Wildfire Awareness Week

May 3-9 is Wildfire Awareness Week in California. See what is going on at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. And FEMA offers advice on what to do if you see a wildfire coming.

New Book - Unimagined by Imran Ahmad

Now in the collection is Unimagined: A Muslim Boy Meets the West by Imran Ahmad, who recently spoke here as part of his US, continent-spanning, clockwise speaking tour to advance re-humanization between America and the Muslim world. An entertaining and insightful writer and speaker, he is also on the board of British Muslims for Secular Democracy. From the publisher:

Part White Teeth, part Adrian Mole, Unimagined is the hilarious and captivating memoir of a Muslim boy born in Pakistan, who moves to London aged one and grows up torn between his Islamic identity and his desire to embrace the West.

The endearing narrator recalls his childhood in a series of vivid snapshots: outrage as deserved victory is snatched away from him in the Karachi Bonnie Baby contest; bitterness as he is tricked out of his collection of Tarzan bubbe-gum cards by junior con artists; the heady early taste of success in the Metropolitan Police schools quiz; joy at passing the entrance exam to the local grammar school; uncertainity as he seeks to become a doctor (like all god Asian boys); bewilderment as he tries to learn about women at university; and shock at experiencing racism in its many forms.

Deliciously funny and painfully insightful, Unimagined is truly a joy to read.

Happy National Library Week

Celebrate National Library Week!

Dear Thoreau Center community members and ecosystem lovers,

This week, April 12-18, is National Library Week, a countrywide observance celebrating the contributions of our nation's libraries, librarians, and library workers. Continuing a decade-long trend, library use is up nationwide among all types of library users. Today more than ever, public, school, academic, and special libraries are making a difference to millions of Americans and playing a vital role in supporting the quality of life in their communities. A perfect time to come visit your community's free library: The Whole Earth Library. The Whole Earth Library is committed to creating better and healthier lives for ourselves and our children through sustainable living practices. Our collection includes books, magazines, CDs, and DVDs on a variety of topics, ranging from nature writing to global warming to environmental justice and much more. It is a place to explore, to learn, and to have your curiosity stimulated. It is also a place to come and get out of your office to relax a bit with a book.

So what's going on in the library this week? We're having a second round of the popularly acclaimed Think Green Challenge – a game of wit, mind-boggling depth, and erudition. Answer the questions correctly by the end of the week and be entered for a prize. Questions are available in the library. And don't forget that on Wednesday from 12:30 to 1:30, the library is hosting a discussion of William McDonough and Michael Braungart's Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Come share your thoughts on their revolutionary prescription for the way we design what we make that eliminates the idea of waste as we know it.

We're here to help you learn how to live a more sustainable life, and we're a community center where everyone is invited to explore, dream, and learn. All that's missing is you.

New Books - Photography by Robert Buelteman

Art photographer Robert Buelteman recently donated copies of two book portfolios of his work: The Unseen Peninsula (1994), collecting images of the San Francisco Bay Watershed in the Sierra Morena Mountains, a region long closed to the public and very near a pristine state; and Eighteen Days in June (2000), completed while a resident in the Djerassi Resident Artists Program at Woodside, California in June of 1996. An exhibition of his work, "Preserving Open Space: Photography and Philanthropy Working Together" will be in the Thoreau Center's Seed Gallery from April 9 to June 6. For over 20 years, Bueltman has worked out his activism toward land preservation by sharing his commissioned photography to help raise awareness about the importance of sustaining our local natural habitats. The exhibition will feature black and white photographs, whose genesis began under commissions to various land preservation organizations, including Gold Gate National Parks Conservancy, the Peninsula Open Space Trust, Mid-Peninsula Open Space District, Sempervirens Fund, Committee for Green Foothills, and the International Rivers Network. Please join us for the opening reception this Thursday, April 9, from 5pm-7pm.

Subject Guide: Gardening

"What shall I learn of beans or beans of me? I cherish them. I hoe them, early and late I have an eye to them; and this is my day's work. It is a fine broad leaf to look on. My auxiliaries are the dews and rains which water this dry soil, and what fertility is in the soil itself, which for the most part is lean and effete. My enemies are worms, cool days, and most of all woodchucks. The last have nibbled for me a quarter of an acre clean. But what right had I to oust johnswort and the rest, and break up their ancient herb garden? Soon, however, the remaining beans will be too tough for them, and go forward to meet new foes."

-Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Here are a variety of books this month to provide you with information and inspiration for your Spring gardening pursuits.

Harry Wiland, Dale Bell, and Joseph D'Agnese. Edens Lost & Found: How Ordinary Citizens are Restoring Our Great Cities. (2006)

Learn how to use your garden and your horticultural skills to make your city more livable. This book profiles the individuals and groups in Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Los Angeles who are working to encourage the development of green spaces there. From roof gardens to urban farms, citizen activism and leadership are restoring communities through the creation of sustainable urban ecosystems.

Christopher Brickell, ed. & John Eisley, horticultural consultant. The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. (1989)

Are you looking for a large shrub that has pink flowers in summer? Do you need a tree that won't grow too large for a particular corner of your garden? This book can help. Created by a team of forty horticultural experts, photographers, and consultants, it is a clear and comprehensive guide to over 8,000 plants that can be cultivated in a diverse range of climates. Articles also include advice on cultivation, propagation, pruning, landscaping, and cautions about pests and diseases.

Kathleen Norris Benzel, ed. Sunset Western Gardening Book. (2001)

A no-nonsense garden guide to gardening in the Western U.S., it includes climate zone maps, over 8,000 plant listings, 30 plant selection guides, and hundreds of how-to tips and techniques.

Roger B. Yepsen, Jr., ed. Organic Plant Protection: A Comprehensive Reference on Controlling Insects and Diseases in the Garden, Orchard and Yard without Using Chemicals. (1976)

From the editors of Organic Gardening and Farming magazine, this is a guide to tending your patch of earth without "protective jackets of poison." The first part of the book explains step-by-step approaches to strategies for creating and maintaining the delicate balance of nature in your garden, while the second part is a quick reference to more than a thousand bugs and diseases that could be effecting your vegetables, fruits, berries, and trees.

Ellen Sandbeck. Slug Bread and Beheaded Thistles: Amusing and Useful Techniques for Nontoxic Housekeeping and Gardening. (2000)

Ellen Sandbeck shows that using all-natural alternatives to toxic chemicals in your home and garden is not only healthier but also more fun. Learn how to explode cockroaches with baking soda and sugar, how to deflate a cow, why caffeine is effective against mosquito larvae, and what happens when you wound sorghum.

Peter Bernhardt. The Rose's Kiss: A Natural History of Flowers. (1999)

Get to know the inner workings of your flowering plants, as well as the many hidden interactions they have with their surroundings and the other living organisms upon which they depend for survival. An accessible introduction to botanical science and the daily lives of these biological factories, this book also looks at the cultural roles of flowers in history, folklore, and mythology.

Karan Davis Cutler, ed. Starting from Seed: The Natural Gardener's Guide to Propagating Plants. (1998)

Growing seeds is one way to help the survival of threatened plants and protect biodiversity. From the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's 21st-Century Gardening Series, this is an illustrated guide to collecting, storing, and growing seeds. Filled with advice on hundreds of different vegetables, ornamental plants, and wildflowers, it will help you create a garden that is both beautiful and ecologically sensible.

Douglas Kent. A New Era of Gardening: A Book on Gardening for Oxygen and a Healthier Atmospher. (2001)

A controversial look at composting that asks: is your garden contributing to global warming? It might be if you are using too much energy to sustain it and composting too much greenwaste. The goal of the author is to help gardeners create sustainable landscapes that ultimately produce more oxygen than they do carbon dioxide, largely by burying biomass.

Susan J. Tweit. The Rocky Mountain Garden Survival Guide. (2004)

From ecologist Susan J. Tweit, this book tackles the challenges of gardening in the difficult conditions of the Rocky Mountains. Filled with tips that could be useful in a variety of places, its essays also illustrates an approach to gardening informed by ecology. The philosophy behind the book is that understanding the physical environment in which your garden is located and the relationships among the organisms there enables you to work with the landscape and its living population instead of trying to fight against it.

Thomas Leo Ogren. Safe Sex in the Garden and other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World. (2003)

Author Thomas Leo Ogren finds "prime examples of out of whack, sexually manipulated, highly allergenic landscapes everywhere I turn." What is the connection between plant sex and allergies? Since female trees produce fruit which is often considered "messy", landscapers plant predominantly male trees, which means lots of excess pollen, which means highly allergenic residential and commercial landscapes. Ogren argues that what you plant in your own yard can make a difference in making communities healthier places.

Deni Brown. The Herb Society of America's Encyclopedia of Herbs and their Uses. (1995)

Written for gardeners, herbalists, and cooks, this encyclopedia covers over 1000 herbs grown worldwide for their culinary, aromatic, medicinal, and economic uses, as well as for their decorative qualities in the garden. It includes identification photographs and detailed botanical descriptions, as well as complete garden designs and planting plans for your own herb gardens, both formal and informal.

Great Blue Heron

Apparently it is a great blue heron.

Bird on way to library

Picture of a bird on its way to the library. Don't know what kind of bird, though.