Homegrown Happiness is a Kiwi guide to living off the suburban land. Author Elien is passionate about gardening and growing your own food, and she also embraces foraging and low waste living. In these pandemic times, her book is essential reading when many of us are questioning our self-sufficiency.
Based on her experience in her own garden and through stories from gardeners throughout the country, she encourages readers to give it a go! Many of us don’t have a large property to grow food – but whether you have a small urban plot or a shady backyard Elien has guidance on how to get the best from your garden.
Elien offers comprehensive, reader-friendly advice on preparing and maintaining a vegetable patch, composting, foraging, harvesting, planting and pest control. She is an advocate of the low maintenance no-dig gardening method.
“I love understanding what it takes to create a garden and how I can work alongside nature to benefit us both. Relying on my own efforts to grow and forage for food is both freeing and rewarding and I want to share this journey with you,” says Elien.
But it doesn’t end at gardening and growing, Elien includes a range of delicious seasonal recipes too. Browse sections of the book by month and learn what to forage, harvest, plant, prepare and what is ready to eat. Dandelion quesadillas, wild fennel pesto, pickles and preserves are just some of the recipes I’m keen to try.
Elien is a popular blogger. She shares recipes and photos of food freshly foraged from her garden. Follow Elien online.
Reviewer: Andrea Molloy Bateman Books, RRP $39.00