The Super Food Gardener – Book Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The Super Food Gardener
A Step by Step Guide to Growing Super Food Vegetables in Your Garden
by Sharon & Andrew Cooper
Professional Nursery Growers
Queensland, Australia
Physical copy of book: AUS$ 29.95
E-Book: please enquire
The book is 170 pages in the PDF version
and is double spaced

The copy of the book under review was a PDF of the book is 170 pages A4 and double spaced, which I find a great idea making reading so much easier

The Super Food Gardener is a very interesting and informative (E-) book with very detailed instructions on every aspect of growing healthy organic food in your own backyard. Then again, it does not only have to be in the backyard.

However, and there is almost always invariably at least one but and caveat, there are a few things that I would like to comment on.

The main one is that the beauty, for lack of another word, of the book is being spoilt by some scaremongering that the authors engage in in several areas of the book, about commercial food growing and supermarkets and all that.

It is a given that growing your own vegetables (and raising your own livestock, though the book does not delve into that) is better for each one of us and the Planet and there is no need to come at the reader with some scare and horror stories that seem a little far fetched, to say the least. This but distracts and may even turn the one or other reader off.

On another note it would be well to take into consideration that this book is written in Australia with Australian growing seasons and thus I would advise the reader to check his or her area as to whether and how the particular plants will grow.

The copy of the book that I got was a self-published version in PDF – which is/was available for sale on the website, though now there is a physical book available (as well) – and which I printed out and bound in a lever arch file for ease of reading and annotation by means of post-it notes.

It could have done with a front piece but this may have been solved, though I do not know, in the physical printed and bound version, though the double spaced layout is a great idea and I do hope that that is being retained in the printed and bound version of the book. It makes reading so much easier.

The authors are professional nursery growers and thus, the information is, no doubt, second to none.

The PDF of the book is 170 pages packed full of information in A4 size and would have been less than that had the line spacing not been double space which, however, makes reading, especially on screen, so much easier.

Some pages could have been very well omitted and that is all those of them with the scaremongering bits and they should be edited and removed as far as possible in any revised edition. Instead the positive issues of “grow your own” should be listed only. It would also be good to have a proper front piece in any revised version of the book with copyright notices and all the rest.

In summing up I would like to say that “The Super Food Gardener” is a very good and highly informative book and would be classed as excellent were it not for the main caveat of mine that I mentioned. Scaremongering is, in my opinion, not a good way, necessarily, to start and is a method used by too many of the survivalist writers and speakers in the US that is making people close their ears nowadays.

A great book bar for that little fact of scaremongering and one of the most detailed books on growing vegetables that I have so far seen...

© 2011

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Scrapkins Build-It Book Vol. I – Book Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Scrapkins Build-It Book Vol. I
12 Things you can make from junk
by Brian Yanish
Published 2011 by Crackle Press, NY
for Scrapkins
32 pages paperback (comic book format)
ISBN-13: 978-061543894
Price: $9.99

12 recycled art projects, activities and comics.

Recommended for Ages 6-9 years

What can you make from all that junk you throw away? Join The Scrap Kins, a toothsome monster family who live in a recycling center, as they give step by step instructions to turn toilet paper tubes and milk cartons into pirate ships, bird feeders and more! Share a project with your kids with true DIY fun at home!

This is a great little book for kids full of “cute” crafts project using junk and waste materials.

This book is a lovely tool to teach children that there is value in reusing bits of trash from which to make things.

When I was a kid we made things all the time from junk – it was just what we did. Not that we did have much in the ways of toys anyway and we had to make our own, really. But, more often than not, we made things for serious use and even with the view of selling the stuff we made on markets.

I do love this little volume and my favorite bits are the making of the Jeans Tote, the Foam Glider (finally a use for Styrofoam trays) and the Owl Bird Feeder.

Children, if but given the chance and a little encouragement will go and look at waste in the same way as we did as children and try to find a reuse as toys or other even. We just have to get them away from the GameBoy, the X-Box, the computer or the TV.

How often do we see kids than, when they come across a cardboard box, for instance, that may have had a gift in for them even, that the box is being played with rather than the toy. If we allow them to get on with that they will put us to shame in the ideas department as to what to do with packaging materials, etc. and if they have a little guidance such as the “Scrapkins Build-It Book” they will even outperform any of us by way of ideas, I am sure.

Oh, did I mention that I love the book... I think I did but let me just say it again... I do...

The book can be purchased via ScrapKins website: http://www.thescrapkins.com

or via Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0615438946?tag=thscki-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0615438946&adid=0A47EERQRMG3G4MXW6C7



© 2011

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Woodlanders: New Life in Britain's Forests – Book Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Woodlanders: New Life in Britain's Forests
Edited by Ian Edwards
320 pages Hardcover
Published October 2010 by Saraband (Scotland) Ltd
Size: 25.4 x 20 x 3.4 cm
ISBN: 978-1-887354-69-1
Price: £25

“WOODLANDERS: New Life in Britain's Forests” is a beautifully written and laid out book on what the woods of this country once were and and how they were used and about revitalizing our native woodlands and managing them for their worth.

This book is a lovely reminder of where we come from, and of why we owe so much to the wood and the trees and the plants that sustain us.

Britain's precious remaining woodlands need our interest and protection, and I hope the ideas and wonderful pictures in this book will encourage more people to get involved and also that those that often claim to be guardians of the environment will not get in the way of attempts to revitalize coppicing and other such woodland crafts and industries.

While I find this an great book there are, in places, the usual misleading comments as too “ancient” woods, which the uninitiated will understand as to woods and forests that have never been worked by man. This, however, is not so. There are no untouched woods and forests anywhere in Europe, and even the likes of the great woodlands and forests of Eastern Europe have all been worked, to some extent at least.

In Britain coppicing has been practiced for thousands of years and only since about World War II has that practice fallen into disuse and that often due to pressure of misguided environmentalists – who often have no knowledge at all – who wanted the woods to return to their ancient untouched state.

This is something that cannot be done with coppice woodlands as the coppice stools, if not worked, will simply break apart and all the tress will be gone within a short space of time, as all are of the same age, approximately.

Across Britain, people are rediscovering the spellbinding magic of our woodlands and the wealth of opportunities they offer. Some are doing this to make a living, others for the sheer pleasure of being out in the woods, but all are reconnecting to each other through their closer engagement with nature.

This beautiful book celebrates woodlanders and their passions, whether nature itself, or bushcraft skills, building tree houses, community projects, willow working, wild food or searching for fairies and elves.

Community woodlands are, in my opinion, one of the finest ways to go as far as keeping our still existing woodlands safe, so to speak, and having them worked at the same time,

In addition, new community woodlands could be created and they would not even take tens of years to be able to be used. By setting up community coppice woodlands it would already be possible to make use of some of the wood at around seven to ten years. That is when, generally, the first cut is made anyway, and some material could be used before that even for the making of walking sticks, split pegs,, and other products, especially when Hazel and Willow are in use too.

I can but recommend this book to everyone remotely interested in our woodlands and in revitalizing them into living, working entities. Some of the people in the “green” realm, pardon any pun, who are always anti such developments as to turning woodlands back into worked ones would do extremely well reading this book and taking the lessons on board.

© 2011

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Companies on a Mission – Book Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Companies on a Mission
Entrepreneurial Strategies for Growing Sustainably, Responsibly, and Profitably
by Michael V. Russo
with a Foreword by L. Hunter Lovins
Cloth 272 pages, 4 tables, 15 figures
Published by Stanford University Press 2010
ISBN-10: 0804761620
ISBN-13: 9780804761628
Price $27.95
E-book
ISBN-10: 0804774285
ISBN-13: 9780804774284
Price: $27.95

As the Library Journal states this is a well-written and informative business book that provides valuable tips and background for anyone interested in starting up or managing a socially conscious company.

It is very informative but definitely not a book that you can read in a week for you will be forever making notes on some sticky note pads to stick into the pages in order to go back to it later too – maybe – implement some of the ideas.

"Companies on a Mission” brings academic rigor to the age-old notion of 'going well by doing good' and mission-driven companies succeed, as Mike Russo makes crystal clear in this compelling book, not just because their missions make them greener, but because they make them better. They create quality products, garner a fanatical following, and engender innovation, passion, and fun for employees and customers alike.

But, they also tend to fall flat on their faces when, like the Roddicks with Body Shop, and others, the company and the brand gets sold off to big companies that don't have the same ethos.

While the Roddicks had great morals in business when the company was bought out by L'Oreal things very much went downhill, as far as most of us in the green movement are concerned, and the same also happened to so many other ethical companies when they were bought up by other companies, Rowantree and Cadbury's being just some other examples.

The book is a highly informative and extremely well-written analysis of the creation and growth of ecologically and socially minded firms and it provides a balanced assessment of both the opportunities and the risks that enterprises face in trying to combine social and environmental accountability and survival in the marketplace. While Russo in his book maybe focusing on small firms, the lessons it offers are relevant to all businesses seeking to position themselves and their products as eco-friendly and/or socially responsible. Only, I would think, the bigger the company, especially them publicly owned, that is to say, being one with shareholders, of how ever many, the more difficult it will be.

This also was obvious with the sale of Body Shop, for instance, for while the Roddicks may not have wanted to sell the fact that the company was listed on the stock market and was owned by a fair number of big shareholders who saw this as a chance of making a quick buck the company was sold off to a company that is less than ethical in many of its operations.

But that is my opinion as to the way some of such companies went from good to bad, so to speak, and has, actually, nothing to do with the book.

However, the book is a most valuable source of information and ideas as to how to run a mission-driven company (and the size should not matter) and how to maintain the flow.

Definite worthy of study and worth its price. Only I cannot understand why the E-book sells at the same price as the printed and bound version.

© 2010

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FIND YOUR POWER – Book Review

FIND YOUR POWER – A Toolkit for Resilience & Positive Change

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

FIND YOUR POWER
A Toolkit for Resilience & Positive Change
by Dr Chris Johnstone
Foreword by Rob Hopkins, co-founder of The Transition Movement
Permanent Publications 18th May 2010
ISBN: 13 978-1856230506
205mm x 160mm Paperback 312pp
B&W illustrations UK: £12.95

“Find Your Power” is a great book which is fun and encouraging as well as being full of good tips and activities. It brings the complex notion of personal power to life, offers insight into ourselves as a species and invites a sense of soul and purpose to our journey.

Drawing on insights from addictions recovery, positive psychology, storytelling and holistic science, “Find Your Power” describes how you can strengthen your ability to bring about positive change, and are proven strategies for improving mood, building strengths and increasing effectiveness.

The tools described can be used for any kind of change, from tackling depression and improving your life through to addressing world issues like peak oil and climate change. This new, improved second edition has a foreword by Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition movement.

The first part of the book introduces motivational enhancement tools that help you become clearer about your direction and more inspired to move that way while the second offers tools for getting through blocks by looking at creative problem solving strategies, ways of dealing with fear and methods for transforming crisis or failure into turning points.

The third part of the book then explores how to keep yourself going in the marathon of longer term change by strengthening support around you, tapping into purposes bigger than yourself and making what you do more enjoyable.

With a background in medicine, psychology and groupwork the author, Dr. Chris Johnstone, is a specialist in the psychology of positive change. After working for many years as an addictions specialist in the UK health service, he now focuses on teaching, training and writing.

Chris has been active in the Transition movement, contributing to a chapter on the psychology of change in “The Transition Handbook” by Rob Hopkins. He has pioneered the application of the positive psychology approach in healthcare, within organizations and in adult education. He edits the online newsletter “The Great Turning Times.”

I sincerily hope to be able to implement a great number of the lessons from this book im my life, personal and professional.

© 2010

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