Showing results by publisher "----RM Alexander" in Sustainable & Green Living

When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains plants and then become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of toxic substances. Teaming with Microbes offers an alternative to this vicious circle and details how to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web. You’ll discover that healthy soil is teeming with life - not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms.

To grow produce of the highest nutritional quality the essential minerals lacking in our soil must be replaced, but this re-mineralization calls for far more attention to detail than the simple addition of composted manure or NPK fertilizers. The Intelligent Gardener demystifies the process, while simultaneously debunking much of the false and misleading information perpetuated by both the conventional and organic agricultural movements. In doing so, it conclusively establishes the link between healthy soil, healthy food, and healthy people.

Growing on just one and a half acres, owners Jean-Martin and Maude-Helène feed more than 200 families through their thriving CSA and seasonal market stands and supply their signature mesclun salad mix to dozens of local establishments. The secret of their success is the low-tech, high-yield production methods they've developed by focusing on growing better rather than growing bigger, making their operation more lucrative and viable in the process.

The fundamentals of permaculture are simple: care for people and the Earth, and share what you have. With these in mind, practitioners promote a system with a sense of respect for all life on the planet. You may, however, be anxious about not knowing what to do. After all, not everybody knows about permaculture. But don’t worry–you don’t need to be an expert to start your own permaculture garden.

Most gardeners realize that plants need to be fed but know little to nothing about the nature of the nutrients involved or how they get into plants. Teaming with Nutrients explains how nutrients move into plants and what both macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients do once inside. It shows organic gardeners how to provide these essentials.

After the devastating loss of his father, Adam Lind made a choice to pursue a life less ordinary: hitchhiking across twenty-six countries over the course of five years, meeting fascinating people along the way, and experiencing life-changing moments before taking to the waterways of the UK on his beloved (and temperamental) narrowboat, The Raman Rose.

Mycelium Running is a manual for the mycological rescue of the planet. That’s right: growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment, and in this groundbreaking text from mushroom expert Paul Stamets, you’ll find out how. The basic science goes like this...

Critical Path is Fuller's master work - the summing up of a lifetime's thought and concern - as urgent and relevant as it was upon its first publication in 1981. Critical Path details how humanity found itself in its current situation - at the limits of the planet's natural resources and facing political, economic, environmental, and ethical crises.

We’ve been told that a vegetarian diet can feed the hungry, honor the animals, and save the planet. Lierre Keith believed in that plant-based diet and spent twenty years as a vegan. But in The Vegetarian Myth, she argues that we’ve been led astray - not by our longings for a just and sustainable world, but by our ignorance. e truth is that agriculture is a relentless assault against the planet, and more of the same won’t save us. In service to annual grains, humans have devastated prairies and forests, driven countless species extinct, altered the climate, and destroyed the topsoil - the basis of life itself....

Inspiring stories of 10 urbanites who decided to ‘the simple life’ in the rural mountains of Japan—for anyone interested in sustainable living, Japanese culture, and Eastern spirituality. “Subversive in the best possible way.” —Bill McKibben, New York Times–bestselling author...

Compared to Charles' other books, this is more about no dig, eliminating weeds, garden layout, compost making, and using compost. There is also a history of no-dig vegetable gardening in the last 100 years. I want listeners to understand the context and the reasons why no dig has not been much valued until recently, and why it is now. This audiobook has 18 sections, covering the key methods and wonderful results of no dig, from starting with weeds to sowing and planting straightaway, and cropping soon after.

Call it "Zen and the Art of Farming" or a "Little Green Book", Masanobu Fukuoka's manifesto about farming, eating, and the limits of human knowledge presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of cultivating the earth reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world. As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book "is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical."

Framed by the author’s personal experience with backyard hens, Chickens: Their Natural and Unnatural Histories explores the history of the chicken from its descent from the dinosaurs to the space-age present. En route, Lembke surveys chickens in ancient Greece, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the 19th century, and modern times, including the role of chickens in Jewish and Muslim practices. She also investigates the birds’ contributions to science and their jaunty appearances in literature.

Over half a century ago, John Rowlands set out by canoe into the wilds of Canada to survey land for a timber company. After paddling alone for several days, he came upon "the lake of my boyhood dreams", which he named Cache Lake because there was stored the best that the north had to offer-timber for a cabin; fish, game, and berries to live on; and the peace and contentment he felt he could not live without.

Do you ever feel strange, gross, chaotic, underappreciated, or like you don’t quite fit in? Great news: you might be a goblin! That means your imperfections and idiosyncrasies are the most awesome things about you, and you can build a more balanced, comfortable, harmonious life by accepting and honoring them—taking inspiration from the frogs, fungus, moss, rocks, and dirt that goblins love.

From Josh Tickell, one of America’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers, comes a “fascinating, easy-to-follow blueprint for how eating in ways that nourish and regenerate the soil can not only help reverse global warming, but also bring greater vitality to our lives” (Wolfgang Puck)...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “An imperative call to action” (Nick Offerman) to get children off their screens and into nature, with tips for bonding activities that teach the importance of outside time and build tough, curious, competent kids—from the host of the Netflix series and...

With the appearance of Grunch of Giants, R. Buckminster Fuller consummates his literary canon, his panoramic lifetime survey of all aspects of the responsibility of human beings for their own destiny. This book is a modern allegory - his long-gestated myth-of the villainy of capitalism and the fecklessness of classic economics. For Fuller, the academic discipline of economics is irrelevant since it derives from an invalid assumption of scarcity.

Become self-reliant, live off the land, and be prepared for the unexpected in this modern guide to self-sufficiency and homesteading from New York Times bestselling author, retired Navy SEAL, and survival skills expert Clint Emerson. “Add The Rugged Life by former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson to...

In the spirit of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning and The Joy of Less, experience the benefits of buying less and sharing more with this accessible 7-step guide to decluttering, saving money, and creating community from the creators of the Buy Nothing Project. In their island community...