Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway
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Book Reviews of Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
Book Review: inspiring, clear, very well-written book
Summary: 5 Stars
Hemenway is amazingly realistic and practical while being very inspiring. He is easy to follow and understand while including scientifically grounded and very technically sound explanations. Read this book.Book Review: I found this book hard to read, but it is a must have
Summary: 4 Stars
It took me 6 months to read this book. I kept getting annoyed by Hemenway's writing style. It's kind of part-memoir, part-name dropping, part-teaching tool.
That said, I do use Gaia's Garden as a reference tool.
Book Review: Inspiring
Summary: 5 Stars
Gaia's Garden isn't about saving the world, but rather how to make your corner of it beautiful, productive and worth saving. It asks: How do you work with nature rather than against it? And Hemenway's answer is that you treat it as a partner trying to help you, rather than a foe to thwart and enslave. Written for gardeners who may have battled pests with poisons, labored with compost heaps and double-dug dry soils, the book explains how guilds, swales, sheet mulches, and succession can simultaneously lighten their workload, costs and burden on the land in the long run. As a beginner, I was overwhelmed by the detail, but the pictures are beautifully rendered, and the text inviting. I bought it last year and still find myself reading it in spare moments every week. The many success stories that Hemenway includes keep me coming back to learn, plan and be inspired.Book Review: Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
Summary: 5 Stars
At last! A book written for non-biologists, non-ecologists and non-tree-huggers!! I have read several books on permaculture which always left me wondering, "What the heck IS permaculture and who needs it?" This book, by Toby Hemenway, will get you so excited about the relevance and applications of permaculture that you will want to race outside with a bucket of vegetable peelings and leaf mulch before breakfast. Gardening can be a lot of hard work, but permaculture is about making it easier. Turning over compost piles every week is not for you? See his section on sheet composting. Does the very word "grey water" turn you off? Read Hemenway's description of taking a shower, then tearing outside in a towel to see the water drain out through a rocky stream. This book is full of concepts and inspirations that will not only make gardening a little easier but will also improve the land you live on, help you achieve greater self-sufficiency and create sanctuary for beneficial critters. And here is a major plus: Toby Hemenway, unlike other permaculture authors, actually has a sense of humor! An enjoyable read on the one hand and a basic gardening manual for the rest of your life.Book Review: I wish I had read this book 10 years ago!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been gardening (organically) for more than 20 years. Its been years since I've found a book as helpful as this one is. As is my usual habit I started this book in the middle. About halfway through that first middle chapter I realized that THIS book was one I was going to read cover to cover and more than once! I've found many innovative ideas as well as useful explanations of why I garden the way I do. This one is a keeper.