Page 22 RAIN January/February 1985 The Youth Gardening Book, by Lynn Ocone, 1983, 145 pp., $6.95 plus $2 for postage and handling, from: Gardens For All 180 Flynn Avenue Burlington, VT 05401 Whether you are a teacher, parent, or group leader, this book will get you excited about starting a garden project involving children. As a teacher mentions in the book, too many children think the food chain is a string of supermarkets. The Youth Gardening Book is a complete guide to developing and enriching gardening experiences for kids. It starts out tackling "The Six Basic Challenges" to getting started: Leadership, Land, Money, Vandalism, Continuity, and Motivation. After addressing . these.issues, it gets down to the nittygritty of "Planning for Success" by describing how to write a program plan; everything considered right down to insurance. For teachers, it even diagrams the numerous spin-offs to be included in every facet of the curriculum. Then on to "Developing Your Site": soil, crops, water, etc. "Designing The Garden" is especially exciting for those with a creative mind: paths, plots, beds, tools, signs, ACCESS: Gardening etc. And with some of the work out of the way, the real fun begins in "The Fun of Gardening" which lists 28 experiments and tests to do and over 50 special activities. My favorites are "Weed Salads" and "Making a Solar Food Dryer." Also included is a chapter on indoor and container gardening. Lastly, to let you know that you're not the only person engaging in such an endeavor, chapter seven lists other people and organizations who are behind youth gardens and gives some specific portraits. It's a very useful book complete with excellent photos and diagrams all encouraging you to dig in. -Bev Koch Bev Koch has been an environmental educator for a number of years in a unique experiential program in one of Portland's public schools. The Heirloom Gardener, by Carolyn Jabs, 1984, 320 pp., $9.95 paper, $17.95 cloth, from: Sierra Club Books 2034 Fillmore Street San Francisco, CA 94115 Growing and preserving the plants handed down to us can be a satisfying connection with our past. Pieces of ACCESS: Ecophilosophy We 've noticed a rising tide of ecological I philosophical/spiritual thought and values in much of the literature we've been receiving lately. The emerging movements for bioregionalism and Green politics are, of course, firmly rooted in ecological values. In other quarters, too, a new ecological ethic is being articulated. Professional philosophers, Christians, and "eco-activists" are beginning to discard utilitarian conceptions of "environmental resources" in favor of a deeper sense of the intrinsic value of all life on earth , independent of its usefulness for human purposes. Although such a conception of nature is hardly new-indeed, it may be the oldest philosophy in the world-it is beginning to manifest itself in new ways and with new constituencies. Th e following list of resources gives a sense of the variety of arenas in which this sense of ecological morality is emerging - FLS Note: We have been waiting anxiously to receive the book Deep Ecology by George Sessions and Bill Devall. We were told by the publisher that it would be available by November 15, which is just past our copy deadline. From what we've heard about the book, and from what we've seen of other writings by Sessions and Devall, we expect it to be a kind of manifesto of the deep ecology movement. We'll tell you more next issue, but for those who don't want to wait for the review, the book is available for $15.95 from Peregrine Smith Books, PO Box 667, Layton, UT 84041. Synthesis: A Newsletter and Journal for Social Ecology, published irregularly, $6.50/10 issues, from: League for Ecological Democracy PO Box 1858 San Pedro, CA 90733 Nothing fancy here, just 22 photocopied pages of single-column type, but Synthesis serves as an important forum for a variety of emerging streams of thought going by such names as ecological anarchism, deep ecology, social ecology, bioregionalism, and green politics. The yesterday encased in seeds, yes, but more than that. Carolyn Jabs has written a readable, well-organized argument for the preservation of older open-pollinated vegetables and fruits. In a compelling discussion she argues for the necessity of the preservation of a germ plasma pool. Open-pollinated varieties are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. The wider a genetic base we have to draw upon, the more likely we will be able to breed new plant varieties. Nature is not static. In the event of new disease or unforeseen climatic change our very existence could depend upon the availability of a diverse gene pool. This book covers the activities of individuals, government agencies, museums, seed companies and organizations and their effects on the remaining older varieties. In addition, the author discusses how the dedicated home gardener can discover and preserve some of our precious heritage. Sources for heirloom seeds are listed as well as organizations and further reading materials. The book is illustrated with reproductions and descriptions 'from early seed catalogues. -Pamela Parker Pamela is a gardener in Portland, Oregon. League for Ecological Democracy is more rooted in radical political analysis, especially anarchism, than are most green/ bioregional/environmental organizations. Contents include essays, book reviews, and commentaries on national and international movements and organizations such as the German Greens, Solidarity in Poland, the emerging American Green movement, and various peace groups. Reader participation is high, with several letters in each issue creating a continuing debate on various points of philosophy and political strategy. Synthesis seems to be publishing about four times a year now. -FLS The Institute for Ecosophical Studies Moravian College Bethlehem, PA 18018 This institute is devoted to developing, publishing, and promoting philosophies of ecological harmony, and providing opportunities for scientists, artists, ,.
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