Customer Reviews

Grocery Gardening

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Gardening and cooking books are my happy place. I'm a voracious reader (gardener, cook, eater). Sadly, until Grocery Gardening came out, I was getting a bit tired of the formula of most garden/cooking books. Sure, the authors were all well respected, the photography was great and the recipes were good. However they were all the SAME. Grocery Gardening really blew my socks off because the authors took the tired garden/cooking book formula and turned it on its ear.

The first thing I like about this book - and what makes it so timely - is that it was written collaboratively by a group of veteran gardener/cooks who met and worked via Twitter/Facebook. This takes the content to a whole new fresh level. The "ringleader" Jean Ann Van Krevelen - who wouldn't want to follow a woman with a name like that?! - used new technology to seek out the best of the best to make this book great.

The second thing I like about this book, is that it is interesting for a veteran like myself yet approachable enough to be a really great, useful resource for a new gardener. Food gardening (Grocery Gardening!) increased by 7 million households last year so there are a lot of new gardeners out there who are going to want advice!

The third thing I like about this book is that it is fun and concise. The "avatars" of the authors provide cheeky/fun comments that pepper the well organized and streamlined information. It makes the read very personal and gives voice to the authors which, very freely, want you to contact them via Twitter and Facebook to ask questions.

The content, approach and zeitgeist of Grocery Gardening make it a real winner. And if the authors have coined a new term in the process... even better! The concept of Grocery Gardening is so positive and actionable... unlike "recession gardening". Yuck. That makes gardening sound like a necessary evil which it isn't. Gardening is a joy.

So foodies, gardeners and would-be foodie/gardeners rejoice! You've just been introduced to your new gardening best friend - Grocery Gardening. And the fun isn't over when you're done reading the book, because the authors are ready, willing and able to keep the conversation going via Twitter and Facebook.

Maybe other authors out there will step up so gardening/cooking books can be everyone's happy place again!

I got to know the author of Grocery Gardening, Jean Ann Van Krevelen, a little bit via twitter. With a few 140 character strings and lots of other people also tweeting, she brought my awareness to this great book.

The premise of the book is to help people gain the knowledge they need to begin to grow their own food.

I think it takes a great viewpoint - approach people who want good food but who mainly know their food as things you buy at a store, not raise with your own two hands.

New gardeners can often feel overwhelmed. One might start gardening for the sake of securing safe wholesome food but very soon the truth emerges, gardening is not intention, it is action and observation and attention.

With this book, the entry level gardener can begin to make their segway gracefully from poking veggies in the store to growing their own.

The book is somewhat unusual in that there are several contributing authors who speak from experience: Jean Ann Van Krevelen, Amanda Thomsen, Robin Ripley, and Teresa O'Connor.

The photography is crisp and very inviting. The pages are packed with information on growing as well as recipes for using your bounty! The mixture of voices very much evokes the current trends in social media where one is bathed in a diverse community of knowledge, viewpoints, attitudes.

Chapters

* Gardening 101
* Organic disease and pest management
* Purchasing quality produce
* Edibles
* * Herbs
* * Fruit
* * Vegetables
* Preserving your harvest

I am happy to recommend this lovely book to anyone who is interested in learning more about growing their own food and also how to enjoy their harvest throughout the year!

This is a gorgeous book, so easy to read and find what I'm looking for. And it's very inspiring! A group of my friends are going to get together & make recipes from this book & from their own gardens...I can't wait to try that amazing looking mascarpone crostata with strawberries & apples! (ok, I'll be hitting the farmer's market, not my garden, for that one. But it's still a delicious book. Highly recommended.)
- Carrie Triffet,
author of Long Time No See: Diaries of an Unlikely Messenger

Grocery Gardening is written for gardeners of all stages who want to eat more fresh good food from the garden. With recipes like Fennel Hollandiase Sauce, Curried Carrot Soup, and Ramen at the Ritz, there are a variety of recipes here, both for those nights when you want something fast and easy, or are willing to take the time for something a little fancier. The one thing all recipes have in common is use of some fresh ingredients from the garden, even if it's just the herbs that grow even in the darkest days of winter.

The four authors each have a distinct style, but the overall book is warm, funny, and written in a casual style that makes it fun to read even after a long day at work. I loved the funny little turns of phrase the authors used when describing how to make a recipe or get rid of a garden pest organically.

I found the book very easy to refer to quickly when I had a plant ripening in my garden, or when I was about to plant something new and wanted to know what varieties to choose for which uses. In fact, as a landscape designer I've been reaching for Grocery Gardening instead of my Sunset Western Garden Book when I want to remind myself which strawberry varieties are June-bearing or have larger berries, for example. It's just easier to navigate and find good information quickly.

I'd recommend this for gardeners of any stage - beginners or advanced. I'm a seasoned gardener and these gals have even taught me a few new tricks. Plus - dude - the recipes? Awesome. You will be very popular at the potlucks.

The majority of the book is information about the most commonly grown herbs, fruits, and veggies. Includes planting, varieties, pests and diseases, and nutritional information about each.

What's really great though about the book is all the yummy recipes (most vegetarian or easily made vegetarian) that I can't wait to try! So once you've grown all those zucchini you have something to do with them. :)

The book also has advice on how to purchase the best produce from your local store or farmer's market (if you're not able to grow yourself) and store correctly. Includes a nice section on preserving food.

I highly recommend!

This is the perfect book for the way we garden now. I love to grow my own vegetables and this book offers everything needed to be a success in the garden - plus a ton of recipes and preservation tips to help you enjoy your harvest. The authors combine warmth and knowledge which makes spending time with this book a joy.

This book is a fresh take on gardening, preserving and eating the bounty of your garden harvest. Loved the book's layout, wonderful pictures and especially the recipes. Extremely easy to read, with glorious color photos (that made me hungry)---I can't wait to cook up the chard and rhubarb recipes. A great gift for yourself and any gardeners in your life.....

This book is the complete package. Starting with the basic how-tos that even new gardeners can easily understand, and taking it all the way through harvest, preparing the food in delicious ways, and preserving the fruits and vegetables for future use - what more could you ask?

Edible gardening is the new American pastime, though millions have been doing it for decades - centuries, for that matter. Perhaps never since the days of Victory Gardens in the 1940s though, has "growing your own" been so popular. But many of today's new gardeners did not grow up learning what it takes to put your own food on the table.

Jean Ann and her co-authors have done a superb job of providing a manual that gives essential information without getting bogged down in details that might make all of this seem daunting. The material is presented in a logical, graphically beautiful way that invites novices to give it a go and infuses new energy into the more seasoned gardener's experience.

There's a sense of anticipation brewing as you soak up the general planting, growing, and harvesting sections, and for good reason. In the next and largest section of the book, the real fun begins. Each fruit or vegetable is given its own "file," with tips on selecting varieties and their specific growing needs.

Several easy-to-prepare recipes are provided for each, such as Herbed Cucumber Salad, Thai Basil Fried Rice and Shepherd's Pie with Carrot and Sweet Potato Topping. Personally, I can't wait to make the Cantaloupe Blackberry Smoothie. There are over 135 recipes in all.

The fascinating thing about this book is how it came to be. Its four authors have never met in real life. They encountered each other online through Twitter. As they discussed various aspects of gardening and cooking, the idea for collaboration on a book was born, and Grocery Gardening was the result. Even more amazing is that it was written in 60 days.

If that isn't enough, this book has done yet one more thing. It has inspired this gardener and garden book reviewer that hates to cook, to actually try some of the recipes, and that is no small feat.

Gardening advice, produce shopping advice, and recipes all rolled into one, my only complaint about this book is that I found it so useful that I've already loaned it out to a friend. Now I won't be able to try any of those recipes for a few weeks!
Seriously, I think this book is especially good for people who are new to gardening, and the authors' friendly manner encourages me to try new things in my little garden and in my kitchen.

I received this book as a gift and thought it'd probably be just one more book to take up space on my bookshelf. I'm happy to say I was WRONG! I've made several recipes so far (my favorite being the stuffed bell peppers) and I love the way they're very easy to follow with tons of 'tid-bits' and info on the same page...it makes following a recipe FUN!

But the highlight of this book? The introduction and it's entire concept. It's amazing to read how a group of women met over Twitter, liked eachother, thought of this brilliant idea, found a publisher who liked their idea as well, and quickly put together such an amazing book, soliciting help from everyone else on Twitter. It's a group project - edited by the professionals, of course - and the first of it's kind, I'm sure. Just lovely.