This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know to grow and maintain a thriving lawn using organic gardening methods. With expert advice on planting the best grass varieties, nourishing the soil, watering, fighting weeds, and sustainable maintenance, Paul Tukey helps you create a luscious and inviting lawn that is pesticide-free and safe for your children and pets.

    Leslie F. Halleck details the basic tools necessary, demystifies seed starting and saving, and shares easy-to-follow instructions for the most practical techniques. She also provides additional information on controlling pests and diseases and transplanting seedlings and cuttings. Charming, richly illustrated, and accessible, Plant Parenting is for anyone looking to make more of their favorite plants.

    In Never Home Alone, biologist Rob Dunn introduces us to the nearly 200,000 species living with us in our own homes, from the Egyptian meal moths in our cupboards and camel crickets in our basements to the lactobacillus lounging on our kitchen counters. You are not alone. Yet, as we obsess over sterilizing our homes and separating our spaces from nature, we are unwittingly cultivating an entirely new playground for evolution. These changes are reshaping the organisms that live with us -- prompting some to become more dangerous, while undermining those species that benefit our bodies or help us keep more threatening organisms at bay. No one who reads this engrossing, revelatory book will look at their homes in the same way again.

    This book contains detailed information about each vegetable, including its botanical classification, flower structure and means of pollination, required population size, isolation distance, techniques for caging or hand-pollination, and also the proper methods for harvesting, drying, cleaning, and storing the seeds.Seed to Seed is widely acknowledged as the best guide available for home gardeners to learn effective ways to produce and store seeds on a small scale. The author has grown seed crops of every vegetable featured in the book, and has thoroughly researched and tested all of the techniques she recommends for the home garden.This newly updated and greatly expanded Second Edition includes additional information about how to start each vegetable from seed, which has turned the book into a complete growing guide. Local knowledge about seed starting techniques for each vegetable has been shared by expert gardeners from seven regions of the United States-Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast/Gulf Coast, Midwest, Southwest, Central West Coast, and Northwest.

    Norris inspires with practical and easy methods to help you cook from scratch, garden, preserve your own food, and see God's fingerprints in your everyday busy life. You'll learn how to plan, plant, and harvest for eating and preserving troubleshoot common gardening problems with natural solutions improve your family's health with natural cooking and cleaning methodsWhether you live in the middle of the asphalt jungle or on the side of a mountain, you can experience the pioneer lifestyle and start your own homesteading journey. Because when you surround yourself with things made from the hand of God, you can't help but see Him.

    There are now more than 170 titles in this series, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life.

    And it's not as hard as we may think! This hand written and drawn book of charming tutorials is both fun and accessible. It's full of simple skills that anyone can and should learn. From creating tinctures and salves to concocting all-natural cleaners and body products to gardening basics, this book is great for anyone looking to live more simply, create a comfortable nest, and truly do it yourself.

    But not anymore. With soaring food prices and the increasing popularity of all things domestic and DIY, there’s never been a better time to revisit the centuries-old techniques of preserving food at home.<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /-->This hip, modern handbook is filled with fresh and new ways to preserve nature’s bounty throughout the year. Organized by season and illustrated with beautiful photographs, it offers detailed instructions and recipes for making more than 150 canned, pickled, dried, and frozen foods, as well as 50 inventive recipes for dishes using these foods. Basic information on canning techniques and lively sidebars round out this refreshing take on a classic cooking tradition. Praise for Canning For a New Generation: "A seasonal guide to putting up produce, with innovative recipes that incorporate the fruits (and vegetables) of your labor." -The New York Times

    Taken together, they will help dog owners create the most fulfilling life possible with their dogs.In these pages, Cesar delves into crucial themes that go beyond obedience-school basics to reveal the hearts and minds of our beloved pets. In short, practical takes, he explores:• The basics of dog psychology• Instinctual behaviors• Creating balance and boundaries• Managing common misbehaviors• Choosing the right dog for your family• Helping your dog adjust to life transitionsThroughout the book, inspiring stories from Cesar’s case files -- and from his TV show, Leader of the Pack – provide moving real-world applications and surprising life lessons.Smart, easy to use, and packed with Cesar's remarkable insights into human and canine behavior, A Short Guide to A Happy Dog is an inspiring tool for anyone looking to live a better life with a beloved member of the family.

    The content is well sourced and there are plenty of references in the appendices.

    And he’s never stopped studying, because he wants to give the best, most up-to-date information to the listeners of his nationally-syndicated Public Radio show, “You Bet Your Garden.” He offers the fruits of his labors in this illustrated guide that reveals why compost is the answer to virtually every garden question. McGrath explains why compost improves soil structure; why it provides the perfect amount of food for every plant; how it fights plant diseases more safely and effectively than any chemical fungicide; and how to make your own. This is a must-have on every gardener’s bookshelf!

    Building Chicken Coops For Dummies gives you the information you need to build the most cost-efficient, safe, and easy-on-the-eye enclosures for your backyard flock. This practical guide gives you easy-to-follow and customizable plans for building the backyard chicken coop that works best for you. You'll get the basic construction know-how and key information you need to design and build a coop tailored to your flock, whether you live in a small city loft, a suburban backyard, or a small rural farm.Includes detailed material lists, instructions, and schematic plans for building a host of different chicken coops Step-by-step guidance on how to build a coop--or design your own Accessible for every level of reader Whether you're just beginning to gain an interest in a back-to-basics lifestyle or looking to add more attractive and efficient coops to your current flock's digs, Building Chicken Coops For Dummies gives you everything you need to build a winning coop!

    It's a struggle just to make ends meet and afford what they need right now. I think anyone can start to prepare for the future. My husband and I have a 4-figure annual income that isn't even close to hitting five figures. If we can do it, you can too. We're not just telling you how to do it, we're living it! Don't be put off by books, websites, and forums that lead you to think you have to buy expensive pre-packaged food storage, or foods that you're not familiar with. Stocking up doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. You can get started with just a few dollars a month. If, at the end of the book,you still don't think you can do it, send me an email and we'll talk. I've included my email address, my blog link, and we're working on a website.

    Less stress. Less distraction. Less everything. In less comes the freedom of letting go. This thoughtful and surprising book shows us how to get there, by paring down not just the jumble of things around us, but the clutter in our heads, too. And to help, interact with special paper goodies, including a one-thought-a-day diary, a foldout tiny house to let you imagine the pleasures of living in a small and cozy space, and art posters that depict a beautiful picture of what it means to do less, not more. Paper goodies from The Big Book of Less include:2 journalsA dot journal poster4 art posters1 foldout tiny house with 20 accessoriesAnd even more hidden treasures  Decluttering your life and mind makes room for more—more listening, more focus, more wisdom, more time. More life.

    This special, large-format volume is geared as much to nonbirders as it is to the out-and-out obsessed, covering more than two hundred species and including more than 330 new illustrations by the author. While its focus is on familiar backyard birds--blue jays, nuthatches, chickadees--it also examines certain species that can be fairly easily observed, such as the seashore-dwelling Atlantic puffin. David Sibley's artwork and expertise bring observed behaviors vividly to life. (For most species, the primary illustration is reproduced life-sized.) And while the text is aimed at adults--including fascinating new scientific research on the myriad ways birds have adapted to environmental changes--it is nontechnical, making it the perfect occasion for parents and grandparents to share their love of birds with young children, who will delight in the big, full-color illustrations of birds in action.