflammation and possibly promote neurorestoration. Dr. Friedman presents a daily protocol for MS patients, including diet, supplement, detoxification, and hormone strategies; mindfulness therapy; physical therapy; and a wide range of beneficial lifestyle adjustments related to exercise, sleep routines, time management, stress management, and more. He also offers special advice for supporting healthy bladder and bowel function and improving oxygen supply.In the book&’s conclusion, Dr. Friedman reflects on what this complicated chronic disease has taught him, and continues to teach him, about the value of humility and about what is truly important in life.
The Chelsea Green Reader: Selections from 30 Years of Independent Publishing, 1984-2014
by Edited by Ben WatsonChelsea Green, the Vermont-based independent publisher, has always had a nose for authors and subjects that are way ahead of the cultural curve, as is evident in this new anthology celebrating the company’s first thirty years in publishing.The more than one hundred books represented in this collection reflect the many distinct areas in which we have published–from literature and memoirs to progressive politics, to highly practical books on green building, organic gardening and farming, food and health, and related subjects–all of which reflect our underlying philosophy: "The politics and practice of sustainable living." The Chelsea Green Reader offers a glimpse into our wide-ranging list of books and authors and to the important ideas that they express. Interesting and worth reading in their own right, the individual passages when taken as a whole trace the evolution of a highly successful small publisher–something that is almost an oxymoron in these days of corporate buyouts and multinational book groups. From the beginning, Chelsea Green's books were nationally recognized, garnering positive reviews, accolades, and awards. We’ve published four New York Times bestsellers, and our books have set the standard for in-depth, how-to books that remain relevant years–often decades–beyond their original publication date."Chelsea Green was born from a single seed: the beauty of craft. Craft in writing and editing, in a story well told, or a thesis superbly expressed," writes cofounder and publisher emeritus Ian Baldwin in the book's foreword. Today, craft continues to inform all aspects of our work–design, illustration, production, sales, promotion, and beyond. It has even informed our business model: In 2012, Chelsea Green became an employee-owned company.With the rise of the Internet, new media platforms, and a constantly shifting bookselling landscape, the future of publishing is anything but predictable. But if Chelsea Green's books prove anything, it is that, despite these challenges, there remains a hunger for new and important ideas and authors, and for the permanence and craftsmanship of the printed word. Today our ongoing mission is stronger than ever, as we launch into our next thirty years of publishing excellence.
Smoke Hole: Looking to the Wild in the Time of the Spyglass
by null Martin Shaw"A modern-day bard."—Madeline Miller, author of Circe and The Song of Achilles"Shaw has so much wisdom and knowledge about the old stories, it emanates from his pores."—John Densmore, The Doors"Through feral tales and poetic exegesis, Martin Shaw makes you re-see the world, as a place of adventure and of initiation, as perfect home and as perfectly other. What a gift."—David Keenan, author of Xstabeth"I can still remember the first time I heard Martin Shaw tell a story. The tale that emerged was like a living thing, bounding around, throwing itself at us there listening. I had never heard anything like it before."—Paul Kingsnorth, Booker shortlisted author of The WakeToday, as we are confronted by not one, but many crossroads in our lives – identity, technology, love, seduction, politics – celebrated mythologist and wilderness guide Martin Shaw delivers Smoke Hole – three ancient myths that serve as metaphors for our world today. Assailed by the seductive promises of social media and shadowed by a pandemic that brought loneliness to an all-time high, Martin argues that we are losing our sense of direction, our sense of self.He invites us to use these stories to help find &‘a commons for the imagination, a place to breathe deeper, feel steadier and become acquainted with rapture.&’ Smoke Hole is a passionate call to arms and an invitation to use these stories to face the complexities of contemporary life, from fake news to parenthood, climate crises, addictive technology and more.
Mortgage Free!: Innovative Strategies for Debt-Free Home Ownership, 2nd Edition
by null Robert L. Roymort•gage (mor´-gij)n. from Old French morgage, mort gage, literally &“death pledge&”As a wave of foreclosures sweeps the country, many people are giving up hope for owning a home of their own. They have good reason to turn their backs on the banks, but not on their dreams. In this revised edition of Mortgage Free!, Rob Roy offers a series of escape routes from enslavement to financial institutions, underscored by true stories of intrepid homeowners who have put their principles into action.From back-to-the-land homesteads to country homes, here is a complete guide to strategies that allow you to own your land and home, free and clear, without the bank. Included is detailed advice about:Clarifying and simplifying your notions of what&’s necessaryFinding land that you love and can affordTaking control of the house-building process, for the sake of sanity and pleasureLearning to take a long-term perspective on your family&’s crucial economic decisions, avoiding debt and modern-day serfdom
From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want
by null Rob Hopkins&“Big ideas that just might save the world&”—The GuardianThe founder of the international Transition Towns movement asks why true creative, positive thinking is in decline, asserts that it's more important now than ever, and suggests ways our communities can revive and reclaim it.In these times of deep division and deeper despair, if there is a consensus about anything in the world, it is that the future is going to be awful. There is an epidemic of loneliness, an epidemic of anxiety, a mental health crisis of vast proportions, especially among young people. There&’s a rise in extremist movements and governments. Catastrophic climate change. Biodiversity loss. Food insecurity. The fracturing of ecosystems and communities beyond, it seems, repair. The future—to say nothing of the present—looks grim.But as Transition movement cofounder Rob Hopkins tells us, there is plenty of evidence that things can change, and cultures can change, rapidly, dramatically, and unexpectedly—for the better. He has seen it happen around the world and in his own town of Totnes, England, where the community is becoming its own housing developer, energy company, enterprise incubator, and local food network—with cascading benefits to the community that extend far beyond the projects themselves.We do have the capability to effect dramatic change, Hopkins argues, but we&’re failing because we&’ve largely allowed our most critical tool to languish: human imagination. As defined by social reformer John Dewey, imagination is the ability to look at things as if they could be otherwise. The ability, that is, to ask What if? And if there was ever a time when we needed that ability, it is now.Imagination is central to empathy, to creating better lives, to envisioning and then enacting a positive future. Yet imagination is also demonstrably in decline at precisely the moment when we need it most. In this passionate exploration, Hopkins asks why imagination is in decline, and what we must do to revive and reclaim it. Once we do, there is no end to what we might accomplish.From What Is to What If is a call to action to reclaim and unleash our collective imagination, told through the stories of individuals and communities around the world who are doing it now, as we speak, and witnessing often rapid and dramatic change for the better.
Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era
by null Amory LovinsOil and coal have built our civilization, created our wealth, and enriched the lives of billions. Yet, their rising costs to our security, economy, health, and environment now outweigh their benefits. Moreover, that long-awaited energy tipping point—where alternatives work better than oil and coal and compete purely on cost—is no longer decades in the future. It is here and now. And it is the fulcrum of economic transformation.A global clean-energy race has emerged with astounding speed. The ability to operate without fossil fuels will define winners and losers in business—and among nations.In Reinventing Fire, Amory Lovins and Rocky Mountain Institute offer a new vision to revitalize business models, end-run Washington gridlock, and win the clean-energy race—not forced by public policy but led by business for enduring profit. This groundbreaking roadmap reveals market-based solutions across the transportation, building, industry, and electricity sectors. It highlights pathways and competitive strategies for a 158%-bigger 2050 U.S. economy that needs no oil, no coal, no nuclear energy, one-third less natural gas, and no new inventions.This transition would cost $5 trillion less than business-as-usual—without counting fossil fuels&’ huge hidden costs. It requires no new federal taxes, subsidies, mandates, or laws. The policy innovations needed to unlock and speed it need no Act of Congress.Whether you care most about profits and jobs, national security, health, or environmental stewardship, Reinventing Fire charts a pragmatic course that makes sense and makes money. With clarity and mastery, Lovins and RMI point out the astounding opportunities for enterprises to create the new energy era.Drawing praise from President Bill Clinton, former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, and a host of others, Reinventing Fire has piqued the interest of world leaders, business leaders, and political strategists.
The Regenerative Grower's Guide to Garden Amendments: Using Locally Sourced Materials to Make Mineral and Biological Extracts and Ferments
by null Nigel PalmerRevitalize your garden—and go beyond compost—by making your own biologically diverse inoculants and mineral-rich amendments using leaf mold, weeds, eggshells, bones, and other materials available for little or no cost!In The Regenerative Grower&’s Guide to Garden Amendments, experimental gardener and author Nigel Palmer provides practical, detailed instructions that are accessible to every grower who wants to achieve a truly sustainable garden ecosystem—all while enjoying better results at a fraction of the cost of commercial fertilizer products. These recipes go beyond fertilizer replacement, resulting in greater soil biological activity and mineral availability. They also increase pest and disease resistance, yields, and nutrient density.Recipes include:Extracting nutrients from plant residues using simple rainwater techniquesExtracting minerals from bones and shells using vinegarFermenting plant juices and fishCulturing indigenous microorganisms (IMO)Inspired by the work of many innovative traditional agricultural pioneers, especially Cho Ju-Young (founder of the Korean Natural Farming method), The Regenerative Grower&’s Guide to Garden Amendments also includes a primer on plant-soil interaction, instructions for conducting a soil test, and guidance on compost, cover cropping, mulching, measuring the quality of fruits and vegetables using a refractometer, and other aspects of sustainable gardening—making it a must-have resource for any serious grower.
Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, A New Earth
by null Charles Massy&“Charles Massy has written a definitive masterpiece that takes its place along with the writings of Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry, Masanobu Fukuoka, Humberto Maturana, and Michael Pollan. No work has more brilliantly defined regenerative agriculture and the breadth of its restorative impact upon human health, biodiversity, climate, and ecological intelligence.&”—Paul HawkenIn Call of the Reed Warbler, Charles Massy explores regenerative agriculture and the vital connection between our soil and our health.It is the story of how a grassroots revolution—a true underground insurgency—can save the planet, help reduce and reverse climate change, and build healthy people and healthy communities, pivoting significantly on our relationship with growing and consuming food.Using his personal experience as a touchstone—from an unknowing, chemical-using farmer with dead soils to a radical ecologist farmer carefully regenerating a 2000-hectare property to a state of natural health—Massy tells the real story behind industrial agriculture and the global profit-obsessed corporations driving it. With evocative stories, he shows how other innovative and courageous farmers are finding a new way.At stake is not only a revolution in human health and in our communities, but the very survival of the planet. For farmers, backyard gardeners, food buyers, health workers, policy makers, and public leaders alike, Call of the Reed Warbler offers a tangible path forward and a powerful and moving paean of hope.It&’s not too late to regenerate the earth. Call of the Reed Warbler shows the way forward for the future of our food supply, our planet, and our health.&“Part lyrical nature writing, part storytelling, part solid scientific evidence, part scholarly research, part memoir, [this] book is an elegant manifesto, an urgent call to stop trashing the Earth and start healing it.&”—The Guardian
The Vertical Veg Guide to Container Gardening: How to Grow an Abundance of Herbs, Vegetables and Fruit in Small Spaces
by null Mark Ridsdill SmithWinner of the Garden Media Guild's The Peter Seabrook Practical Book of the Year Award 20222023 GardenComm Media Awards Silver Laurel Medal of Achievement From the creator of the wildly popular website &“Vertical Veg&” and with over 200k people in his online community of growers, comes the complete guide to growing delicious fruit, vegetables, herbs, and salad in containers, pots, and more—in any space, from window boxes to garden yards, no matter how small!"[A] thorough and enthusiastic guide to vegetable gardening . . . both handy and hefty...Aspiring urban gardeners will want to give this a look."—Publishers WeeklyIf you long to grow your own tomatoes, zucchini, or strawberries, but thought you didn&’t have enough space, Mark Ridsdill Smith, aka the &“Vertical Veg Man,&” will show you how to make the most of walls, balconies, patios, arches, and windowsills.Ridsdill Smith has spent over ten years teaching people to grow bountiful, edible crops in all kinds of containers in small spaces.Inside The Vertical Veg Guide to Container Gardening, you&’ll find:• Mark&’s &“Eight Steps to Success&”• How to make the most of your space• How to draw up a planning calendar so you can grow throughout the year• Planting projects for beginners• Compost recipes and wormery guide for the more experienced gardener• Troubleshoots for specific challenges of growing in small spaces• How growing food at home can contribute to wellbeing and the local communityWith quick, proven results from his own tests, failures, and successes, Mark will show you how gardening in containers is not just a hobby, but a way of creating a significant amount of delicious, low-cost, high nutrition food.Don&’t be confined by the space you have—grow all the food you want with Mark&’s Vertical Veg Guide to Container Gardening.
The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff - and Making a Profit
by null Richard WiswallContrary to popular belief, a good living can be made on an organic farm. What&’s required is farming smarter, not harder.In The Organic Farmer&’s Business Handbook, Richard Wiswall shares advice on how to make your vegetable production more efficient, better manage your employees and finances, and turn a profit. From his twenty-seven years of experience at Cate Farm in Vermont, Wiswall knows firsthand the joys of starting and operating an organic farm—as well as the challenges of making a living from one. Farming offers fundamental satisfaction from producing food, working outdoors, being one&’s own boss, and working intimately with nature. But, unfortunately, many farmers avoid learning about the business end of farming; because of this, they often work harder than they need to, or quit farming altogether because of frustrating—and often avoidable—losses.In this comprehensive business kit, Wiswall covers:Step-by-step procedures to make your crop production more efficientAdvice on managing employees, farm operations, and office systemsNovel marketing strategiesWhat to do with your profits: business spending, investing, and planning for retirementA companion toolkit, available for download upon purchase of the book, offers valuable business tools, including easy-to-use spreadsheets for projecting cash flow, a payroll calculator, comprehensive crop budgets for forty different crops, and tax planners.
The Living Soil Handbook: The No-Till Grower's Guide to Ecological Market Gardening
by null Jesse FrostPrinciples and farm-tested practices for no-till market gardening–for healthier, more productive soil!From the host of the popular The No-Till Market Garden Podcast—heard around the world with nearly one million downloads!Discovering how to meet the soil&’s needs is the key task for every market gardener. In this comprehensive guide, Farmer Jesse Frost shares all he has learned through experience and experimentation with no-till practices on his home farm in Kentucky and from interviews and visits with highly successful market gardeners in his role as host of The No-Till Market Garden Podcast. The Living Soil Handbook is centered around the three basic principles of no-till market gardening:Disturb the soil as little as possibleKeep it covered as much as possibleKeep it planted as much as possible.Farmer Jesse then guides readers in applying those principles to their own garden environment, with their own materials, to meet their own goals.Beginning with an exploration of the importance of photosynthesis to living soil, Jesse provides in-depth information on:Turning over bedsUsing compost and mulchPath managementIncorporating biology, maintaining fertilityCover croppingDiversifying plantings through intercroppingProduction methods for seven major cropsThroughout, the book emphasizes practical information on all the best tools and practices for growers who want to build their livelihood around maximizing the health of their soil.Farmer Jesse reminds growers that &“as possible&” is the mantra for protecting the living soil: disturb the soil as little as you possibly can in your context. He does not believe that growers should anguish over what does and does not qualify as &“no-till.&” If you are using a tool to promote soil life and biology, that&’s the goal. Jesse&’s goal with The Living Soil Handbook is to provide a comprehensive set of options, materials, and field-tested practices to inspire growers to design a soil-nurturing no-till system in their unique garden or farm ecosystem.&“[A] practical, informative debut. . . .Gardeners interested in sustainable agriculture will find this a great place to start.&”—Publishers Weekly&“Frost offers a comprehensive, science-based, sympathetic, wholly practical guide to soil building, that most critical factor in vegetable gardening for market growers and home gardeners alike. A gift to any vegetable plot that will keep on giving.&”—Booklist (starred review)
Mastering Stocks and Broths: A Comprehensive Culinary Approach Using Traditional Techniques and No-Waste Methods
by null Rachael MamaneJames Beard Foundation Book Award Finalist&“Top Ten Cookbook of the Year&”―Booklist&“Mamane&’s writing is as beautiful, thoughtful, and caring as her approach to food, the table, and her stocks. And I love [her] intriguing recipes.&”—Deborah Madison Stocks and broths are the foundation of good cooking, yet information on their use is often relegated to the introductions or appendices of cookbooks. Until now there has not been a comprehensive culinary guide to stocks in the canon, save for snippets here and there. Hard to believe, since most passionate home cooks and professional chefs know that using stocks and broths―both on their own and as the base for a recipe―can turn a moderately flavorful dish into a masterpiece. Mastering Stocks and Broths is the comprehensive guide to culinary stocks and broths that passionate home cooks and innovative chefs have all been waiting for.Author Rachael Mamane takes us on a culinary journey into the science behind fundamental stocks and the truth about well-crafted bone broths, and offers over 100 complex and unique recipes incorporating stocks as foundational ingredients. Mastering Stocks and Broths includes a historical culinary narrative about stocks in the classic French technique as well as through the lens of other cultures around the world.Readers will also learn:The importance of quality sourcingThe practical and health benefits of stocks and brothsDetailed methodology on how to develop, store, and use stocks in a home kitchen.The recipes place an emphasis on the value of zero waste, turning spent bones, produce seconds, and leftover animal fats into practical products to use around the home. Readers will turn to this book when they find themselves wondering what to do with the carcass of a store-bought roast chicken and they want to learn how to make every inch of their vegetables go further.Perhaps most important to remember: a good stock takes time. This is part of the pleasure―making stocks is meditative and meaningful, if you allow yourself the occasion. Building a stock often happens in the background of most kitchens―a smell that permeates a residence, a gentle warmth that radiates from the kitchen. Readers will be inspired by Mamane&’s approach to truly slow cookery and her effervescent love for food itself.&“Mamane&’s recipes are truly irresistible.&” ―Jessica Prentice, author of Full Moon Feast; cofounder, Three Stone Hearth &“Read this book. . . . it will heal you.&”―Camas Davis, butcher; writer; owner, Portland Meat Collective
The Worm Farmers Handbook: Mid- to Large-Scale Vermicomposting for Farms, Businesses, Municipalities, Schools, and Institutions
by null Rhonda ShermanChoice Reviews, Outstanding Academic TitleTechniques and systems for processing food scraps, manure, yard debris, paper, and moreTurning waste into wealth sounds too good to be true, but many worm farmers are finding that vermicomposting is a reliable way to do just that. Vermicast—a biologically active, nutrient-rich mix of earthworm castings and decomposed organic matter—sells for $400 or more per cubic yard. Compare that to regular compost, sold at about $30 a cubic yard, and you&’ll see why vermicomposting has taken root in most countries and on every continent but Antarctica.Vermicomposting is also one of the best sustainable solutions for organic waste management. Vermicomposting manure and crop wastes on farms improves crop yields while reducing demand for off-farm inputs. Vermicast has higher nutrient levels and lower soluble salt content than regular compost, and it improves soil aeration, porosity, and water retention. Plus, vermicast suppresses plant diseases and insect attacks. Municipalities, businesses, community gardens, schools, and universities can set up vermicomposting operations to process food residuals and other waste materials.The Worm Farmer&’s Handbook details the ins and outs of vermicomposting for mid- to large-scale operations, including how to recycle organic materials ranging from food wastes and yard trimmings to manure and shredded office paper. Vermicomposting expert Rhonda Sherman shares what she has learned over twenty-five years working with commercial worm growers and researchers around the world. Her profiles of successful worm growers across the United States and from New Zealand to the Middle East and Europe describe their proven methods and systems.This book digs into all the details, including:Choosing the right production systemRegulatory issues and developing a business and marketing planFinding and managing feedstocksPre-composting: why and how to do itMonitoring an active worm bedHarvesting, screening, testing, packaging, and storing vermicastMarkets for earthworms and vermicastFood security: how vermicast benefits soils and plantsKeys to success: avoiding common pitfallsFrom livestock farms and restaurants to colleges, military bases, and prisons, Sherman details why and how commercial-scale vermicomposting is a fast-growing, sustainable solution for organic waste management. The Worm Farmer&’s Handbook is the first and only authoritative how-to guide that goes beyond small-scale operations and demystifies the science and logistics of the fascinating process that is vermicomposting.
In the Company of Bears: What Black Bears Have Taught Me about Intelligence and Intuition
by null Benjamin Kilham"Like Jane Goodall&’s studies of chimps, Ben Kilham&’s work with black bears is more than just revealing: it&’s revolutionary. . . Ben&’s work will transform our understanding of how animals live—and how science should be done."—Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an OctopusIn In the Company of Bears, originally published in hardcover as Out on a Limb, Ben Kilham invites us into the world he has come to know best: the world of black bears.For decades, Kilham has studied wild black bears in a vast tract of Northern New Hampshire woodlands. At times, he has also taken in orphaned infants–feeding them, walking them through the forest for months to help them decipher their natural world, and eventually reintroducing them back into the wild. Once free, the orphaned bears still regard him as their mother. And one of these bears, now a 17-year-old female, has given him extraordinary access to her daily life, opening a rare window into how she and the wild bears she lives among carry out their daily lives, raise their young, and communicate.Witnessing this world has led to some remarkable discoveries. For years, scientists have considered black bears to be mostly solitary. Kilham&’s observations, though, reveal the extraordinary interactions wild bears have with each other. They form friendships and alliances; abide by a code of conduct that keeps their world orderly; and when their own food supplies are ample, they even help out other bears in need. Could these cooperative behaviors, he asks, mimic behavior that existed in the animal that became human? In watching bears, do we see our earliest forms of communications unfold?Kilham&’s dyslexia once barred him from getting an advanced academic degree, securing funding for his research, and publishing his observations in the scientific literature. After being shunned by the traditional scientific community, though, Kilham&’s unique findings now interest bear researchers worldwide. His techniques even aid scientists working with pandas in China and bears in Russia. Moreover, the observation skills that fueled Kilham&’s exceptional work turned out to be born of his dyslexia. His ability to think in pictures and decipher systems makes him a unique interpreter of the bear&’s world.In the Company of Bears delivers Kilham&’s fascinating glimpse at the inner world of bears, and also makes a passionate case for science, and education in general, to open its doors to different ways of learning and researching–doors that could lead to far broader realms of discovery.
Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land: Lessons from Desert Farmers on Adapting to Climate Uncertainty
by null Gary Paul NabhanHow to harvest water and nutrients, select drought-tolerant plants, and create natural diversityBecause climatic uncertainty has now become &“the new normal,&” many farmers, gardeners and orchard-keepers in North America are desperately seeking ways to adapt their food production to become more resilient in the face of such &“global weirding.&” This book draws upon the wisdom and technical knowledge from desert farming traditions all around the world to offer time-tried strategies for:Building greater moisture-holding capacity and nutrients in soilsProtecting fields from damaging winds, drought, and floodsHarvesting water from uplands to use in rain gardens and terraces filled with perennial cropsDelecting fruits, nuts, succulents, and herbaceous perennials that are best suited to warmer, drier climatesGary Paul Nabhan is one of the world&’s experts on the agricultural traditions of arid lands. For this book he has visited indigenous and traditional farmers in the Gobi Desert, the Arabian Peninsula, the Sahara Desert, and Andalusia, as well as the Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Painted deserts of North America, to learn firsthand their techniques and designs aimed at reducing heat and drought stress on orchards, fields, and dooryard gardens. This practical book also includes colorful &“parables from the field&” that exemplify how desert farmers think about increasing the carrying capacity and resilience of the lands and waters they steward. It is replete with detailed descriptions and diagrams of how to implement these desert-adapted practices in your own backyard, orchard, or farm.This unique book is useful not only for farmers and permaculturists in the arid reaches of the Southwest or other desert regions. Its techniques and prophetic vision for achieving food security in the face of climate change may well need to be implemented across most of North America over the next half-century, and are already applicable in most of the semiarid West, Great Plains, and the U.S. Southwest and adjacent regions of Mexico.Garden Writers Association Media Award, Silver Award for AchievementNew Mexico-Arizona Book Awards, Gardening Category"All of Gary Nabhan's books carry us on deep, enchanting journeys to the hearts of people, plants, and cultures across the world. . . I'm inspired and heartened by this timely and important offering from a true desert sage.&”—Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
The Permaculture City: Regenerative Design for Urban, Suburban, and Town Resilience
by null Toby HemenwayPermaculture is more than just the latest buzzword; it offers positive solutions for many of the environmental and social challenges confronting us. And nowhere are those remedies more needed and desired than in our cities.The Permaculture City provides a new way of thinking about urban living, with practical examples for creating abundant food, energy security, close-knit communities, local and meaningful livelihoods, and sustainable policies in our cities and towns. The same nature-based approach that works so beautifully for growing food—connecting the pieces of the landscape together in harmonious ways—applies perfectly to many of our other needs. Toby Hemenway, one of the leading practitioners and teachers of permaculture design, illuminates a new way forward through examples of edge-pushing innovations, along with a deeply holistic conceptual framework for our cities, towns, and suburbs.The Permaculture City begins in the garden but takes what we have learned there and applies it to a much broader range of human experience; we&’re not just gardening plants but people, neighborhoods, and even cultures. Hemenway lays out how permaculture design can help towndwellers solve the challenges of meeting our needs for food, water, shelter, energy, community, and livelihood in sustainable, resilient ways. Readers will find new information on designing the urban home garden and strategies for gardening in community, rethinking our water and energy systems, learning the difference between a &“job&” and a &“livelihood,&” and the importance of placemaking and an empowered community.This important book documents the rise of a new sophistication, depth, and diversity in the approaches and thinking of permaculture designers and practitioners. Understanding nature can do more than improve how we grow, make, or consume things; it can also teach us how to cooperate, make decisions, and arrive at good solutions.
Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us about Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom
by null Fred Provenza&“Nourishment will change the way you eat and the way you think.&”—Mark Schatzker, author of The Dorito Effect&“[Provenza is] a wise observer of the land and the animals [and] becomes transformed to learn the meaning of life.&”—Temple GrandinReflections on feeding body and spirit in a world of changeAnimal scientists have long considered domestic livestock to be too dumb to know how to eat right, but the lifetime research of animal behaviorist Fred Provenza and his colleagues has debunked this myth. Their work shows that when given a choice of natural foods, livestock have an astoundingly refined palate, nibbling through the day on as many as fifty kinds of grasses, forbs, and shrubs to meet their nutritional needs with remarkable precision.In Nourishment Provenza presents his thesis of the wisdom body, a wisdom that links flavor-feedback relationships at a cellular level with biochemically rich foods to meet the body&’s nutritional and medicinal needs. Provenza explores the fascinating complexity of these relationships as he raises and answers thought-provoking questions about what we can learn from animals about nutritional wisdom.What kinds of memories form the basis for how herbivores, and humans, recognize foods?Can a body develop nutritional and medicinal memories in utero and early in life?Do humans still possess the wisdom to select nourishing diets or has that ability been hijacked by nutritional &“authorities&”?Is taking supplements and enriching and fortifying foods helping us, or is it hurting us?On a broader scale Provenza explores the relationships among facets of complex, poorly understood, ever-changing ecological, social, and economic systems in light of an unpredictable future.To what degree do we lose contact with life-sustaining energies when the foods we eat come from anywhere but where we live?To what degree do we lose the mythological relationship that links us physically and spiritually with Mother Earth who nurtures our lives?Provenza&’s paradigm-changing exploration of these questions has implications that could vastly improve our health through a simple change in the way we view our relationships with the plants and animals we eat.&“Nourishment is a conversation between science, culture, and a greater spiritual or cosmological umbrella.&”—Montana Public Radio
Simple Food for the Good Life: Random Acts of Cooking and Pithy Quotations
by null Helen NearingFifty years before the phrase "simple living" became fashionable, Helen and Scott Nearing were living their celebrated "Good Life" on homesteads first in Vermont, then in Maine. All the way to their ninth decades, the Nearings grew their own food, built their own buildings, and fought an eloquent combat against the silliness of America's infatuation with consumer goods and refined foods. They also wrote or co-wrote more than thirty books, many of which are now being brought back into print by the Good Life Center and Chelsea Green.Simple Food for the Good Life is a jovial collection of "quips, quotes, and one-of-a-kind recipes meant to amuse and intrigue all of those who find themselves in the kitchen, willingly or otherwise." Recipes such as Horse Chow, Scott's Emulsion, Crusty Carrot Croakers, Raw Beet Borscht, Creamy Blueberry Soup, and Super Salad for a Crowd should improve the mood as well as whet the appetite of any guest.Here is an antidote for the whole foods enthusiast who is "fed up" with the anxieties and drudgeries of preparing fancy meals with stylish, expensive, hard-to-find ingredients. This celebration of salads, leftovers, raw foods, and homegrown fruits and vegetables takes the straightest imaginable route from their stem or vine to your table."The funniest, crankiest, most ambivalent cookbook you'll ever read," said Food & Wine magazine. "This is more than a mere cookbook," said Health Science magazine: "It belongs to the category of classics, destined to be remembered through the ages."Among Helen Nearing's numerous books is Chelsea Green's Loving and Leaving the Good Life, a memoir of her fifty-year marriage to Scott Nearing and the story of Scott's deliberate death at the age of one hundred. Helen and Scott Nearing's final homestead in Harborside, Maine, has been established in perpetuity as an educational progam under the name of The Good Life Center.
Taste, Memory: Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and Why They Matter
by null David BuchananTaste, Memory traces the experiences of modern-day explorers who rediscover culturally rich forgotten foods and return them to our tables for all to experience and savor.In Taste, Memory author David Buchanan explores questions fundamental to the future of food and farming. How can we strike a balance between preserving the past, maintaining valuable agricultural and culinary traditions, and looking ahead to breed new plants? What place does a cantankerous old pear or too-delicate strawberry deserve in our gardens, farms, and markets? To what extent should growers value efficiency and uniformity over matters of taste, ecology, or regional identity?While living in Washington State in the early nineties, Buchanan learned about the heritage food movement and began growing fruit trees, grains, and vegetables. After moving home to New England, however, he left behind his plant collection and for several years stopped gardening. In 2005, inspired by the revival of interest in regional food and culinary traditions, Buchanan borrowed a few rows of growing space at a farm near his home in Portland, Maine, where he resumed collecting. By 2012 he had expanded to two acres, started a nursery and small business, and discovered creative ways to preserve rare foods. In Taste, Memory Buchanan shares stories of slightly obsessive urban gardeners, preservationists, environmentalists, farmers, and passionate cooks, and weaves anecdotes of his personal journey with profiles of leaders in the movement to defend agricultural biodiversity.Taste, Memory begins and ends with a simple premise: that a healthy food system depends on matching diverse plants and animals to the demands of land and climate. In this sense of place lies the true meaning of local food.
In Search of Mycotopia: Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms
by null Doug Bierend&“Mushrooms are having a moment. [A] natural sequel for the many readers who enjoyed Merlin Sheldrake&’s Entangled Life.&”—Library Journal&“Bierend writes with sensual verve and specificity, enthusiasm, and humor. . . . [He] introduces us to the staggering variety of mushrooms, their mystery, their funk, and the way they captivate our imaginations.&”—The Boston Globe&“Nothing is impossible if you bring mushrooms into your life, and reading this book is a great way to begin your journey.&”—Tradd Cotter, author of Organic Mushroom Farming and MycoremediationFrom ecology to fermentation, in pop culture and in medicine—mushrooms are everywhere. With an explorer&’s eye, author Doug Bierend guides readers through the weird, wonderful world of fungi and the amazing mycological movement.In Search of Mycotopia introduces us to an incredible, essential, and oft-overlooked kingdom of life—fungi—and all the potential it holds for our future, through the work and research being done by an unforgettable community of mushroom-mad citizen scientists and microbe devotees. This entertaining and mind-expanding book will captivate readers who are curious about the hidden worlds and networks that make up our planet.Bierend uncovers a vanguard of mycologists: growers, independent researchers, ecologists, entrepreneurs, and amateur enthusiasts exploring and advocating for fungi&’s capacity to improve and heal. From decontaminating landscapes and waterways to achieving food security, In Search of Mycotopia demonstrates how humans can work with fungi to better live with nature—and with one another.&“Comprehensive and enthusiastic. . . . This fascinating, informative look into a unique subculture and the fungi at its center is a real treat.&”—Publishers Weekly&“If you enjoyed Merlin Sheldrake&’s Entangled Life . . . I highly recommend this book. . . . In the vein of Louis Theroux, Bierend journeys deep in the wonderfully strange subculture of the mushroom-mad.&”—Idler magazine&“Engaging and entertaining. . . .Bierend proves his skill as a science journalist through interviews and experiences shared with mushroom experts and citizen scientists.&”—Choice
Loving and Leaving the Good Life
by null Helen NearingHelen and Scott Nearing, authors of Living the Good Life and many other bestselling books, lived together for 53 years until Scott's death at age 100. Loving and Leaving the Good Life is Helen's testimonial to their life together and to what they stood for: self-sufficiency, generosity, social justice, and peace.In 1932, after deciding it would be better to be poor in the country than in the city, Helen and Scott moved from New York Ciy to Vermont. Here they created their legendary homestead which they described in Living the Good Life: How to Live Simply and Sanely in a Troubled World, a book that has sold 250,000 copies and inspired thousands of young people to move back to the land.The Nearings moved to Maine in 1953, where they continued their hard physical work as homesteaders and their intense intellectual work promoting social justice. Thirty years later, as Scott approached his 100th birthday, he decided it was time to prepare for his death. He stopped eating, and six weeks later Helen held him and said goodbye.Loving and Leaving the Good Life is a vivid self-portrait of an independent, committed and gifted woman. It is also an eloquent statement of what it means to grow old and to face death quietly, peacefully, and in control. At 88, Helen seems content to be nearing the end of her good life. As she puts it, "To have partaken of and to have given love is the greatest of life's rewards. There seems never an end to the loving that goes on forever and ever. Loving and leaving are part of living."Helen's death in 1995 at the age of 92 marks the end of an era. Yet as Helen writes in her remarkable memoir, "When one door closes, another opens." As we search for a new understanding of the relationships between death and life, this book provides profound insights into the question of how we age and die.
Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection
by null Jessica PrenticeFull Moon Feast invites us to a table brimming with locally grown foods, radical wisdom, and communal nourishment.In Full Moon Feast, accomplished chef and passionate food activist Jessica Prentice champions locally grown, humanely raised, nutrient-rich foods and traditional cooking methods. The book follows the thirteen lunar cycles of an agrarian year, from the midwinter Hunger Moon and the springtime sweetness of the Sap Moon to the bounty of the Moon When Salmon Return to Earth in autumn. Each chapter includes recipes that display the richly satisfying flavors of foods tied to the ancient rhythm of the seasons.Prentice decries our modern food culture: megafarms and factories, the chemically processed ghosts of real foods in our diets, and the suffering–physical, emotional, cultural, communal, and spiritual–born of a disconnect from our food sources. She laments the system that is poisoning our bodies and our communities.But Full Moon Feast is a celebration, not a dirge. Prentice has emerged from her own early struggles with food to offer health, nourishment, and fulfillment to her readers. She recounts her relationships with local farmers alongside ancient harvest legends and methods of food preparation from indigenous cultures around the world.Combining the radical nutrition of Sally Fallon&’s Nourishing Traditions, keen agri-political acumen, and a spiritual sensibility that draws from indigenous as well as Western traditions, Full Moon Feast is a call to reconnect to our food, our land, and each other."Drawing upon mythology, history, and contemporary struggles, Full Moon Feast reminds us of ancient cultural wisdom, encourages us to deepen our connections to the sources of our food, and invites us to make these seasonal rhythms our own.&”—Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation
What Then Must We Do?: Straight Talk about the Next American Revolution
by null Gar AlperovitzNever before have so many Americans been more frustrated with our economic system, more fearful that it is failing, or more open to fresh ideas about a new one. The seeds of a new movement demanding change are forming.But just what is this thing called a new economy, and how might it take shape in America? In What Then Must We Do? Gar Alperovitz speaks directly to the reader about where we find ourselves in history, why the time is right for a new-economy movement to coalesce, what it means to build a new system to replace the crumbling one, and how we might begin. He also suggests what the next system might look like—and where we can see its outlines, like an image slowly emerging in the developing trays of a photographer's darkroom, already taking shape.He proposes a possible next system that is not corporate capitalism, not state socialism, but something else entirely—and something entirely American.Alperovitz calls for an evolution, not a revolution, out of the old system and into the new. That new system would democratize the ownership of wealth, strengthen communities in diverse ways, and be governed by policies and institutions sophisticated enough to manage a large-scale, powerful economy.For the growing group of Americans pacing at the edge of confidence in the old system, or already among its detractors, What Then Must We Do? offers an elegant solution for moving from anger to strategy.
Put Your Heart in Your Mouth: Natural Treatment for Atherosclerosis, Angina, Heart Attack, High Blood Pressure, Stroke, Arrhythmia, Peripheral Vascular Disease
by null Natasha Campbell-Mcbride MD"Put Your Heart in Your Mouth provides not only a well-written, easy-to-understand expose, but also a practical plan for preventing heart disease and regaining health, one that involves a return to traditional foods and an avoidance of environmental pollutants and common household chemicals. And her recipe section is fantastic! Put Your Heart in Your Mouth is must reading for anyone interested in diet and health."—Sally Fallon, President of The Weston A. Price Foundation, Author of Nourishing TraditionsIf you stop any person on the street and ask them what causes heart disease, you know what their answer will be: butter and eggs, meat and fat. This infamous Diet-Heart Hypothesis was proposed in 1953, and it took scientists all over the world a few decades to prove it wrong. The trouble is that while science was beginning to cast doubt upon its basic tenets, the Diet-Heart Hypothesis was giving rise to a powerful and wealthy political and commercial machine with a vested interest in promoting it—by means of anti-fat and anti-cholesterol propaganda presented relentlessly and with increasing intensity.In Put Your Heart in Your Mouth, Dr. Campbell-McBride tackles the subject of CHD (Coronary Heart Disease), caused by atherosclerosis, a disease of the arterial wall that leads to narrowing and obstruction of the arteries. She maintains that conventional medicine does not actually know the cause of atherosclerosis or how to cure it, and explores in this book what it is, what causes it, and how to prevent and reverse it. She dispels the myth of the Diet-Heart Hypothesis, and explains that cholesterol is not the enemy but an integral and important part of our cell membranes.