Recommended Reads

“Wonderfully written, beautifully illustrated, and everything you need to know to get more productivity out of your food garden.” —Joe Lamp’l, creator and executive producer, Growing a Greener World

Discover how to get more out of your growing space with succession planting—carefully planned, continuous seed sowing—and provide a steady stream of fresh food from early spring through late fall.
 
Drawing inspiration from succession in natural landscapes, Meg McAndrews Cowden teaches you how to implement lessons from these dynamic systems in your home garden. You’ll learn how to layer succession across your perennial and annual crops; maximize the early growing season; determine the sequence to plant and replant in summer; and incorporate annual and perennial flowers to benefit wildlife and ensure efficient pollination. You’ll also find detailed, seasonal sowing charts to inform your garden planning, so you can grow more anywhere, regardless of your climate.
 
Plant Grow Harvest Repeat will inspire you to create an even more productive, beautiful, and enjoyable garden across the seasons—every vegetable gardener’s dream.

“[A]n an incredibly handy manual full of information on how to grow plants in small spaces.” —GOOP

The beginner’s complete guide to urban, small space and container gardening from “our windowsill guru.” —Bon Appétit

This vibrant updated 2nd edition includes 30 earthy recipes for the vegetables from your edible garden and 50 gorgeous inspirational color photographs and illustrations.

No matter how small your space, you can grow an edible garden and enjoy home cooked meals from your harvest! With this stunning comprehensive guide, you’ll learn the basics of gardening in pots and containers, find small windowsill and countertop projects, and receive specific recommendations for plants that grow well in containers. Also included are 30 simple recipes you can make with your harvest, from Zucchini Fritters to Herby Pasta with Lettuce and Prosciutto, to Rosy Strawberry Buttermilk cake.

You’ll learn all about:
   • the best containers and pots 
   • DIY planter boxes
   • tools and supplies 
   • soil for containers
   • feeding and watering 
   • simple pruning 
   • cooking with your harvest
   • and much more

“With this guide, your garden can be as productive as you’d like, no matter the size." —Modern Farmer

A seminal work that expands how we talk about the natural world and the environment as National Book Critics Circle Criticism finalist Camille T. Dungy diversifies her garden to reflect her heritage.

In Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden, poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy recounts the seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in the predominately white community of Fort Collins, Colorado. When she moved there in 2013, with her husband and daughter, the community held strict restrictions about what residents could and could not plant in their gardens.

In resistance to the homogenous policies that limited the possibility and wonder that grows from the earth, Dungy employs the various plants, herbs, vegetables, and flowers she grows in her garden as metaphor and treatise for how homogeneity threatens the future of our planet, and why cultivating diverse and intersectional language in our national discourse about the environment is the best means of protecting it.

Definitive and singular, Soil functions at the nexus of nature writing, environmental justice, and prose to encourage you to recognize the relationship between the peoples of the African diaspora and the land on which they live, and to understand that wherever soil rests beneath their feet is home.

In The Urban Garden you’ll find dozens of inspiring and creative ways to grow flowers, shrubs, vegetables, herbs, and other plants in small spaces and with a limited budget.
 
Whether you want to grow on a balcony, rooftop, front stoop, or a tiny urban patio, turn your growing dreams into reality and build a gorgeous and unique garden that showcases your personal style while still being functional and productive. With the ingenious ideas and resourceful tactics found here, you’ll be maximizing yields and beauty from every square inch of your space, while also making a lush outdoor living area you’ll crave spending time in.
 
Take inspiration from urban gardeners around the world and learn to:
 

• Install planting pockets on fences and walls
• Grow a rooftop garden in lightweight grow bags
• Tips for designing small spaces that feel BIG
• Build a salad table for growing lettuce and greens
• Utilize garden structures and plants for decorative screening
• Support pollinators by creating a small-scale habitat
• Design a pet-friendly urban yard
• Employ climbing plants and vines to add privacy and reduce noise
• Plant in layers to maximize yields and add beauty

Whether you’re growing edible plants or beautiful flowers, the 101 amazing growing ideas found in The Urban Garden will turn your tiny urban yard into a treasure trove of green you’ll be proud to share with family and friends.

Harvest year-round from your bountiful and sustainable fruit and vegetable garden.

Huw Richards' ultimate guide to permaculture gardening, outlining the regenerative methods that make gardening easier to do while being more productive. Huw shows you how to expand your growing beyond annual staples like tomatoes and cabbage to perennial fruits and vegetables, berry bushes, and fruit trees.

By mixing your planting, gardening with the seasons, and optimizing your garden design, you will create a more beautiful and more sustainable garden that is better for the soil, local wildlife, and your crops - without costing more of your time.

The book includes:
 

• What to grow: a substantial and comprehensive reference of all the edible plants and flowers you can grow - when to sow, grow, and harvest.
• Includes perennials that produce every year, maximizing yield for effort as well as introducing new plants to your garden.
• A permaculture approach: streamline the way your garden operates with ideas on building resilience (for example, how to store water), using vertical space, generating healthy soil, and mixed "polyculture" planting.
• Aesthetics and environment: how to make your kitchen garden look good year-round by planting ornamental edibles and flowering crops that attract pollinators.
• Maximizing space: a chapter on spaces helps you grow in shade or a south-facing corner and use pots and climbing varieties up walls and fences to bolster beds and under-cover growing areas.
• A roadmap for the year ahead guides you through the key moments throughout the four seasons.

An Intuitive Gardening System Built for Success

Do you dream of walking through your own kitchen garden with baskets full of delicious food you grew yourself? But are you waiting to begin because you think you don’t have enough space, sun, time, or experience?

Then consider this: Plants want to grow. And when you match a plant’s needs to your own resources, you’re just one step away from success in the kitchen garden.

Nicole Johnsey Burke—founder of Gardenary, Inc., and author of Kitchen Garden Revival—is your expert guide for growing your own fresh, organic food every day of the year, no matter where you grow. More than just providing the how-to, she gives you the know-how for a practical and intuitive gardening system that includes:

- Leaves – quick satisfaction from abundant harvests, most available and simplest to grow; includes salad greens and herbs

- Roots – underground harvests that require more tending and are built for endurance, longevity, and longer shelf life; includes tubers, bulbs, and rhizomes

- Fruit – the most demanding and sweetest of all, requiring the most space, sunlight, and consistent watering to blossom; includes beans, squash, and tomatoes

Burke provides clear step-by-step instructions for setup, care, and harvest for each category of plants, complete with insightful tips for every level of gardener to grow with their plants.

There’s always a plant you can grow right where you are, right away—all you have to do is follow the steps.

Discover how to partner ornamental plants with edible ones for a garden that offers both storybook appeal and a plethora of culinary delights.

*Winner of the GardenComm 2023 Laurel Media Awards Silver Award in the Book Publisher/Producer General Readership Category*

Stylish and celebratory, The Elegant and Edible Garden takes food growing to a higher plane. Host of The Potager Blog (@potagerblog), author and garden stylist Linda Vater, shares her vision for creating a garden space where food and flowers grow side by side. Known as a potager, these gardens are formal in their framework yet flexible and personal in their edible yields. A potager garden is both lovely to look at and productive. Doubling as an outdoor living area, it is also the perfect place to entertain family and friends.

Inside you’ll learn:

 

• How to grow flowers, fruits, veggies, and herbs together en masse
• The function of symmetry in a potager garden
• Ways to create visual harmony and match the style of the garden to its surroundings
• Tips for blending your family’s needs and lifestyle into the garden
• Advice on how to utilize focal points and garden ornaments in your garden’s layout
• The importance of rhythm, repetition, and harmony in potager design
• How to position garden structures with practicality and purpose in mind
• Where to put your potager for not just convenience but also to create a destination
• Best practices for growing your beautiful new garden organically

Create a garden that rejoices in seasonality while still allowing your style and personality to shine. The Elegant and Edible Garden is a vision of the very best things a garden can offer: food, beauty, connection, and a place to breathe.

For decades, gardeners have approached vegetable gardening the same way: planting in square or rectangular beds or in straight rows, keeping vegetables separate from flowers, and definitely not mixing perennial plants with annual ones. According to these old rules, every insect must be killed, the garden must be tidy, and nothing should ever be allowed to go to seed. It’s time to break the rules! Today’s gardeners are re-envisioning the vegetable garden as a creative, playful space where the beds may be circles or spirals, beneficial insects are invited to the party, flowers for cutting grow right next to annual vegetables (which might be chosen for their curb appeal as much as their flavor), and a bit of “untidiness” simply creates a garden that more closely mimics the natural world. With The Creative Vegetable Gardener, lifestyle editor and master gardener Kelly Smith Trimble encourages readers to widen their focus, be playful, and imagine a vegetable garden that reflects their own unique aesthetic and offers a meditative sanctuary as well as a source of fresh, homegrown food. From seed selection to garden layout and regenerative gardening practices, gardeners of all levels will find Timble's liberating advice a pathway to making the garden a place of nourishment for the soul and creative spirit, while also feeding the body.
 

The award-winning television and podcast host Joe Lamp’l is here with insider tips and next-level insight for creating a lush, fruitful, and resilient vegetable garden.

*Winner of the GardenComm 2023 Laurel Media Awards Silver Award in the Book Publisher/Producer General Readership Category*

Just when you think you have a secure grip on what it takes to grow a vegetable garden, a pro like Joe comes along to surprise you with a wheelbarrow full of new-to-you information to knock your gardening socks right off. In The Vegetable Gardening Book, Joe distills insight from years interviewing highly experienced growers for public television’s Growing a Greener World and The joe gardener® Show Podcastalong with his own extensive, hands-on knowledge of the craft to present practical and useful info on everything from starting seeds and selecting varieties to building the perfect tomato cage, encouraging pollinators, and creating biodiversity-rich soil in a 100% organic food garden. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in growing the best edible garden their backyard (or balcony!) has ever seen.

Inside you’ll find:
 

• Ideas for designing and laying out your garden for the greatest yields in the smallest amount of space
• A sure-fire plan for reducing maintenance and trimming down the traditional workload of a garden
• Detailed growing profiles of 40 of Joe’s favorite crops
• A handy reference chart with an easy-to-follow crop rotation plan
• Advice and tips for extending the growing season, building raised beds, setting up a potting station, and deciding which garden tools are worth your time and money
• Strategies to grow anywhere and everywhere—from in-ground garden beds and containers to grow bags and raised-bed planters

Among the most trusted, recognizable, and sought-after voices in the gardening world, Joe Lamp’l is here to help you “Grow like a pro – no experience required!™”

The joy and wonder of a garden-inspired lifestyle is captured in this colorfully photographed, through-the-seasons sourcebook filled with recipes, gardening wisdom, craft and wellness projects, and nature-based activities.



Each season in the garden brings new joy and fresh inspiration for connecting with the wonders of the natural world. In The Garden Maker's Book of Wonder, popular gardening lifestyle influencer Allison Vallin Kostovick (Finch + Folly) invites fans of cottagecore, gardening, and nature-based living to share her journey as she crafts, cooks, dreams, and creates. Drawing on decades of gardening experience, and illustrated with vibrant photography from her own home and garden, The Garden Maker's Book of Wonder offers sage advice on growing bountiful harvests of favorite vegetables, herbs, and flowers. All levels of gardeners, from dreamers to the experienced, will delight in the variety and creativity of Kostovick's projects, activities, and recipes for enjoying the magic and whimsy of the natural world--no matter what season. From planting a pollinator playground to building a rustic trellis from tree branches, cooking with freshly picked peas and mint to making a sweet viola tub soak, and growing a bird seed mix to crafting one-of-a-kind jewelry beads from the husks of the Job's Tears plant, the inventive ideas in this rich treasury are sure to make it a favorite to keep and to give to anyone who aspires to a more nature-connected lifestyle.

"Growing food doesn't have to mean sacrificing style. In his debut book, award-winning landscape designer Christian Douglas showcases the myriad ways to use edibles to elevate the design of your outdoor spaces. Visit chef Tyler Florence's property, whose hillside is transformed into a three-tiered terraced bed filled with an abundance of produce year-round. A family's suburban plot that is a forager's paradise, with hidden edible treasures woven into each space and along every path. Plus gardens in small city backyards, edible plots carved into forests and meadows, even a rooftop vegetable garden. But this is not merely a lookbook. By using his own lush garden in Marin County as a studio/classroom, Douglas introduces readers to the essential tools and techniques they need to successfully plant, grow, and harvest a bounty of vegetables, fruits, berries, and herbs. We learn how to evaluate the best lighting and soil conditions, choose plants that will thrive in our climate, and discover the designer's favorite edible swaps for common landscape plants (a persimmon instead of a dogwood, a fig instead of a maple, a hedge of rosemary instead of yew). The food-forward options are limitless"--

"Drawing on a lifetime of organic gardening, Barbara Damrosch collects her lessons learned and wisdom gained into an easy-to-read-and-enjoy overview of kitchen gardening. For the new gardener, there is encouragement on top of nuts-and-bolts advice. For every gardener, there is inspiration to face the challenges inherent in a life deeply rooted in and fed from the garden." --American Gardener



In A Life in the Garden, horticultural icon Barbara Damrosch imparts a lifetime of wisdom on growing food for herself and her family. In writing that's accessible, engaging, and elegant, she welcomes us to garden alongside her. Personal, thoughtful, and often humorous, this book offers practical DIY insights that will delight gardeners, cooks, and small-scale farmers. With a personal and sometimes irreverent tone, Barbara expresses the pleasure she takes in gardening, the sense of empowerment she finds in it, and the importance of a partnership with the real expert: nature.

Nurture a year-round gardening habit with just 5 minutes a day, from the author of Kitchen Garden Revival and Leaves, Roots & Fruit.

Do you find joy in seeing a plant grow from seed to flower? Has your main setback for maintaining a successful garden been finding enough time to tend it?

Whether you have a windowsill garden or a backyard full of flora, finding time to garden can seem impossible. But with just 5 minutes a day, you can be sure your plants have all they need to go from seed to delicious harvest. Nicole Johnsey Burke, author of Kitchen Garden Revival and Leaves, Roots & Fruit and founder of Gardenary, Inc., guides you through the different planting seasons and shares:

 

• Quick, actionable tasks: minimal methods to keep your garden thriving
• Seasonal gardening plans: detailed schedules broken down into days, weeks, and months
• Habit-building techniques: proven ways to integrate gardening into your daily routine
• Garden-to-table benefits: easy, delicious dishes you can quickly pull together with your fresh-picked produce

Nicole equips you with the knowledge you need to transform 5 minutes a day into a year-round gardening habit. Experience the joy and mindfulness that comes from being more connected to nature and the food you eat.

Grow a Flourishing Vegetable Garden While Feeding Your Spirit

From planting your first seedlings to harvesting your crops and everything in between, gardener and homesteader Brian Brigantti helps you create a thriving vegetable garden right in your own backyard—all while giving you valuable insights into nourishing your soul through abundant living. Woven in with his own insights and experiences, Brian walks you through the process of starting an abundant garden from start to finish. A primer on soil health, composting, establishing biodiversity and more set you and your garden up for success. Then, learn methods for building out plots, choosing the best veggies for your climate and soil and tending to your garden throughout the seasons. Along the way, Brian shares his observations on the symbolism of gardening and the ways it can teach you about the joys of living a happier, more abundant life. Using only natural, chemical-free techniques that honor, respect and sustain the earth, Brian’s methods for cultivating a bountiful garden result in a cornucopia of homegrown vegetables and a deeper sense of connection with the earth your food and yourself.

An invaluable, easy-to-follow guide for growing and maintaining an organic garden with information on 200 popular plants, including flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs, and fruits, as well as preventative measures and treatments for common ailments.

One of the rewards of organic gardening is developing a balanced ecosystem, in which plants naturally defend themselves against pests and diseases and where you’ll seldom have to intervene. But if trouble does make its way into your garden, this comprehensive handbook will help you stop insect pests in their tracks and curb plant diseases at the first sign of outbreak.

Featuring science-based recommendations for keeping plants healthy and productive, The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control includes hundreds of organic techniques and products for dealing with garden problems. You’ll learn how to decide whether you need to treat an infestation or outbreak, how to make choices among the numerous safe, natural options available, and how to use these home remedies and nontoxic control products and methods. 

Discover information on:
• Your Healthy Garden: Learn how to create a garden and landscape environment that helps plants stay healthy naturally.
• Symptoms and Solutions: Use these troubleshooting tips for more than 200 types of plants, including annuals, bulbs, fruit trees and bushes, herbs, perennials, shrubs, trees, and vegetables.
• Identifying Pests and Diseases: With hundreds of photos, you can figure out which garden pest, disease, or beneficial insect is in your garden.
• Organic Pest and Disease Management: Discover the best and lowest-impact controls to keep pests and diseases from ruining your harvest and your plants.

By creating a healthy garden environment and keeping a watchful eye, you can rely on completely natural methods to manage a wide range of common insect and disease problems in your garden, yard, and landscape.

A gardener's pandemic journal that combines memoir with an exploration of the natural world both inside and outside the garden.

In March 2020, Margot Anne Kelley was watching seeds germinate in her greenhouse. At high risk from illness, the planning, planting, and tending to seedlings took on extra significance. She set out to make her pandemic garden thrive but also to better understand the very nature of seeds and viruses.

As seeds became seedlings, became plants, became food, Kelley looks back over the last few millennia as successions of pandemics altered human beings and global culture. Seeds and viruses serve as springboards for wide-ranging reflections, such as their shared need for someone to transport them, the centrality of movement to being alive, and the domestication of plants as an act of becoming co-dependent.

Pandemic viruses only occurred through humankind's settling down, taking up agriculture, and giving up a nomadic life. And yet it's the garden that now provides a refuge and a source of life, inspiration, and hope. A Gardener at the End of the World explores questions of what we can preserve--of history, genetic biodiversity, culture, language--and what we cannot. It is for any reader curious about the overlap of nature, science, and history.

“Like a favorite recipe, a posy is meant to be savored and shared. Try it yourself, and … welcome a bit of floral enchantment into your life.” —Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist 

Inspired by the Victorian-era language of flowers, a posy is a small, round bouquet of flowers, herbs, and plants meant to convey a message, such as dahlias for gratitude, sunflowers for adoration, or thyme for bravery. These floral poems have become Teresa Sabankaya’s signature. Brides want them for their weddings, but a posy is a lovely gift any time of year, and one that readers can easily put together from their garden or with blooms from their local florist.

In The Posy Book, Sabankaya shares step-by-step instructions, floral recipes for more than 20 posies, and ideas for seasonal variations. A modern floral dictionary, with 12 original paintings by celebrated illustrator Maryjo Koch, will help readers craft their own posies filled with personal meaning.

Whether you are craving for a novelty like Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, an old favorite like Kentucky Butter Cake, or a classic French Caramel Custard, there's a dish to make your mouth water and inspire you to spend some quality time in the kitchen.

When summer fades and the weather cools, our appetites turn to the hearty foods of Fall. Family Fall Recipes offers more than 200 favorites featuring the best of Fall ingredients—such as apples, pears, pumpkin, cranberries, winter squash, cabbage and root vegetables—as well as a broad sampling of foods that soothe the soul and warm the body in autumn. Chapters include appetizers and beverages, bubbly casseroles, hearty main dishes, one-pan meals, soups and stews, sandwiches and pizzas, and salads and sides. And because turning on the oven in the fall is a good thing, it also features the best of Fall baking—breads; cookies, brownies and bars, and a selection of fall desserts, including pies, tarts, cobblers, crisps and cakes. Eat up!

A gorgeous photo-driven lifestyle guide filled with autumnal activities, easy DIYs, and cozy recipes, for anyone who loves the fall season.



Crisp air. Vibrant foliage. Chunky sweaters. Pumpkin everything.



For anyone who loves all things fall, FROM HARVEST TO HOME is a stunning celebration of this cozy season. Brimming with gorgeous photography and tons of autumnal activities, creative décor projects, and delicious recipes, this beautiful lifestyle guide will inspire readers to make the most of this enchanting time of year.



Learn how to craft an eye-catching fall wreath. Plan an epic tailgate party. Host a spooky movie marathon with the ultimate watch list. Get inspired to go apple picking, then make Cardamom Ginger Apple Butter. Design an exquisite tablescape using decorative gourds, greenery, and candles for a Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving celebration.



All these ideas and more are presented in an attractive package with foil on the cover that makes a thoughtful, seasonal gift alongside a scarf, a thermos, or a fall-themed candle.



WIDE APPEAL: Who doesn't love fall?! It's an undeniably beautiful, cozy season. This inviting, visually driven book will appeal to people of all ages who look forward to fall, decorate their homes for the season, and uphold traditions with friends or family, like going to football games, baking pies, or hosting a Halloween party. From Harvest to Home provides all the inspiration you could ever need to make the most out of this wonderful time of year.



BEAUTIFUL TO GIFT & DISPLAY: With foil on the cover and evocative photography of pumpkin patches, apple orchards, and country roads, as well as styled shots of seasonal food, drink, and crafts, From Harvest to Home is a stunning celebration of autumn. Display it on your coffee table alongside a fall-themed candle, a mini pumpkin, or a bowl of Halloween candy. Snuggle up by the fireplace with a cup of tea and flip through the pages to get inspired. Or, give it to the person in your life who loves all things fall--it's a perfect gift alongside a mug or knit throw.



UNIQUE OFFERING: Despite the large audience of people who love fall, there are no fall-themed lifestyle guides on the market. This is the first!



Perfect for:

• Anyone who loves the fall season
• People who visit the pumpkin patch or apple orchard every year
• People who decorate their house for fall
• PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) drinkers

People looking for a seasonal housewarming, hostess, back-to-school, or Thanksgiving gift

Are you striving for improved self-reliance and self-sufficiency for yourself and your family? Author Jessica Sowards of YouTube’s Roots & Refuge Farm is the warm and welcoming guide you’ve been waiting for.

Homesteading is a mindset and a lifestyle aimed at living lightly on the land, being more resourceful, appreciating the value of hard work, and understanding the diverse and amazing connections between humans and the planet we live on. Homesteaders constantly strive for a more sustainable life and a greater connection to the cycles of nature and the foods and goods we consume. Starting your very first homestead is a journey of discovery and passion that’s also likely filled with questions and what-ifs. In The First-Time Homesteader, Jessica fills in all the blanks with honesty, humor, and charm.

Now you can take those first and most valuable steps toward establishing your own homestead with a seasoned homesteader at your side. Jessica warmly guides you through the process of setting up your property (no matter how small or large), establishing a garden, welcoming animals into the fold, living more resourcefully, and expanding your homestead kitchen tools and skills with grace and confidence.

Start your first homestead with lessons on:
 

• Raising chickens for meat and eggs
• Starting and operating a home dairy
• Housing, fencing, and processing advice for meat animals
• Planning and planting your homestead vegetable garden
• Keeping bees for honey, pollination, and beeswax
• Stocking your medicine cabinet with useful herbs and home remedies
• Living a resourceful existence by reusing and repurposing
• Stocking the kitchen with all the tools and techniques you need for success

You don’t have to live off-grid or give up contemporary conveniences to homestead. You just have to have the desire to live a more thoughtful and fulfilling life. Take your very first step today, hand in hand with an experienced and enthusiastic guide in The First-Time Homesteader.

Join the permaculture revolution! Author Angela Ferraro-Fanning (Axe & Root Homestead) shares techniques and tips for a homestead with synergy between soil, plants, animals, and trees.

If you’re like most homesteaders, the dream is to make the most of your land by working with it, not against it. From capturing water and building strong soil to helping your animals live their best lives, The Sustainable Homestead is about making your homestead stronger by achieving synergy between what can seem like different parts.

In this book, new and veteran homesteaders alike can find detailed information to put to use this year, this month, even this week! Angela—also the co-host of the HOMESTEADucation podcast and author of the Little Homesteader/Little Country Cottage series of children’s books—has spent more than a decade building and strengthening her small acreage homestead and shares the lessons chapter by chapter:
 

• Site Selection: Evaluate the elements, water flow and management, wildlife considerations, effective layouts, land elevation, water access points, permaculture zones, considerations based on acreage, how to remedy site shortcomings
• Soil: The importance of soil, symptoms of poor soil, synthetics, water and erosion, healthier crops and animals, how to regenerate soil, cover crops, no-till method, perennial plantings
• Growing: Catching and storing water with swales, catchment ponds, and rain barrels; sunlight and garden design including mandala, terrace, and forest; plant choices; companion planting; holistic pest management including cultural, physical, and biological options
• Pasture: Design considerations, cover cropping, grazing, animal compatibility, pasture rotation, closed-loop grazing systems, maintenance, solar fencing
• Animals: Chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and the sustainable coop; sheep, goats, pigs, and sustainable living quarters; horses, cows, donkeys, and sustainable stable; natural remedies; livestock guardian dogs and barn cats
• Compost: What is compost?, hot vs. cold, decomposition and carbon to nitrogen ratios, creating a composting system, tier considerations, access and rotation, uses of compost, compost tea
• Overstory: Nut trees and permaculture contributions, pollinator groups, fruiting trees, planting in guilds, pest management, tree health

Wherever you want to start first, follow along and make your homestead more resilient by making it more sustainable. 

A guide to creating and growing a backyard garden simply and sustainably--from planning to planting to harvest, with profiles of essential vegetables and herbs, ecological tips, and fun and creative projects



Growing food in your backyard (or even on a porch or windowsill!) is one of the simplest and most rewarding ways to nourish yourself, be self-sufficient, and connect with nature in a hands-on way. Here sustainability expert Julia Watkins shares everything you need to know to grow your own vegetables, fruits, and herbs (as well as wildflowers and other beneficial companion plants). The book covers all the nuts and bolts of creating and caring for your garden--planning, building, planting, tending, and harvesting--followed by a deeper dive into the plants themselves: demystifying annuals vs. perennials, cold-weather vs. warm-weather veggies, and profiles of favorite crops. Throughout, Julia offers tips for creating an eco-friendly and sustainable garden (such as vermicomposting, no-till "lasagna" gardening, and attracting pollinators), plus some fun and unexpected hands-on projects like how to build a bean teepee, make wildflower seed paper, and enjoy refreshing herbal lemonade ice pops.

Food can be grown just about anywhere, and lack of space should not put you off growing and enjoying the taste of your own fresh vegetables.Not everyone has access to outside space or what we traditionally think of as a garden, but we all have window ledges, doorways, often stairways, sometimes even a balcony or roof space. This book offers solutions and inspirations for these tricky spots that we frequently overlook or neglect, and highlights some unusual growing spaces such as a minuscule balcony in Bristol, an innovative installation of hexagonal polytunnels full of salad leaves in Amiens, France, and an ingenious self-sufficient growing system that provides a wealth of vegetables in an old swimming pool in Phoenix, Arizona.Filled with practical advice, inspiration and planting and design ideas, My Tiny Veg Plot tells you how to prepare your beds whatever the size and situation; there is advice on filling containers, creating ingenious planters, using planting mediums, soil and water and which fruit and vegetables will thrive in which spot. My Tiny Veg Plot contains straightforward information on what to grow and how to grow it, from seed to ready to eat.

From breakfast to dinner, plus breads, soups, and sides, Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Table, Volume 2 gives readers abundant reasons to gather together--an instant #1 New York Times bestseller!

Following the launch of her #1 New York Times bestselling cookbook, Magnolia Table, and seeing her family's own sacred dishes being served at other families' tables across the country, Joanna Gaines gained a deeper commitment to the value of food being shared. This insight inspired Joanna to get back in the kitchen and start from scratch, pushing herself beyond her comfort zone to develop new recipes for her family, and yours, to gather around.

Magnolia Table, Volume 2 is filled with 145 new recipes from her own home that she shares with husband Chip and their five kids, and from the couple's restaurant, Magnolia Table; Silos Baking Co; and new coffee shop, Magnolia Press. The book is beautifully photographed and filled with dishes you'll want to bring into your own home, including:

• Mushroom-Gruyére QuichePumpkin Cream Cheese BreadGrilled Bruschetta ChickenZucchini-Squash StrataChicken-Pecan-Asparagus CasseroleStuffed Pork LoinLemon-Lavender TartMagnolia Press Chocolate Cake

From the star of Magnolia Network's popular show Ranch to Table--a stunningly beautiful cookbook celebrating a year on a ranch on the California coast, featuring simple yet festive recipes, inspiring menus, and fascinating culture and history.

Elizabeth Poett was raised on Rancho San Julian, a 14,000-acre ranch on Santa Barbara's Central Coast that her family has been working since 1837. Her years are structured around the land's natural rhythms and annual events: celebrations big and small, harvests, and work days that bring her family and community together--and always end with large meals for everyone to share. Elizabeth feeds her friends and family with seasonal ingredients--including vegetables and meat grown and raised on the ranch and fish from California's Central Coast--barbecuing tri-tips, turning local cod into tacos, and using heirloom tomatoes and summery eggplant into delicious, family friendly pastas.

Much like Elizabeth's life, The Ranch Table is also organized around the work and celebrations that take place on the San Julian throughout the year, giving readers and cooks a chance to dive into the ranch's most important workdays, family traditions big and small, and annual celebrations. Each chapter begins with a description of an event or a special day--the work of a branding, the joys of the annual family reunion, the fun of a fall cider press, the quiet beauty of a winter evening spent at the kitchen table--and invites you to join in on the day with both beautiful photos of the ranch today and archival images of its past. In each chapter, Elizabeth also shares the recipes for the dishes she makes for these occasions, including:

Spring, Branding Day

• Pistachio Breakfast Bread
• Onion-Braised Brisket Sliders
• Fudgy Caramel Brownies

Summer, Fiesta Family Reunion

• Beef Empanadas
• Blackberry Margaritas

Fall, Cider Press Potluck

• Turkey Barley Soup
• Spiced Honey Apple Pie with a Ginger Crust

Winter, New Year's Eve

• Chanterelles with Toast
• Standing Rib Roast
• Green Salad with Winter Fruit and Citrus Dressing

The Ranch Table is an invitation to explore a unique California way of life and enjoy delicious, hearty, seasonal meals, made to be enjoyed with family and friends.

Move vegetables into the center of your plate from the realm of sides and salads with this vegetable-cooking bible of more than 250 full-flavor recipes, from James Beard and IACP award winner Christopher Kimball's Milk Street.

Chili-spiked carrots. Skillet-charred Brussels sprouts. Mashed potatoes brightened with harissa and pistachios. These are just three ways to put vegetables in the center of your plate.

Here in the U.S., meat is cheap and has been in the center of the plate for centuries. The rest of the world, however, knows how to approach vegetables, grains and beans not only with respect but with a fresh, lively approach, one that transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.

To get a vegetable education, we traveled to Athens to learn how winter vegetable stews could taste light and bright, not hearty and heavy. In Cairo, we tasted eggplant and potatoes that punched up flavor with bold pops of texture from whole spices. And in Puglia, Italy, we had a revelatory bite of zucchini enriched by ricotta cheese and lemon.

This is a world of high-heat roasts, unctuous braises, drizzles of honey, and stir-fries aromatic with ginger and garlic. And with 250 recipes, the possibilities are nearly endless:

• A simple head of cauliflower can become Cauliflower Shawarma, Sichuan Dry-Fried Cauliflower, or Curried Cauliflower Rice with Peas and Cashews
• Humble cabbage travels the world to become Butter-Roasted Cabbage with Citrus, Hazelnuts and Mustard; Hot and Sour Stir-Fried Cabbage; and Thai-Style Coleslaw with Mint and Cilantro
• Mushrooms are transformed into Stir-Fried Mushrooms with Asparagus and Lemon Grass or Miso Soup with Mixed Vegetables and Tofu
• and greens get the Milk Street treatment in dishes like Pozole with Collard Greens; Hot Oil-Flashed Chard with Ginger, Scallions and Chili; and Persian-Style Swiss Chard and Herb Omelet

It's never too late to get your vegetable PhD.

This collection of wow-factor vegetable dishes can all be enjoyed by flexitarians, vegetarians and non-veggies alike.

It’s time to turn foods that used to be relegated to side dishes into the stars of the show. In this book, chef Mat Follas uses his culinary skill and understanding of flavor to bring together a selection of wow-factor plant-based recipes to be enjoyed by flexitarians, vegetarians, vegans, and non-veggies alike. Organized by produce type, there are delicious ways to enjoy everything from roots, squash, and brassicas to shoots, stems, and funghi. Choose from Smoked Parsnip, Pear & Stilton Salad, Moroccan Roasted Cauliflower, Kale Gnocchi with Kale Chips, Goat Cheese & Marjoram Ravioli Marinara, Rainbow Chard & Comté Quiche, Artichoke Frittata, and Champagne Mushrooms. Vegan substitutions are suggested wherever possible and Mat’s ingenious recipes for Dairy-free Cheese and Cream and No-egg Mayo,make switching out the dairy easy. Mat also shares the secrets of his Chef’s Storecupboard—tasty recipes for sauces, relishes, pickles, and dressings—designed to give your veggie dishes a flavor boost.

Gather your ingredients and get busy in the kitchen creating tasty, healthy meals with your kids with Eat Your Greens, Reds, Yellows, and Purples.

With 25 delicious and simple vegetarian recipes, this healthy cookbook makes fruits and vegetables fun and delicious while teaching kids the benefits of eating healthy. Teach your kids how carrots help their vision while baking carrot and orange muffins or why peppers boost their immune system while making a red pepper hummus.

Written in a friendly, positive tone that focuses on why colorful fruit and vegetables are good, Eat Your Greens, Reds, Yellows, and Purples is perfect for parents looking for a way to get their children excited about fruit, vegetables, and cooking. The delicious meals and fun facts are enough to satisfy any hungry young appetite, so reach for your reds, pick up your purples, and don't forget to eat your greens!

Get the most out of your spiralizer with these delicious and inspiring low-carb recipes!

Nearly everyone loves a heaping bowl of delicious pasta-but nearly everyone, too, feels at least a twinge of guilt about eating one. Whether you're eating paleo, low carb, gluten free, or just trying to curb those excess empty calories, carbohydrate-packed pasta can't be high on your healthy-eating list.

But what if you could eat that heaping bowl without experiencing the guilt? With a spiralizer, you can! A spiralizer is an inexpensive, simple-to-use tool that produces spiral cuts, shoestrings, and fruit and vegetable "noodles" for adding new texture to pasta dishes, stir-fries, soups, and salads. Craving a big plate of spaghetti but don't want to spend an hour at the gym? In a matter of minutes you can spiralize super-thin zucchini "zoodles" ready to cover with your favorite pasta sauce. And it doesn't begin and end with zucchini, either: a spiralizer can make quick work out of carrots, sweet potatoes, beets-even apples! The Spiralized Kitchen is perfect for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.

Step-by-step instructions, practical techniques, and mouthwatering photographs accompany a variety of fun, simple recipes using fresh ingredients from Leslie Bilderback, the author of Mug Cakes. With this book you have what you need to spiralize every meal.

Bursting with strategies, techniques, and more than 300 original recipes, Farm-Fresh and Fast is a new cookbook for both seasoned and beginning CSA members and farmers' market shoppers. Produced by FairShare CSA Coalition in Madison, Wisconsin, Farm-Fresh blends culinary know-how with practical recipes and resourceful techniques to teach local food lovers of all skill levels how to make the most of fresh, seasonal produce. Farm-Fresh follows the coalition's first cookbook, From Asparagus to Zucchini, now in its third edition and a national bestseller.

Each chapter of Farm-Fresh is organized by plant anatomy (such as leafy greens, root vegetables, etc.) to highlight similarities in cooking and preparation among ingredients. Master recipes help home cooks adapt recipes to fit the ingredients they have on hand, and come with four seasonal variations so the recipes can be "changed up" as the season progresses and the harvest unfolds. Recipes are flexible and encourage innovation. Don't have spinach? Try chard. No basil for your pesto? Try garlic scapes or cilantro for a tasty variation that makes a great sandwich spread.

In addition, home cooks will find themed, seasonal menu suggestions, from Mother's Day Brunch and Starry Spring Night Dinner Party to Winter Solstice Celebration, and photographs and descriptions of seventy-eight fruits and vegetables that can be found at farmers' markets and in CSA boxes from Wisconsin to Florida. Farm-Fresh is graphic-rich, with unique illustrations throughout.

Create Your Home-Preserved Pantry with Nearly 100 Recipes & Beautiful Photographs Throughout

Imagine lining your shelves with made-from-scratch jars of garlicky tomato sauce, flavor-packed baked beans, ready-to-eat stew or peak-summer veggies. Pressure canning is an easy, delicious way to feed your family, and with the wisdom of preserving expert Angi Schneider, anyone can master this affordable, time-saving practice.

Start with Pressure Canning 101, where Angi shares all of her best tips and tricks from 25+ years of experience. You’ll learn the ins and outs of your canner, as well as how to avoid botulism to ensure that your canned goods are safe to eat. Angi then shares in-depth guides and tons of creative, safe recipes for the most popular foods for canning—tomatoes, veggies, legumes (including beans), meats and soups. Everything you need to know is presented in Angi’s ultra-practical, easy-to-follow style. Forget overpriced takeout and premade grocery store meals. Instead, enjoy dinner in an instant with Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup, Swedish Meatballs or Pot Roast in a Jar. Share shelf-stable chicken broth with an under-the-weather neighbor or gift a grab-and-go gumbo to a friend. As Angi says, canning and community go hand in hand!

This trusty, all-in-one handbook, packed with information and recipes, is one you will return to again and again as you create your very own self-sufficient pantry.