Now this truly is uplifting summer reading. It takes the idea of “perennial polycultures”, which are typical in the tropics, and asks whether they can work in eastern North America. I’ve spent some time in the tropics (Thailand in particular). Some people are worried about whether climate change will affect industrial agriculture in the tropics. But in my experience, people in the developing tropics are surrounded by more food than we are here in the developed temperate zone. Peoples’ yards are overflowing with mangoes, payapas, bananas, coconuts, peppers, eggplants and squashes of various sorts (mostly spicy sorts). Throw in some chickens foraging around, farm ponds full of fish, and bamboo for both food and timber, and you could really get by for awhile if the grocery store suddenly disappeared. Gardening there really doesn’t take much effort – once the plants are established. the effort is keeping the plants under control, if you are inclined to do that. If you don’t they just keep growing and producing food. Such is the amazing gift of solar energy.

It turns out we can grow fruit in the temperate zone too. Persimmons and pawpaws are native American trees, for example, but there are also hardy Asian persimmons and Asian pears, which are tougher than our native pears. There are hardy kiwis and yams that can grow here. There are “invasive” native wildflowers like Jerusalem artichoke that grow 10 foot tall stalks with edible, supposedly potato-like tubers. Not to mention some of our favorite perennials like strawberries and asparagus. The books go into a fair amount of detail on soil science, nutrient cycling, attracting pollinators, and other ecological topics, which is fun.