Gardening

Your go-to guide for everything from cultivation to wine-making with one of humanity's oldest plant friends

Once a staple in homes across the world, and found along every highland, highway, and hedgerow, the forgotten elderberry is making a comeback. Its popularity as medicine is surging, its choice as an edible landscaping plant is growing, and its use for wine-making and crafts is being rediscovered.

Spanning history and geography, The Elderberry Book takes you on an adventure, deepening your appreciation of a plant that has played a crucial role across the world for thousands of years. Through this fun, inspirational, and educational resource, discover:

• Elderberry's amazing history
• Cultivating and foraging, from the balcony to the backyard
• Various traditional food and medicine preparations
• Simple wine-making techniques
• Traditional crafts and tools.

This is the definitive guide to the many uses of elderberry; no matter where you are, one of humankind's oldest plant friends can provide you with anything from syrup to wine to dyes, and more.

This book will be of interest to homesteaders, gardeners, herbalists, and people interested in folk history and crafts.

Educator & Series Information
Elderberries trees are widespread and naturalized in temperate Canadian regions including the Maritimes, British Columbia, and Ontario.

Useful, fun, inspirational and educational book that covers history, cultivation, foraging, traditional use, medicines, herbal remedies and tools from the elderberry tree.

Includes:

• Recipes
• Plans for crafts made from elderberry wood including a flute, a pencil, and even a bug hotel.
• Professional illustrations and full-colour photographs.

This book is part of the Homegrown City Life Series:

You’d like to be self-sufficient, but the space you have available is tighter than your budget. If this sounds familiar, the Homegrown City Life series was created just for you! Authors of this series will help you navigate the wide world of homesteading, regardless of how big (or small!) your space and budget may be. Topics range from cheesemaking to gardening and composting—everything the budding urban homesteader needs to succeed! 

• Increase your self-reliance
• Take back DIY skills
• Work with the space you have, apartment balcony or suburban backyard

Learn about fermenting, crafting, growing, preserving, and other skills for the urban homesteader.

Additional Information
128 pages | 7.50" x 9.00"

Unleash the potential of your yard by transforming it into a beautiful and vibrant space offering a continuous supply of food

Journey into the good food movement by unleashing the potential of your yard, transforming it into a beautiful and vibrant space that offers a continuous supply of food.

Using dozens of beautiful color photographs and watercolor planting charts, infographics, and landscaping designs, Your Edible Yard is the comprehensive how-to guide you need to turn your yard into a bountiful feast.

It features:

• Practical gardening methods and maintenance from weeding to wintering, including foodscaping, container gardening, and saving seeds
• Permaculture principles including soil building techniques, garden preparation, raised beds, and natural/non-toxic DIY pesticide alternatives
• How to integrate culinary and medicinal herbs, edible flowers, mushrooms, fruits, vegetables, and wild edibles
• Gardening resources: where to go for help, buy seeds, and source supplies on a budget
• Instructions on preserving, fermenting, freezing, drying, and making simple medicines
• General tips, such as how to find loopholes in laws preventing edible front yards.

Whether you're a beginner or experienced gardener in the city, the suburbs, or the country, this manual is the A-Z guide for how to make use of the space you have, highlighting the colorful and abundant array that edible landscapes promise.

Additional Information
208 pages | 7.50" x 9.00"

Grow more food, with less work, in any yard – now completely revised and expanded!

Are you itching to start your own garden or grow more in the one you have, but feel that gardening is too challenging or time-consuming for your busy schedule?

Now completely updated and expanded, Backyard Bounty will demystify gardening, bringing it back to the down-to-earth, environmentally practical activity that anyone can enjoy.

Author and master gardener Linda Gilkeson covers everything you'll need to grow a successful garden, including:

• Planning your garden and preparing the soil
• Organic fertilizers and simplified composting
• Planting for winter harvests and intensive planting schedules
• Comprehensive information on pests, diseases, and working with an unstable climate
• Greenhouses, tunnels and containers
• Organic pest management.

Packed with a wealth of information specific to the Pacific Northwest, this complete guide emphasizes low-maintenance methods, covers problems related to common pests and climate concerns, includes a monthly garden schedule for year-round planting and harvesting, and features plant profiles for everything from apples to zucchini.

Perfect for novice and experienced gardeners alike, Backyard Bounty shows how even the smallest garden can produce a surprising amount of food twelve months of the year.

Reviews
"Backyard Bounty is very likely the best book ever written on growing food in the Pacific Northwest, and it sets a whole new standard for garden writing. By acknowledging the impacts of climate change on our gardens, Gilkeson further elevates the literature. This is the first “real time” gardening book. It is fresh and timely, and every page courses with practical advice and revelations. All growers should own this amazing and insightful book, and we should refer back to it often." —Mark Macdonald, West Coast Seeds

"Ideal for both new and seasoned gardeners, this new edition adds more listings to the detailed fruit and vegetable profiles, updates variety choices, and supplies practical information on dealing with common pests and diseases, including new ones to our region. Tips on adapting gardening practices to changing weather patterns are eminently helpful, as is a focus on the soil as a life force that fosters health in plants." —Helen Chesnut, Garden columnist, Times Colonist

"Whether you have a small or large lot, little or plenty of time, this book shows you how to grow your own toxic-free fruit and vegetables the whole year-round. From preparing the ground to harvesting and storing the ripened produce, all is clearly explained. An invaluable book for novices and experienced gardeners". —Barry Roberts, Past-President, Master Gardeners Association of BC

Additional Information
384 pages | 7.50" x 9.00" | 120 b&w illustrations and photographs 

From fiddleheads to spruce tips, wild food can be adventurous and fun--with the right guide. In Eating Wild in Eastern Canada, award-winning author and conservationist Jamie Simpson shows readers what to look for in the wilds and how and when to collect it.

Grouping foods by their most likely foraging locations—forests, fields, and shorelines—and with 50 full-colour photographs, identification is made accessible for the amateur hiker, wilderness enthusiast, and foodie alike. Includes historical notes and recipes, cautionary notes on foraged foods' potential dangers, and interviews with wild-edible gatherers and chefs. While gathering wild edibles may be instinctive to some, there is an art to digging for soft-shelled clams and picking highbush cranberries, and Simpson joyfully explores it in this one-of-a-kind narrative guidebook.

Additional Information
152 pages | 6.50" x 9.00" | Paperback

Food recalls, dubious health claims, scary and shocking ingredients in health and beauty products. Our increasingly industrialized supply system is becoming more difficult to navigate, more frightening, and more frustrating, leaving us feeling stuck choosing in many cases between the lesser of several evils.

Author Deborah Niemann offers healthier, more empowering choices, by showing us how to reclaim links in our food and purchasing chains, to make choices that are healthier for our families, ourselves, and our planet.

In this fully updated and revised edition of Homegrown and Handmade, Deborah shows how making things from scratch and growing some of your own food can help you eliminate artificial ingredients from your diet, reduce your carbon footprint, and create a more authentic life.

Whether your goal is increasing your self-reliance or becoming a full-fledged homesteader, it's packed with answers and solutions to help you rediscover traditional skills, take control of your food from seed to plate, and much more.

This comprehensive guide to food and fiber from scratch proves that attitude and knowledge is more important than acreage. Written from the perspective of a successful, self-taught modern homesteader, this well-illustrated, practical, and accessible manual will appeal to anyone who dreams of a more empowered life.

Additional Information
336 pages | 7.50" x 9.00" | 2nd Edition

With over forty years since its original printing, and over 30,000 copies sold, this bestselling guide still remains a trusted and much-consulted reference for those interested in identifying, foraging and growing wild plants for food and medicine. Now Some Useful Wild Plants is back in print for a new generation of foragers and herbalists.

Some Useful Wild Plants contains sections on useful herbs, trees, berries and seaweeds, as well as commentary on avoiding poisonous species. Pick the young tender leaves of orach, salsify and miner's lettuce for a delicious and vitamin-rich spring salad or stir-fry. Concoct a cherry bark and licorice fern syrup to soothe a sore throat. Repel insects naturally using sage oil or vanilla leaf. From alder to yarrow, each featured plant has useful descriptors for identification and details on how to harvest, as well as how the plant is traditionally used for medicine by First Nations, pioneers and contemporary herbalists. Clear line drawings are provided to assist foragers in accurate identification. Directions are included for the preparation of ointments, salves, poultices, compresses and tinctures.

Dan Jason also addresses sustainability when foraging to ensure that harvesting supports the continuous growth of the plant and the natural environment.

Reviews
Great for both foragers and growers, the book draws from many sources, including the rich traditions of First Nations healers and Doukhobor wildcrafters, to identify the properties and uses of a wide range of plant life.... For those who feel skeptical about corporate farming and modern society’s mediated relationship with nature, this guide is a breath of fresh air. — Publishers Weekly

Occasional black-and-white illustrations enhance this venerable and practical guide sustainable foraging. From edible wild plants, to natural remedies for common ailments, to poisonous plants that should be meticulously avoided, Some Useful Wild Plants is reader-friendly, practical-minded, and highly recommended. — Midwest Book Review

Additional Information
186 pages | 5.00" x 7.00" | Line drawings | Revised edition

Fertilize your garden naturally--a guide to growing your plants in healthy, happy soil

People want to know where their food comes from, who grows it and how it is grown. Interest in permaculture, backyard composting, and gardening in general, is growing. So how does the budding gardener ensure that his soil is healthy and nutrient-rich enough to support all the produce he intends to grow? Here's a hint--think worms! Vermiculture is the healthiest and most cost-effective way to ensure that your soil receives the nourishment that it needs. A simple vermicompost bin can produce the completely natural , nutrient-rich fertilizer that can be used to boost soil health and, in turn, increase your crop yield.

In true Crystal Stevens' fashion, Worms at Work is a practical, easy-to-implement guide to fertilizing your garden naturally. It discusses the vital role worms play in boosting soil health, and the reasons why every gardener should use vermicompost in order to decrease reliance on toxic synthetic fertilizers. Coverage includes:

• Simple designs to build your own vermicompost bin
• Caring for your worms
• Garden applications for your worm castings
• Lesson plans to incorporate vermicomposting into the school science curriculum
• Whether you're tending to a small backyard garden or managing a large farm, Worms at Work can show you how to start vermicomposting today in order to grow healthy plants in healthy, happy soil.

Educator & Series Information
Useful for incorporating vermicomposting into the school science curriculum and school gardens.

This book is part of the Homegrown City Life Series:
You’d like to be self-sufficient, but the space you have available is tighter than your budget. If this sounds familiar, the Homegrown City Life series was created just for you! Authors of this series will help you navigate the wide world of homesteading, regardless of how big (or small!) your space and budget may be. Topics range from cheesemaking to gardening and composting—everything the budding urban homesteader needs to succeed!

Increase your self-reliance

• Take back DIY skills
• Work with the space you have, apartment balcony or suburban backyard
• Learn about fermenting, crafting, growing, preserving, and other skills for the urban homesteader.

Additional Information
224 pages | 7.50" x 9.00"

Mary Siisip Geniusz has spent more than thirty years working with, living with, and using the Anishinaabe teachings, recipes, and botanical information she shares in Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask. Geniusz gained much of the knowledge she writes about from her years as an oshkaabewis, a traditionally trained apprentice, and as friend to the late Keewaydinoquay, an Anishinaabe medicine woman from the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan and a scholar, teacher, and practitioner in the field of native ethnobotany. Keewaydinoquay published little in her lifetime, yet Geniusz has carried on her legacy by making this body of knowledge accessible to a broader audience.

Geniusz teaches the ways she was taught—through stories. Sharing the traditional stories she learned at Keewaydinoquay’s side as well as stories from other American Indian traditions and her own experiences, Geniusz brings the plants to life with narratives that explain their uses, meaning, and history. Stories such as “Naanabozho and the Squeaky-Voice Plant” place the plants in cultural context and illustrate the belief in plants as cognizant beings. Covering a wide range of plants, from conifers to cattails to medicinal uses of yarrow, mullein, and dandelion, she explains how we can work with those beings to create food, simple medicines, and practical botanical tools.

Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask makes this botanical information useful to native and nonnative healers and educators and places it in the context of the Anishinaabe culture that developed the knowledge and practice.

Additional Information
344 pages | 7.00" x 10.00" | Paperback

This easy-to-use handbook offers information about common mushrooms from Alaska and northwestern Canada to Saskatchewan in the east and south to the US states of the Pacific northwest. Using crisp, colourful images, Duane Sept illustrates more than 130 species of edible, poisonous and other interesting mushrooms. Inside you’ll find:

~ In depth descriptions for 130 species
~ Details on edible, poisonous, hallucinogenic and other fascinating fungi
~ More than 150 fascinating fungi
~ More that 150 spectacular photographs
~ Tips and techniques for freezing, canning and drying mushrooms
~ Additional information about mushroom ecology, making spore prints and more
~ New edition includes updated scientific names and new species

With gorgeous full-colour photos arranged in an easy-to-use colour-coded chart for quick identification, this pocket-sized laminated pamphlet is perfect for taking along on walks and hikes through the Rocky Mountains, from BC and Alberta to New Mexico. Supplying English and Latin names, the distribution range of each species and average plant height and flower size, Halle Flygare shares his knowledge and pictures of flora gained through over 30 years as a photographer, park warden and guide in the Rocky Mountains.

Additional Information
2 pages | 4.50" x 9.00" | 112 Colour Photographs 

This definitive month-by-month guide brings gardeners into the delicious world of edible landscaping and helps take a load off the planet as we achieve greater food security. Full of illustrative colour photos and step-by-step instructions, The Zero-Mile Diet shares wisdom gleaned from 30 years of food growing and seed saving with comprehensive advice on:
• Growing organic food year-round
• The small fruit orchard and backyard berries
• Superb yet simple seasonal recipes
• Preserving your harvest
• Seed saving and plant propagation
• Dirt-cheap ways to nourish your soil
• Backyard poultry—it’s less time-consuming than you
think
• Growing vegetables in the easiest way possible
• A–z guide to growing the best vegetables and herbs

Put organic home-grown fruits and vegetables on your table throughout the year, using the time-saving, economical and sustainable methods of gardening outlined in The Zero-Mile Diet. This book is about REAL food and how eating it will change our lives for the better.

Based on Métis artist Christi Belcourt’s painting “Medicines to Help Us,” this innovative and vibrant resource honours the centuries-old healing traditions of Métis women. With contributions from Métis Elders Rose Richardson and Olive Whitford, as well as key Michif phrases and terminology, Medicines to Help Us is the most accessible resource relating to Métis healing traditions produced to date.

Educator Information
This resource guide does not include the study prints referred to on the back cover and within the book. 

Michif Translators: Laura Burnoff and Rita Flamand

Elder Validation: Rose Richardson

Format: Book Only - English, with plant names in Michif, Nehiyawewin (Cree), and Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway)

Learn how to plan and prepare a garden site, celebrate the harvest, create traditional gardens, such as the "˜Three Sisters Garden" of corn, beans, and squash, and make Native American crafts such as gourd rattles and corn husk dolls, and use its many recipes to cook Native meals.

Additional Information
176 pages | 1.11" x 1.11"