1. Gardening and resilience
2. The plant-gardener covenant: 33 golden gardening rules
3. Gardening in an era of wild weather and climate change
4. Diet and food resilience
5. Labor and exercise
6. Water and watering
7. Soil and fertility
8. Potatoes
9. The laying flock
10. Squash and pumpkins
11. Beans
12. Corn
Oregon plant breeder Carol Deppe specialises in developing public-domain crops for organic growing conditions, sustainable agriculture, and human survival for the next thousand years.
Library Journal-
"Resilient" gardeners adapt to challenging health, dietary,
weather, or financial situations to produce food that can sustain a
family through adverse times. In this guide to becoming such a
gardener, plant breeder Deppe (Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties)
details her methods for safe and reliable food production-and
covers more than strictly gardening-no matter your state of health
or what climate you are in. She focuses on five crops with calorie,
nutrient, and storage values: potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and,
yes, duck eggs. In each chapter, Deppe describes her experiences
with specific varieties of crops (with particular reference to her
own climate in coastal Oregon), specific techniques for success,
and unusual recipes suited to the varieties she grows (all are
designed for those with gluten intolerance). VERDICT Deppe's
idiosyncratic personality shines through her writing-this is as
much a series of personal anecdotes by a lifelong expert gardener
as a gardening book that will appeal to readers of a similar bent.
Ideal for dedicated, independent gardeners who want to focus on
food production despite dietary challenges, poor health, or other
issues
ForeWord Reviews-
In The Resilient Gardener, scientist and author Carol Deppe offers
readers an inspiring approach to gardening. For many, gardening is
a hobby-a source of solace and an experiment in self-sufficiency.
Gardens are designed to offer up good things during good
times-handfuls of bulbous tomatoes after weeks of careful watering,
weeding, and monitoring for invading insects, for example. But what
happens when gardeners-along with the rest of society-face
uncertain times? Uncertain times, caused by an unstable economy,
changing weather patterns, or personal injury, result in an expanse
of time when the "garden suffers because people have other
priorities." With this premise in mind, Deppe introduces the
concept of resilient gardening. In Deppe's world, gardening
transcends the world of leisurely pursuit and transforms into an
act of empowerment. In twelve intensely detailed chapters, The
Resilient Gardener empowers readers with the knowledge they need to
design, build, and maintain gardens that can withstand intense
hardship and thrive despite periods of complete neglect. The first
half of the book marries the practice of gardening with emerging
global issues, such as climate change, increasing attention to
weight control, and the rise of food allergies. Readers must first
achieve a firm grasp of how these issues intersect with the process
of gardening in order to fully benefit from the hands-on guidelines
provided later in the book. Deppe's analysis is thorough; her
research delves deep. By discussing the interaction between
gardening and prevalent world issues, she establishes gardeners as
hubs of sustainability and survival, their individual efforts
producing movements of resilience that can benefit society as a
whole. One of the major strengths of this book-and what sets it
apart from the deluge of gardening books currently on bookstore
shelves-is the union of Deppe's scientific knowledge with her
personal gardening experience. The second half of the book details
the five essential crops of self-reliance-potatoes, corn, beans,
squash, and eggs-and how to grow them. Though these sections are
largely "dip and skip" depending on the reader's level of
knowledge, they are expressed in crisp, detailed, and incredibly
fluid prose. Deppe is able to transmit the nitty-gritty of
gardening through invaluable parcels of personal anecdotes that
make the material relatable and a pleasure to read. Deppe's unique
approach to her topic makes The Resilient Gardener an appealing
selection for both experienced and beginner gardeners, as well as
readers interested in issues of sustainability and global
reform.
Permaculture Activist- "This book presents an in-depth
seed-to-table understanding of five culturally significant and
life-sustaining crops: corn, beans, squash, potatoes, and eggs. Its
power and promise are rooted in Deppe's lived experience and
revealed in the careful detail by which she shares it. This
book is frank, plainspoken, and intimate. The basis for the
author's diet is her intolerance for grain. She has celiac disease
and cannot digest wheat or any of its near relatives in the grass
family: rye, barley, oats, or triticale, and so has learned from
much difficult experience to exclude completely from her table the
foods most people depend upon for their daily bread. The basis of
the book, however, is her determination to provide a reliable
supply of staple food for her kitchen and to be responsible for
every aspect of that from breeding and selecting the crops she uses
to stabilizing and sharing the seed, to understanding the genetics,
to exploring, cooking, and relishing the palate of flavors she
nurtures and the rich and deeply satisfying foods that in turn
nurture her, It is this quality of determination and careful
empirical and practical work that recommends The Resilient Gardener
to serious gardeners and home economists. Deppe is doing what many
of us aspire to do.”
"The Resilient Gardener is so essential, timely and important, and
I will recommend it to everyone I know. It doesn't matter if you
garden or if you don't-this is practical wisdom good for humans to
know, passed on by a careful student who has deeply studied her
life. Carol Deppe's lens is the garden-which is great for
gardeners, but really, she speaks clearly to all of us. If you try
to think like Deppe, you will find you have a new view of your life
no matter who you are. This is a wise and intelligent book. Hats
off to Carol Deppe!"--Deborah Madison, Author of Local Flavors and
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
"In the years since Carol Deppe wrote the classic Breed Your Own
Vegetable Varieties, she has continued to grow in deep wisdom and
experience. The Resilient Gardener is brilliantly timely, and shows
us how to create gardens that can survive our increasingly erratic
weather, while supplying key nutrition lacking in most vegetable
gardens. This book fills a critical niche, and I recommend it
unreservedly."--Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia's Garden: A Guide to
Home-Scale Permaculture
"The Resilient Gardener is the most comprehensive and detailed book
about gardening that I have read to date, and I could not find one
sentence that I would quibble with. Not only does Deppe discuss all
the immediate, nose- to- the- grindstone kind of information about
producing and using homegrown food, but also all the surrounding
environmental and cultural aspects of gardening that are so vital
to success. A must read for beginning gardeners, and full of
details even the most experienced will find invaluable."--Gene
Logsdon, author of Small-Scale Grain Raising and Holy Shit:
Managing Manure to Save Mankind
"The Resilient Gardener gives concrete examples of how to deal with
diet, climate, and economic changes before the need arises. Deppe
challenges us to experiment with and practice all aspects of
gardening, seed saving and food storage, and advises on the growing
need to meet special food and climate requirements in the face of
our food system's fragility. This book is an invaluable tool for
gardeners and farmers as we experience more and more volatility in
our food systems."--Suzanne Ashworth, author of Seed to Seed
"Carol Deppe is informative, funny, and intriguing as she guides us
through every phase of gardening--dispelling myths while also
orienting us to the technical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of
growing food. The Resilient Gardener is the quintessential guide to
gardening from an authority who also knows how to enjoy
herself."--Didi Emmons, author of Vegetarian Planet
"Carol Deppe's celiac-friendly approach to gardening and nutrition
provides a wealth of information on how to overcome food
intolerances many are confronted with each day. If you struggle
with food allergies or sensitivities--or want to use natural
resources to create a healthy world for you and your family--this
book is for you."--Peter H.R. Green, MD, Director, Celiac Disease
Center at Columbia University
"Growing food is among the most positive changes anyone can make in
the face of uncertainty about the future. The Resilient Gardener is
an information-packed resource for people starting or expanding a
garden practice. This book empowers readers with skills and
understanding, as did Deppe's previous book, Breed Your Own
Vegetable Varieties."--Sandor Ellix Katz, author, Wild Fermentation
and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved
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