Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in the U.S. today, and a large majority of gardeners claim they look to their gardens for spiritual and emotional sustenance. With these essays, Goldman and Mahler add to the growing literature on the spirituality of gardening. Because Goldman's current garden is an apartment balcony, she is especially in tune with the needs of urban gardeners to remain connected with the earth even if they don't own a great deal of it. Goldman is a highly regarded radio producer, and much of the material in the book derives from her interviews with gardeners around the country who, no matter how large or small their gardens, share a similar spiritual awareness. Gardens are healing, they reveal, whether what needs healing is the grief of a loved one's death or the overzealous striving of the contemporary professional. Engaging and full of pithy aphorisms, this is a book of both charm and wisdom.
Patricia Monaghan
Richard Mahler is an independent photojournalist, author, radio producer, editor, and teacher specializing in media, arts, travel, politics, personal transformation, and the environment, as well as Native American and Latino affairs. His newspaper column, Un Poco de Todo, appears biweekly in the Albuquerque Journal. Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he travels widely.Since 1978, Mahler has contributed to the programs of National Public Radio and Calendar pages of the Los Angeles Times. He has written dozens of articles for the latter and was TV critic for NPR's Morning Edition from 1986-89. His by-line has also appeared in scores of magazines, including Outside, Ms., Columbia Journalism Review, Writer's Digest, New West, Whole Earth Review, LA Style, New Age, Americas, Angeles, Great Expeditions, New Mexico, Seven Days, Inquiring Mind, and Mother Jones. His newspaper credits include the Christian Science Monitor, Miami Herald, LA Weekly, Chicago Tribune, and San Francisco Chronicle. Mahler's work has been distributed by the AP, Pacific News Service, Crain News Service, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, American Library Association, and College Press Service. His programs have aired on CBS, Pacifica, Public Radio Intl., Radio Bilingüe, Voice of America, and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The Society of American Travel Writers, PEN (international writers' organization), and Radio/TV News Directors Assn. have honored his work with various awards. He has worked as an editor for Indian Artist magazine and John Muir Publications, among others.Mahler is author (with Connie Goldman) of Secrets of Becoming a Late Bloomer; (with Riki Stevens) Plane Truth: The Health and Safety Hazards of Flying, Belize: Adventures in Nature, Guatemala: Adventures in Nature, New Mexico's Best, and Tending the Earth, Mending the Spirit: The Healing Gifts of Gardening, which has been named a finalist in the Home-Garden category of ForeWord Magazine's 2000 Book of the Year Awards. He is currently writing a book about the importance of silence and solitude in daily life.From 1979-80, Mahler was news director of Pacifica's KPFK Los Angeles and held similar positions at other stations. In Los Angeles, he produced programs for KLON, KUSC, KCRW and KXLU, as well as the Southwest Museum. In 1973, Mahler was a founder of the nation's first bilingual public radio outlet, KBBF-FM in Santa Rosa, California. He learned Spanish at Ecuador's La Academia de Español in Ecuador and Santa Fe's Instituto Cervantes.Mahler has taught media courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.A. Journalism & Mass Communications), Loyola Marymount University, Long Beach City College and Santa Fe Community College. He earned a B.A. With Honors in Liberal Studies from Sonoma State University. The founding president of nonprofit RadioWest, Mahler was from 1990-93 a board member of the Association of Independent Radio Producers and editor of its magazine, AIRSPACE. From 1994 to 1999 he was president of The Food Brigade, a food rescue organization serving the homeless and hungry of Santa Fe.
Connie Goldman is the former weekend host for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and later became NPR's arts reporter. These days she is an independent public radio producer, writer, and sought after public speaker. She is also the co-editor of The Ageless Spirit, and co-wrote Tending The earth, Mending The Spirit, which has been named a finalist in the Home-Garden category of ForeWord Magazine's 2000 Book of the Year Awards. Her mission is to produce, write and talk about positive images of aging.
