Re: Composting manure

"a_l_p" <hay_hell_pea@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

I've noticed in NZ occasionally those rather lovely garden books
which seem to
be put together by non-gardeners - titles usually something about
fragrance in
the garden or various aspects of decor! - consisting of lovely
colour photos and
information sourced by "research" (v loose use of term) and adapted
in a
hit-or-miss fashion, then the title includes "for the New Zealand
gardener"! So
the months may be reversed from the northern hemisphere source
material, but
it's anyone's guess whether the plant "ideal for the south side of a
building"
is a sun- or shade-lover!

Well you can usually tell from which plant is mentioned whether it's a
sun or shade lover (or at least you can if you're a gardener - might
be a bit of problem if you're not :-)) But I do know what you mean
about those books - I have a few but I really wish they'd just left
then as the original British version as I do the translations
automatically.

If you're in NZ then check out the books by Malcolm Blackie and (I
assume) his wife, Mary Blackie - they are superb and make John Seymour
look like nothing more than a good yarn spinner of the "boys own
manual" type. Whilst Seymour is inspirational about doing life on the
land in a story telling sense of "back to the land", the Blackie's
have actually done it, boots and all, and in diverse locations such as
both Britian and NZ (and IIRC, also somewhere in Africa - but don't
quote me on that).

Malcolm has at least one book which concentrates on the land and all
aspects of it, whereas Mary's book is all about cooking the produce of
the land and running a kitchen based on the land as the source -
everything gets cooked except the pigs sqeal.

I think these books (which they wrote in NZ) are THE best books of the
genre, and that includes American, Brit and Oz books that I've seen
(and I think that in 30+ years of this type of reading, not too many
of escaped me).

The only writer who I think comes within a bull's roar of them for
applicablity to other people who live on and off the land is a British
writer called Pamela Westland - you should see the dog chewed state of
my old Penguin copy of her "A Taste of the Country" - it's true
digrace but I'll only part with it on my death bed. I may even leave
it in my will it to Otterbot, I know she'd enjoy it. I have at least
one other book by this lady but she is hard to come by given my
location.




.

Relevant Pages

  • OLD KENTUCKY ENTRIES & DEEDS
    ... OF THE EARLIEST LAND ENTRIES, MILITARY WARRANTS, ... This index encompasses the earliest land records of Kentucky. ... Looking for books on a particular county? ...
    (soc.genealogy.marketplace)
  • Re: medieval history
    ... > the charters survived in the archives of the abbeys etc and were later ... > there are so many of them build up a picture of land use and everyday ... > parts of A/S history that was uncovered. ... research is limited to books in the US, but i get to Europe from time to ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: The essential Georgist/LVT library
    ... >>The Land Question by Henry George ... >>A Perplexed Philosopher by Henry George ... >>The Edwin Burgess Letters on Taxation (out of print but available ... Roy - You can order all of these books from the Robert Schalkenbach ...
    (sci.econ)
  • Re: Edgar Rice Burroughs people still read his books?
    ... Which two of Caspak trilogy do you consider a duology? ... The Land That Time Forgot ... You are aware that there isn't an 'official' name for the Caspak books. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: SF writers vs. Fantasy
    ... The problem I so often have with clever futuristic projections is the ... editor has decided that since the books sell like hotcakes, ... rabid series fans have a lot of staying power. ... John Arbuthnot, Scottish writer, physician. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)