6. Good Organic Gardening - November-December 2016 AvxHome.in

ooks | REVIEWS
Cover to cover
Leafing through books for gardeners and nature lovers
The Bee Friendly Garden
By Doug Purdie, Murdoch Books, $39.99
Like the proverbial canary in the coalmine, the bee — or rather its absence — is often the first indication that
something is amiss in our environment. Bees are our most important pollinators and their numbers are in sharp
decline. It’s not just the lethal effects of pesticides or the loss of habitat; the urban landscape, with its emphasis on
lawns, concrete and forage-poor “architectural” plantings, curtails the bees’ short hops from flower to flower and
isolates populations from one another, with disastrous results. What we need to do, says Doug Purdie, self-professed
“beevangelist” and co-founder of The Urban Beehive project in Sydney, is put on our “bee goggles” and see the
world like a bee. To that end, this extensively illustrated book shows how to create a bee-friendly garden and,
ultimately, a “bee highway” across Australia, saving bees one backyard or balcony plant tub at a time.
Passion: Organic Vegan Recipes to Live For
By Anthea Amore, organicpassioncatering.com, $39.95
Anthea Amore, the woman behind Byron Bay’s vegan catering company Organic Passion Catering, became a
vegetarian at 14 and a vegan four years later — in spite of (or perhaps because of) her paternal Italian roots and the
love of food that came with them. “As I had been a lover of meat and distinctly not vegetables, my family found this
very amusing,” she writes. “They made bets on how long I would last.” Nearly three decades later, Anthea’s still going
strong and has poured her passion for organic, raw produce into this stunning self-published cookbook. After a
brief discussion of the ethics of food, Anthea launches into 100-plus delicious recipes, from smoothies and soups to
raw cashew hummus, spinach tagliatelle with vegan “Parmesan cheese” and san choy bow with crispy tempeh and
macadamia, lime and coriander mayonnaise. For vegan beginners, there’s also a list of pantry must-haves.
Nourish Bowls
Photography by Issy Croker, Quadrille/Hardie Grant, $24.99
Whether you call it a hippie bowl, Buddha bowl, rainbow vegie bowl, poke bowl or glow bowl, the concept behind
the bowl craze is simple: to combine all the nutritional elements you need in each meal. Meaning 25 per cent
protein (meat, fish, dairy, eggs or plant-based); 25 per cent complex carbohydrates (grains); 10 per cent healthy fats
(avocado, coconut oil); seasonal fruit or vegetables (the largest proportion); some leafy greens; and dressings or
toppings of seeds, nuts or berries. This beautiful book, illustrated by London-based photographer and food editor
Issy Croker, provides 60 seasonal, hearty and photogenic recipes to help you build your daily bowls, from breakfast
and light meals to hearty dinner bowls. The book finishes with recipes for staples you can store, including buttermilk
dressing, Creole spice mix, green Thai and laksa pastes and kimchi, the spicy Korean condiment. Let’s go bowling!
Bees, Beekeeping and Honey
By John Mason & staff, ACS Distance Education, $32.95
Here’s an ebook that presents a practical guide to all aspects of beekeeping and honey production, from how to
build and where to locate your hive to harvesting and using the end product in the kitchen. You’ll find detailed
information about the different species of bees and their physiology, a guide to the seasonal tasks involved in
bee husbandry, a chapter about bee health and diseases, pests and viruses, plus all the ways to attract bees to
your garden. At a time when this beneficial insect’s numbers are in decline, here’s your chance to do something
not only for your own garden and pantry but for the environment as a whole. Beekeeping can even be a lucrative
enterprise. With 106 pages including 46 pictures, this fascinating ebook is available at acsbookshop.com.
The House and Garden at Glenmore
By Mickey Robertson, Murdoch Books, $59.99
This handsome book, lavishly illustrated with Daniel Shipp’s stunning photography, tells the story of how interior
designer Mickey Robertson and her husband made an impulse decision to buy a dilapidated sandstone cottage
near Camden on the western edge of Sydney. Now, after nearly 30 years of painstaking restoration and renewal, the
colonial house, its garden and outlying buildings are something of a showpiece and the focus of regular gardening,
cooking and craft workshops run by the couple. Mickey is an engaging writer and her account of Glenmore’s
progress from grand folly to grand design, including asides about her family life and the inspiration she draws from
her ornamental garden, makes for amusing and thoroughly distracting reading. A bonus chapter includes
30 seasonal recipes highlighting the produce from her productive organic, biodynamic kitchen garden.
Good Organic Gardening | 102