Heather Flores is a green garden goddess. She has a vision – for lawns to give way to gardens and those gardens to feed and sustain communities. And she’s written down the blueprint for this garden revolution in Food not Lawns: How turn your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighbourhood into a Community.
Food not Lawns starts by putting you in the right headspace, a good non-preachy ‘why you should’. Flores then kicks into a really sound overview of the practical elements – how to gain ground, the water cycle, the living soil, plants, polycultures and seed stewardship. All this in a really friendly, engaging style. Then we go beyond the garden, reaching out into the community and working together, for and with the next generation.
More review and lots of links after the jump…
This book needs to be approached with an open mind. A lot of the ideas may be considered too radical and wacky for some of the mainstream. But this woman is inspiring. Flores has ideas and plans. She’s positively beaming with creativity but also has the practical experience to back it up. I admire how she just doesn’t complicate things – the message is get out there and get moving.
Food not lawns opened me up to a whole range of new ideas. Cooking in a blanket box, draft boxes instead of refrigerators, super hero bike rides, and food bank gardens. Not to mention the sludge monster, a homebuilt greywater recycling system that anyone could put together.
One of the best things about Food not Lawns? The book teaches empowerment, real personal power – better than any TV guru or best-selling book. This is real power for real people. Flores teaches self-reliance which as the wonderful Bill Mollison said, is the most subversive power of all.
Buy Food not Lawns at Chelsea Green
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