Seedfolks

In honor of yesterday's Harvest Moon, here's another garden-centric book for your bookshelves:  SEEDFOLKS by Paul Fleischman.  This little novel, which I believe is technically a young adult novel, is a really fast read (I mean like an hour) for anyone who loves gardening or has been / wants to be a part of a community garden.

Told from the point of view of various folks who garden a "vacant" (except for the garbage and tires) lot, each one has something to offer to the group that is uniquely theirs and something they take away which nourishes them in the broadest of definitions.  It speaks to the universality of the joys of growing food to eat and share. 

I loved this passage in the voice of Nora, the caretaker of Mr. Myles - an aged, wheelchair bound man.  He gardens in a barrel contraption he can reach, which she rigs up.  But, the gardening isn't just for him:

That small circle of earth became a second home to both of us.  Gardening boring?  Never!  It has suspense, tragedy, startling developments -- a soap opera growing out of the ground.  I'd forgotten that tremolo of expectation produced by a tiny forest of sprouts.

How true!!!

SEEDFOLKS would make a great stocking stuffer for anyone you know who loves their garden or dreams of having one.