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Your Farm In The City: An Urban Dweller's Guide To Growing Food And Raising Animals (2011)

by Lisa Taylor(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1579128629 (ISBN13: 9781579128623)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers

review 1: This was my first gardening book and and sort of an odd read for me as I've never (and I do mean not ever) had what folks would call a 'green thumb'. However, having taken a recent interest in food - cooking, where it comes from, and if it were possible to grow my own - I grabbed this book from the library when I went looking for another from the same shelf.It was a bit of a dry read at first but, for a novice like me, seemed filled with a wealth of specific information about veggies and the process of planting them. Really comprehensive stuff. Kind of like a reference manual for the all the basics of backyard gardening. I enjoyed that aspect, knowing it's a book I can always come back to as a reference in the future. The only criticism I have of the book is the layout. Th... moree illustrations and colors are very attractive but some of the graphic design in the book also made it difficult to follow passages from one page to the next. For example, I recall that most chapters had additional information at the bottom of certain pages which were separate from the main narrative. It was a bit confusing to follow in that respect, but otherwise I feel the book is a good read for beginner gardner in need of a reference guide for their initial gardening/backyard-farming research.
review 2: I've been reading a lot of books like this (farming / gardening in the city) and they all seem to echo each other in terms of the advice given, the plants suggested...I don't know. I just feel like I've already read this book, several times over.The illustrations were beautiful - it's unusual to have drawings instead of pictures, so that was fun. But sometimes the desire to make the pages visually stimulating was achieved...and then some! There were times, with all of the different fonts and colors, etc, that my eye didn't know where to look on the page. There were also chunks of verbiage that were repeated - if they had taken out the repeats, it would have slimmed the book down.I don't know. It was good - it was fine. It just wasn't anything special. This is a book that you need to borrow from the library, browse through it, and then return. Don't buy it as a reference book - there isn't enough specialized information to make it worth it.Oh, and my one pet peeve was in here: Books and websites always say you have to dip apples in lemon juice before drying them to prevent them from browning. Can I just point something out here? DRIED FOOD IS SUPPOSED TO BE BROWN!!!! I mean, you're sucking the moisture out of the food. Forcing the food to stay one color because...well, I don't even know - looks I guess?...is a complete waste of time. I have never dipped my apples in lemon juice before drying them (or any other fruit I have ever dried) and as of yet, I've never had someone say, "Well golly, your apples are brown - I shouldn't eat them." They don't even turn a dark brown - it's more of a light tan color. The taste is exactly the same.Skip the lemon juice and save yourself the time. My two cents. :-) less

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