Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts

Friday, March 22, 2013

New & Novel in Gardening and Urban Homesteading Books

Spring is in the air, and the fancy of young and old people alike turns to planting and growing!  Here are some of the latest books in the catalog to give you planning ideas for your garden or urban homestead, or at least to help some of us overcome our brown thumb.



The Four Season Farm Gardener's Cookbook by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman

Women and Their Gardens: A History from the Elizabethan Era to Today by Catherine Horwood

The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers by Teri Dunn Chace

A Nature Lover's Almanac: Kinky Bugs, Stealthy Critters, Prosperous Plants & Celestial Wonders by Diane Olson

The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food by Janisse Ray

The Essential Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter and Willow Rosenthal

The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency by Anna Hess

The City Homesteader: Self-Sufficiency on Any Square Footage by Scott Meyer

The Thinking Beekeeper: A Guide to Natural Beekeeping in Top Bar Hives by Christy Hemenway

The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds: 322 Vegetables, Herbs, Flowers, Fruits, Trees, and Shrubs by Robert Gough and Cheryl Moore-Gough [eBook only in our catalog]
Heirloom Fruits & Vegetables by Toby Musgrave



For more titles, try a subject search under "Seeds", "Bee Culture", "Gardening", or "Sustainable Living".  You can also pay a visit to the library's subject guides on Composting and Mulching and Mini-Farming!  Subject guides are created by library staff.

For gardening assistance, contact the Master Gardeners!  You can call their hotline at 292-7144 or 243-1386. The hotline is available 7 days a week, from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m, and you can find Master Gardener volunteers at select branches in the spring.

Don't forget to take advantage of free xeriscape and landscape conversion seminars, courtesy of Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, at the Cherry Hills Library!  For more information, visit the Cherry Hills Library website or the ABCWUA website.

Last but certainly not least, NMSU Cooperative Extension Service features how-to guides and circulars covering such topics as gardening, health, clothing and sewing, family resource management, and livestock and range management.


Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Recycling, Upcycling, & Salvage for Fun, Profit, & Practicality!

Reduce, reuse, recycle, is the catchphrase of environmentalists, but another phrase we hear a lot lately is "upcycling", also referred to as "trash into treasure" - Upcycle magazine defines this process as "taking an item that is no longer needed or wanted and giving it new life as something that is either useful or creative". Don't just throw away your plastics, junk mail, electronics, old clothes  - use your rescued resources to make something! If you are a craft-oriented person looking for a new hobby (or an activity to do with your kids) that's easy on your wallet and good for the planet, consider taking advantage of upcycling ideas from the library catalog.

Cool Odds and Ends Projects: Creative Ways to Upcycle Your Trash into Treasure by Pam Scheunemann

Cool Plastic Projects: Creative Ways to Upcycle Your Trash into Treasure by Pam Scheunemann

Trash-to-Treasure Papermaking: Make Your Own Recycled Paper from Newspapers & Magazines, Can & Bottle Labels, Discarded Gift Wrap, Old Phone Books, Junk Mail, Comic Books, and More-- by Arnold E. Grummer

Reinvention: Sewing with Rescued Materials by Maya Donenfeld

Recycled Home: Transform Your Home Using Salvaged Materials by Rebecca Proctor

Upcycling Celebrations: A Use-What-You-Have Guide to Decorating, Gift-Giving & Entertaining by Danny Seo

Puppet Play: 20 Puppet Projects Made with Recycling Mittens, Towels, Socks, and More! by Diana Schoenbrun [eBook only in our catalog]

Unscrewed: Salvage and Reuse Motors, Gears, Switches, and More from Your Old Electronics by Ed Sobey [eBook only in our catalog]

Salvage Secrets: Transforming Reclaimed Materials into Design Concepts by Joanne Palmisano

Make It!: Don't Throw It Away...Create Something Amazing! by Jane Bull

Cut-Up Couture by Koko Yamase

The Life of a Bowerbird: Creating Beautiful Interiors with the Things You Collect by Sibella Court

Unbored: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun by Joshua Glenn & Elizabeth Foy Larsen

Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

New Year, New You: Clearing Up the Clutter

In the new year many of us like to think of getting rid of all the stuff that has accumulated in the house over the year.  Some people hate to see clutter in their house, some people don't mind it. Going through all the old stuff and clearing it out to create space comes easily to some.  Others however, have a much harder time letting go of old things and prefer to keep them around, even if they aren't sure if they have a use for them anymore.  A few of these people even have a compulsion to keep things the rest of us would easily throw away. 

In the last few years the term hoarding has been in the mainstream of our culture, thanks to reality shows and documentaries that feature people that hoard everything they come in contact with.  Hoarding is a major problem that makes the living situation of some individuals very difficult.

You may be interested in clearing out your house to prevent yourself from becoming a hoarder in the new year.  The library has many titles to give you a push in the right direction, as well as several titles on the condition of compulsive hoarding. 



Books on clearing up clutter in your life:
The Hoarder in You: How to Live a Happier, Healthier, Uncluttered Life by Robin Zasio
Clutter Busting Your Life: Clearing Physical and Emotional Clutter to Reconnect With Yourself and Others by Brooks Palmer
Kick the Clutter: Clear Out Excess Stuff Without Losing What You Love by Ellen Phillips
Cleaning Up the Clutter by Emilie Barnes
10 Minute Clutter Control: Easy Feng Shui Tips for Getting Organized by Skye Alexander
Soulspace: Creating a Home that is Free of Clutter, Full of Beauty, and Inspired by You by Xoren Balbes
Organized Simplicity: The Clutter Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider


For futher reading about compulsive hoarding:
Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee
Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl
Ghosty Men: The Strange but True Story of the Collyer Brothers, New York's Greatest Hoarders by Franz Lidz


Fiction about hoarding:
The Objects of My Affection by Jill Smolinski
Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu
Homer and Langley: A Novel by E.L. Doctorow