Tuesday, June 22, 2010

farming by the sea

Down on the coast of SC, I spent a good bit of my childhood romping and picking my way through gardens and picking various veggies from soil mixed with sand while tasting the salty sea air. So while the following book may be about the beach specifically, a Little Farm by the Sea definitely holds a bit of nostalgia of living on the shore for me.

Little Farm by the Sea was actually written based a real farm on Long Island which the author enjoyed visiting in the summers. Her love for the little farm is felt deeply through the gentle words and beautifully rendered illustrations depict berry-picking children, baby burros and suckling piglets.


You might wonder why I don't have the cover art shown here. Unfortunately, we don't own a copy of this lovely book, although we're frequent borrowers from the library in the summer. I didn't think you'd want to see the dinged up plastic-y cover from the library. I've never been able to find a copy for a reasonable price that was in good shape. If you ever see this book at your local used bookshop, consider yourself a lottery winner and snatch it up quickly! Until then, check your local library. :)


One of the things I most appreciate about this little farm book is the description of organic farming methods the farm employs. Oh, it's not called "organic farming" since this book was written in the 90s before "organic" became such a buzzword. It's the simple descriptions of the farm keeping birdhouses to discourage insects and using fertilizer from the animals to enrich Farmer Brown's fields.


And who doesn't love little pigs that make such a ruckus?!



5 comments:

  1. We got this one from the library last summer. It IS lovely, great find!

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  2. Oh Joy that is one of my absolute fav books! We used to get it from the library in VA all the time. Ihave yet to find a copy to buy b/c they are always way overpriced.

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  3. I'm in love. You're on my list. Looking forward to sharing more great books! Awesome way to do the pictures, btw. I wish I had more time and creativity!

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