Atomic Farmgirl

That time of year the wheat fields were almost a lime green, the heads threatening every day to turn yellow. The pea fields stretched for acres, with plants holding skinny, green pods not yet ready for me to pick. When they were ready, my mom always gave me the top of the double boiler to fill with fresh peas. We ate our fill, dinner after dinner, coated with Blue bonnet margarine, not ever making a dent in the fields that surrounded the house.

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The Shallows

We want to be interrupted, because each interruption brings us a valuable piece of information...

And so we ask the Internet to keep interrupting us, in ever more and different ways. We willingly accept the loss of concentration and focus, the division of our attention and the fragmentation of our thoughts, in return for the wealth of compelling or at least diverting information we receive. Tuning out is not an option many of us would consider.


The Shallows
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Science Writing

In Review: Animating Space

Animating Space From Mickey to WALL-E
by J.P. Telotte
The University Press of Kentucky, 2010

Animators work within a strictly defined, limited space that requires difficult artistic decisions. The blank frame presents a dilemma for all animators, and the decision of what to include and leave out raises important questions about artistry, authorship, and cultural influence.

Renowned scholar J. P. Telotte explores how animation has confronted the blank template, and how responses to that confrontation have changed.

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The Winter Harvest Handbook

The Winter Harvest Handbook
Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
by Eliot Coleman
Chelsea Green, 2009

If anyone could figure out how to grow lettuce in Maine in the middle of winter, it would be Elliot Coleman. America's inimitable master gardener, he has been pushing the boundaries of vegetable cultivation for decades and his Four Seasons Farm is a showcase for what can be accomplished with Yankee ingenuity and meticulous attention to detail, not to mention some back-breaking labor.

"Attention to detail is the major secret to success in any endeavor," Coleman writes. Experience, determination and an undying enthusiam are welcome partners.

There are three steps to a successful winter harvest, according to Coleman:

1) Cold-hardy vegetables
2) Succession planting
3) Protected cultivation

Written primarily for commercial growers interested in growing for market in the winter months, this book offers a wealth of information about growing crops year-round in unheated greenhouses or beneath row covers. This doesn't include growing tomatoes in the dead of winter, but there are more than 30 green and root vegetables like carrots, onions, celery and kohlrabi that will do fine.

Coleman provides lists of specific seeds for vegetables that grow under winter conditions in his greenhouse and offers tips on how to help them make it through to harvest.

Coleman's methods are not simple or easy, but he does it with minimal use of fossil fuels and the tasty, nutritious results must be well worth the effort.

The Winter Harvest Handbook
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Farm and Garden Books

In Review: Pomodoro!

Pomodoro!
A History of the Tomato in Italy
by David Gentilcore
CSIRO Publishing, 2010

David Gentilcore recounts the surprising rise of the tomato from its New World origins to its Old World status and present significance.

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Allergy-Free Desserts

Allergy-Free Desserts
Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free,Soy-free and Nut-free Delights
by Elizabeth Gordon
Wiley, 2010

As those with food allergies are well aware, desserts free of wheat or eggs or nuts are practically impossible to find. Only a professional baker in a similar situation would be able to empathize and come to the aid of this population with allergy-free treats.

Elizabeth Baker knows food allergies intimately and, as founder and owner of an allergy-free bakery called the Betsy & Claude Baking Company, she has been exploring a full range of alternative desserts. Her first cookbook is packed with desserts that will satisfy those without allergies as well as its intended audience, the food-challenged.

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Grow Great Grub

Grow Great Grub
Organic Food from Small Spaces
by Gayla Trail
Clarkson Potter, 2010

From selecting and preparing ground for a garden to choosing crops -- vegetables, fruits, or herbs -- planting seeds, adding fertilizer, weeding and harvesting, this guide to small-space edible gardening will help beginning city gardeners green their thumbs and fill their freezers.

One of the best books available on container or balcony gardening, Grow Great Grub provides details on each plant, including recommended soil amendments, companion plants, and the depth of container needed to grow it successfully.

There are some major differences between growing vegetables and herbs in containers rather than in the ground, and not all will benefit from being grown in containers.

The final pages of the book explain the basics of harvesting and preserving organic produce - drying, canning, and freezing - and offer instructions for making herbal vinegars or ristras from hot chili peppers.

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