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Herbarium: The Quest to Preserve and Classify the World’s Plants by Barbara M. Thiers

Herbarium: The Quest to Preserve and Classify the World’s Plants by Barbara M. Thiers

Herbarium: The Quest to Preserve and Classify the World’s Plants by Barbara M. Thiers is a great book on the history of herbaria with color plates mixed in the pages. It was fascinating to read how old explorations for commerce and nature expeditions resulted in so much information for the world about botany today.

The pictures of the explorers, maps, colored photographs of specimens and locations, as well as historical illustrated botanical plates all add to the great reading of this book. The chapter Herbarium Digitization was a fascinating read on how digitizing and modernizing collections help researchers worldwide.

Below are pictures from the book from the publisher (visit the link for more inside pages).

A truly excellent read for anyone into botany. While it is a little on the academic side, the pictures break up the text and people interested in biographies and history would find this a great book to read and to add to their library collection.

Book Info

 


Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher and any opinions are my own. Any affiliate links help to support this site. Thanks 🙂

The Self-Sufficiency Bible by Simon Dawson

The Self-Sufficiency Bible by Simon Dawson

The Self-Sufficiency Bible is a wonderful reference for anyone wanting to survive on their own, and for those who just want to know how to do basic stuff on a small homestead.

Book Contents

The book contains 12 chapters on everything you need to know: The Kitchen Garden; The Home Baker; The Home Dairy; The Home Brewer; Natural Solutions: Health, Beauty and the Home; Arty Crafty Bits; Livestock; Meat Preparation and Basic Butchery; Curing and Preserving; Foraging; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle; and Greener Energy.

I can’t decide which chapter is my favorite because every topic is a wealth of information. There are brief illustrations throughout the book, and they more are illustrative and decorative than actually are guidelines of what to do.

The butchery section has basic cuts of meat, and the garden chapter has a nice growing chart. The foraging section tells where and when to look for food, along with tips to be legal, ethical and safe when foraging. The livestock section is brief but the info here is great for people looking for an introduction on raising animals. There are many recipes to try but as a baker, the stinging nettle cupcake recipe in the foraging chapter looks very interesting to try.

Below is a recipe from the book, and since this comes from the UK, you may not be familiar with HP Sauce. It’s a cousin of sorts to ketchup and both are made by Heinz. It’s a savory condiment with a bit of spice and it goes great with roast meats. This version contains apples and prunes with malt vinegar and just enough cayenne to give it some legs.

Brilliant Brown Sauce

A tangy brown sauce similar in use as HP Sauce.

Author: Cultivate to Plate
Ingredients
  • 4 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
  • 1 pound pitted prunes, chopped
  • 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
  • 7 1/4 cups malt vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons salt
  • 4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
  1. Place the apples, prunes and onions in a large non-reactive pot and cover with water. Bring to boil, and cook until everything is soft. Drain and pass everything through a non-metallic sieve and return to the pot.

  2. Add in rest of ingredients and mix everything together. Bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer until it has cooked down and reduced to a saucy paste.

  3. Pour into a container with a lid, and store in the fridge. Author of the book says indefinietly.

Book Info:

Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher and any opinions are my own. Any affiliate links help to support this site. Thanks. 🙂

 

No-Waste Composting: Small-Space Waste Recycling Indoors and Out by Michelle Balz

No-Waste Composting: Small-Space Waste Recycling Indoors and Out by Michelle Balz

I’m always looking for ways to improve my garden and understanding composting is one way of doing that. I have yet to get a compost pile started in my backyard, but after reading No-Waste Composting by Michelle Balz, I’m wondering if there is no time like the present.

Book Chapters and Contents

There are 7 chapters in this book, each giving you better insight on what composting is, how start and maintain a compost pile, and great tips for small space composting. The seven chapters are: No-Waste Lifestyle and Benefits of Composting; Composting Basics; Low-Maintenance Outdoor Composting; Integrate Composting into Your Garden; Unique Indoor Composting Systems; Composting Pet Manure in Your Backyard; and Harvesting and Using Your Finished Compost.

The best thing I love about this compost book is the author’s theme of no-waste and her emphasis on reducing an individual’s carbon footprint and “shopping with intention:”

Setting aside food scraps for composting in your backyard makes you keenly aware of how much food you waste. Some things, such as banana peels and melon rinds, are unavoidable. Others, such as the slimy zucchini forgotten in the back of the produce drawer and the moldy strawberries we meant to eat, could have been avoided.

Definitely something to think about when you write up your grocery list and meal plan.

Helpful pictures are throughout the book as well as multiple DIY projects and troubleshooting charts to help resolve issues for basic composting problems. If you are new to backyard composting then this will definitely get you going. If you don’t have room in your backyard, never fear – Balz goes into detail with three unique indoor composting systems with DIY plans for each: terra-cotta pot composting, vermicomposting, and bokashi.

And if you have a compost pile that is ready to go, the book provides an easy way to turn it into a fertilizing tea for the garden. The recipe is adapted below. 

After reading this book, there is every reason to take a look at composting since she provides so many methods of starting one.

Compost Tea (Non-Drinkable, Only for Gardening)

This non-drinkable compost tea recipe shows you how to make a liquid "tea" to fertilize your garden using your own compost.

Author: Renee Shelton
Ingredients
  • About 5 cups finished compost (one good shovel full)
  • Pantyhose, to enclose the compost
  • 2 tablespoons sulfur-free molasses
Instructions
  1. Fill the bucket with water to a few inches from the top. If the water is chlorinated, allow the water to set for a few hourse to remove the chlorine, allowing it to evaporate out.

  2. Place the compost into the pantohose and push it all the way to the bottom toe area. This will be your "tea bag." Place this tea bag into the water

  3. Add in molasses to the water and stir until molasses is dissolved. Place the aerating part of the pump into the buck, and weigh it down if needed to keep it down. Turn on the pump and let it brew with pump on for 24 hours. If you do not have a pump to use, then make sure you stir every 20 minutes to 3 hours for proper aeration. You should start seeing some froth at the top of the tea after 24 hours.

  4. Pour the tea into a watering can and dilute 1:1 with plain (dechlorinated) water and use to water garden plants.

  5. This recipe can be scaled up easily for larger buckets.

Recipe Notes

Notes: Garden recipe adapted from No-Waste Composting. Recipe is NOT intended to be actually used for drinking - it is used to fertilize the garden.

Book Info:

Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher and any opinions are my own. Affiliate links help support the site, thanks. 🙂