Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn, 2nd Revised Edition [Paperback]

Will Allen (Author), Diana Balmori (Author), Fritz Haeg (Author, Preface, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2010

Since the first edition of Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn was published in 2008, interest in edible gardening has exploded across the United States and abroad. Even First Lady Michelle Obama is doing it! This greatly expanded second edition of the book documents the eight Edible Estates regional prototype gardens that author Fritz Haeg has planted in California, Kansas, Texas, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and England, and includes personal accounts from the homeowner-gardeners about the pleasures and challenges of publicly growing food where they live. Ten "Reports from Coast to Coast" tell the stories of others who have planted their own edible front yards in towns and cities across the country. In addition to essays by renowned landscape architect and scholar Diana Balmori, edible-landscaping pioneer Rosalind Creasy, bestselling author and sustainable-food advocate Michael Pollan and artist and writer Lesley Stern, this edition features updated text by Haeg (including his observations on the Obama White House vegetable garden); a contribution from Mannahatta author Eric W. Sanderson; and Growing Power founder, MacArthur Fellow and urban farmer Will Allen's never-before-published Declaration of the Good Food Revolution. This is not a comprehensive how-to book, nor a showcase of impossibly perfect gardens. The stories presented here are intended to reveal something about how we are living today and to inspire readers to plant their own versions of an Edible Estate. If we see that our neighbor's typical grassy lawn instead can be a beautiful food garden, perhaps we will begin to look at the city around us with new eyes. Our private land can be a public model for the world in which we would like to live.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Metropolis Books; 2 edition (April 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193520212X
• ISBN-13: 978-1935202127
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 0.6 x 8.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Lawns

More About the Author

Fritz Haeg's work includes edible gardens, public dances, educational environments, animal homes, domestic gatherings, temporary encampments, documentary videos, publications, exhibitions and occasionally buildings for people. Recent projects include Sundown Schoolhouse - an itinerant educational program; Edible Estates - replacing domestic front lawns with edible landscapes; and Animal Estates - making homes for native animals in cities around the world, which debuted at the 2008 Whitney Biennial. Recent books include "The Sundown Salon Unfolding Archive" (Evil Twin Publications, 2009), and the expanded second edition of "Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn" (Metropolis Books, 2010). For 2010-11 he is on a Rome Prize Fellowship in residence at the American Academy in Rome. www.fritzhaeg.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars nice pictures, little else July 22, 2012

By pandajama

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm very much on board with the program and have a considerable garden in my front yard -- even though it could be in the back. I am growing peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, sunflowers, melons, squash, and herbs in my front yard on both sides of the sidewalk and in front of my house. It's a big deal. So count me in as a true believer.

But this is a picture book, and it seemed like it was little more than a stunt. Dull lawns became transformed into massive, gorgeous gardens with the flip of a page. The pictures were inspiring and beautiful. But most gardens in most parts of North America look pretty shabby much of the year. And producing the kinds of gardens in this book in a single season must have been a tremendously labor- and cost-intensive project. I was hoping for a bit more how-to for the person who may not have a landscaping team with a backhoe and unlimited access to productive soil. How to design a garden to look okay in the off-season, how to take advantage of certain kinds of plants for certain kinds of nooks and crannies, how to transform a lawn into produce at the scale of time/effort/money that the average person can afford. How to think about runoff. How to start.

This book is inspirational, but I fear those beautiful yards will cause a lot of disappointment come October, and I wonder how many of those gardens will still be around and that productive a few years from now. I hope I'm wrong but I suspect: not many.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring advice for front-yard gardeners August 27, 2011

By No Ordinary Tomato

Format:Paperback

I wish I'd read Fritz Haeg's 'Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn, 2nd Revised Edition' before I planted my first vegetable garden. Then, I might have been brave enough to locate the garden on my front lawn (the only spot that gets full-day sun), instead of the less-ideal side yard. I was worried that a front yard garden might look too weird to the neighbors. Not any more! The essays, case studies and beautiful photographs have inspired me to begin planning a new vegetable garden smack in the center of my front yard. Not only will my new garden be beautiful and tasty, but it will also help build community in my suburban NJ neighborhood.

I highly recommend this book if:

* You're considering a new vegetable garden or any front yard garden; and
* You're already an experienced gardener

It's not a a basic 'how to garden' primer, but there are plenty of other books on that topic.

Now, I'm in the 'design' phase. But I'm eagerly anticipating spring to break ground and start planting!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Edible Estates July 15, 2011

By Robert W. Myers

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a well organized book. Very well done, however I was a bit disappointed that there was not a project in the South East.
We live in South Carolina and there was no demonstration project nearby. The concepts were very well developed and presented. Kudos for the photography which was excellent.