
Kitchen Gardens International made The Earth Knows My Name by Patricia Klindienst one of its books of the month. In it she writes about "urban, suburban, and rural gardens created by people rarely presented in American gardening books: Native Americans, African Americans, immigrants from across Asia and Europe, and ethnic peoples who were here long before our national boundaries were drawn."
On a related note, I happen to be reading Charles C. Mann's 1491, an alternative history of the Americas before Columbus, and am on the section about Indian agriculture. Though familiar from school textbooks, it's still remarkable to be reminded just how many plants Indians domesticated. Corn, the most important grain crop in the world by weight; tomatoes, peppers, squashes, beans, and potatoes. Cotton too, though it's not a food crop.
I'd like to start including more information about books, and while I was originally only going to include ones that I've read, given my slow pace that's not very practical. So I'll provide reviews when I can, other information when I can't.
