There has been a lot of interest lately in living a more self-sufficient lifestyle and in particular people growing their own fruit and vegetables. Possibly this is a response to the economic climate, it may stem from a desire to grow more organic produce, or possibly a desire to return to the slower and simpler rhythms of life that fruit and vegetable growing both requires and encourages. Whatever the reason there are many resources available here at the library to assist those wanting to lead ‘the good life’.
Our gardening section has many titles dedicated to growing fruit and vegetables. Starter Vegetable Gardens by Barbara Pleasant provides advice and a selection of plans for small organic gardens. Get Fresh by Dennis Greville gives advice on growing vegetables and herbs, and is written from a New Zealand perspective. Also written from a New Zealand perspective is Palmers Vegetable Gardening by T.W. ‘Prof’ Walker, a regular on the much-missed Maggie’s Garden Show.
Once you’ve grown your food you have to decide what to with it. In his book Jamie at Home, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver provides sumptuous recipes related to the seasons and the fresh produce that is available. He also gives some information on growing the fruit and vegetables he uses in his recipes. Similarly Grow It, Cook It by local chef Sally Cameron is a combination cooking and gardening book which gives basic advice on growing different fruits, vegetables and herbs, and then recipes for how they can be used.
One of the disadvantages of producing your own fruit and vegetables is that often you have a whole lot of produce coming ready at the same time. You can of course give it away to friends and family or organisations such as the Food Bank, and there are an increasing number of schemes promoting the sharing and swapping of produce. Another option is to preserve your produce and we have a number of books on the different methods of doing this.
Fix, Freeze, Feast by Katie Neville gives advice on preparing and packaging homemade family meals, and storing them in the freezer for later defrosting. How to Store Your Own Garden Produce by Piers Warren gives advice and recipes on preserving a range of garden produce, something the author describes as the key to successful self-sufficiency. Preserved by Nick Sandler and Johnny Acton seems to cover every food preservation technique imaginable including drying, salting, smoking, pickling, infused oils, fermenting, bottling and canning.
For those that want to take their self sufficiency further than merely producing some of their own fruit and vegetables we also have books on keeping animals such as poultry, sheep , goats and cattle. These include Backyard Poultry – Naturally by Alanna Moore, Cows for the Smallholder by Valerie Porter, Running a Small Flock of Sheep by David G. Hinton, and Natural Goat & Alpaca Care by Pat Coleby. And to make use of your animals we have many books on knitting, several books on cheesemaking, and of course the aforementioned cooking books.
And for those who want to embrace the whole self-sufficient lifestyle we have a number of titles that cover the whole spectrum of self-sufficiency. Carolann Murray’s Mastering the Art of Self-Sufficiency in New Zealand gives advice on keeping cows, sheep, chooks and bees, maintaining an organic garden, producing alternative energy, and making cheese, bread, soap, and even wine and spirits. The Good Life: Your Guide to a Greener, Cheaper and More Fulfilling Life In New Zealand by Francesca Price gives advice on sustainable eating, shopping, housing, holidays, transport and travel, and greener parenting.
We also have a couple of magazine titles New Zealand Lifestyle Block and Grass Roots that cater to those choosing a self sufficient lifestyle. If this all seems a bit too much like hard work, or for those who just want a break, we do have Off the Radar by Te Radar which recounts the laughs, dramas, and occasional triumphs of his attempts to live off the land, and season 1 and 2 of the ever popular comedy series The Good Life available on DVD.
Jon Adams
Community Outreach Librarian
Masterton District Library
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Rainbow Kids gone but not forgotten
Masterton Library’s much loved and hugely popular Rainbow Kids pre-school programme is no more. But parents, caregivers, and pre-schoolers please don’t fret. It’s simply been given a new name, Story-Go-Round, and kicked off with the first new session on the 4th of May.
Masterton Library has been operating a free, weekly pre-school programme for approximately 19 years and for the last eight years this has been known as Rainbow Kids. It was decided that a fresh new name would be invigorating for the programme and that the old name may be causing some confusion. After much discussion and deliberation amongst staff we arrived at the name Story-Go-Round, a combination of the sharing of stories and the play connotations of a merry-go-round.
Story-Go-Round will continue to provide a fun and educational experience for pre-schoolers every Wednesday during term time. The sessions start at 10:30am, generally with a 20-25 minute period of storytelling and songs, followed by a craft activity. The craft activities are designed to encourage basic skills like cutting, colouring and pasting and result in some wonderful creations. Our preschool programme is particularly popular with those aged 2-3 years, but all preschoolers and their caregivers are welcome. There is no charge to attend the sessions and all the craft materials are likewise provided for free.
The other change to the programme was the decision to no longer produce a printed pamphlet outlining the whole terms planned activities. This was proving to have a detrimental effect on the programme as sticking to it meant the children’s team could not easily respond to events in the community, while changing it could cause disappointment amongst some participants. The Christchurch Earthquake for example was high in everyone’s awareness and could have been used for a number of learning experiences such as the work done by emergency services or ways to stay safe in an earthquake.
While this term will have an overriding theme of people who help us, the children’s team now have the flexibility to respond to new events and ideas as they come up. Jane and Cindy will still be planning ahead to relate the programme to regular events going on in the community such as Golden Shares, Balloons over Wairarapa and Mother’s Day, but now they can also present any new subjects they think would be good to cover. This will make Story-Go-Round even more vibrant, relevant, and fun for those attending the sessions.
Our weekly pre-school session has been one of the great success stories here at the library and we are certain this will continue with Story-Go-Round. We have many regular faces amongst the participants and frequently have whole families of children coming along until each in turn reaches school age. We then see many coming to the library as older children and teenagers, and signing up for the Summer Reading and Read Plus reading programmes. We have even had one former member working here at the library as a student shelver.
Pre-school programmes are a great way of introducing children to books, reading and the library and this has huge benefits for their future learning. The sessions are also very valuable for making connections between families and library staff and there are many social benefits for both children and their caregivers in attending the weekly sessions. So Rainbow Kids may be gone, but rest assured that Story-Go-Round will be keeping up the good work for our youngest library users.
Masterton Library has been operating a free, weekly pre-school programme for approximately 19 years and for the last eight years this has been known as Rainbow Kids. It was decided that a fresh new name would be invigorating for the programme and that the old name may be causing some confusion. After much discussion and deliberation amongst staff we arrived at the name Story-Go-Round, a combination of the sharing of stories and the play connotations of a merry-go-round.
Story-Go-Round will continue to provide a fun and educational experience for pre-schoolers every Wednesday during term time. The sessions start at 10:30am, generally with a 20-25 minute period of storytelling and songs, followed by a craft activity. The craft activities are designed to encourage basic skills like cutting, colouring and pasting and result in some wonderful creations. Our preschool programme is particularly popular with those aged 2-3 years, but all preschoolers and their caregivers are welcome. There is no charge to attend the sessions and all the craft materials are likewise provided for free.
The other change to the programme was the decision to no longer produce a printed pamphlet outlining the whole terms planned activities. This was proving to have a detrimental effect on the programme as sticking to it meant the children’s team could not easily respond to events in the community, while changing it could cause disappointment amongst some participants. The Christchurch Earthquake for example was high in everyone’s awareness and could have been used for a number of learning experiences such as the work done by emergency services or ways to stay safe in an earthquake.
While this term will have an overriding theme of people who help us, the children’s team now have the flexibility to respond to new events and ideas as they come up. Jane and Cindy will still be planning ahead to relate the programme to regular events going on in the community such as Golden Shares, Balloons over Wairarapa and Mother’s Day, but now they can also present any new subjects they think would be good to cover. This will make Story-Go-Round even more vibrant, relevant, and fun for those attending the sessions.
Our weekly pre-school session has been one of the great success stories here at the library and we are certain this will continue with Story-Go-Round. We have many regular faces amongst the participants and frequently have whole families of children coming along until each in turn reaches school age. We then see many coming to the library as older children and teenagers, and signing up for the Summer Reading and Read Plus reading programmes. We have even had one former member working here at the library as a student shelver.
Pre-school programmes are a great way of introducing children to books, reading and the library and this has huge benefits for their future learning. The sessions are also very valuable for making connections between families and library staff and there are many social benefits for both children and their caregivers in attending the weekly sessions. So Rainbow Kids may be gone, but rest assured that Story-Go-Round will be keeping up the good work for our youngest library users.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Pets at the Library
For thousands of years and across all cultures pets have occupied an important place in human society, from the deified cats of Ancient Egypt, to the humble goldfish swimming in a bowl. Research is also suggesting that pets have a beneficial effect on humans with pet owners enjoying a longer lifespan with lower stress levels and blood pressure. Pets form an important part of many of our lives so it is not surprising that books about pets, choosing them, caring for them, and books about particularly remarkable pets, feature strongly here at the library.
We have many non-fiction books about choosing and caring for pets ranging from general titles like The Encyclopaedia of Pets and Pet Care, to books about specific animals including dogs, cats, birds and fish, including the different breeds of each. Alternative Pets by Robin Stewart looks at keeping some less common pets including rats, axolotls, and lizards. So whether you’re after the everyday moggy, or something more exotic, there’s bound to be a book to help with your decision here at the library.
Books about our lives with animals are also hugely popular with our readers. The books of Yorkshire vet James Herriot including All Creatures Great and Small and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet are perennial favourites with their heart-warming stories of life in the Yorkshire dales, their inhabitants and the pets and livestock they keep. Famous naturalist Gerald Durrell has written many books about his love of animals and the story of his remarkable life and contribution to conservation is portrayed in the DVD My Family and Other Animals. More recently Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan tells of the lessons he and his family learnt from their thirteen years with a good natured, but apparently untrainable, Labrador.
We have many books about remarkable pets that have made an amazing contribution to the lives of the people around them. Making the Rounds With Oscar by David Dosa is the incredible story of a cat living in a U.S. nursing home who seemed to know when people were going to die and would stay and comfort them until they passed. Cleo: the Cat Who Mended a Family by New Zealand author Helen Brown tells of how a small black kitten helped mend the broken hearts of a family after the tragic death of their son. A particulate favourite amongst many librarians is Dewey: the Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron which tells of a small ginger kitten who was abandoned in the returns slot of the Spencer Public Library in Iowa, and came to have a profound impact on the library’s staff and patrons.
Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper is about an incredible kitten who grew into a loyal, loving, yet feisty cat, despite infection robbing him of sight at a few weeks of age, and the inspiration the author took from his zest for life. A Lion Called Christian (available as both a book and DVD) is the story of two Australians who bought a lion cub as a pet while living in London. When he grew too big to live in the city they made the decision to release him onto a reserve in Africa, going on to experienced an incredible reunion with him as an adult lion. And to show it’s not all about cats, Paddy the Wanderer by Dianne Haworth is the true story of an Airdale Terrier who became a national identity during the Depression, renowned for his independent spirit and love of travel including trams, sailing ships and even a Gypsy Moth.
In his book Kindred Spirits veterinarian Allen Schoen writes about his career and gives advice on caring for animals, but also gives many examples of the incredible bond that exists between humans and animals and the things we can learn from them. Why Animals Are Smarter Than Us gives a number of examples of animals displaying amazing examples of navigation, communication and some uncanny signs of precognition. In Ask Now the Beasts, Ruth Rudner looks at our relationship with wild and domestic animals and the lessons we can learn from them about how we live our lives.
Our books on choosing, keeping and training pets will help owners ensure that both animal and human get the best out of the relationship. While sadly there are too many cases of animal neglect and cruelty, for most people pets are a delight and treated with the care and respect they need and deserve. We are richer for sharing our homes with pets, and while we give them food and shelter, they give us so much more. Pets can become a trusted companion, a comfort, part of the family. Pets add greatly to our lives so it should be no surprise that books about them can be as inspiring, heart-warming, funny or moving as books on any subject.
Jon Adams
Comunity Outreach Librarian
Masterton District Library
We have many non-fiction books about choosing and caring for pets ranging from general titles like The Encyclopaedia of Pets and Pet Care, to books about specific animals including dogs, cats, birds and fish, including the different breeds of each. Alternative Pets by Robin Stewart looks at keeping some less common pets including rats, axolotls, and lizards. So whether you’re after the everyday moggy, or something more exotic, there’s bound to be a book to help with your decision here at the library.
Books about our lives with animals are also hugely popular with our readers. The books of Yorkshire vet James Herriot including All Creatures Great and Small and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet are perennial favourites with their heart-warming stories of life in the Yorkshire dales, their inhabitants and the pets and livestock they keep. Famous naturalist Gerald Durrell has written many books about his love of animals and the story of his remarkable life and contribution to conservation is portrayed in the DVD My Family and Other Animals. More recently Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan tells of the lessons he and his family learnt from their thirteen years with a good natured, but apparently untrainable, Labrador.
We have many books about remarkable pets that have made an amazing contribution to the lives of the people around them. Making the Rounds With Oscar by David Dosa is the incredible story of a cat living in a U.S. nursing home who seemed to know when people were going to die and would stay and comfort them until they passed. Cleo: the Cat Who Mended a Family by New Zealand author Helen Brown tells of how a small black kitten helped mend the broken hearts of a family after the tragic death of their son. A particulate favourite amongst many librarians is Dewey: the Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron which tells of a small ginger kitten who was abandoned in the returns slot of the Spencer Public Library in Iowa, and came to have a profound impact on the library’s staff and patrons.
Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper is about an incredible kitten who grew into a loyal, loving, yet feisty cat, despite infection robbing him of sight at a few weeks of age, and the inspiration the author took from his zest for life. A Lion Called Christian (available as both a book and DVD) is the story of two Australians who bought a lion cub as a pet while living in London. When he grew too big to live in the city they made the decision to release him onto a reserve in Africa, going on to experienced an incredible reunion with him as an adult lion. And to show it’s not all about cats, Paddy the Wanderer by Dianne Haworth is the true story of an Airdale Terrier who became a national identity during the Depression, renowned for his independent spirit and love of travel including trams, sailing ships and even a Gypsy Moth.
In his book Kindred Spirits veterinarian Allen Schoen writes about his career and gives advice on caring for animals, but also gives many examples of the incredible bond that exists between humans and animals and the things we can learn from them. Why Animals Are Smarter Than Us gives a number of examples of animals displaying amazing examples of navigation, communication and some uncanny signs of precognition. In Ask Now the Beasts, Ruth Rudner looks at our relationship with wild and domestic animals and the lessons we can learn from them about how we live our lives.
Our books on choosing, keeping and training pets will help owners ensure that both animal and human get the best out of the relationship. While sadly there are too many cases of animal neglect and cruelty, for most people pets are a delight and treated with the care and respect they need and deserve. We are richer for sharing our homes with pets, and while we give them food and shelter, they give us so much more. Pets can become a trusted companion, a comfort, part of the family. Pets add greatly to our lives so it should be no surprise that books about them can be as inspiring, heart-warming, funny or moving as books on any subject.
Jon Adams
Comunity Outreach Librarian
Masterton District Library
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