Category: Books

Field Guide to California Agriculture (California Natural History Guides)

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Anyone who travels California’s byways sees the many faces of agriculture. A huge entwined business, farming and ranching are the state’s dominant land use. Yet few Californians understand what animals and crops are raised or how agriculture reflects our relationship with nature. This fascinating and gorgeously illustrated field guide gathers essential information about agriculture and its environmental context, and answers the perennial question posed by California travelers: “What is that, and why is it growing here?” Paul F. Starrs’s lively text explores the full range of the state’s agriculture, deftly balancing agribusiness triumphalism with the pride of boutique producers, sketching meanwhile the darker shadows that can envelop California farming. Documented with diverse maps and Peter Goin’s insightful photographs, A Field Guide to California Agriculture captures the industry’s energy and ingenuity and its wildly diverse iconography, from the mysteries of forbidden crops (like marijuana) to the majesties of scale in food production.
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Agriculture: A Course of Lectures Held at Koberwitz, Silesia, June 7 to June 16, 1924

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In this remarkable series of lectures, delivered in 1924, Rudolf Steiner first laid down the principles of biodynamic agriculture. Each lecture contains fascinating insights into farming, the plant and animal world, the nature of organic chemistry and the influences of the heavenly bodies. The discussions which followed are also recorded, in which Steiner answered questions and engaged in debate with the audience. This edition comes with full editorial notes and appendices, and includes Steiner’s own handwritten notes to the series.

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Designing Urban Agriculture: A Complete Guide to the Planning, Design, Construction, Maintenance and Management of Edible Landscapes

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A comprehensive overview of edible landscapes—complete with more than 300 full-color photos and illustrations

Designing Urban Agriculture is about the intersection of ecology, design, and community. Showcasing projects and designers from around the world who are forging new paths to the sustainable city through urban agriculture landscapes, it creates a dialogue on the ways to invite food back into the city and pave a path to healthier communities and environments.

This full-color guide begins with a foundation of ecological principles and the idea that the food shed is part of a city’s urban systems network. It outlines a design process based on systems thinking and developed for a lifecycle or regenerative-based approach. It also presents strategies, tools, and guidelines that enable informed decisions on planning, designing, budgeting, constructing, maintaining, marketing, and increasing the sustainability of this re-invented cityscape. Case studies demonstrate the environmental, economic, and social value of these landscapes and reveal paths to a greener and healthier urban environment.

This unique and indispensable guide:

  • Details how to plan, design, fund, construct, and leverage the sustainability aspects of the edible landscape typology
  • Covers over a dozen typologies including community gardens, urban farms, edible estates, green roofs and vertical walls, edible school yards, seed to table, food landscapes within parks, plazas, streetscapes and green infrastructure systems and more
  • Explains how to design regenerative edible landscapes that benefit both community and ecology and explores the connections between food, policy, and planning that promote viable food shed systems for more resilient communities
  • Examines the integration of management, maintenance, and operations issues
  • Reveals how to create a business model enterprise that addresses a lifecycle approach
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