A First Glance Review of "Four Season Harvest"

I really wanted to wait until I was done reading this book cover to cover to share a review, but I've finished the first two chapters and I can't wait any longer to tell you about this great book by Eliot Coleman! 

Did you know that most of the US has more winter sunshine than southern France where it's a traditional and common to have a winter garden? I didn't! Here in Florida we're very blessed and it's much easier to have a year round harvest, so I know it may seem pretty pointless that I ordered this book, but I'm a book junkie and I figured there might be really great information and ideas. I was right!

 Eliot and his wife live in Maine and enjoy fresh, organic vegetables year round. They don't use any fancy, expensive heating systems, but rather, the core of their winter gardening technique is utilizing sunlight and protecting plants from wind. a few of their practices include using cold frames (raised beds with glass lids), succession planting (planting crops multiple times), planting seasonally-hardy vegetables, and hoop houses. There are many informational diagrams, tables, and illustrations. Every page has so much to take in! I'll share more as I continue to read. Here are two great quotes.

"The best short statement to describe our approach to the four-season garden is a quote from Buckminster Fuller in his book Shelter (1932): 'Don't fight forces; use them.' "

"In our grandfathers' day, people celebrated the seasonality and variety of the home garden. They knew that one cabbage tasted best fresh in June and that another made the best sauerkraut. This was the pea for eating fresh and that the one for drying. They were familiar with fifty different apples and twenty kinds of pears. They knew when these were ripe and which blended best for cider or complemented the flavor of this or that cheese. We can recover such civilized living again."

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