Showing titles in Sustainable & Green Living

Have you ever had compost that would not break down? Or compost that turned into a smelly mess? You are not alone. Millions of people struggle with making compost at home. Composting is such an integral part of gardening that learning to get it right allows you to become a master of your special place. This audiobook will take you on a journey of how the microbial life in your soil and compost play vital roles in your garden. You will learn why specific things happen when making compost and how to solve common problems.

In these uncertain times, more and more of us have given great thought to the idea of living "off the grid". The notion of self-sufficiency and being able to live off the world around us without leaving a huge carbon footprint is more than just tempting. If this is something you have given great thought to, this is exactly the book for you.

If the power grid fails, it’s not just your lights that go out. It’s your water supply. It’s your heating and cooling system. It’s all your usual ways of cooking food or doing the laundry. Without the grid, life as we know it changes in an instant.

To grow produce of the highest nutritional quality the essential minerals lacking in our soil must be replaced, but this re-mineralization calls for far more attention to detail than the simple addition of composted manure or NPK fertilizers. The Intelligent Gardener demystifies the process, while simultaneously debunking much of the false and misleading information perpetuated by both the conventional and organic agricultural movements. In doing so, it conclusively establishes the link between healthy soil, healthy food, and healthy people.

Huw Richards set himself a challenge - to grow his own fruit and veg for free for a year. He succeeded, and now wants to help you do the same. With 15 years' experience growing organic, sustainable food in his family's garden, Huw Richards has seen that cost is often a barrier to people growing their own food, so he wants to help everyone grow fruit and veg sustainably and inexpensively. Huw's YouTube channel has over 168,000 subscribers and his videos have over 25 million views in total.

If simplicity is an art, then Dominique Loreau is a master. Having lived in Japan for many years and inspired by oriental philosophy, Dominique Loreau discovered the beauty of a life well lived through the art of simplicity. Her lifestyle rests on the principle of 'less is more' and imbues all areas of existence, from the material to the spiritual.

When Charles and Perrine Hervé-Gruyer set out to create their farm in an historic Normandy village, they had no idea just how much their lives would change. Neither one had ever farmed before. Charles had been circumnavigating the globe by sail, operating a floating school that taught students about ecology and indigenous cultures. Perrine had been an international lawyer in Japan. Each had returned to France to start a new life.

Growing up in an ex-mining town in Nottinghamshire, Arthur Parkinson never wanted a dog, or a cat, or a pony - just hens. As a kid, he was known as 'chicken boy', a taunt Arthur now proudly reclaims with his crested coterie that includes countless hens, from Sheila the white Silkie to Clarissa the champagne-coloured Buff Cochin. A personal and humorous memoir of Arthur's life amongst his hens, this is an invitation to discover the joy that is only possible in the company of these intriguing creatures.

When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains plants and then become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of toxic substances. Teaming with Microbes offers an alternative to this vicious circle and details how to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web. You’ll discover that healthy soil is teeming with life - not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms.

Are you tired of being bombarded by toxins at every turn? Do you want a more natural, "crunchy" approach to the world (with or without the beige aesthetic)? Well, grab your kombucha and join Emily Morrow on a journey to a more wholesome existence with Really Very Crunchy: A Beginner's Guide to Removing Toxins from Your Life without Adding Them to Your Personality.

The Abundance of Less captures the texture of sustainable lives well lived in these ten profiles of ordinary—yet exceptional—men and women who left behind mainstream existences in urban Japan to live surrounded by the luxuries of nature, art, friends, delicious food, and an abundance of time. Drawing on traditional Eastern spiritual wisdom and culture, these pioneers describe the profound personal transformations they underwent as they escaped the stress, consumerism, busyness, and dependence on technology of modern life.

Called "a veritable tree whisperer" by the Wall Street Journal, Peter Wohlleben is known across the world for his illuminating books about forests and how to help them thrive. Now, the German forester invites listeners into his home for the first time in Our Little Farm, describing the steps he and his wife, Miriam, have taken to live sustainably and in harmony with nature.

Shedding her possessions and stripping back life to the basics, Charlotte Bradman used the last of her savings to buy a campervan...a creaky, old van with no loo or onboard water. It was the best thing she ever did. Come along on this moving ride as Charlotte finds true stability and security, learning that all she needs is a recharging van battery, a dry bed, and an unspoilt sea view. Self-confessional, observational and darkly humorous, this is an engrossing and inspirational story of resilience and fortitude.

Fatal conveniences are the toxic products we routinely use and the unhealthy things we do that our culture and corporations have made us believe are safe and necessary for living well and efficiently. These things—from deodorant, cosmetics, dental floss, and sunscreen to laundry detergent, air fresheners, carpets, and crayons to candles, tea bags, cell phones, and chewing gum—are ubiquitous in daily life . . . and they are wreaking havoc on our health and our planet.

If you want to save the planet, but your to-do list is already pretty long, and remembering your reusable coffee cup feels like a Herculean task, then this is the book for you. Covering every aspect of our lives from the stuff we buy and the food we eat, to how we travel, work, and celebrate. This audiobook provides stacks of practical ideas to slot into your daily life, alongside a gentle kick up the butt to put your newfound knowledge into action.

The Allotment Keeper's Handbook is my no-nonsense guide to managing your own organic vegetable patch. Packed with invaluable advice, from how to choose an allotment and test its soil to knowing your chickweed from your chicory, it offers an enjoyable and inspiring shortcut through the trials, errors, and frustrations of starting a kitchen garden.

The story of a personal housing crisis that led to a discovery of the true value of home. Aged 31, Catrina Davies was renting a box-room in a house in Bristol, which she shared with four other adults and a child. Working several jobs and never knowing if she could make the rent, she felt like she was breaking apart. Homesick for the landscape of her childhood, in the far west of Cornwall, Catrina decides to give up the box-room and face her demons. As a child, she saw her family and their security torn apart; now, she resolves to make a tiny, dilapidated shed a home of her own.

It's amazing how little can change in a decade. In 2009, a book transformed the way we see our frying pans, thermometers, and tuna sandwiches. Daily life was bathing us in countless toxins that accumulated in our tissues, were passed on to our children, and damaged our health. To expose the extent of this toxification, environmentalists Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie offered themselves to science and undertook a series of over a dozen experiments to briefly raise their personal levels of mercury, BPA, Teflon, and other pollutants.

We’ve been told that a vegetarian diet can feed the hungry, honor the animals, and save the planet. Lierre Keith believed in that plant-based diet and spent twenty years as a vegan. But in The Vegetarian Myth, she argues that we’ve been led astray - not by our longings for a just and sustainable world, but by our ignorance. e truth is that agriculture is a relentless assault against the planet, and more of the same won’t save us. In service to annual grains, humans have devastated prairies and forests, driven countless species extinct, altered the climate, and destroyed the topsoil - the basis of life itself....

Why are we drawn to the ocean each summer? Why does being near water set our minds and bodies at ease? In Blue Mind, Wallace J. Nichols revolutionizes how we think about these questions, revealing the remarkable truth about the benefits of being in, on, under, or simply near water.