Gathering edible wild food is a lovely way to forge a connection to the earth. Mushrooms are the ultimate local food source; they grow literally everywhere, from mountains and woodlands to urban and suburban parks to your own backyard.The Complete Mushroom Hunter, Revised is a new edition of Quarry's successful Complete Mushroom Hunter. It will enrich your understanding of the natural world and build an appreciation for an ancient, critically relevant, and useful body of knowledge. Amateur mycologists and mushroom enthusiasts will find this is a guidebook for their passion. Mushroom guru Gary Lincoff escorts you from the mushroom's earliest culinary awakening, through getting equipped for mushroom forays, to preparing and serving the fruits of the foray, wherever you live. Inside you'll find: A brief, but colorful history of mushroom hunting worldwide; how to get equipped for a mushroom foray; a completely illustrated guide to the common wild edible mushrooms and their poisonous look-alikes -- where to find them, how to identify them, and more; how to prepare and serve the fruits of your foray, plus more than 30 delicious recipes; plus, dozens of colorful, priceless anecdotes from living the mushroom lifestyle.

    With this astonishing collection of tree portraits, Thomas Pakenham produced a new kind of tree book. The arrangement owed little to conventional botany. The sixty trees were grouped according to their own strong personalities: Natives, Travellers, Shrines, Fantasies and Survivors. From the ancient native trees, many of which are huge and immeasurably old, to the exotic newcomers from Europe, the East and North America, MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE TREES captures the history and beauty of these entrancing living structures. Common to all these trees is their power to inspire awe and wonder. This is a lovingly researched book, beautifully illustrated with colour photographs, engravings and maps - a moving testimonial to the Earth's largest and oldest living structures.

    It describes their natural history, including where they live, how they gather food, their role as pollinators, and even how to attract them to your own backyard. Ideal for amateur naturalists and experts alike, it gives detailed accounts of every bee family and genus in North America, describing key identification features, distributions, diets, nesting habits, and more.Provides the most comprehensive and accessible guide to all bees in the United States and CanadaFeatures more than 900 full-color photosOffers helpful identification tips and pointers for studying beesIncludes a full chapter on how to attract bees to your backyard

    Descriptive text includes measurements, diagnostic details, and information on habitat, range, feeding habits, sounds or songs, flight period, web construction, life cycle, behaviors, folklore, and environmental impact. An illustrated key to the insect orders and detailed drawings of the parts of insects, spiders, and butterflies supplement this extensive coverage.

    But nothing is moreconvenient than grocery shopping in the backyard. A vegetable garden offers the best defense againstrising food prices, the most environmentally sound way to eat, and better exercise than any gym. It willturn anyone into a wonderful cook, since nothing tastes more vibrant than homegrown. And it can takeless time every week than a trip to the supermarket.In Grow the Good Life, Michele Owens, an amateur gardener for almost two decades, makes an entertaining and persuasive case for vegetable gardens. She starts with two simple but radical ideas: Growing food on a small scale is easy, and it is absurdly rewarding.With her wry, funny, and accessible approach, Owens helps beginning gardeners overcome obstacles that keep them from planting a few seedlings every spring. She explains why dirt isn't dirty; the health benefits of growing one's own food; and that vegetable gardens are not antithetical to the frantic pace of modern life, but simple and undemanding if intelligently managed.Grow the Good Life is not just another how-to. Instead, it will teach you the true fundamentals of vegetable growing: how to fit a garden into your life and why it's worth the trouble.

    Mushroom authority David Arora provides a beginner's checklist of the 70 most distinctive and common mushrooms, plus detailed chapters on terminology, classification, habitats, mushroom cookery, mushroom toxins, and the meanings of scientific mushroom names. Beginning and experienced mushroom hunters everywhere will find MUSHROOMS DEMYSTIFIED a delightful, informative, and indispensible companion.

    Going right up to the present day, and including both natural and man-made features, it demonstrates the sometimes subtle, sometimes radical ways in which people, flora, fauna, climate, soils, and other physical conditions have played a role in shaping the landscape. "...quirky and rewarding...full of answers to questions that others have not had the wit to ask."--Economist. "One thing is certain: no one would be wise to write further on our natural history...without thinking very hard about what is contained in these authoritative pages."--Country Life.

    Bosland, shares detailed profiles of the one hundred most popular chile varieties and include information on how to grow and cultivate them successfully, along with tips on planning, garden design, growing in containers, dealing with pests and disease, and breeding and hybridizing. Techniques for processing and preserving include canning, pickling, drying, and smoking. Eighty-five mouth-watering recipes show how to use the characteristic heat of chile peppers in beverages, sauces, appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, and desserts.

    

    It's like thinking the unthinkable. After all, the farm population is dwindling. It takes too much capital to start. The pay is too low. The working conditions are dusty, smelly and noisy: not the place to raise a family. This is all true, and more, for most farmers. But for farm entrepreneurs, the opportunities for a farm family business have never been greater. The aging farm population is creating cavernous niches begging to be filled by creative visionaries who will go in dynamic new directions. As the industrial agriculture complex crumbles and our culture clambers for clean food, the countryside beckons anew with profitable farming opportunities. While this book can be helpful to all farmers, it targets the wannabes, the folks who actually entertain notions of living, loving and learning on a piece of land. Anyone willing to dance with such a dream should be able to assess its assets and liabilities; its fantasies and realities. "Is it really possible for me?" is the burning question this book addresses.

    The text provides a thorough, how-to explanation of each of the steps of the design process--from initial contact with the client to a completed master plan. The text's numerous illustrations and useful case study examples offer a rich learning experience for students. Whether you are just starting your design career or are a current practitioner, this valuable resource is sure to enhance your skills and knowledge.

    But aren't they hard to grow at home? No! says orchid grower extraordinaire Steve Frowine. In this handy guide, he shows you step by step how to select the right orchids, keep them healthy, encourage blooms, and even propagate your own plants. Discover how to: * Select orchids that will thrive in your home * Water, fertilize, repot, and propagate orchids * Decipher complicated orchid names * Get familiar with favorite orchid varieties * Create spectacular orchid displays

    This booklet explains how to plant and grow organic potatoes for food in the home garden. Recommended for backyard gardeners and container gardeners with small city-sized yards, patios, balconies, decks, and rooftops. Written by the author of the best-selling Fresh Food From Small Spaces gardening book, a former columnist for Urban Farm magazine.Topics Include:* Why Grow Potatoes? Six Great Reasons* Different Kinds of Potatoes (and Where to Get Them)* Growing in Containers, Raised Beds, and Traditional Rows * Planting and Hilling Potatoes* Soil, Fertilizer, and Watering Needs* How to Harvest Potatoes* Storing Potatoes for Later Use* Bonus: Two Secret Tips for Getting More (and More Delicious) PotatoesPotatoes are one of the simplest food crops to grow at home. In this booklet, you will learn how to plant and grow potatoes in any sized garden. Even if you have no garden at all, and merely a doorstep, patio, rooftop, balcony, or deck, you can grow potatoes in very small spaces. Learn which type of containers potatoes thrive in, producing bigger harvests than you'll ever get from a bed in the ground. Learn how to select and plant potatoes that mature earlier than others, giving you a quick food harvest even in a short season climate with cold winters. Be More Self-SufficientNo other food crop allows you to do so much with so little as the potato. In fact, this is the most productive food staple you can produce at home. Just imagine how much space it would take to grow enough wheat, rye, oats, barley, rice, or other food staple to feed a family. Yet you can grow enough potatoes on your doorstep to feed a person for days.Grow Your Own Food and Save MoneySave some money this year and grow some delicious homegrown food, starting with potatoes and other organic vegetables. Learn which type of containers to grow spuds in for AMAZING yields. Learn how to plant and grow organic potatoes in garden rows, raised beds, and anything that holds soil or mulch (even garbage cans). Get this terrific guide today and start growing your own spuds!

    He has spent decades creating and perfecting his roses, which combine the charm and fragrance of the Old Roses with the repeat-flowering and wide color range of the traditional tea roses, also called Modern Roses.David Austin English Roses are vigorous, hardy, heat-resistant and disease-free. The bushes have a pleasant rounded habit and bear large, delicately scented blooms throughout the summer. The relative ease of growing a David Austin English Rose has inspired gardeners everywhere to try their hand. Interest in North America was so overwhelming that in 1999, the company opened an office in Tyler, Texas, which ships to the USA and Canada.The roses are organized into seven classification groups. Each rose profile features a description and cultivation techniques opposite a stunning full-page photograph. There are 32 new photographs, 22 of them of the new varieties released between 2011 and 2016. They are:Old Rose Hybrids - Sir Walter Scott, The Poet's Wife, The Lady Gardener, Lady Salisbury, Queen Anne The Leander Group - Bathsheba, The Ancient Mariner, Olivia Rose Austin, Fighting Temperaire, Carolyn Knight, Boscobel The English Musk Roses - Roald Dahl, Desdemona, The Lark Ascending, Tranquility, William and Catherine The English Alba Hybrids - Royal Jubilee Some Other English Roses - Imogen, Thomas A Becket The Climbing English Rose - The Lady of the Lake, The Albrighton Rambler, Wollerton Old Hall The English Cut-flower Roses.David also recounts how he set out to create the English roses, beginning with his first, the fragrant Constance Spry, released in 1961. In eloquent prose he reveals his passion for these roses and his lifelong dedication to their improvement. He describes their growth habits, flower form, foliage and name origin, and provides valuable cultivation tips and instruction on how to cut and arrange roses.This book displays beautifully why David Austin English Roses are beloved by gardeners everywhere. It is an essential selection for every rose lover and gardener. Artists will enjoy it for the glorious photographs.

    But earth gardens are a lot of work. They require a plot of plantable land and a significant time commitment to sowing, watering, weeding, and tending each plant. Is there a solution? Self-watering containers allow vegetable gardeners—from the casual weekender interested in a tomato plant or two to the very dedicated gardener with limited space—to grow richly producing plants in a controlled, low-maintenance environment. Lifelong gardener Ed Smith became fascinated with the possibilities of self-watering containers and began testing dozens of vegetables in various containers, experimenting with nutrients, soil mixtures, plant varieties, and container positioning. Now Smith is here to tell gardeners that anyone can grow and enjoy wonderful organic vegetables, using pots with continuous- flow watering systems. Smith shares advice on choosing appropriate containers, how to provide balanced nutrition using his secret soil formula, and what additional tools benefit the container gardener. The reader will also find advice on starting from seed versus buying plants, which vegetables thrive in containers and which might be a bit more challenging, along with space-saving tips on pairing plants in single containers. After the last green tomato has been picked and is ripening on the windowsill, Smith wraps everything up with a chapter on fall clean-up and preparing for next spring. Now there’s really no excuse for store-bought tomatoes!