Detailed instructions on how to plant, cultivate, harvest, and propagate a variety of pumpkin, squash, and ornamental gourd varieties are accompanied by more than 150 glorious color photographs, horticultural tips, and delicious recipes.
This year's heirloom tomato is a melon! Acclaimed gardener Amy Goldman, known to viewers of Martha Stewart and PBS, is a dedicated seed saver working to preserve fast-disappearing varieties of heirloom melons. Her book, Melons for the Passionate Grower, is a celebration of the speckled, bumpy, oh-so-sweet world of the melonÑfrom Minnesota Midget and Georgia Rattlesnake to Ali Baba and Sweet Siberian. Here she profiles more than one hundred varieties, each showcased in a full-color photographic still life recalling eighteenth- and nineteenth-century botanical paintings and engravings. Goldman also offers expert advice on cultivating and selecting your own melons, as well as the rudiments of seed saving.
Melons are the vegetable garden’s crown jewels—and Amy Goldman’s lifelong passion and calling. Her new book, THE MELON, will entice and educate, whether you are a passionate gardener, a locavore, or simply delight in the inherent beauty and evanescence of the fruits of the vine. THE MELON was produced by Amy Goldman in collaboration with celebrated photographer Victor Schrager over the course of nine years. It’s a cut above their award-winning melon book MELONS FOR THE PASSIONATE GROWER, published in 2002. In the intervening years, Goldman has grown as a gardener and has learned a lot more. She has taken advantage of recent research findings that informed her thinking on crop history and best cultural practices. THE MELON includes additional horticultural groups of melon and gives watermelon—which is less genetically diverse—more of a fair shake. Much like the word “cantaloupe,” which is used colloquially and erroneously by Americans to describe muskmelon, the word “melon” is commonly used in the United States to refer to both melon and watermelon. These vining crops belong to two different species within the Cucurbitaceae or gourd family of plants. Melon and watermelon are now among the world’s most important vegetable crops. The 125 varieties illustrated and described in THE MELON comprise 85 melons and 40 watermelons from all over the globe. Their stories are as diverse as the melons themselves. In addition to the stunning portraits and beauty shots and detailed descriptions of melons, THE MELON includes in-depth sections on picking and choosing melons and watermelons in the market, growing them in the garden, and saving pure heirloom seeds. Mouth-watering recipes by renowned cookbook author Mindy Fox complete the journey from seed to table.
On two hundred acres in the Hudson Valley, Amy Goldman grows heirloom fruits and vegetables--an orchard full of apples, pears, and peaches; plots of squash, melons, cabbages, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, and beets. The president of the New York Botanical Garden has called her "perhaps the world's premier vegetable gardener." It's her life's work, and she's not only focused on the pleasures of cultivating the land and feeding her family--she's also interested in preserving our agricultural heritage, beautiful and unique heirlooms that truly are organic treasures. Over fifteen years, the acclaimed photographer Jerry Spagnoli has visited Amy's gardens to preserve these cherished varieties in another way--with the historical daguerreotype process, producing ethereal images with a silvery, luminous depth and a timeless beauty, underscoring the historical continuity and value of knobby gourds, carrots pulled from the soil, and fruit picked fresh from the tree. In Heirloom Harvest, Amy's essay, "Fruits of the Earth," describes her twenty-five year collaboration with the land. The text along with Jerry Spagnoli's photographs and an afterword by M Mark add up to an exquisite package, an artist's herbarium worthy of becoming an heirloom itself.
Every year, renowned grower Amy Goldman produces an amazing 600 varieties of tomatoes on her estate in New York's Hudson Valley. Here, in 56 delicious recipes, 200 gorgeous photos, and Goldman's erudite, charming prose, is the cream of the crop. From glorious heirloom beefsteaks - that delicious tomato you had as a kid but can't seem to find anymore - to exotica like the ground tomato (a tiny green fruit that tastes like pineapple and grows in a tomatillo-like husk), Homegrown Tomatoes is filled with gorgeous shots of tomatoes so luscious they verge on the erotic. Along with the recipes and photos are profiles of the tomatoes, filled with surprisingly fascinating facts on their history and provenance, and a master gardener's guide to growing your own. More than just a loving look at one of the world's great edibles, this is a philosophy of eating and conservation between covers - an irresistible book for anyone who loves to cook or to garden.
Holistic veterinarian Dr. Randy Kidd explains how herbs can be used in the care of dogs. Includes chapters on common dog ailments and how to address them. Illustrations.
The ultimate guide to zero-waste and sustainable cookery, this book shows how to make use of every leftover, scrap and glut of vegan food in delicious, nutritious and inspiring ways. What is "compleating"? Completely eating every part of a fruit or vegetable! Plant-based diets are a wonderful way to protect the planet, but fruits and vegetables still have carbon footprints, and often the parts we throw away or compost are the most nutritious and delicious bits. Ellen Tout, sustainability expert and dedicated vegan, is passionate about maximizing the benefits of veganism, and through just a few simple tips, tricks and ingenious recipes she can revolutionize the way you cook. Transform banana skins into pulled "pork"; make amazing vegan butter from the liquid in a can of chickpeas; give new life to leftover wine by making your own vinegar; forget everything you knew about kiwi by whipping up a batch of "whole kiwi" salsa for tacos. Arranged alphabetically, not only does each section include internationally-inspired recipes, but also tried-and-tested, environmentally-friendly alternatives to household cleaning, beauty products, and pet food. Dye fabrics pink with avocado skins; or transform a coconut half into a houseplant pot. "Compleat recipes" show how to make dishes that use every part of the ingredient, such as Pumpkin Pie with Caramelized Seeds or Carrot Top Tabouleh, while techniques such as pickling, fermenting and off-cuts broths can save pretty much anything from the bin. Whether you're an experienced vegan cook, or just starting to explore plant-based eating, you're sure to find inspiration from this encyclopaedic guide.
Scientist/gardener Carol Deppe combines her passion for organic gardening with newly emerging scientific information from many fields — resilience science, climatology, climate change, ecology, anthropology, paleontology, sustainable agriculture, nutrition, health, and medicine. In the last half of The Resilient Gardener, Deppe extends and illustrates these principles with detailed information about growing and using five key crops: potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and eggs. In this book you’ll learn how to: •Garden in an era of unpredictable weather and climate change •Grow, store, and use more of your own staple crops •Garden efficiently and comfortably (even if you have a bad back) •Grow, store, and cook different varieties of potatoes and save your own potato seed •Grow the right varieties of corn to make your own gourmet-quality fast-cooking polenta, cornbread, parched corn, corn cakes, pancakes and even savory corn gravy •Make whole-grain, corn-based breads and cakes using the author’s original gluten-free recipes involving no other grains, artificial binders, or dairy products •Grow and use popbeans and other grain legumes •Grow, store, and use summer, winter, and drying squash •Keep a home laying flock of ducks or chickens; integrate them with your gardening, and grow most of their feed. The Resilient Gardener is both a conceptual and a hands-on organic gardening book, and is suitable for vegetable gardeners at all levels of experience. Resilience here is broadly conceived and encompasses a full range of problems, from personal hard times such as injuries, family crises, financial problems, health problems, and special dietary needs (gluten intolerance, food allergies, carbohydrate sensitivity, and a need for weight control) to serious regional and global disasters and climate change. It is a supremely optimistic as well as realistic book about how resilient gardeners and their vegetable gardens can flourish even in challenging times and help their communities to survive and thrive through everything that comes their way — from tomorrow through the next thousand years. Organic gardening, vegetable gardening, self-sufficiency, subsistence gardening, gluten-free living.
Readers of this expansive, three-volume encyclopedia will gain scientific, sociological, and demographic insight into the complex relationship between plants and humans across history. Comprising three volumes and approximately half a million words, this work is likely the most comprehensive reference of its kind, providing detailed information not only about specific plants and food crops such as barley, corn, potato, rice, and wheat, but also interdisciplinary content that draws on the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The entries underscore the fascination that humans have long held for plants, identifies the myriad reasons why much of life on earth would be impossible without plants, and points out the intertwined relationship of plants and humans—and how delicate this balance can be. While the majority of the content is dedicated to the food plants that are essential to human existence, material on ornamentals, fiber crops, pharmacological plants, and carnivorous plants is also included.
The Best of the Best from the Last Decade Acclaimed by the critics, The Best American Recipes series has long been the universal choice of home cooks and professional chefs as the one infallible source of the year's most dazzling recipes. Now in The 150 Best American Recipes, two of the food world's most respected professionals pull out all the stops to create the ultimate resource: a can't-live-without-it collection of the most exciting recipes of the last decade. Out of literally tens of thousands of recipes that have appeared in print -- in cookbooks, magazines, newspapers, and even in flyers and on the Internet -- from the deservedly famous to the wonderfully obscure, from top-flight chefs to unknown but gifted cooks -- they chose the most distinctive. Then came the key step: extensive testing in their own kitchens. If the dish wasn't spectacular, it didn't make the cut. Finally, they pitted their favorites against one another and chose the winners: the very best of the best. In The 150 Best American Recipes, you'll find: Scores of brilliantly simple dishes that are sensationally delicious. The best recipes from the great chefs and cooks of the era, including Jamie Oliver, Thomas Keller, Judy Rodgers, and Alice Waters. Miraculously quick, remarkable everyday dishes that you'll want to make countless times and share with your friends. Holiday dishes that are certain to become instant traditions in your family. Valuable tips and techniques to make all your cooking easier.