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Posted by admin to Sneakier Uses for Everyday Things, books on 2008-03-26, 08:26:13

Sneakier Uses for Everyday Things is a creative summer projects book with fun and educational activities for children, especially boys that enjoy making creative use of common items as well as gizmos and gadgets.

Teaching children to develop their creative ration sounds like a job for the schools and the board of education, but when we take kids home for the summer, does that mean their education is going to stop?

Of course not, because there is a little McGuiver hiding inside every kid (even little girls), and what better way to bring creative ways of thinking about the world, than with a little ingenuity?

Sneakier Uses for Everyday Things is a book that does just that while enchanting our imaginations AND challenging our speed of thought more than any creative writing or math assignment through fun gadgets and gizmos that will make this summer unforgettable.

This 160-page paperback, written by Cy Tymony, published by Andrews McMeel in October of 2005, measures 6.8 x 4.9 x 0.4 and ships at 8 ounces.

Little boys just love watching McGuiver shows and James Bond movies, and for those young fathers and grandfathers with curious boys that love to mess around with gizmos and gadgets, this bookis filled with activities that could fill a summer vacation with learning and creativity.

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to Dirt, Waldeath, Winter, animals, books, chores, food, girlgonegardening, houseplants, roses, seeds, spring, summer, tools on 2008-03-06, 08:29:00

28*, feels like 19*, 73% humidity, WNW 10 mph wind, cloudy, FLOOD WARNING It was a difficult morning to wake up today. I slept a sound 8 hours, which is more then the norm for me. 6 hours in the winter, and 4-5 hours in the summer is my sleeping schedule. I was tempted to just stay in bed instead of getting myself motivated for the day. After all, I had things to do like feed the animals, water

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to California, Dirt, Flowers, Grow-A-Long Fun, Mr. Hyper, animals, birds, books, crafts, garden, hiking, leaves, rocks, seeds, snow, spring, veggies, weather, weekend on 2008-03-02, 06:14:00

37*, feels like 30*, 67% humidity, SE 9 mph wind, fair It's supposed to be 53* today later. I plan to take advantage of this nice weather, you can beet on it! I was thinking I should go to the heron rookery, to check out the nests today, as March is the best time to view the nest repairs without the confusion of leaves in the way. But Mr. Hyper, after seeing the pictures of the fun I had last

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Posted by admin to Hydroponic Basics, books on 2008-02-17, 15:55:11

Hydroponic Basics is a book for the first time hydroponic grower, looking to build their very own small-scale hydroponic garden and understand all the ins and outs of this coming trend in sustainability.

A great project for parent and child over the weekend or summer vacation, figuring out what kind of knowledge and work really goes into hydroponics are the key elements in this basic how-to manual that is short and sweet, filled to the brim with only the most relevant information, including tips and solutions to common misunderstanding in the field.

Anyone who has taken care of a mini windowsill greenhouse, will know that neither of these areas propose any considerable challenge for the average person, but learning and discovery are really what these small scale experiments are really about and hydroponics is no different.

This 80-page paperback, written and published by George Van Patten in December of 2004, measures 5.6 x 4.2 x 0.1 and ships at 1.6 ounces.

For students, educators and newcomers that see a more sustainable future in the realm of hydroponic growing, this book covers all the hydroponic basics, from plant science, the environment, gardening, supplies to doing-it-yourself construction.

(Via Aaron’s Home and Garden)

Posted by admin to Backyard Market Gardening, books on 2008-02-15, 08:40:20

Backyard Market Gardening is the entrepreneurs guide to selling what you grow, allowing the reader to get the best price with minimum effort, buy/build tools to make work faster and more fulfilling, as well as how to improve soil for greater yields.

Making food available locally means fresher food. If everyone made their own produce in the backyard, or in community gardens, there would be a LOT more choices and at far cheaper prices than what we pay for from the country farmer.

The CO2 emissions alone that are created daily in the transportation of one of this nations most valuable resources, fresh foods, is incredible, but by taking our backyards to market for the local neighborhood, we not only are doing a community service, but we are offsetting our CO2 emissions by helping the environment indirectly, eliminating a few eco-miles off the yearly toll on the ozone layer.

Building your own backyard market garden, or a community market garden, is not only going to do something for the environmental air quality around your home and neighborhood, it is going to provide your household and your neighbors with a quality source of fresh foods that fully pays for all the hard work and stimulates community awareness about sustainable practices.

Entrepreneurs that would like to show what stewardship of the Earth can mean in an urban setting, will most certainly find this little manual has the most relevant, need to know information, all in one place.

This 352-page paperback, written by Andrew W. Lee and Pat Foreman, published by Good Earth Publications in August of 1992, measures 8.8 x x 1.1 and ships at 1.2 pounds.

Making a profit from the fruits, flowers, herbs, vegetables and perhaps even small livestock in the backyard, is not only possible, it is done, and Backyard Market Gardening will show the novice everything s/he is looking for to do it right the first time through, for a more self-reliant planet that takes care of the needs of the future, today.

(Via Aaron’s Home and Garden)

Posted by admin to books on 2008-01-09, 05:57:36

Decorative Concrete is a colorful home improvement manualfor those looking to do it themselves, both indoors and outdoors, with all kinds of aesthetic additions where imagination is the limit and desire is the key to success.

Before the dark-ages, more than two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire had already perfected the use of limestone and clay to keep their city-state safe from invaders and they already knew the secrets we use preciously today.

Let the ancient décor of lost Keptchu civilizations, Egyptian, Greek, Persian or perhaps even Mayan or Aztec delight the surroundings of your home in a meditation that takes you into a world of inspiration, through concrete.

Design ideas, instructions to address all sorts of solutions, from fireplaces surrounds, garden art, garden planters, pathways, floors, stepping-stones, counters, sinks, tabletops, columns, pyramids, spheres, cubes or whatever the imagination is capable of creating, this book is filled to the brim with emphasis on extravagance.

Finishing techniques such as, surface designs, paint treatments, polishing, sculpting, carving and texturing with mosaics and insets; you can tell stories in elaborate decoration that rival even the vast empire of Rome itself, all it takes is focus and intent on your inner most desires, and let them loose, in a permanentform.

With sixteen different projects to get you started, fully comprehensive step-by-step how-to photos, these easy to follow directions make each new piece of artwork an adventure in and of itself, taking you just that much closer to your own paradise at home.

This 192-page paperback, written by Jeanne Huber, is now in the second edition as of July 2007, published by Sunset Books, with 385 colorful photos, more than a 100 images and 50 pages more than the first edition, measuring 10.50 x 8.1 x 0.5 and shipping at 1.3 lbs.

Decorative Concrete is a DIY book for those looking to transform their home into a special meditation, filled with vast expanses of human art work in concrete, it is open to anyone willing to study the masters; this is self-reliance, taking concrete artwork onto a whole other level, one that transcends even thousands of years, permanently, in the vast expanses of your own home.

Tags: Decorative Concrete

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to Frost,, books, cheapskate finds, covercrop, fruit, garden, hostas, photos, seeds, shrubs, veggies, work on 2007-12-07, 06:39:00

28*, feels like 18*, 90% humidity, SW 12 mph wind, cloudy, 1.5" new snow fell over night Last night when I got home from a pretty rough night at work and a long slippery drive home, there was a package on my doorstep. Now, I was THRILLED to see this package. After all, it was the thing that kept me going last night. "Maybe there will be a package on the doorstep!," I kept telling myself. And Lo

(Via Girl Gone Gardening)

Posted by admin to Flowers, Grow-A-Long Fun, blue, books, cheapskate finds, fruit, garden, herbs, hostas, seeds, tomatoes, trees, veggies, wildflowers on 2007-11-24, 19:16:00

28*, feels like 22*, 82% humidity, SSW 6 mph wind, fair My Pinetree catalogue came in the mail the other day but I didn't have time to go through it and make my order. This year it's going to be quite sizable--- Seeds: Nutribud Broccoli (open pollinated) Falstaff Brusselsprouts (Open pollinated) Slim Jim eggplant (Open pollinated) Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin -----for the giant pumpkin grow

(Via Aaron’s Home and Garden)

Posted by admin to books on 2007-11-12, 18:40:09

Outdoor Stonework is a book on rock gardening for those interested in enhancing their outdoor spaces in a creative and artistic fashion that is an expression of ones imagination using the environment to advantage.

Traditionally speaking, rock gardening has taught the warrior to manipulate his surroundings and use them to his advantage, but stonework goes beyond this, launching into the realm of unlimited dreams and fetching them into stone.

Thousands of years ago, the very first hospitals, known as the Temples of Asclepius, had such awe inspiring stonework done to provide a permanent form for the healing dreams that had cured patient after patient, each work of stone teaching a different lesson on different ailments and cures.

Essentially, that is what one learns from placing a piece of stonework in an outdoor space, be the project as simple as an arrangement of bolder rocks, to the complexities of 13^th century gargoyles chiseled by hand and the size of a crouching animal ready to attack.

Safety, natural features, unique walls, stylish paving, Zen-style gardens, garden table, retaining wall or even flagstone steps; everything has been fully photographed and perfectly well detailed through construction diagrams and cross-section drawings, that permit a concise easy to read and fully comprehend text.

With sixteen different DIY projects that range from simple novice to the more complex, this book offers a wide range of styles to choose from, and with every new project, a new lesson can be learned, about ones self and how to better use the infinite power of human imagination to form hard stone, into a permanent dream that can be appreciated generation after generation.

This 128-page paperback, written by garden expert couple Alan and Gill Bridgwater, published by Storey in January of 2001, measures 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.4 and ships at 1.2 lbs.

For easy to build yard or garden projects that enhance beauty, Outdoor Stonework focuses on sixteen different projects for your outdoor spaces that are certain to make you look like an expert, step-by-step, project after project and inevitably, experience after experience for generations to come.

Tags: Outdoor Stonework, Rock Gardening

(Via Aaron’s Home and Garden)

Posted by admin to books on 2007-06-24, 09:58:52

Instead of taking the purely scientific approach, Teaming with Microbes: A Gardeners Guide to the Soil Food Web takes a new approach to an old idea for gardening books; showing just how the web of life in soil actually works as a whole, unified system that is perfect in and of itself, in a metaphorical language that we can all relate to, on a human level.

Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne Lewis and published by Timber Press offers a friendly and comprehensive tone of voice that really is interesting to read, filled with useful information that not only makes you understand what its like down there, but really inspires the kind of passion a gardener her/himself feels and has been looking for in others.

Lownfels and Lewis advocate for a more organic approach to gardening, but instead of just stating their opinions, they go in depth to details about the very way of life of your garden inhabitants, without adding in.

Always quick and to the point, each word is placed so carefully on the page, as if these two were writing a Short Story, to give meaningful statements that need not repeat nor say how they feel, but show through concrete examples that we as readers can agree with and most of all, understand as fellow forms of life.

Teaming with Microbes is the kind of book you get when you want to actually be transported into the soil below your flowers and vegetables as if you were on some distant sci-fi world of swords and magic, playing out an adventure in gardening.

Measuring 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 and shipping at 1.3 lbs, this 196 page hardcover is published by Timber Press Incorporated and was reprinted in July of 2006; still a classic for anyone looking to delve into an organically perfect universe below their very feet.

Teaming with Microbes was written to appeal to human beings, not just rational scientists, by showing scientific knowledge in a way that any average reader will be inspired to read on into the realm of the soil food web without needing to be a professional botanist or fall asleep.

Teaming with Microbes is the perfect thing for those looking to understand the soil food web in minimal details through exciting and real examples that any reader will relate to.

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Tags: Teaming, with, Microbes