A Greener Life: The Modern Country Compendium [Hardcover]

Clarissa Dickson Wright (Author), Johnny Scott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 2007

Green living is an obviously important trend with the environment being at the forefront of global concerns.

Beautiful and informative, this book is highly inspirational for anyone who dreams of living a simple and rewarding lifestyle.

A Greener Life is a comprehensive guide to being more self-sufficient in everyday life. Informative, witty and practical, this inspirational book shows readers how to adopt a more natural and harmonious way of life regardless of the size of their home or garden. Readers will learn to grow their own vegetables, use alternative energies, learn to knit, use natural paints, keep livestock and bees, and much more. From baking bread to home brewing, A Greener Life shows readers how to live the good life in a healthy, organic way.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Clarissa Dickson Wright, formerly of ?Two Fat Ladies' fame, has seven cookery books and one Food Anthology to her name. Since then she has starred with Johnny Scott in three series of Clarissa and the Countryman for BBC2 and they have co-authored three books on the series: Clarissa and the Countryman, Sally Forth and Sunday Roast.

Johnny Scott is a keen shot and excellent horseman. As a farmer, naturalist and historian, he has written for many newspapers and magazines. He studied farming on three continents, was a jackaroo, miner, lumberjack and brakeman in the British bobsleigh team before returning to farm hefted black-face sheep in southern Scotland.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: David & Charles (September 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 071532750X
• ISBN-13: 978-0715327500
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #951,452 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greener Life, February 13, 2008

By 

Carol Wallwork (Centreville, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Greener Life: The Modern Country Compendium (Hardcover)

Fascinating overview on how to take more control of what you use and eat. Specially fun for armchair farmers...who knew that Shetland sheep don't need to be sheared by hard to find craftmen shearers, you yourself can pull the wool off your wee woolies! Need a recipe for natural paint? What's the simple old way of testing how fresh your eggs are?

The Greener Life has such gems of information on nearly every page. This rapidly fading common knowledge is what this book is all about. My parents generation would find it redundant, I'm captivated and motivated, but fear my children would find it completely foreign. Farmer wannabes of the world unite!

Clarrisa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott are boldly independent thinkers. For instance, they disagree with the medical edict that skim milk is best. Why the dramatic increase in osteoporosis and depression? They link those medical conditions to the widespread dietary change of removing milk's richness and serotonin levels, which lower cholesterol levels but also counteract weakening bones and depression. No long list of scientific articles justifying their position, simply a pre-expert era's way of logical induction that prompts one to go out and buy a half gallon of grass fed whole milk. It has a real taste, is astonishingly creamy and makes more silky yogurt.

This book is an excellent choice for those on the brink of a life change, those actually working to make changes and looking for ways to expand the good work, and for those completely new to such ideas. The photos are enticing, the text lively and the message very challenging. Great book!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational reading for a city mouse, February 11, 2009

By 

merrigator (Oslo, Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Greener Life: The Modern Country Compendium (Hardcover)

A Greener Life by Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott is an absolutely gorgeous book that will truly inspire you to get back to nature wherever you live (although the stunning photos of the English countryside will make you want to move there.) The book is broken down as follows:

The Green Outdoors

Growing your Own Food

Wild Food

Livestock

The Green You

Making and Creating

Using your Produce

Home Brewing

The Green House

The book is chock full of meal recipes, as well as recipes for making your own vinegar, preserves, cleaning products, beers, ciders and wines and more. The sections on knitting, weaving, spinning yarn and crocheting were so inspiring I'm currently taking knitting classes.

The chapter on growing your own food is filled with excellent information and advice about soil preparation, sowing seed, all manner of fruits, vegetables, trees and herbs, gardening tools and natural pest control. And the information is so accessible and down to earth. (For example, wondering about condition of your soil? No need for a soil test. Just look at the weeds that are currently growing in it. They tell you what kind of soil you've got.)

This book inspired me to take a new, more natural approach to life and I'm sure it will do the same for you.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Greener Life, March 19, 2008

By 

Alice Calder "loves fiber" (beautiful Ypsilanti, Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Greener Life: The Modern Country Compendium (Hardcover)

GORGEOUS book. Worth it for just the photos alone. A lot of information about the things that were common knowledge only 1-2 generations ago. The information assumes that you already know some things (and isn't it a shame that we don't) but if you enjoy the arts of home and hearth, you will love this book. It is written so that you can hear Clarissa Dickson Wright reading aloud! I garden, spin, knit socks and wear 'stocks. This book is made for us!