To my delight, the book lived up to the title. Flores begins with how readers can prepare their own yards for full-tilt, sustainable food cultivation. She widens her lens steadily with each successive chapter. Included are all sorts of tips and contraption descriptions (DIY seed- and herb-drying racks, garden cloches, worm bins) designed to increase one's knowledge of how to grow food while reducing one's over-reliance on things like electricity. Today, in the midst of a recession, advice on how to swap out an old-fashioned root cellar for a refrigerator has real (pardon the pun) currency. As she moves to the community level, Flores covers practical advice on how to organize people to create and maintain community gardens, organize seed swaps, and so forth. She also does a fine job of discussing conflict management, a useful skill in any setting. Where does she wind up? With a thoughtful chapter on how to engage the next generation in first our gardens and eventually (hopefully?) in our community work. As someone who just spent three days canvassing our neighborhood with a preschooler in tow to promote an upcoming event, I appreciate anew the author's nod to the future canvassers, er, leaders.
When encountering folks eager to look at Victory Gardening as a move toward self-sufficiency and a means to feel more "rooted" in their communities, Food Not Lawns is among the first books that I recommend. For my right-of-center pals, I do issue a warning that this is a VERY left-of-center book, yet one that deserves a read for the practical advice alone. Which brings me to this announcement...
Next Tuesday (April 10; 5:00 pm), I will give away one free copy of Food Not Lawns to one lucky reader ($25 value)! To have a shot at winning the book, I want to hear from you how you might use a copy in your own home and neighborhood. Keep in mind that I'm not asking for you to run out, rip out your lawn and start a new community garden just to win a book!!!!! No, I want y'all to share how you think this book may help you delve more deeply into ideas rattling around in your gray matter these days... the kind of things that likely led you to discover this blog in the first place. And if you've already got a copy but want an extra one to lend to others, that's a fine reason, too.
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UPDATE: And the winner is... Joy who blogs at The Franklin Farm! Here's hoping that she and her fellow farmers keep us apprised of their garden projects.
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