Fruit Books - Page 5

Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm

David Mas Masumoto

List Price: $20.00 By: Harpercollins Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $0.36

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Epitaph for a Peach 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 14 people found this review helpful.

It is rare to read a book where the author works miracles with his hands and his words. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys non-fiction but finds it dry, without humanity. David Mas Masumoto is anything but dry. His land may be at times, but his poetic prose is anything but. His relationship with his family, his family's farm and nature is a rare combination. I highly recommend this read.

The Struggle Continues 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I live somewhat north of the area Mr. Masumoto writes about - where the San Francisco Bay Area Suburbs collide with the San Joaquin Farmlands. The Peach and Cherry Orchards and the Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Strawberries are currently holding their own - but like Mr. Masumoto's Peaches and Grapes, only tenuously, and with great courage. If you would like to understand not only how these people live, but who and why they are, you should read this book. It is both beautifully written and thought provoking.

Editorial Review:

A lyrical, sensuous and thoroughly engrossing memoir of one critical year in the life of an organic peach farmer, Epitaph for a Peach is "a delightful narrative . . . with poetic flair and a sense of humor" (Library Journal). Line drawings.

Guide to North Carolina Vegetable Gardening

Walter Reeves, Felder Rushing

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Cool Springs Press Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $7.77

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The New Victory Garden

Bob Thomson

List Price: $24.95 By: Little Brown & Co (P) Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $1.28

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An all time favorite 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

In my periodic attempts to grow vegetables, this book -- and its predecessor, "Crockett's Victory Garden," have been my constant and favorite companions. It's past time for this 1987 book to be updated and republished.

This is Cadillac gardening as Crockett and his successor Bob Thomson apparently had a large budget, a full toolshed, and endless time to produce a perfect garden. My pitiful efforts never yield much in the way of edible products, but I enjoy reading about how I would grow vegetables if I were not such a lazy and shiftless person.

The book is broken down by months with a long list of vegetables for planting, tending, and harvesting for each month as well as other garden tasks. The monthly labors are for Boston. Being further south, I tend to do things a month earlier in the spring and a month later in the fall than Thomson prescribes. "The New Victory Garden" is full of solid gardening advice for an establishmentarian gardener. If you're into organics or (like me) inclined to low-impact, no inputs type cultivation, you might not like Thomson's reliance on chemical fertilizers -- but he makes up for it with good advice on compost, natural fertilizers, and lots of touchy feely stuff. The pictures are beautiful. Someday, in some future world I'll have a garden like this. Yeah, sure. Dream on! But I like reading the book and I occasionally try to follow the advice.

Smallchief

Editorial Review:

For everyone interested in enhancing the beauty found in and around the home, The New Victory Garden promises to be the season's most valuable gardening tool. 230 full-color photographs and 100 line drawings. Size C. 50,000 paper. (Gardening/Indoor-Outdoor)

Gourds in Your Garden: A Guidebook for the Home Gardener

Ginger Summit

List Price: $19.95 By: Hillway Press Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $4.74

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

What you need to know 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Super book with answers to tough gardening questions for gourd growers. Helpful, detailed & practical. I always return to this book, so much useful information.

Editorial Review:

Whether you're a seasoned gardener enchanted with their lush vines and unusually shaped fruit or a crafter in search of the perfect gourd for a specific project, this easy-to-use primer takes the mystery out of growing gourds. Largely ignored by most gardening books, gourd plants require specific attention to produce healthy vines and satisfactory fruit. Learn how to:

* Identify popular gourd shapes
* Plan and cultivate your garden
* Grow, train, and harvest a bountiful crop
* Control pests and disease with natural remedies
* Prepare your gourds for use-in recipes and art projects.

Lists of suppliers, a growing calendar, and space for notes on your own garden conditions make this the complete gourd sourcebook. A delight to read as well as a lasting reference, this long overdue guide to the adventures of growing one of Nature's greatest gifts is an essential addition to any gardener's library.

Olives: The Life and Lore of a Noble Fruit

Mort Rosenblum

List Price: $25.00 By: North Point Press Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $13.10

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Delightful book on all things olive 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

_Olives_ by Mort Rosenblum is a well-written, witty, and engaging book on all things olive, thorough in its coverage. Rosenblum became an olive aficionado after acquiring five acres of land in the Provence region of France, site of an abandoned farmhouse and two hundred half-dead and heavily overgrown century-plus olive trees, long neglected. From that point on he became not only committed to bringing his trees back to life but on becoming an expert on olives in general, traveling throughout France, Israel, Palestine, Spain, Italy, Tunisia, Morocco, Greece, the former Yugoslavia, California, and Mexico to speak to olive growers, those who press olives for their oil, government regulators, those involved in marketing table olives and olive oil, chefs, and nutritional experts. Though not a cookbook, _Olives_ even includes cooking, buying, and storage tips as well as recipes for such fare as eliopitta (a Cypriot olive bread) and imam bayaldi (the name meaning "the imam fainted," supposedly reference to a long-ago reaction to this eggplant and olive oil dish).

The origins of the domestication of _Olea europaea_ are lost in the mists of prehistory. The olive, a close relation to the lilac and jasmine, was maintained in groves in Asia Minor as early as 6000 B.C. Greeks, Phoenicians, and Romans spread olives to Sicily, the Italian mainland, France, Spain, and North Africa. Spanish missionaries in the 1500s brought the olive to California and Mexico. Today there are 800 million olive trees in the world. Though found on six continents, 90% of them are found in the Mediterranean (Spain has the most).

Olives have long been an important fixture in Mediterranean history and religion. Golden carvings of olives decorated ancient Egyptian tombs. Greeks used so much olive oil to lubricate their athletes that they invented a curved blade, the strigil, to scrape it off. Saul, the first king of Israel, was crowned by rubbing oil into his forehead. In Hebrew, the root word for "messiah" comes from "unguent," meaning that the messiah when he arrives will be slathered in oil. The fuel referred to in the miracle of Hanukkah was olive oil. The Old and New Testaments refer to olive oil 140 times and the olive tree 100 times. The Romans had a separate stock market and merchant marine dedicated just to oil.

Rosenblum vividly showed that olive oil is a nuanced as wine. There are seven hundred cultivated varieties, or cultivars, with some grown for pressing, others for eating, ranging from cailletiers (favored in salade nicoise) to malissi (the standard tree of the West Bank) to the hardy, wilder Moroccan picholine to the famous Greek Kalamata. Oils vary a lot in taste, from syrupy yellow oils of southern Italy to thin green Tuscan oils with a peppery after bite to the spicy and light oil of the Siurana region of Spain. Acidity and taste vary due to local cultivators, the weather that year, the presence or absence of pests, when the olives are harvested, and how long they sit around before pressing (as fermentation drives up acidity).

There are regional differences in harvesting olives. In Israel, Palestine, and France, they "milk" trees, the pickers using their fingers and dropping olives into a basket or a net under the tree. "Whackers" - prevalent in Spain, Italy, and Greece - use sticks to hit the branches to dislodge olives, faster and not requiring ladders, but tougher on the trees.

The actual process of pressing olives is extremely well-covered, Rosenblum vividly describing the one favored in most olive-growing countries, the modern continuous system (which uses linked centrifuges to grind up pulp), often highly automated, and the traditional method of using a tower press, which is a very interesting device (though labor-intensive and on the decline outside of niche markets). There are considerable debates in the industry over exact methods, particularly on the use of water and its temperature.

Olives are big business; an industry producing about $10 billion a year as the world consumes nearly 2 million metric tons of olive oil each year. In some areas consumption is quite high; the average per capita consumption annually in Greece is five gallons of oil. Though Spain produces 37% of the world's oil compared to Italy's 19 % and Greece's 17%, it only has a 16% share of the American market (compared to Italy's 70% and Greece's 3%). Ten brands dominate the American domesticate market; most labels are small, sold only regionally or instead growers sell their olives to Italy to produced blended oils for export as a "Product of Italy" despite being grown perhaps in Tunisia, Greece, or Turkey. Rosenblum investigated the corruption that existed in the industry, from waning Mafia influence in Italy to adulterating olive oil with seed oil to cheating in some areas to gain EU agricultural subsidies.

Sales in olive oil have grown a great deal, particularly in the United States, thanks to a growing consensus on its healthfulness. Monounsaturated, olive oil drives out bad cholesterol without reducing the good. Rich in antioxidants, it has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer.

The author provided some valuable education to the consumer about oils. Extra-virgin for instance means that the amount of free fatty acids - mostly oleic acid - is below 1 percent, with the organoleptic properties (aroma, taste, and body) rating high. Virgin oil, rarely found for sale, has up to 2 percent acidity. Both are produced by "first-press" or "cold-press" methods. Plain olive oil, (or "pure"), is refined inferior oil used mainly for frying, treated with steam and chemicals and mixed with some better oil for a little flavor and aroma. Pomace oil comes from the first-press leavings, refined to bring it below the 3.5 percent acidity level that designates lamp oil, though often pomace is instead used to make soap (the oil for soap may have 40% acidity). "Lite" oil has the same number of calories (125 per tablespoon), simply being a refined olive oil with less extra virgin added, a clearer color, cheaper to make, and inferior.

Editorial Review:

Winner of the James Beard Award

Until one stops to notice, an olive is only a lowly lump at the bottom of a martini. But not only does a history of olives traverse climates and cultures, it also reveals fascinating differences in processing, production, and personalities. Aficionados of the noble little fruit expect miracles from it as a matter of course. In 1986, Mort Rosenblum bought a small farm in Provence and acquired 150 neglected olive trees that were old when the Sun King ruled France. He brought them back to life and became obsessed with olives, their cultivation, and their role in international commerce.

Grafting Fruit Trees: Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-35

Larry Southwick

Amazon Price: $3.95 List Price: $3.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Storey Publishing, LLC Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $2.04

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

A Ripoff for Orchardists 1 out of 5 stars.
19 of 21 people found this review helpful.

This book is a 32-page flimsy pamphlet of the kind that your local Agricultural Extension Service often gives away for free.
There is a paucity of information, no pictures, poor hand-drawn graphics, no mention of anything of value to southern farmers. NO mention of air-layering, and NO compatibility tables for different types of fruit. Egad.

Really helped us out with our new place 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

We recently bought a small farm and orchard and were simply overwhelmed about what to do with the fruit trees. Fortunately for us, the local feed store was selling this great little book. It covers the essentials for successful grafting and budding, includes the info needed so that the proper tools are acquired and/or used, when to do the different types of grafting and budding, as well as the definitions of the various types of grafting.

Editorial Review:

Since 1973, Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins have offered practical, hands-on instructions designed to help readers master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. There are now more than 170 titles in this series, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life.

Hydroponic Tomatoes for the Home Gardener

Howard M. Resh

List Price: $9.95 By: Woodbridge Press Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $6.78

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

ridiculous review 5 out of 5 stars.
32 of 32 people found this review helpful.

After reading a rather scathing review posted on Amazon.com entitled "Get an editor" I chose not to order this book. Later, I happened across the book at Borders, thumbed through and purchased it. The book is is excellent!

I believe the review misleads readers. I will address the two specific criticisms: Bad chemistry? Resh very carefully explains the concept of PH ( the reviewer missed this)-reference to a PH of 4.0 as very acidic was relative to the PH needs of tomatoes and, in fact, 4.0 is very acidic for a tomato (just a fact of life, not bad chemistry). Sulphuric acid for novices? Resh talks about sulphuric acid/hydroxides because they are, indeed, used within hydroponics (see hydroponic supply web sites). However, he is very clear that he does not recommend their use and lists the same reasons given by the reviewer (somehow the reviewer overlooked this also).Resh goes on to recommend specific safety measures for those who insist on their use.

The book is clearly written, well illustrated and extremely practical. I have read it twice and highly recommend it.

Editorial Review:

Home-grown tomatoes . . . large, red-ripe, deliciously aromatic and full of flavor! They can be yours again with modern hydroponic methods designed for home gardeners by one of America's foremost hydroponics experts.

You don't need previous experience. Your advantages (besides great tomatoes!) include freedom from harmful pesticides, bothersome weeds and insects, plus ease and pleasure in tending the garden. And you can enjoy your tomatoes sooner . . . tomatoes rich in vitamins and minerals and great taste!

Step-by-step instructions, with many clear, "show-me-how" illustrations, both photographs and drawings.

Kitchen Harvest: Growing Oragnic Fruit, Vegetables & Herbs in Containers

Susan Berry

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Frances Lincoln Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $12.20

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Good Book! 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This book is just what I was looking for. It has good tips for organic edible container gardening. The pictures are great and I am inspired to try lots of new things in containers this summer. I'm short on ground space, but I can fill some containers up!

Editorial Review:

Shows you how to grow vegetables and fruit, using organic methods, even if you don't have a garden; all that is necessary is a couple of pots or a window box.

Knott's Handbook for Vegetable Growers

Oscar A. Lorenz, Donald N. Maynard

List Price: $89.95 By: Wiley-Interscience Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $44.98

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In any season and any year, the most reliable farming tool between two covers . . .

KNOTT'S HANDBOOK FOR VEGETABLE GROWERS

Fourth Edition

This classic handbook is considered by generations of commercial growers as the standard reference tool for growing vegetable crops. Filled with information, largely in the form of tables and charts, from hard statistics on vegetable production and consumption to fascinating esoterica, such as vegetable botanical names and vegetable names in nine languages (French for cauliflower is chou-fleur; a Spanish onion is a cebolla), Knott's Handbook is part Farmer's Almanac, part encyclopedia, and part dictionary. But with its detailed, practical specifics on planting rates, schedules, and spacing; soils and fertilizers; methods for controlling diseases; greenhouse vegetable and crop production; insect pest identification; harvesting and storage; and vegetable marketing, it's an indispensable helpmate to the farmer in the field and in the marketplace.

Thoroughly updated and expanded to reflect the latest technical advances in vegetable growing, the Fourth Edition contains new information on water management with drip irrigation; seed priming and seed germination tests; plant tissue testing; petiole sap testing; windbreaks; and weed management. A revised discussion of allowable pesticide and herbicide use as well as the newest in worker protection standards makes the Fourth Edition even more relevant to today's commercial grower.

The new edition of Knott's Handbook for Vegetable Growers comes in a convenient portable size and features a sturdy flexible cover with pages that lie flat, on the desk or in the field. Fulfilling James Edward Knott's original vision of a concise, comprehensive, and eminently useable handbook, this new edition of the 1957 classic is the ultimate day-to-day field reference, and as indispensable to a farmer's work as good weather.

Rodale's Garden Answers- Vegetables, fruits, and Herbs: At-a-Glance Solutions for Every Gardening Problem

Fern Marshall Bradley

List Price: $17.95 By: Yankee Books Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $14.45

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Hint book for Organic Gardening 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Spend less time reading and more time gardening with this quick-reference guide. The book is broken into five sections: Getting Started, Growing Vegetables, Growing Fruits, Growing Herbs, and Controlling Pest and Diseases. Each section is loaded with tips. In the Getting started section, you will learn about preparing a site, buying the right plants, and how to making Compost Tea. The Vegetable section, not only gives you a detailed write-up on over 30 different vegetables, but tells how to get 100 pounds of tomatoes from one plant. For the do-it-yourself group, there are instructions on how to build a homemade tomato cage.

The book devotes 100 pages to growing fruits. Learn how to make an aphid trap out of a milk jug or how to propagate berry plants and fruit trees. There are detailed care and maintenance write-ups on 12 of the most common fruits & berries.

The Herb section talks about controlling invasive herbs, companion planting, and how to perform a technique called layering.

The Controlling Pest and Diseases section points out beneficial insects and plants. The book also explains organic tricks for solving insect, plant deficiency, and disease problems. I love the way the book uses home products to solve common gardening problems in an easy to read format. This is my favorite gardening book.

Editorial Review:

With more than 400,000 copies in print, this informative guide, now in paperback, allows gardeners to find answers quickly and get back into the garden now. 350 two-color illustrations.