Month: July 2022

NEW PROJECT ALERT!

~ Nicole R. Ordway ~ Leave a comment

So, in case you haven’t guessed already by the several book reviews I’ve posted recently in this blog, I am tackling a new writing project. In the past years I’ve really become quite practiced – and, according to my friends and some Internet strangers, quite skilled – at gardening. I’ve made some posts here and there about random strategies and tips for gardeners, but these have all been teasers really. Today – YES, TODAY! – I will start lending my voice to the first real work of nonfiction that I’ve ever written. I’m going to write a ghardening book.s

I’ve left the typos in the last bit up there because, honestly, it’s how I feel about it right now. I’m headbutting a thick wall of Imposter Syndrome. I’m, what, 35?! I’ve been gardening for….well, thanks to my mother it’s honestly been a lifelong interest, but solid actual WORK IN THE DIRT it’s been…..maybe…I want to be generous to myself and say 21 years? On my own in my own space, 8 years. And here I am, about to write a tome that will seek to not only introduce new folks to the joys of gardening and all the different things it entails, but to also change the minds of The Older Folks about certain things they Think are right and actually aren’t. Who the hell am I to do that? What the hell gives me the authority?

Short answer: the dying world and my passion for preserving it not only for future human generations but for future wild generations. There’s a saying my mother shared with me recently: “We are only borrowing this world from the next generation.” But that’s not true. We are the Stewards of this world for the next generation(s) – parenthesis because if we don’t start trying to heal the world then science says there aren’t going to be a lot more generations – AND for the other animals, insects, single- and multi-cellular organisms, plants, bacterium, etc! with which we share this ridiculous marble. We aren’t the only ones here! And we need to stop pretending that we can exist without the other ones that are here.

So I’m gonna write a gardening book. This means Nine Hundred Leagues (my third book in the Civil Dusk series) might be on hold for a little bit, but don’t worry, I am absolutely NOT dropping it forever. I’ve just got something to do first.

Book Review: Nature’s Best Hope, by Douglas W. Tallamy

~ Nicole R. Ordway ~ Leave a comment

“Nature’s Best Hope” delves more into the conservation topics raised by “Bringing Nature Home”, Tallamy’s other book that I reviewed previously in this blog. This book has a more scientific voice than the conversational one held in “Bringing Nature Home,” but it is the opposite of a dry read. Tallamy lays out strategic steps for how the regular homeowner (yes, that’s right, boring people like you and me!) can – and SHOULD – assist in the reversal of the demise of our world. Where “Bringing Nature Home” is more the story of WHY, “Nature’s Best Hope” is the straight-forward HOW of our changing role in backyard stewardship.

Order your copy from Amazon by clicking this link right here.

Book Review: Bringing Nature Home, by Douglas W. Tallamy

~ Nicole R. Ordway ~ Leave a comment

Are you a person that likes wild things? Things like flowers and songbirds? Things with sweet scents and sweet tastes? How about the burning orange of a maple tree in autumn and the brilliant beryl of new leafy growth in spring?

If you said yes, great! If you said no, then honestly what the actual fuck is wrong with you. I bet you know somebody that would say yes. Pretend it’s you.

Well the best way to help the wild things survive in our fast-changing world is to plant native species in your yard, garden, balcony container, window pot, whatever, ANYWHERE. In Douglas Tallamy’s book “Bringing Nature Home” he lays out why we should plant native species, who can plant them (spoiler: it’s everyone, including you), where to plant them, and what to plant in your area. I learned so many fascinating things about insects from this book that I now want to experience in real time. This book has truly opened my eyes to the necessity of restoring native species to our individual lots. Tallamy presents his information in an easy-to-read guide to this process, making what otherwise seems like a doomed or insurmountable task completely approachable. Read this book. You will not regret it. All you’ll regret is that you didn’t read it sooner.

I got my copy from Amazon and you can do that too by clicking this link.