Archive for the ‘Lifestyle’ Category
November 12th, 2009 by Thando
A dedicated group of folk who care deeply about the environment gathered last night in Noordhoek’s Wordsworth Books to celebrate the launch of Grow to Live: A simple guide to growing your own good, clean food by Pat Featherstone.
The author, who is the founder of Soil for Life, a Cape Town-based NGO which teaches people to grow their own food, works with the premise – healthy soil, healthy plants, and healthy people.
Environmental activist Anthea Torr, who edits Biophile magazine, introduced Featherstone’s book, saying, “Grow to Live is a tremendously timeous publication for people moving towards living in a sustainable way. We just have to look at the weather to know that it’s time to become reverent towards our life on this planet. With the world facing three major interlinked crises simultaneously – financial, food and environmental – it is evident that those who acquire the knowledge and skills for cultivating the soil and are confidently utilising any space they have available, no matter how small, will be the protagonists of the future.”
Torr introduced the author: “Born, bred and educated in Zimbabwe, Pat Featherstone moved to Cape Town, in 1973 to take up a teaching post at a local High School. It was not the teaching that brought her here, but the father of her about-to-be children. Three girls down the line and many life experiences under the belt, Pat was propelled into the life she had been born to live. Having returned to her home country to set up a new life in the early 90’s things didn’t turn out quite as expected.
“Tough as it was about to be, she drove from her refuge in Zimbabwe, with dogs, children and scant possessions and enjoyed the freedom of just being. No home, no belongings worth mentioning, no work, no money, and no future on the horizon. Only the multitude of gifts bestowed upon her on entering this world, and her three sisters and a mother who believed that there was a life to be lived.
“With the children out of the nest and armed with a BSc Honours degree, a certificate in higher education and twenty years of teaching experience in biology, biochemistry, parasitology, animal diversity and evolution at secondary and tertiary institutions, Pat committed herself to using all of her God-given gifts, to pursuing her passion for the environment, and to helping people to help themselves to a better quality of life.
“She believes that ‘in the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.’
“Best we love our planet now,” she concluded.
A Gallery of Gardeners
Book details
Cats: Events,
Feature,
Food,
Green,
Lifestyle,
Non-fiction,
South Africa Tags: A simple guide to growing your own good clean food,
Anthea Torr,
Events,
Feature,
Food,
Gardening,
Green,
Grow to Live,
Jacana,
Lifestyle,
Non-fiction,
Noordhoek,
Pat Featherstone,
South Africa
November 4th, 2009 by Jani
Jacana Media and Wordsworth Books invite you to the launch of Grow to Live: A Simple Guide to Growing Your Own Good, Clean Food.
“A vitally important book, perfectly timed for the extraordinary times ahead. There should not be a household without one.” Anthea Torr – editor of Biophile magazine
The benefits of food gardens are many: they deepen our connection with nature, quieten our minds and create a new understanding of life. The food that is grown gives physical sustenance. The experience of growing it feeds the soul. Can we grow ourselves out of the environmental problems that overwhelm the planet today? There is hope that we can if we know how to get going and use the goods and services provided by Mother Nature that enable us to work in harmony with the environment. This beautiful and, above all, practical book will teach you all you need to know about growing your own food and is a celebration of the wonders of the natural world.
We look forward to welcoming you at the launch:
Event Details
Book Details
Cats: Events,
Food,
Green,
Lifestyle,
Non-fiction Tags: A simple guide to growing your own good,
clean food,
Events,
Food,
Gardening,
Green,
Grow to Live,
Jacana,
Lifestyle,
Non-fiction,
Pat Featherstone,
South Africa,
Wordsworth Books
October 27th, 2009 by Emily
Old Nectar is South Africa’s most famous private garden and its creator and constant gardener, Una van der Spuy, takes us through it in this book, sharing a lifetime of knowledge and experience about gardening and plants.
Van der Spuy is one of South Africa’s best-known gardeners, the author of nine gardening books, and the garden she has created at her home in the Jonkershoek Valley near Stellenbosch, has been visited and admired for decades. Now an irrepressible 97, still active and enthusiastic, van der Spuy has distilled a lifetime of knowledge and experience in this volume about her famous garden, which, as well as being a National Monument, features regularly in overseas books and magazines.
Old Nectar, illustrated with some 200 photographs, shows off the several different gardens that make up Una van der Spuy’s creation and provides a wealth of information that will help readers choose plants to suit their particular climatic conditions. It is a book to treasure; a tribute to a grand lady and her entrancing garden.
Book details
Cats: Lifestyle,
Non-fiction,
South Africa Tags: A Garden for All Season,
Gardening,
Gardening Books,
Green,
Jacana,
Jacana Media,
Jonkershoek,
Lifestyle,
Non-fiction,
Old Nectar,
South Africa,
Stellenbosch,
Una van der Spuy
October 27th, 2009 by Emily
The Irish-trained chef Jason Comins teams up with acclaimed lifestyle photographer Russel Wasserfall to produce a sumptuous yet straightforward men’s guide to cooking delicious food.
With Bloke, Comins departs from the premise that simplicity is the key to putting a good meal on the table, and the full-colour illustrations and no-fuss layout ensure that any man will be equipped with the basic skills needed to become a handy cook.
About the author and photographer
Jason Comins trained as a chef under the famous UK chef Darina Allen during his time at Ballymaloe in Ireland. He now spends much of his time running chef training programs, as well as spending about 5 months a year in Norway where he manages a salmon fishing lodge.
Russel Wasserfall is a well-known international food and lifestyle photographer. Over the past few years he has also branched out to writing, store design and marketing. He was responsible for coming up with the concept for Bloke.
Book details
Photo courtesy FarmCookingSchool.co.za
Cats: Food,
Lifestyle,
Non-fiction,
South Africa Tags: Bloke,
Cookbooks,
Cookbooks for Men,
Cookery Books,
Darina Allen,
Food,
Jacana,
Jacana Media,
Jason Comins,
Lifestyle,
Non-fiction,
Recipe Books,
Recipes,
Russel Wasserfall,
South Africa
September 9th, 2009 by Emily
The benefits of food gardens are many. They deepen our connection with nature, quieten our minds and create a new understanding of life. The food that is grown gives physical sustenance. The experience of growing it feeds the soul.
Can we grow ourselves out of the environmental problems that overwhelm the planet today? There is hope that we can if we know how to get going and use the goods and services provided by Mother Nature that enable us to work in harmony with the environment.
Pat Featherstone’s Grow to Live is a beautiful and, above all, practical book will teach you all you need to know about growing your own food and is a celebration of the wonders of the natural world.
Book details
Picture courtesy Soil for Life
Cats: Food,
Green,
Lifestyle,
Non-fiction,
South Africa Tags: A simple guide to growing your own good,
clean food,
Food,
Gardening,
Green,
Grow to Live,
Jacana,
Lifestyle,
Non-fiction,
Pat Featherstone,
Soil for Life,
South Africa
