Food not Lawns

I have never read the book by Heather Flores entitled Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community. Shown here teaching a class on seed saving. But I love some of the reviews that are on Amazon.com. Check out Heathers rebut in the comment section. Ouch.

27 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

completely false advertising, July 4, 2007

By	CASL Director "Donnie" (Eugene, OR USA) - See all my reviews

I see that this books appears a hit with many reviewers, but I am unfortunately going to dissent. I was excited to read this book when it arrived and was subsequently dissappointed in the overall quality of the work as a whole. First and foremost, Flores leaves out a great deal of detail with regard to the actual work involved in any form of agriculture, be it animal husbandry, permaculture, or anything between. I say this not only as an avid reader, but also an environmental studies major reviewing the work for a class as well. Second, Flores' method of combining the topics of agriculture and social change is facetious at best, with no real segway from the former to the latter. In other words, this is literally two unconnected books sharing the same binding. Finally, and most disheartening of all, the work gives faulty advice at best, especially with regard to her advice on dealing with numerous aspects of gardening (traditional and permaculture), pending jail time, and conflict management strategies(with latter are potentially dangerous). I will also note that I resold this book immediately upon completion due to the above. Those interested would be better served to read The Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing, or other such related books by other reputable authors such as Joseph Jenkins, Eliot Coleman, Louise Riotte, or John and Martha Storey. In short, do not purchase this book if you are serious about either agriculture or social change.

Heather C. Flores says:

wow. ouch.

I do disagree with this critique, especially considering that Food Not Lawns started as an academic document and was subject to meticulous review by a panel of experts before it was published. It is based on over a decade of real practice and experience and while no book is without errors, I do believe this one to be useful, helpful, and accurate.

They tell me to ignore the critics, but I feel everyone's opinion is valid and interesting, whether I agree with them or not. Anyway it's nice to see my book provoke such spirited replies!

Best of luck!