book review: tropical organic gardening

tropical organic gardening: hawaiian style by richard stevens is a sweet little gem of a book. weighing in at a super-light 83 pages including a bevy of drawings, it still had plenty of room for inspiration.

it's true that most everything in there is pretty basic, and that this white dude from the mainland probably isn't the most immediately credible source of old hawaiian knowledge and lore (gardening or otherwise). still, he brings a joy and reverence to his topic that both charms and enlightens. and the appendices (yes, appendices) include pages of sobering statistics, inspirational quotes, footnotes galore, a glossary of terms (which reminds me, i want to wiki findhorn), and, most importantly, a list of references and resources inlcuding the university of hawaii's tropical agriculture program (you knew i didn't come up with that one on my own). but my favorite part: the descriptions of organic taro farming techniques. i was also highly amused by his descriptions of the 10 most nutritious vegetables -- broccoli, spinach, brussels sprouts, lima beans, peas, asparagus, artichokes, cauliflower, sweet potatoes and carrots, most of which are very hard to grow out there because they need cool moist climates like this one. :)

the verdict: definitely a keeper