Old Herbaceous : a novel of the garden

It's the time of year for reading and dreaming about being out in the gardens that are currently inaccessible. When the sleet flies across my window instead of falling down, I have very little ambition to be outside. This is perfect weather for curling up with a gardening story.

Old Herbaceous is a delightful little story about an English manor gardener who rises through the ranks to become head gardener at the manor and a well-recognized figure in horticultural circles. The time spanned runs from the tail-end of the 19th century through to mid-20th century.

Although the gardener's life span matches that of the author rather closely, we are told that the novel is not autobiographical. Author, Reginald Arkell, grew up on an English farm, trained as a journalist, and worked for many years in the magazine industry. He was recognized for his light-hearted plays and his garden poetry long before he started writing books. Arkell was in his late 70s when Old Herbaceous was published.

Having lived through the late Victorian era, two world wars, and the huge changes before and after those wars, Arkell was well-suited to write an old man's reminiscences of the same time period. The story is written as reminiscences but is not sentimental or heavily introspective. It is a crusty country gardener we're reading about, after all.

Classic in style (but not in length or wordiness), the book has recently been re-issued as part of "The Modern Library gardening series" and I'm glad they did that or I would have missed out. Michael Pollan is the series editor. Penelope Hobhouse has written an introduction with information about the author and his work.

If you're looking for a "gentle read", especially one that does not drag on forever, you might want to give this one a try.

Old Herbaceous : a novel of the garden by Reginald Arkell. This edition published in 2003 by The Modern Library. ISBN: 978-0-8129-6738-0.

Feeding the future

There's been a lot of interest over the last little while in food security - knowing we all have enough to eat and that what we do have is safe to eat. The slow food and local food movements are growing worldwide, and questions about altered food (genetically or chemically) are getting louder and more frequent.

For many of us, it's hard to know who to believe when we hear food safety and food supply discussions. Some of those discussions are quite heated and few of us have the training necessary to follow all the arguments. At times we're not even sure we know what all the questions are, let alone who's got the (believable/reliable/responsible/realistic) answers.

Feeding the future is a collection of expert opinions on a variety of food security issues including tainted beef, over-fishing, genetically modified foods, the obesity epidemic, and worldwide food distribution. Each author gets one chapter and the various authors don't necessarily agree with one another, but that makes the book more useful for the reader. Footnotes provide references to continue research on subjects that catch your interest or verify points you find hard to accept.

Editors Andrew Heintzman and Evan Solomon have done a good job of pulling such disparate voices together into a cohesive whole. They begin each chapter with a brief author/subject introduction that I found tremendously useful. They are also responsible for additional content added as sidebars to the main text.

Although the subtitle of this book (from fat to famine, how to solve the world's food crises) promises solutions, I would liken this book to a survey course. Solutions are certainly proposed but if resolving the issues were that simple, we would already be there. Instead, I would call this an excellent starting point for a self-directed study, or, at the very least, enough information to get you through a number of earnest conversations.

Feeding the future : from fat to famine, how to solve the world's food crises edited by Andrew Heintzman and Evan Solomon. Published in 2004 by Anansi. ISBN: 978-0-88784-744-8

Diary of a compost hotline operator

After 10 days of very run-of-the-mill books, I finally have something to write about. The sun is shining and the seed catalogues have been showing up in the mail so it's time to read books with a gardening theme.

Diary of a compost hotline operator is a quick introduction to the world of urban horticulture. Spring Gillard (not a pen name) wears several hats on the job at the Vancouver-based City Farmer's garden where their aim is world change through education. The demonstration garden teaches visitors about composting, companion planting, organic pest and disease control, water conservation, vermiculture, and a host of other small space garden practices. Visitors come from all over the world for a hands-on look (and feel).

The book is an easy to read combination of newspaper article excerpts, journal musings, humourous anecdotes, how-to notes, and lots of contact information - websites, organizations, more books to read, people to consult, etc. Gillard is not afraid to write about failures or near-failures along with successes. She's also not afraid to reveal that much of their knowledge comes from other experts. The philosophy at City Farmer appears to be "learn with me as we explore" rather than "learn from me as I show you how it must be done."

I've been composting as long as I can remember. I've been gardening almost as long, and I've read a lot of gardening books over the years. I expected to read this book for the stories and amusement factor but I ended up learning a few new tricks to try as well. Vancouver weather is very different from south-western Ontario weather so some of the problems are different and some of the solutions for common problems may not work in the cooler, dryer climate, but I do have some new ideas to play with and that's always fun.

Many of the contacts are local to Vancouver, or at least BC, but there's still a lot of valuable information packed into this small book, even for those of us who live far away from the Pacific coast.

If you have written off the possibility of gardening or composting because you live in the city, or, worse yet, live in an apartment, think again. There are still options to explore and Spring Gillard is happy to point you in the right direction. Even if, like me, you consider yourself a veteran, give this book a try. The stories are amusing, it will get your brain thinking "spring," and you might end up with a new technique to try.

Diary of a compost hotline operator : edible essays on city farming by Spring Gillard. Published in 2003 by New Society Publishers. ISBN: 978-0-86571-492-4