The Quarter-Acre Farm
by Spring Warren
Have you ever dreamed of growing your own food? Enough food to be relatively self-sufficient, even though you may live in the city and have limited space available to you?
Before this project began, Spring Warren had never been more than a small-time hobby gardener, growing some green beans here and tomatoes there, but nothing truly significant.
However, in 2008, a number of food-related concerns were making media headlines: a large-scale salmonella outbreak affecting over 1400 people, genetically altered wheat, transfats in baked goods, hormones in milk, pesticides in produce, mad cow disease, and the sale of lead-tainted candy.
Along with all-time high fuel prices, a global economic crisis, and continued environmental concerns, these factors combined to cause food and sustainability related issues to weigh heavily on Warren's mind that year.
It was for these reasons that she decided to take more control over her own food, thus making herself a pledge: to convert her suburban lawn into a garden and produce 75 per cent of the food she ate over the course of one full year.
Well-written and filled with humorous anecdotes of her successes and failures throughout this project, The Quarter-Acre Farm makes for an enjoyable read, whether you have an interest in gardening or not.
And for those readers who are interested in starting, expanding, or enhancing their own quarter-acre farm, this book is an
valuable how-to.
Each chapter addresses one gardening subject or problem, from composting and soil quality, to weeds, to water, to pests, to specific (and common) garden produce, such as tomatoes, potatoes and onions.
Present or future gardeners will find many useful tips and tricks in this book to help them with their own gardening challenges.
In addition, at the end of each chapter, the author includes one of her own, garden-based recipes, pertaining to the subject in that chapter, also making this book an excellent read for those who enjoy cooking simple, fresh recipes.
Reviewed by Teresa DeReis,
reader's advisory assistant at the
Prince George Public Library
The Heart Is A Drum Machine
Watching musicians struggle to explain what music is and how and why it works is what makes the documentary The Heart Is A Drum Machine so fascinating.
Even the most articulate ones can do little more than describe the feelings and emotions music generates, both to perform it and to hear it.
Turns out the people best equipped to
answer are not musicians at all.
A comedy duo points out that there are no distinct songs. There is just the soundtrack to our lives, endlessly running in the
background, parallel to our consciousness.
Scientists strip away the emotion of music to talk about its philosophy and its physiological effect on the brain and the body.
As a result, the best parts of the documentary are interviews with musicologists talking about how music isn't music until the brain puts together all of those independent noises. Recent developments in neuroscience now allow researchers to now see how the brain processes music, as opposed to just random sounds.
Both playing and listening to music is a whole-brain experience, which stimulates intellect, emotion, perception, connection and memory, all at the same time.
Put another way, music is so important to humans because it touches us deeply at every level of our humanity, shaping who we are and how we think.
Reviewed by Neil Godbout,
communications co-ordinator
at the Prince George Public Library
