“Slugs Don’t Eat Arugula: Tales Of Whimsey, Woe, And Wisdom From The Kitchen And Garden”

“I enjoy gardening,” writes Chicoan Jeremy Miller. “I enjoy the feeling of being linked to my backyard and the plants and animals that live there, … noting the traffic of insects that zip around the sunflowers, and having the ability to pluck a cherry tomato off the vine and pop it directly into my mouth … not only do I know where my food came from, but I also know that I was a part of that process.”

But for Miller, not every foray into gardening goes as planned (there is, after all, the “Nightmare on Avocado Street” and the “Peach Pit Conspiracy”), and not every culinary attempt is a triumph (“Even butter can’t make bitter beets taste better”). That makes his collection of short essays, drawn and edited from Edible Shasta-Butte magazine over the years, deliciously relatable.

“Slugs Don’t Eat Arugula: Tales Of Whimsey, Woe, And Wisdom From The Kitchen And Garden” ($14.95 in paperback from Memoir Books) is available in Chico at Northern Star Mills and C Bar D Feed. 

Chapters move thematically, from the kitchen to the garden, to a dubious look at natural remedies (“The Witch Doctor’s Pantry”) to Miller’s diet regimen (“Kettle Chips Are My Kryptonite”) and, finally, to recipes that include carrot cake muffins (gluten free) and sauerkraut (makes three quarts and takes three weeks).

Though he has books on organic gardening and “compost care,” Miller admits all the good advice mostly ends up on the compost heap. Instead, he wants “to embrace the simplicity of a ‘Tarzan the Farmer’ mentality: ‘Dig! Plant seed! Water! Grow! Eat!’ Somewhere in between diligence and naivety, my garden turns into a jungle, and Tarzan is happy. And the gophers are happy. And the snails. And the weeds. And the zucchini.”

Some pocket gophers jump over barriers. So “I had yet another gardening excuse … ‘My real challenge is the overland migratory … gophers (“OMG!”), which are actually endemic to west Chico, California.’ I don’t even care if it is true; I intend to use it over and over.”

Get the book. The stakes, as gardeners say, couldn’t be higher.

“The Redemption Of Elijah Kidd Kane”

“As long as Paul Early Kane had been married,” we are told, “he desired his boys to have the best life opportunities. He had attended Harvard-Westwood Academy for the Gifted in the southern hills of Ojai Valley, California, before going to Harvard University….” 

But when Paul’s favored son, Joseph, fails to get into the Academy and his younger brother, Elijah Kidd Kane, 13, is accepted instead, and taken under the wings of the Academy president, Grant Humphreys Harvard, it becomes clear to readers that Elijah is being groomed for a secret, and sinister, project.

“The Redemption Of Elijah Kidd Kane” ($12.95 in paperback, independently published; also for Amazon Kindle) is the first in a new immersive fantasy series by former longtime Chicoan David Dirks, now living in Brentwood with Karen, his wife of 54 years.

Seen as “ordinary,” Elijah is neglected by his socialite mother; a child of privilege, “he lived life by allowing it to happen to him.” The boy is warned by his grandfather, Emmanuel, that he has visions regarding Dean-Headmaster Samuel C. EngleHoffer. “He is of German Aryan descent and still holds to some of their most ancient principles… He will use his power to trip you.”

The tension between Harvard and EngleHoffer notwithstanding, they both worship at the giant Sphere at the Academy, a broken sphere in which a smaller, perfect sphere emerges. There is talk of appealing to the Keeper, and a plan to use Elijah as Harvard’s agent to create a science and technology academy in Botswana. 

Somehow the “Spirit of Mars,” the spirit of the late scientist Nikola Tesla, has made it possible to establish free power for that African country, getting the populace used to all the electrified amenities, before lucrative charges are suddenly imposed. 

It’s clear a spiritual battle is taking place. A young Botswanan girl, Esi Ada Ogolla, must not only challenge the Interior Minister, a warlock, who craves spiritual power for himself, but bring Elijah to see the true Light and aid Esi and the other New Freedom Warriors in stopping sex trafficking of children.

There will be more to come in the series. Victory will not be easily won.

"New Leaf"

Chicoan Nancy Anderson’s children’s book is a parable about brokenness leading to new life. Beautifully illustrated by Madeline Einfalt, with design layout by Nica Petrova, “New Leaf” ($25 in hardcover, independently published, available at Made in Chico or from the author at NewLeafTeamChico@gmail.com) is also a tribute to New Leaf Home in the lowland region of southern Nepal. (Proceeds from the book will be donated to the home.)

After the end of the story there are several pages devoted to New Leaf Home. “Since 2010,” Anderson writes, “thirty girls have experienced hope out of brokenness. A miracle has happened leading to a new leaf, new life. Blossoming young women are bearing fruit in their redeemed lives.” And the founding directors “thank God that He changes the lives of our New Leaf girls!”

A little girl tells the story: “In a small rural village in Southern Nepal stands my mango tree. … My mango tree stands firmly planted near the well. It gives us delicious green mangos in the summer. Leaves of every shade of green delight my eyes. Tall grasses bend gently in the breeze.”

But then, one night, “A frightful storm comes to my village. Thunder booms. My eyes are big. My heart is pounding. … Frequent lightning flashes across the blackened sky. Rain falls fast and hard. I am afraid.”

In the morning, “I run out to see my mango tree. It is broken. The branches are ripped off, and the remaining leaves are shredded.” Some in the village think the tree is dead and needs to be cut down. Others, though, even as the seasons progress and nothing seems to change, say “Let’s wait and see what happens.”

“The broken tree needs to be nurtured. A few people, whom I do not recognize, come forward to gently protect and lovingly care for my mango tree.” And then: “I see some new yellowish pink leaves coming from one of the torn branches. My mango tree is alive!”

That nurturing will, in the end, bear much fruit.

Nancy Anderson is Nancy Wiegman’s guest on Nancy’s Bookshelf on Northstate Public Radio, mynspr.org, Wednesday, July 16 at 10:00 a.m., repeated Sunday, July 20 at 8:00 p.m.

“Wildfire Days: A Woman, A Hotshot Crew, And The Burning American West”

Redding-based Kelly Ramsey has written an intense “you are there” memoir of 2020 and 2021 when she fought fires on the Rowdy River Hotshots. These were “Wildfire Days: A Woman, A Hotshot Crew, And The Burning American West” ($29.99 in hardcover from Scribner; also for Amazon Kindle and in audiobook format read by the author).

Back then “I lived in a town called Happy Camp. Yes, that’s a place. This was the real Northern California, not the Bay Area, thank you very much. If the Golden State is a bent appendage, its swollen forearm bearing LA like a red boil, my California lay above the elbow.”

Divided into the two seasons, the first focuses on Ramsey as a rookie hotshot. “Hotshot crews,” she writes, “are physically and operationally intense. … These crews tackle the most difficult and remote parts of wildfires, doing the hardest manual labor and hiking deep into the wilderness to places other crews can’t or won’t go.” 

And “scariest of all, while I had hoped the crew would pick up another lady or two, I learned that I’d be the sole woman and the first in nearly a decade. To many of the guys, I’d be the only girl they’d ever worked with. Just me and nineteen men who were probably faster, stronger, and more knowledgeable than I was. No big deal.”

That season they worked the Slater Fire, North Complex, and August Complex, among others. The second season would take them to the Monument and Dixie fires, and more. In this season personal entanglements rise to the fore. Engaged to a non-hotshot firefighter, Ramsey finds a deep-seated acceptance among the Rowdy River crew—just one of the dudes—and a soul-deep freedom she doesn't have with her boyfriend.

The child of a dysfunctional and broken family, the influence of her alcoholic father looms large in Ramsey’s yearning to find herself and be herself. Beautifully written, often raw, it’s an unforgettable journey, callouses and all.

Kelly Ramsey is Nancy Wiegman’s guest on Nancy’s Bookshelf on Northstate Public Radio, mynspr.org, Wednesday, July 9 at 10:00 a.m., repeated Sunday, July 13 at 8:00 p.m.

“Rogue Allies: The Strategic Partnership Between Iran And North Korea”

Former Marine Bruce Bechtol Jr., who grew up in Chico, teaches in the Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice at Angelo State University in Texas, and is a former intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Together with Anthony Celso, professor of security studies at Angelo State University, who specializes in the politics of the Middle East, the two have produced a ground-breaking study of “Rogue Allies: The Strategic Partnership Between Iran And North Korea” ($29.95 in paperback from The University Press of Kentucky; also for Amazon Kindle).

Published at the end of April 2025, “this book,” the authors note, “is the first comprehensive study of the North Korea-Iran relationship and the damage that partnership has done to Middle Eastern and Asian security.” The book documents in scholarly detail all that is known about that partnership (fully half the volume is taken up by notes and a comprehensive bibliography).

“We argue,” they write, “that analysts should view Iran and North Korea’s partnership as an integrated global threat network—North Korea’s supplies of advanced weapon technologies, platforms, and missile systems are provided to Tehran’s armed forces in return for Iranian cash and oil.”

Furthermore, “Financial transactions between these two heavily sanctioned nations are maintained by an elaborate system of clandestine criminal finance spearheaded by a global network of front and shell companies.” Cryptocurrency is used to launder money involving Russia and China. Though Iran and North Korea are not ideologically aligned, the marriage of convenience is clear if one follows the money.

As for policy implications, Bechtol and Celso write that “within months, Iran could fabricate enough weapons-grade fissile material to produce a handful of nuclear weapons.” Presciently, they note that “American provision of bunker-busting bombs for the Israeli Air Force will be vital to the success of a future military strike against Iran’s diverse nuclear infrastructure”—though “such a development will not guarantee that the regime will fail to restart its program.” The future, it seems, is now.

Bruce Bechtol Jr. is Nancy Wiegman’s guest on Nancy’s Bookshelf on Northstate Public Radio, mynspr.org, Wednesday, July 2 at 10:00 a.m., repeated Sunday, July 6 at 8:00 p.m.