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  • From: Alliums <garlicgrower AT earthlink.net>
  • To: community_garden AT mallorn.com, nefood-l AT listproc.tufts.edu, listwfan AT iastate.edu, market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
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  • Subject: [Market-farming] Book Review: Gardening for the Earth and Soul: A Practical Guide for Family and Community Gardening
  • Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 09:12:16 -0400

Hi, Folks!

It's been raining and the garlic harvest is finished, so I had some time to read!  Let me know if you are interested in using it -- I retain copyright.

Dorene

Gardening for the Earth and Soul:  A Practical Guide for Family and Community Gardening by Heather Dean and Tom Benevento, Brethren Press, 2004.  ISBN:  0-87178-053-4, 180 pages, $18.99.
 
Useful and beautiful, inspiring and down-to-earth, The Church of the Brethren has published one of the best gardening books of 2004. If you’d like to pursue organic gardening as a family activity or dream of starting a community garden in your community, this book will gently and lovingly guide you on your way.
 
In the most “religious” section of the book, Julie Garber, editor at The Brethren Press, explains:
 
“Why is a religious press publishing a book on gardening?  Because gardening, both metaphorically and practically, figures centrally in our faith.  The biblical account, after all, begins and ends in a garden, and contained in the primordial garden of beginnings and the eschatological paradise of the end is the essential story of faith and how to live it in the present . . .Since gardening is a metaphor for life, this book on gardening is really a book about a way of living.”
 
(The Church of the Brethren, the Amish and the Mennonites are the three Anabaptist Protestant immigrant traditions from 18th century Germany who are often referred to as the “Pennsylvania Dutch.”  For more about “Another Way of Living,” go to http://www.brethren.org  Full Disclosure: My maternal grandfather belonged to the Brethren and my mother and I have found that almost all of our thoughts about gardening, caring for the earth and making up our own minds go right back to him – and the Brethren.)
 
Garber then hands the book off to Heather Dean, a community gardener in Washington, DC, who, like my grandfather, narrates the “how-to” gardening sections of this book with practicality and affection and Tom Benevento, the General Board’s Latin America specialist, who penned both the sidebars on spirituality and the lovely line drawings that brighten the cover and every other page of the book.
 
Dean and Benevento want the book to be useful: each chapter contains a “Just for Kids” activity, a profile of a non-profit organization whose goal mirrors the chapter’s, and a resource section of books and websites for further reading.  The chapters themselves cover site design/planning, soil care, seed starting and saving, plant care, food storage (with recipes), flower/herbs, overviews of the major vegetable families and creating and maintaining a community garden. Through Benevento’s drawings and Dean’s text, the authors squeeze in extra charts and tables packed with information, yet the pages never look or feel crowded.
 
Dean and Benevento want the book to be inspiring: Both authors draw from personal experience and conversations with other gardeners to simply, yet poetically, explain what working with the earth means to them.  Following 300+ years of Anabaptist tradition, sidebars include relevant passages from the Bible as well as thoughts about peace from relevant thinkers. Throughout the pages, Benevento’s drawings illustrate, illuminate and uplift.
 
Don’t overlook this book because it comes from a small press that is not listed on Amazon. It is remarkably complete on its subject for only 180 pages and while inspired by its authors’ Christian faith, Dean and Benevento simply share their thoughts and experiences to inspire others to share (or dream) their own. Order the book directly from the Brethren Press at http://www.brethrenpress.com/ or call them at 1-800-441-3712. Those who are looking to bring their families and/or their communities closer to the earth through gardening will find both a kindred spirit and a practical guide.

 
Reviewed by Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John’s United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden
Phoenixville, PA


  • [Market-farming] Book Review: Gardening for the Earth and Soul: A Practical Guide for Family and Community Gardening, Alliums, 07/16/2004

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