Healing Treasure

Just came across a course i would love to take...The Art Of Horticulture (at Cornell University).

Now i just have to get into Cornell.

Simulation

Reality.

And check out their tasty reading list (they are just required to read 2):

Ackerman, Diane. 2001. Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden. NY: HarperCollins. (This lady keeps on showing up in my life! see Mad Book Dash!)

Druse, Ken. 2003. The Passion for Gardening: Inspiration for a Lifetime. NY: Clarkson
Potter/Publishers.

Kingsolver, Barbara. 2007. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. NY: HarperCollins.

Masumoto, David Mas. 1995. Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on my Family Farm. Harper San Francisco.

Mitchell, Henry. 1981, 1999. The Essential Earthman. NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Orlean, Susan. 1998. The Orchid Thief. NY: Ballantine.

Pollan, Michael. 2001. Botany of Desire. NY: Random House.

Stewart, Amy. 2007. Flower Confidential. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.

Every year our local library has book sale. There are beautiful and unusual (plus plenty of usual and not-so-beautiful) volumes a-plenty. The sale lasts a week and as it gets closer to the end, the prices drop. By the last day you can get a box of books (as long as you can carry it) for 4 bucks! Shocking, i know...

We were out of town for most of the brouhaha. But at 3pm on Sunday, my mother reminded me that it was the last day. My little sprout and i headed on over ('cause we don't have enough books as it, and you never know when you are going to find a gem). By the time we arrived there was an anouncement that the booksale would end in 15 minutes.

Needless to say there was a MAD BOOK DASH made by yours truly. In that short time span i managed to wrangle in 28 books...yes, i am serious...28 books.

my offspring overwhelmed by the fruits of his momma's Mad Book Dash!!!

2. The Tale of a Pond - by Henry b. Kane (awesome kids book with great descriptions, cool old black and white pics, and neat illustrations - a good catch!)

3. A Natural History of the Senses - Diane Ackerman (a guide to the senses - interesting and intriguing. i totally dig the optical nerve, don't you?)

4. Hand Analysis the Diagnostic Method - by Edo Sprong (Palmestry with thorough photos and illustrations. Good Find)

5. Black Hawk - by Black Hawk edited by Donald Jackson (Autobiography by Native American, my mom was really happy with this addition)

6. Iambic and Dactylic - by Floyd W. Jefferson (a dud that seems to be redeeming itself. i grabbed this one thinking it was penned by Thomas Jefferson, not Floyd. But the poetry seems read-worthy.)

7. The Buildings of Byzantum - by Helen and Richard Leacroft (Great kids book with terrific illustrations. Neat Architechtural food for the brain)

8. Essays on Prayer by A.W Jozer and others (the dimensions of the book and cover photo caught my eye. the essays? not so sure.)

9. Social Studies for the Young - Asia Book House (a dud, an already filled out notebook. i picked this up because there was an indian dancer on the cover. )

10. Gods, Demigods, and Demons - An encyclopedia of Greek Mythology - by Bernard Euslan (Couldn't pass this one up. Who doesn't want to know this stuff???)

11. A Bengali Book (i don't know what the title is, i don't know what it says in side, i don't know what i was thinking!!!)

12. The Sands of Kalahari - by William Mulvihill (The title got me, has anyone read this?)

13. An Intro to Native North America - by Mark Q. Sutton (Good Find!)

14. Lullabies - by F.E. Budd (Great stuff to read to my munchkin at night.)

15. Mother and Child - Edited by Sheila Pickles (Lovely pictures and many nice selections although some make me sad.)

16. The Moon is always Female - by Marge Piercy (Cool title, right? That's what got me. i hope the poems are good too.)

17. Ten-Minute Field Trips - by Helen Russell (Lots of good ideas and ways to get little ones engaged and thinking in the world around them.)

18. Childcraft Vol. 4 - Nature in danger (a photocopied volume, not sure what i think of it yet. could well be a dud.)

19. Women Rites and Sites, Aboriginal Women's cultural knowledge - ed. by Peggy Brock (Looks super interesting. Great Find!)

20. Don't Let the Goats Eat the Loquat Trees - by Thoma Hale (Doctor's stories about his time in nepal. i have been to nepal, so i got this book.)

21. Laughing at Gravity, Conversations with Isaac Newton - by Elizabeth Socolow (a collection of poems. it seems i was feeling very poetic sunday.)

23. The Way of All Flesh - by Samuel Butler (Had to have a counterbalance to the Natural History of the Senses...)

24. Lets Explore Beneath the Sea! - by William Knowlton (Lovely drawings and pics)

25. Women Who Run With Wolves - by Clarissa Estes (I had to get this. All about the wild woman archetype. Seemed like a totally tuff book.)

26. The Adventures of an Illustrator - by Joseph Pennell (Neat old volume with lots of drawings by various illustrators at the turn of the 20th century.)

27. Seeds of Change - by Herman Viola and Carolyn Margolis (Thought this would be about the history of seeds and agriculture. The cover photo - see below - seemed to indicate this with 3 men holding corn. At home i found out it is about the changes that occured with the meeting of cultures from Columbus on. Fantastic pictures. There was an exhibit in the Smithsonian with the same title that the book is based on.)

28. Both Sides, New Works from the Institute of American Indian Museum - by various authors (Good find. Should be an interesting read.)

So what do you think? Was it $4 well spent?

Upon reaching home after a great yoga class Thursday (much gratitude to my old friend Jonathon for inspiring my attendance), i found an envelope on the bed. It was my Acres USA free sample magazine and catalog! That a request for more info had been made a month and a half ago had slipped into the recesses of my busy mind.

How exciting! I have always wanted to know the ins and outs of organic seed production and how to make organic hay! Actually, that is true...i am not always aware of the desire, but it is there.

So far, i have only skimmed the magazine. The catalog was more magnetic straight away (there are several books on biomagnetism, btw). While putting the little lion to bed titles and descriptions of green and esoteric books were poured over. (Full Disclosure: Books and their consumption are a weakness of mine. There are shelves and shelves and shelves of them in our abode. Many have been great friends.)

The Earth Moved by Amy Stewart (all about the extraordinary wrigglers that are earthworms)

How to Grow Fresh Air by Dr. B.C. Wolverton (highlights 50 plants for their abilities to provide maximum oxygen, to purify toxins, and how green your thumb has to be to grow them)

Carrots Love Tomatoes (and the 2nd edition, Roses Love Garlic) by Louise Riotte (A gossip book for the plant world. All about who likes who, who doesn't like who, and how you can harness plants social preferences to maximize your garden's yield.)

Growing 101 Herbs that Heal by Tammi Hurtung (advice on how to cultivate, care for, and harvest 101 useful and healing herbs)

The Secret Teachings of Plants by Stephan Harrod Buhner (how to become more in tune with the healing aspects of plants. Inspired by indigenous and ancient people and cultures.)

Genetic Roulette by Jeffery Smith (Investigates and shatters the claim that genetically modified foods are safe.)

Dung Beetles by Charles Walters (The compelling tale of this strange bug.)

Secrets of the Soil by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird (Highly recommended to me by a friend. Discusses creative techniques being used to practice non-toxic agriculture.)