Above is Barb Webb, the author of this fantastic new book, Getting Laid! No, it is not about what first came to your mind! It is “Everything you need to know about raising chickens, gardening, and preserving! With over 100 recipes!”
The very first reason this book interested me is that my brother and sister-in-law, who live in suburbia, not an area with farmland, have a little chicken coop! Every time we visit we get freshly laid eggs from their six hens! Some of this rural life style is making it into areas closer to the cities and this is a great trend. There is also a very nice sized garden on my brother’s property, something I miss from growing up in suburbia. So I am living vicariously through this book and my brother! And the best part was watching my son enjoy the process of the process, from my sister-in-law buying the chicks and leaving them in a little box, to moving them to a small cage, to finally putting them outside in a fenced in area with a chicken coop! Reading along about the process from this author’s point of view brought a smile to my face as we have seen some of this process!
And let’s hope this interest in supporting ourselves through growing and nurturing our own food, whether it be eggs, or vegetables and fruits, keeps growing. I hope the trend will keep expanding, and I am sure this book will help!
And I love Barb’s many tips on taking small steps towards making our lives more sustainable on this planet that is being pushed to the brink! I can use cold water when I wash my clothes – I had no idea how much that could help! One of the strong messages I received from this book was to just stop and think how each of us individually can start to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Everyday I see deliveries of prepared meals, or easy to cook meals, he new trend in food delivery services. Boxes upon boxes are delivered in my neighborhood daily. This is starting to make me ill, all this waste just for a few people to have it a little easier at dinner time. Does no one think ahead as to what this is going to do to our environment? How many trees have to be cut down for these boxes? Everyone needs to read this book and think about moving in the other direction. Eventually we have to become sustainable to survive!
We can start slowly and simply, taking one action at a time! What things do you already do to help sustain life on our planet? I love shopping at the various Farmers Markets in NYC! That helps our planet, and logically, tomatoes just picked in New Jersey taste infinitely better than the ones shipped in from California that were picked up to two weeks ago. Have you ever even thought o stop and think about the gasoline it takes to bring our food to us? Barb Webb’s book has me thinking about these things all the time! Shopping at your local farmer’s Market doesn’t just help the environment, it gets you a better quality of food! Double Win!
Some more adventurous types, who have more building access than I do, are already taking sustainable actions and building gardens and chicken coops on their roofs! I hope more will follow this trend, they can see how to accomplish this by reading Chapter Two: Get Laid: Raising Your Chicken Brood! Just remember, hens only if you don’t want many, many baby chicks!
Reading Barb’s chapters on gardening reminded me of my own gardening days, I used to love composting as many household items as possible, from coffee grinds to my own cut hair! And every time you eat a fruit and there are left over peelings, don’t throw them away, use them to nurture your garden! Pages 83 to 85 have a whole list of what you should and should not compost
I am going to share two tips that got me very excited from Barb’s book: sprinkle baking soda once a week around the base of your tomato plant prior to watering. The baking soda lowers the acidity in the soil which yields for plumper, sweeter tomatoes on the vine. I love tomatoes, I am passing this along to my sister-in-law! And those bugs bothering your garden? Squash them and feed them to your chickens. OMG, best recycling tip ever!
There is more information in the book on the various ways to preserve, followed by 100 recipes from Barb. There are also some DIY ideas which, as a blogger, I see the DIY group growing every day. These last two sentences contain ways to save money all year long, preserving your own home grown items, and making your own DIY items, isn’t that what we are all looking for these days?
I love this book, I loe the ideas contained within, and I think it is so important the way it has gotten me thinking. I hope everyone will go out and get a copy, not to just support my friend, but to help keep our actions helpful and sustainable for our planet, which ultimately is for our kids!
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Thanks and good-luck.
Barb W. says
Thank you Mitch for the lovely review! I truly enjoyed learning about your life and surroundings, too and your reactions to the sections and information in the book, totally cool! Amazing feedback to have, too, I’m very grateful!! Your kind words and your friendship both honor me!
grace hodgin says
I loved the book too and I loved the excitement I could clearly tell Barb has for her life style. It was very infectious with clear and easy tips to get started.
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