February 2025 NatureKIT: Forests, Farms & Grasslands

Welcome to February's NatureKIT!



This month we'll be reading books about Forests, Farms & Grasslands. However you want to interpret it is fine.

Here's the Wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2025_NatureKIT

I like this theme. It looks like the CoverCAT theme is trees, so I wonder if that will mean more forests than grasslands!

ETA: And it's a beautiful picture you found!

I'm thinking of The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe

I'm planning on The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, which I've been meaning to read for ages.

I have a recent interest in reading about Vincent van Gogh, and he painted pictures of fields and outdoor scenes, so I will read one of my new acquisitions about this artist and his work.

I’ll probably read PrairyErth by ‪William Least Heat-Moon, which takes an in-depth look at Chase County, Kansas, including its tallgrass prairie. But a possible alternative is We Will Be Jaguars by Nemonte Nenquimo, a memoir about activism to protect the Ecuadoran Amazon rainforest and its indigenous people.

I'm planning on reading The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh by Kathryn Aalto for this challenge. It's an exploration of the Ashdown Forest, which was the inspiration for the 100 Acre Wood.

I read Ten Acres Enough - The Classic 1864 Guide to Independent Farming by Edmund Morris. I wasn't sure I would use this for this CAT but have now decided it fits. Morris lived in Philadelphia when he began to think about a lifestyle change for himself and his family outside a city. He began research on farming and eventually decided he wanted a farm near a market place, probably a city, and the best crop would be fruit because high quality fruits always sold out before all customers were satisfied. Once all is decided and the family is on the farm, he writes about what he has learned and his successes and failures. I loved the book and it's author and will return to it for a 2nd read (192 pages).

Added: I should have included that even though this was written over 150 years ago Morris' process to making a decision could still be useful to people wanting to make a similar change today.

I have finished a small non-fiction book about forests which was highly informative: Der Wald. The author tries to give a scientific definition of what a forest is, the biology of trees and other forest flora, their evolution from prehistoric time to the present, their use by humans, and finally, since this is aimed at a German readership, its significance in German culture.

I read Big Lonely Doug, which looks at the timber industry on Vancouver Island in British Columbia through the lens of one giant Douglas fir.

This one's fantasy/fiction, but the fantasy portion is set in a forest.

Greenmantle / Charles de Lint
3.5 stars

14-year old Ali and her mom, Frankie, have moved to Frankie’s old house after she won the lottery. They are going to fix the house up and stay. But when Frankie’s ex, Earl, learns that Frankie won the lottery, he’s coming after her for the money. Meanwhile, Ali is making friends with their neighbour, Tony. They don’t know at first, but Tony is hiding from the mafia, which he used to be involved in until there was a “hit” out for him. But Ali can tell Tony’s a good guy. In the forest behind their homes are some odd things though: a piper that plays eerie music that makes people do odd things, a stag that appears, a young girl who is a little odd…

This was good. I’m not always a fan of fantasy, but this is urban fantasy (though not an urban area, the bulk of the story is in the “real” world, with parts of fantasy in the forest), and I usually do better with this type of fantasy. Based on the description and cover, there was less fantasy that I expected, so I was happy about that. The book followed many different characters at different points, and I’m not always as interested in the “bad guys’” perspectives when books do this. This was the case, once again, particularly following Tony’s crew. Overall, though, I did like the story, and I like Ali and Frankie, especially. And even Tony. There were some pretty terrible characters, though (looking at you, Earl! For one).

Back of Beyond by C.J. Box 4 stars
Cody Hoyt travels to Yellowstone in search of the person who brutally murdered his AA sponsor. A group travelling there includes Hoyt’s son. This was exciting, filled with suspense. Not only a crime novel but a tour of Yellowstone.

Here's the March thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/368495

COMPLETED The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe

Currently reading Arcadia by Iain Pears, the cover of which shows a wheatfield.

The Serviceberry touches on all three: forests, farms, grasslands, and where they come together.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

I really enjoyed this fun children's fantasy adventure about the power of love, stories, and the moon. The traditional 'witch demands a baby as sacrifice' gets a sort of twist here — the witch picking up these babies has no idea why they are winding up in the woods, only when they are abandoned so that she can save them and usher them into new, loving families on the other side of the forest. The journey is treacherous, so she feeds the babies starlight when she runs out of milk. Only, one night, she accidentally feeds a baby moonlight, and the magic of that moonlight turns Luna into a witch herself.

Without offering a cheap summary of the rest of the book, this was an engaging fantasy even for an adult to read, and taught some moving and important lessons — about grief as love, about love as magic, about evil not as an inborn trait but as misplaced sorrow, about what it means to grow up — but all of it without the kind of condescension you see in a book that is trying too hard to teach children lessons.

One thing I really loved about this book was the way it portrayed adoption. Adoption in fiction, especially in fiction that isn't really trying to make a point about adoption but simply features it as a byproduct of other tropes (especially in fantasy as a genre), often has a point about 'real parents'/'real family', such as 'we are your real family because we're the ones who took you in and raised you,' or the alternative but no less hurtful 'you're magic because your real parent(s) were the most powerful wizards the galaxy has ever seen/gods/superhuman/etc.' Even conversations in real life about adoption often hedge, implicitly or explicitly, on the adoptee 'choosing a side' to love and be a part of at the exclusion of the other. I didn't find that in this book. Over and over again, the main character affirms that being reunited with her mother gives her additional family, not alternative family — 'My love isn't divided. It is multiplied.'

I’ve been reading PrairyErth (A Deep Map) by William Least Heat-Moon, but I seriously doubt I’ll finish it before the end of the month. It is, as promised, a very deep look at one single county in Kansas, home of some of the last tallgrass prairie in the United States. He has an engaging writing style, but the book is very long.

Edited 4/8/25 to add: Very belatedly finished this book! It was very good, but very long, and I had to take it in small doses.

>17 GraceCollection: Taking The girl who drank the moon home tonight for bedtime reading.

>18 Charon07: Adding PrairyErth to my pile.