(No. 44: Read a book a week for a month)
My Empire of Dirt is subtitled "How one man turned his big city backyard into a farm". "Locavorism gone mad" would have worked just as well.
The author, Manny Howard, was assigned to do a story on growing his own food by New York magazine. Already a bit of a foodie he dove right in with zero experience growing plants, raising animals, or apparently organizing any large project. In his suburban backyard over the course of 7 months things grow, things die, things break, things eat each other. I laughed probably more than I should have.
On one level this book reminds me of the fabulous Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Except Barbara Kingsolver had a plan. Manny, not so much. Barbara managed to grow enough food for her family to eat off their land for an entire year. Manny made it (almost) a month. Feeding just himself. His family has almost disowned him by harvest time.
No. 39 on my list is Grow a vegetable. One vegetable. Let's hope I have better luck than this guy.
photo:http://thenaturalweddingcompany.co.uk
I'm through with Book Two.
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