“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 Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants"

"I was determined," writes Jennifer Jewell in the introduction to an extraordinary series of biographies, "to focus on the diverse ways horticulture intersects with our everyday world and on women whose work has enriched and expanded these intersections in the last twenty-five years."

Jewell is the writer and host of the syndicated public radio program and podcast "Cultivating Place: Conversations On Natural History & The Human Impulse To Garden" (cultivatingplace.com), a co-production of mynspr.org, North State Public Radio in Chico, airing Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. and Sundays at 9:00 a.m.. 

"The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants" ($35 in hardcover from Timber Press; also for Amazon Kindle) takes readers into the lives of women "from the United States, England, Ireland, Wales, Canada, Australia, India, and Japan. They range beautifully across race, ethnicity, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds, sexual orientation, and age."

Her book is a strikingly beautiful portrayal of women "doing current and innovative work" in such areas as "botany, environmental science, ... floriculture, agriculture, social justice, ... seed science, gardening, garden writing and garden photography, ... research, and public policy...." 

The focus is on the women themselves, though a list of resources at the end directs readers to related websites for additional information, tips, and ideas. Arranged alphabetically, each biography includes a list of other women who have influenced that person's life. 

Smiles abound in the full-color photographs, inviting readers to meet such women as Janet Sluis, the curator of the Sunset Western Garden Collection (a "plant geek at heart" passionate about finding ecologically appropriate plants for home gardeners) and Kate Frey, a garden designer now based in Walla Walla, Washington (whose first job was with the Boonville Hotel and whose bee-friendly gardens make people say "Happy!").

Her gardens, Frey says, "support all manner of life, and being in a garden filled with life changes us forever." Jewell's book as well is filled with exuberant life--and lives.

An interview with Jewell is scheduled for Nancy's Bookshelf with Nancy Wiegman on Wednesday, March 11 at 10:00 a.m. on North State Public Radio, mynspr.org (KCHO 91.7 FM).

Urban homesteader to speak in Chico

"Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living" ($16.95 in paperback from Skyhorse Publishing; digital editions for Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, and from Google ebookstore) is a spirited manifesto by Rachel Kaplan with K. Ruby Blume. In 2008 Blume founded the Institute for Urban Homesteading in Oakland; Kaplan "works as a somatic psychotherapist and teaches homesteading skills."

Together, they write, "our work reflects a commitment toward a regenerative, living culture, rather than the consumptive consumerism our country has refined to a sick art. We opt out by digging in."

Kaplan will be speaking at Lyon Books in Chico this Thursday, Oct. 13 at 7:00 p.m.

Chapters in the profusely-illustrated book cover such practical matters as creating community gardens, making cheese, butchering chickens, using a composting toilet, growing herbal medicines and building structures with cob ("just soil dug from the backyard and mixed with water, sand, clay and straw"). This is radical stuff: "The front lawn must go the way of the dodo. No longer will we spend our time in submission to the manicured lawn, wasting water and energy. Our rallying cry is: Turn Your Lawn into Your Lunch! Sheet mulching reclaims the lawn with an organic 'lasagna' of cardboard, compost, and mulch."

The goal is "permaculture," not a back-to-the-land movement or a self-sufficiency movement. It's about permanent culture, which means creating community sufficiency and resilience through collaboration." It involves neighborhoods, not just households.

This is not a call to sacrifice. "We love our lives as homesteaders," the authors write. "Don't confuse this lifestyle with a fear-driven mentality of scarcity and lack. This kind of living is about the richness of the present moment and the joy in living a simpler, uncluttered life."

"And so we find ourselves in our backyards fighting gophers, pulling carrots, harvesting rabbits and eggs, tending bees, and gathering raspberries, grapes, broccoli, and kale. We save our seeds. We pee in a bucket and dump it on the compost bin. We harvest our rainwater and drain our bathtubs into the garden. On hot summer afternoons you'll find us preserving jars of peaches, plums, and nectarines that have fallen from the trees. We bring people together to learn how to can, make yogurt, hold a meeting, or turn a lawn into a garden."