As we prepare to put the MVG Update to bed for its annual rest during the winter holidays, we'd like to offer you the following board and staff recommendations for great local-food reading during the break.  These are also wonderful ideas for holiday gifts to your favorite locavore (including a belated Hanukkah gift - our apologies for getting this out late in a year that Hanukkah came early!).

With our best wishes for a great holiday season and a happy New Year!

Our recommendations...

* Susan Harris, Master Gardener and Garden Rant Blogger - Edible Landscaping, by Rosalind Creasy

"Rosalind Creasy is the undisputed high priestess of growing food - beautifully.  Her publisher calls her 1982 Edible Landscaping a 'groundbreaking classic' and that's no exaggeration.  This new edition is more than the modest description 'update' conveys.  It's a stunning and inspiring book that's also how-to writing at its best.  I can't recommend it highly enough - with no reservations at all.  No nits to pick or suggestions from me - it's that good!"

Click here to read more on Edible Landscaping.

* Niki Lewis, Montgomery Countryside Alliance and growingSOUL Board Member - Growing a Garden City, by Jeremy Smith

"Fifteen people-plus a class of first graders-tell how local food, farms, and gardens changed their lives and their community, and how they can change yours, too.  I'll be honest and say I haven't read this brand new book yet, but the excerpts make Growing a Garden City look awesome, and it's on my short list to read over the holidays."
 

Click here to read more on Growing a Garden City

* Erica Smith, Master Gardener and Coordinator of the MG Demonstration Garden and the Grow It Eat It Blog - We Grew It, Let's Eat It, by Justin Kenin

"I'll go for something readers might want to get for the children in their lives, which is We Grew It, Let's Eat It.  It's the story of DC twins, Annie and Veda, who are inspired by the White House Garden to grow their own food, even though they live in an apartment.  It is absolutely charming and accurate about gardening, too - and it's local, since Annie and Veda live in DC!"

Click here to read more on We Grew It, Let's Eat It

* Tim Willard, Transition Takoma and Green Party Organizer - How to Make a Forest Garden , by Patrick Whitefield

"How to Make a Forest Garden is book based on permaculture principles telling how to make a garden on the model of a natural woodland or forest--ideal for our area.  The book walks you through all the steps from designing to plant selection.  One of the appealing aspects of this kind of garden is that much of it consists of perennial plants - which means less work for the gardener!"

Click here to read more on How to Make a Forest Garden 

* Woody Woodroof,  Executive Director of Red Wiggler Community Farm - Diet for a Hot Planet, by Anna Lappe

"An excellent book from a speaker many of us heard at Brookside Gardens' Green Matters Symposium this past March, Diet for a Hot Planet carries Michael Pollans work the next step, and does for the present generation what her mother's Diet for a Small Planet did for the last.  Connecting what we eat to the crisis of climate change, Lappe successfully deconstructs food industry spin, gives principles for a climate-friendly diet, and visits sustainable good success stories from around the globe.  Timely and inspiring."

Click here to read more on Diet for a Hot Planet

* Gordon Clark, MVG Project Director - A Nation of Farmers, by Sharon Astyk and Aaron Newton

"A lot of folks talk about the coming peak oil and climate change-induced food crisis, but this is one of the few books I've read where the authors tell us, in detail, what we can do to defeat that crisis right here on American soil.  Filled with great analysis, abundant examples, wonderful recipes and fun quotes, A Nation of Farmers both takes us back to what founding father Thomas Jefferson envisioned for a healthy democracy,  and forward to what we can do to 'overthrow our destructive industrial agriculture and give us hope for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in a changing world.'"

Click here to read more on A Nation of Farmers

* Meredith Epstein, MVG Networking Coordinator - Start With the Soil, by Grace Gershuny

"The most basic necessity of a healthy food system is healthy soil.  Start With the Soil is an easy-to-read intro to soil science can help any gardener or farmer gain immense insight into sustainable soil practices.  And it comes to us from Rodale Press, one of the leaders in exploring and teaching organic and sustainable farming and gardening methods for the past 50 years."

Click here to read more on Start With the Soil

* Vincenza Kamwendo, MVG Education and Outreach Coordinator - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver

"It's a few years old but an absolute classic if you haven't read it yet.  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle  is easy to read with a great balance of information about our food system, practical tips (and recipes!) about growing your own food and keeping local, and Kingsolver's beautiful, relevant prose.   I love pretty much everything by Barbara Kingsolver and this personal story of her family's journey going local was really inspiring and showed me I could do this too!"

Click here to read more on Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Want to help us to keep providing you great information and inspiring tips like this in 2011?  Click here to make a tax-deductible year end contribution to Montgomery Victory Gardens!

Thanks!