Ivan Solovyev Solovyev từ 32021 Piasent BL, Ý từ 32021 Piasent BL, Ý

An unexpected sewer backup this winter resulted in a giant hole in our front yard. Rather than simply re-seed the lawn, I thought I’d explore some other options for landscaping the front yard and avoid the need to push the mower up the incline this season. Among other books I particularly enjoyed Fritz Haeg’s “Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn.” Edible Estates is part art project, part social experiment, part environmental activism. Haeg embarked on the endeavor of transforming front yards from expanses of grass into productive vegetable gardens. This book documents his project in three prototype gardens in varying U.S. hardiness zones in photographs, e-mail excerpts, diagrams, and blog posts. The book opens with a series of essays ranging from the history of the American Lawn (think Jefferson’s Monticello) to front lawn gardening with children. Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food), contributes his thoughts on his conversion from mowing that began with apple, peach, cherry and plum trees. Haeg is quick to point out the irony of spreading fertilizer and pesticide and dousing it with clean water in order to grow green grass only to cut it to within ½ inch of death and do it all over again, all the while contaminating the water sources and emitting carbon at preposterous rates. Contrary to Haeg’s expectation that neighbors might complain about yards that don’t conform to the standard acceptable norm, the Edible Estates drew people together, provoking conversation and developing community. I’d encourage you to pick up the book and give it a look. You might be surprised by what you find. While our front yard isn’t likely to feed our family for the year, perhaps if you stroll along Graceland St. NE sometime this summer we can enjoy each other’s company over fresh strawberries at the front stoop.

The (original) Canadian title of this book is "The Rebel Sell" - the latest Canadian edition includes the authors' comments about the various international titles (chosen by publishers), among other things. Very interesting and challenging reading for lefties (like me) steeped in Adbusters, etc. Unfortunately, it's riddled with distractingly flippant passages that undermine the authors' arguments which actually, i think, merit serious consideration in many cases. Their feminist and anti-colonial critiques (such as they are) sadly, are cursory and weak. In short: a fascinating, infuriating, dissapointing, and brilliant book about why we have such a hard time making the world a better place.