Change starts in your own backyard - literally - and this spring, as late as it is, is the perfect time to start your own "zero-mile diet" garden.
The motivation to do so can come from two books: the late Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and David R. Montgomery's Dirt.
Originally published in 1962, Silent Spring was the public's first introduction to the dangers of chemical pesticides, both on our environment and our health. Carson, who began her career as a marine biologist and then became a full-time writer and conservationist, gathered field data about pesticide use (namely, DDT) as well as toxicology statistics dating back to the 1940s - all information once only accessible to specialists collecting and studying them but then made public. After some initial controversy and an April 1963 CBS Reports TV special, pesticide use became a widespread public issue. Carson died in 1964.
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations looks at a much older issue: the history of intensive farming and its depletion of topsoil, leading to the decline of the economies (and societies) of the ancient near east, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China and the modern world. Dirt is cultivated for a 20th century audience, including some coverage of the current organic/sustainable agriculture movement.
After these, the following titles can help you get down to work.
Written by the editors of the Rodale Gardening Books series, Garden Wisdom and Know-How: Everything You Need To Know To Plant, Grow and Harvest is a large, floppy book (similar to the Whole Earth Catalogs from the 1970s) packed with information on soils, plants and garden design as well as tips on composting, buying seeds and organic pest control.
Gaia's Garden: A Guide To Home-Scale Permaculture by Portland, Oregon-based urban farmer Toby Hemenway, includes information on designing your garden as an ecosystem. Learn how to catch, conserve and use water, use certain plants to control aggressive weeds and grow a food forest. Gaia's Garden includes information on both rural and urban farming.
Agricultural journalist Ann Larkin Hansen's Organic Farming Manual is an excellent book on starting and running a sustainable business. With contributions from more than 20 farmers around the U.S., the Organic Farming Manual offers a short history of organic agriculture followed by chapters on finding farmable land, assessing soil quality, planting and maintaining an orchard, raising livestock and selling farm produce.
Looking ahead, Year Around Harvest: Winter Gardening on the Coast, written by Victoria-area farmer Linda Gilkeson, features plenty of valuable tips on growing hearty greens and root vegetables over the winter. Other topics covered include the storing and preserving of fruit and vegetables and the storing and saving of seeds.
So get growing and make every day Earth Day with these and other organic gardening titles.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday. Jason Colantonio is a reference librarian at Coquitlam Public Library.
