HOW CAN I BE NERVOUS OR STRESSED when today, one week before “And I Shall Have Some Peace There” is published, I awoke to see this great one-liner in a reader review on Amazon (which started shipping books a week ago, just to up the chaos factor)? The person wrote this about my adventure tale (and gave it 5 stars!), bless them:
“It was like Green Acres meets Dr. Doolittle meets Alice fallen down the rabbit hole–and I loved every minute of it.”
THE LECTURE that he’s been giving for a number of years is not-so-subtly called “Kill Your Lawn.” Ecological horticulturist Dan Jaffe Wilder knows that starting over and creating an entire native habitat instead of a lawn isn’t for everyone. But Dan just wants to grab our attention and get us to start to make some changes at least in the way we care for the turfgrass we do want in our landscapes. And maybe give up a little square footage of it to some other kind of more diverse planting, too, like the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana, inset). Alternative, more eco-focused styles of lawn care, along with some lawn alternatives is what he and I talked about on the podcast. Dan is Director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales, Massachusetts, and its 8,000-acre sanctuary. He’s also co-author with Mark Richardson of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens.”
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
Got word today that my copy has shipped…I’m beyond excited for you!
Margaret, that is just about the best compliment anyone could give… what a perfect gift to you! Congratulations on having a fascinating life!
Impatiently waiting for mine!
Congratulations on the book, and the great review!
I’m so excited!!! My brand new copy of “and I shall have some peace” was just placed in my eager hands. I have had it on order since I learned it was being published, way back in August, I think, and can’t wait to sit down and savor reading it tonight. I started to skim through a few of the first delicious paragraphs when I was startled to learn that a rattlesnake lives on the hill behind me (I live in Copake Falls too) and now I will know to watch where I’m walking. Thank you for the warning. Reading “A Way to Garden” was like coming home when I first read it more than 10 years ago . From just the first couple of pages I know this book is every bit as wonderful (and maybe more) as the first and will be a treasured gem in my library. Congratulations, Margaret, on your beautiful new book.
Mine’s been shipped for almost a week, when will it arrive?????
@Johanna: Oh, dear, should I have taken on the delivery truck driving, too? :) Hope it gets there pronto. My Amazon copy (that I ordered just to see when shipping began) arrived yesterday.
Welcome, Catherine. Oh, my, I am so sorry to burst the bubble and tell you of the venomous snakes in our ‘hood! :) If you are downhill from me you have no worry, probably. Uphill is even worse, though! I never saw one here in 22 years…then…uh-oh. And remember: They hibernate Octoberish to April. Nobody out there now. Promise. Can’t wait to meet properly and tell you more about our local flora and fauna.
Margaret, will there be copies for purchase (and signing, I hope!) at your Wave Hill lecture?
My copy arrived yesterday from Amazon. I’ll start reading tonight. Miss pictures — was expecting those for some reason. I guess I am used to them from your phantastic site here. Thanks anyway for sharing all this. Can’t wait for the spring to come to try some of the ideas found here.
Welcome, Hans; yes, there are photos as an “extra” in the e-reader version for color readers like Nook and iPad, but this is definitely a memoir, unlike my first book. And I do have 24/7/365 access to slideshows and all of it here, as you say. :) Hope you will enjoy the book, and also be seen here a lot as spring comes on!
I’m enjoying the book very much. My work is done for the day so I’m going to make a cup of tea from A Place In Thyme and curl up in the sun to read.
Thank you, Robin, and welcome. You are very sweet to send kind words my way as I am nervous! Enjoy it, and I hope it makes you laugh sometimes, too.
I am loving it, thank you for making this book. Keep on writing.
Hi Margaret,
I ordered the book last week and was surprised I got it early this week from Amazon. There are so many wonderful and thought provoking quotes from it that I have been sharing with friends, however I have been so selfish and won’t let them borrow the book until I am finished. I cannot wait to see you speak in Princeton NJ this March.
What a wonderful journey you have been taking.
The next few months are going to be so busy, but so exciting and rewarding!
Curt
Welcome, Curtywurty. So glad to hear you’ll be at Princeton! It’s always especially nice to meet blog readers, so that will be fun. Also glad to hear you are enjoying the quotes in the book. Have fun with it.
I was just checking out all the reviews of your book on Amazon, and was surprised to find one sad soul giving it a 1-star rating. Which got me thinking, I bet even Henry Mitchell (a god, IMHO) got bad reviews. So I googled and lo and behold I actually found one immediately, someone on FastGrowTheWeeds website deciding that The Essential Earthman was not such a great book.
OK, I digress, but I’m really just trying to say that more of us need to get out there on Amazon and write our own reviews of Margaret;s new book! Spread the word!
Margaret–I went to your lecture in Great Barrington yesterday and bought your book. I started reading it and am finding it engrossing. We bought our house in columbia county about six months after you bought yours and had to do a lot of work on the house and the garden. It has been a haven for us, especially after 9/11. I am looking forwad to the reissue of A Way to Garden and to attending some of your other garden events.
Welcome, Deborah. So glad you are enjoying it! I think the lecture was a lot of fun; happy you made it. Hope to see you again soon (if it ever stops snowing!).
Welcome, Karen. How sweet of you to say that! I am nervous, nervous of course as the book begins its official life out in the world, but reassured by kind wishes like yours. Thanks.
I ordered your book from Amazon months ago and received it last week. Dug into it this weekend and am enjoying your journey. Thanks for sharing your adventures as you live a lifestyle that so many of us can only daydream about. You are an inspiration!
What great but most likely well deserved praise. I went on vacation and it was delivered while gone. Unfortunately it is sitting at the post office and they are closed today for President’s day. Can not wait to get my hands on my copy.
I received my book from Amazon a couple days ago and sat down and read it. It’s a wonderful Peaceful book and you did a great job writing it. LOVED IT…I hope to attend one of your lectures in the future. Thanks, job well done
Margaret,
I DEVOURED your book! Absolutely wonderful. I also watched you today on Martha, and thought, finally! someone talks about really needijng solitude sometimes. I do – and I think my friends think that is odd… but solitude affords me time to create and dream, wander in the garden, pick and pluck, this and that… it is when I feel closest to nature… and closest to myself. Funny how that works, huh?
Your statement “It was like Green Acres meets Dr. Doolittle meets Alice fallen down the rabbit hole–and I loved every minute of it” made me laugh out loud. That statement totally rolls up my life in a phrase! (and that is my normal – which is scarey)
I am off to Denver Sunday to be with my daughter and grandchildren… hopefully to help them heal from the devastating loss of her husband and children’s father… hopefully to make my daughter laugh and my grandchildren giggle. right now in Denver it is way to cold to begin puttering in her garden… but I will go back. And we will laugh and garden and learn together how life does go on… Spring returns and life begins anew.