Composting old dreams
I'm the world's worst
housekeeper, but I do like to go through my shelves from time to time
to root out books I no longer use (and to give me room to slip a few
new classics in). I think of this process as composting old
dreams --- after all, why else do I keep 
books
that I haven't opened in a decade unless they represent a dream I never
fulfilled (or achieved and moved beyond)?
Many of the books I
discarded during the most recent rainy day purge are going to my
mother, who's taken up the study of Appalachian ecology and can use the
books I now know by heart. Others, though, are looking for a
home. Are any of you itching to read:
- The Backyard Beekeeper (a very basic guide that's good for a raw beginner)
- Day Range Poultry (pretty disappointing from the backyard permaculture perspective, but would be useful if you want to start a pastured poultry operation)
- Corn Among the Indians of the Upper Missouri (very interesting if you want to learn about Native American agriculture)
- A History of 17 Years of
Excavation and Reconstruction: A Chronicle of 12th Century Human Values
and the Built Environment (about research at Sunwatch in Ohio,
but interesting for any student of that era of Native American history;
semi-scientific, but I think relatively accessible to a layman)
- The Thru-Hiker's Handbook: Georgia to Maine 2002
- Appalachian Trail Gudie to Tennessee-North Carolina (Eleventh Edition, with maps)
- Appalachian Trail Guide: Southwest Virginia (Third Edition, with maps)
- Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America
- Animals and Plants of Ancient Maya (not as much of a reference as I thought it would be, but interesting if you're into Mayan culture)
- Handbook
of Salamanders
(not the best salamander field guide, but with lots of measurements if
you want to take ID to the next level)
If
you'd like to give any of these books a shot, just email
anna@kitenet.net
with your mailing address and I'll send them off. We'll swallow
the shipping expenses unless you live outside the U.S.
I'm looking forward to
the new seedlings that will root in the fertile soil of this dream
compost!
Edited to add: The books have all found good homes. Thanks for adopting a dream!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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