Review: Living with Sheep

Here's a welcome beginner's guide to raising sheep -- a friendly, unpretentious and down-home guide to breeds, feeds, fences and fleeces.

Unlike other texts that deal with specific aspects of ovines, this one goes for the big picture: what sheep are like, why you should want to raise them, where they live, what they eat, and what accommodations you'll have to make to husband them effectively.

"Buying lambs in the spring, raising them on grass for the summer, and slaughtering them in the fall is by far the best place to start if you're getting into shepherding for the first time," author Chuck Wooster advises. But to really get to know sheep, or to be "fully fleeced" as he puts it, requires a full-time, year-round commitment.

Living with Sheep
Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Flock
by Chuck Wooster
Lyons Press, 2007

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Good Old Books: Bob Smith's Complete Guide to Harbors, Anchorages and Marinas

From the Preface:

This publication is compiled in an easy-to-locate, easy-to-read format. It is designed to make your boating experience pleasurable.

As a mariner myself, I have recognized the need to have more information concerning Southern California:

1. Harbor locations,
2. Anchorage areas,
3. Marinas,
4. Marine supply stores,
5. Fuel docks, and
6. Repair facilities.

Bob Smith's Complete Guide to Harbors, Anchorages and Marinas
Southern California Edition
by Robert H. Smith
C Books, 1988

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Review: Small Barn Plans for Owner-Builders

Practical advice and instruction for building a barn, including plans and schematics for a dozen different designs, are offered in this reference for owner-builders with little or no construction experience.

Organized in step-by-step sequence, the guide begins with pre-construction planning and decision-making, including cost estmates, scheduling contractors and understanding building codes. Complete construction plans for 12 small barns are laid out in the book -- six gable-roofed bar

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Small Barn Plans for Owner-Builders
by Craig Wallin
Homestead Design, 2002.

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Review: Cape Cod Wampanoag Cookbook

Earl Mills, or Chief Flying Eagle, is a gourmet chef at his popular Cape Cod restaurant, The Flume, where he prepares native Wampanoag recipes from local foodstuffs like hard-shell clams, Atlantic salmon, cranberries, corn and, of course, eels.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Indians, Mills' ancestors, were the native peoples who celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the Plymouth colonists in 1621.

With a similar sense of sharing and openness, he offers this collection of ancestral dishes paired with personal recollections, stories and photographs of a people closely attuned to the land.

Cape Cod Wampanoag Cookbook:
Wampanoag Indian Recipes, Images & Lore
by Earl Mills Sr. and Betty Breen
Clear Light Publishers, 2001

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Review: Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers

Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers
Using Ed's Amazing Pots System
by Edward C. Smith
Storey Publishing, 2005

Vegetable gardener Ed Smith explains how to persuade vegetables to grow as well or better in containers as they do in an open bed.

Based on his own experimentation with self-watering containers, this book includes advice on choosing a container, how to provide nutrients, and what plants can be paired together.

He picks the following vegetables as best for container growing and explains which varieties work best and how to grow them: artichokes, arugula, carrots, celery, chinese cabbage, cress, cucumber, endive, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard, pak choi, peppers, radicchio, summer squash, sweet potatoes, swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips.

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Review: The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden

The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden
Creative Gardening For The Adventurous Cook
by David P. Hirsch
Ten Speed Press, 2005

Organic grower David Hirsch is a senior member of the famous Moosewood Resaurant Collective in Ithaca, New York, which he joined in the 1970s after bartering his garden-fresh basil for meals.

In this revised and updated guide to Moosewood-style gardening, Hirsch profiles 75 vegetables, herbs and edible flowers and explains how to plan and maintain a kitchen garden.

The profiles include growing requirements for each plant, harvest information, and some culinary tips. Seventy recipes complete the spread.

"Superior quality and flavor results from harvesting foods as close to ripeness and the kitchen as possible," Hirsch proclaims. "Home growing can expand your cooking repertoire to include interesting veggies and herbs."

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Review: Sweater Renewal

Sweater Renewal
Felting Knits into New Sweaters and Accessories
by Sharon Franco Rothschild
Potter Craft, 2008

Sweaters that are old, damaged or simply out of style can be recycled into new fashions using the felting, appliqué, sewing, knitting and embroidery techniques described in this book.

"You can recapture old memories and help save the planet by using old blankers, men's sweaters, women's sweaters, children's sweaters, and even hand-knitted sweater pieces," says author Sharon Franco Rothschild. "The only requirement is that they be made out of wool."

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