Spring Warren

I thought this would be more of a chronological narrative, but I liked it even more for not being what I expected. Instead Warren approached her year of growing most of her own food thematically, i.e. zucchini, tomatoes, eggs, etc. with a recipe at the end of each section. In addition to many laughs, Warren shares a lot of practical advice for producing food in your own yard, without a lot of expense or labor: mulching away weeds, connecting with local gardeners to get their cast-offs, etc. show more She manages to be both conversational and informative at the same time. I borrowed a copy from the library, but plan to purchase my own.

Like [a:Lauren Scheuer|183770|Lauren Scheuer|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png] (author of [b:Once Upon a Flock: Life with My Soulful Chickens|15803190|Once Upon a Flock Life with My Soulful Chickens|Lauren Scheuer|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1358264227s/15803190.jpg|21526125]), I would love to have Spring Warren as a neighbor or friend. Well, maybe not a neighbor, considering her geese are much louder than Scheuer's "soulful" chickens. Both refuse to take themselves too seriously, unlike the younger DIYers that have been driving me crazy as of late. show less

We follow Spring Warren's adventures as she turns a quarter acre suburban yard into a place to grow food that would end up providing her with 75% of all her food (by weight) by the end of one year. This pledge from a woman who admits "I do hate weeding. I forget to water. My garden is a testing ground for plants able to withstand abuse." Not only does she have to overcome the skepticism of her husband and two sons, but she has to face the shock of her neighbors as she turns her front and show more back yard into a mini farm.

The author is not afraid to admit her failures, and many parts of the book are very funny including her attempts to find recipes to deal with the zucchini plants that tried to take over the neighborhood, her tussles with Jeanette & Goosteau, resident attack geese, and her decision to conquer the snail problem by learning to cook and eat escargot, a slimy business if there ever was one.

But along the way Spring starts to learn what it takes to grow food organically with all the setbacks that can entail including weather woes, crop failures, and bugs galore, and she shares these tips with the reader in an encouraging and amusing manner without the guilt trips that authors sometimes use to admonish those of us not willing to follow their agenda.

The recipes she gives at the end of each chapter using the produce mentioned in that chapter are an added bonus. My main criticism of the book is that my interest flagged at times when she delved too extensively into the history of such things as pesticide use, or technically why it is so hard to grow mushrooms. All in all this is a fun book to read and a good source of information for food gardeners, novice or otherwise. show less

There’s something heartbreaking in reading gardening manuals by Californians: it just seems like they can grow so much, so easily. But Spring Warren more than makes up for those stirrings of jealousy with her wonderful and hilarious storytelling abilities.

Edward Turrentine Bayard III is one character that truly comes to life from the pages. For about the first 50 or so pages, I just enjoyed the humor of the story and the witty writing style. Then the book really started to set in. Behind the humor, the wild & interesting characters and circumstances, one begins to see a view of American history from a new angle. The trip down the coal mine, the "marriage" of Avelina and Tilfert, the stay in the Chicago slums, and the brutal time on the show more frontier provide a compelling panorama of this time in America's history. At times, I just had to shake my head with "this is just too over the top" -- but then it all seemed to fit.

And, I so agree with other reviewers that the last chapter pulls everything together in such a satisfying way. As someone who has heard many a story told by an elderly person, the author sums up memory perfectly: "Never is being so permanent as in yesteryear, when...soft memory solidifies into story, and in that solid form, rejects the anguish of reality..... If we exist at all after we are gone, it will be as a story."

Turpentine is funny, interesting, and just a wild ride that will make you smile and think. show less