Joel Salatin, an American family farmer, has a new book “FOLKS, THIS AIN’T NORMAL. A FARMER’S ADVICE FOR HAPPIER HENS, HEALTHIER PEOPLE AND A BETTER WORLD” in which he argues we would be better off if the government got out of food regulation. Joel writes with a great sense of humour: “What are kitchens for? In modern developed countries they are the unpackaging center.” A thought provoking book, some of it written on a jumbo jet as he returned from a month long speaking tour of New Zealand and Australia in 2010 - great diatribe against all the plastic wrapping of the on-board food. It is estimated one quarter of all food consumed in USA is eaten while sitting in cars.

Half of all food fit for human consumption never gets eaten. Much of that loss is attributable to transportation and warehousing. “The average morsel of food sees more of America than the farmer who grows it, travelling 1,500 miles from field to fork. It takes 15 calories of energy to put one calorie on the table, and four of those are in transportation.” Much of the wasted food goes into landfills instead of being fed to chickens and pigs.

Salatin argues food should be grown locally, or by you. America has 35 million acres of lawn and 36 million acres devoted to houses and horse paddocks. Prior to the first supermarket being opened in 1946 Americans grew 50 per cent of their own food. Today it’s down to about 5 per cent and many American children, used to eating chicken nuggets, don’t know chooks have bones. He says the average American male spends 20 hours a week playing computer games and I hear 3 million New Zealander’s watch TV for 3 hours a day - 21 hours per week. Graham and Tracey have just ditched their TV.

But this is only a small part of what Salatin has to say. He even likes reading books by people he disagrees with. We in New Zealand have been following the trouble some of our small-scale cheese makers have faced, and now we have NAIT coming - national animal identification with electronic tags for each animal. It’s what Salatin is writing about. A 361-page hardback, $48.00.

I remember years ago seeing plants covering house roofs in Switzerland, complete with milch goat atop the roof having a feed. The first use of roof plants I saw here was Gordon Collier’s mailbox at his famous “Titoki Point” garden, north of Taihape. It was covered in sedums. “SMALL GREEN ROOFS. LOW TECH OPTIONS FOR GREENER LIVING” by Nigel Dunnett, Dusty George, John Little and Edmund Snodgrass explains the plants to use and how to affix them to the roof. A 256-page paperback, colour photos throughout, $55.00.

My current passion for planting magnolias has caused me quite a bit of reading. Some are quite widely used for timber and medicinal purposes in China. I have just opened a new book “THE CHINESE MEDICINAL HERB FARM - a cultivator’s guide to small-scale organic herb production” by Peg Schafer and it is talking about Magnolia denudata, the flower buds of which can be used to make a concoction to cure colds and nasal problems. The book covers 79 different Chinese herbs, their cultivation, processing and uses, all trialled on the author’s organic farm in North America. Excellent colour photographs throughout. A 311-page paperback, $70.00.

Nice note from John Palmer, who owned Arnold Books (New Regent St, Christchurch):
‘I much appreciated your note on Marion Cran. When I was an active bookseller I bought every copy I could of her “Squabbling Garden” to sell to pigeon fanciers. So she must have done something right. Though in the 100-odd poultry shows I have attended in NZ, I have never seen a Carneaux variety. Her amateur status as a pigeon fancier is plain from the fact that she started off with 2 males. I think her first husband (a stockbroker or the like) left her in the 1920’s, so she started writing to earn a crust. “The Story of My Ruin” became a best seller for all the wrong reasons’.

“THE BIRCH. BRIGHT TREE OF LIFE AND LEGEND” by John L Peyton is a little paperback with stories about the various birches and their uses. The American paper birch Betula papyrifera was used to make canoes, light enough to be carried by one person, but strong enough to carry one ton of cargo. A whippy birch rod has been used for punishment. In 1764 Catherine the Great, desiring an impressive entrance to Siberia, had silver birches planted close together along both sides of the road east from Yekaterinburg. When these were fully-grown their branches met overhead, welcoming the wretched procession of exiles with a leafy tunnel over one hundred miles long, one of the great achievements of landscape architecture. A 73-page paperback, $25.00.

“THE NEW ZEALAND NURSERY REGISTER 2011/2012” by the staff of The Reference Publishing Company lists about 5,500 companies supplying plants, products and services to the gardening and horticultural industries in New Zealand. The Register is very well indexed by the plants grown or service, or products supplied. For instance 10 nurseries are listed as growers of Arisaema, there are 30 suppliers of birdbaths, and more than 1,000 offering landscape design services. The various companies are listed in alphabetical order with all contact details, including website addresses. At the back of the book the companies are listed by city or town, or suburb so that if you are visiting an area, you can look up the town and see what nurseries and garden centers are there. The business in the various indexes also have their postcodes listed which, once you understand that a four-digit number starting with 0 is in the north, and one starting with 9 is down south, you get a quick idea of where they are. A 292-page A4 sized paperback, $89.00.

“WOMEN IN MY ROSE GARDEN: THE HISTORY ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE OF OLD ROSES” by Ann Chapman, formerly of Trinity Farm Living Rose Museum (Otaki) who has written about 35 women whose names have been given to many of our best loved heritage roses. Each biography is illustrated with a portrait of the woman, and a photo of her rose by French photographer Paul Starosta. A 176- page hardback, $30.00.

“PETSCAPING: TRAINING AND LANDSCAPING WITH YOUR PET IN MIND” by Scott Cohen. This is an American book that explains how to create the perfect outdoor environment for your pet and gives answers to common problems such as barking and unwanted excavating in your garden. A 127-page paperback with 170 photographs, $45.00.

While you are on our website visit our list of New Titles. These list, on a monthly basis, titles new to our shelves. Also have a quick look at Diane's specials, there's some good buying there while stocks last.

Recently we have emailed several notices of new titles and cut-price offers to special interest groups. Our offers have included the following topics:

• Garden Design: A Featured Title and Three New Titles
• New Title - Women in my Rose Garden.
• Food: A Featured Title and Two New Titles.
• Special Offers: Garden Design and Landscape Books.
• Some Second Hand Titles Received in January.
• Special Offers: Rural, Lifestyle, Self-Sufficiency, Permaculture and more.
• Trees: A Featured Title and Two New Titles.
• January 2012 Special Offers.
• January 2012 Newsletter.
• New Title: "The Garden in Art".
• The Permaculture Book of Ferment and Human Nutrition.
• ........ and more.

If you no longer wish to receive my monthly newsletter, or Diane's monthly list of special offers you may unsubscribe here. {tag_unsubscribelist}

Peter Arthur
Touchwood Books
2nd February 2012