Nabhan, an ethnobotanist, cofounder of Native Seeds/SEARCH, and prolific author, draws on his longtime relationships with the land and people of the Southwest U.S., together with wisdom from farmers and gardeners in Egypt, Mexico, and other dry places, to suggest solutions for growing food and developing agricultural resiliency as climate change affects wider swaths of the planet. He discusses using hedge fences (he calls them “fredges”) to minimize flood damage; choosing ancient and traditional methods for water management; soil building using local materials; terracing for fertility and erosion control; creating polycultures with perennials and drought-hardy plants; and attracting and supporting native pollinators. This information, which includes detailed instructions and lists of plants and pollinators, will undoubtedly be useful to farmers and gardeners facing more volatile weather patterns. Their spirits may lift as well with the book’s somber but hopeful poetic tone, exemplified by Moroccan Sufi mystic and farmer Aziz Bousfiha, who is working to transform deserts into living oases: “It’s not just activism I am talking about… I am talking about something larger, deeper: participating in the creation—for that is the… expression of our love.” (June 20)
Related Posts
The Earth and Spirit Podcast fosters engaging conversations with change-makers working at the intersection of meditative spiritual practice, ecology, and…
Do you wear a mask in public? The pandemic has shifted our cultural perception of face covering, and throughout time,…
Gary: Okay, okay, I know you are both sensitive about what has happened between you, but let us see if…
A coalition of scientists says the Trump administration’s border wall project in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is…
It is mid-November, and yet it is still warm and sunny in the Dunbar/Spring barrio just a mile from the…
For thousands of years, Mexico’s home brewers, cooks, foragers and farmers have elaborated 16 distinctive sets of fermented and probiotic…
More than ever in recent history, the religious liberties of American citizens have been in the news lately, from government-enforced…
How do adversaries find common ground? How do they work together to find common goals and interests? Food from the…
Adam Schiff: Today we will hear from two fruit trees who happened to be in the Ukraine at the time…
After a week of intense emotions in which the Aponiente team and members of Salarte have been invited by the…
Ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan has been called the “father of the local food movement.” For decades, he’s campaigned for seed…
I am writing to ask that you rescind all Department of Defense and Treasury fundsfor building more of the border wall.My name is Gary Paul Nabhan and I am an Ecumenical Franciscan Brother whohas lived and worked on the U.S./Mexico border as a seasonal park ranger, farmer,conservational biologist and facilitator of interfaith and intertribal gatherings since 1978.
Like most Americans, we have been sickened by the sights and sounds of children torn away from their families at…
On a breezy winter day along the Sonoran coast of the Sea of Cortés in Mexico, six of us went…
Earth Day, when people around the world come together to support the protection of the environment, is commemorating its 50th anniversary this year. The covid-19 pandemic will mean celebrations are muted, but it is worth looking back at its achievements and seeing if it can still make a difference in today’s world.I was there at the beginning.