Editorial Reviews
Healing Currents Journal [2220 Sandy Drive, Eugene, OR 97401], June 1997, p. 32, Book Review by Michelle Urso.
Not singing along as you scan the tunes in this songbook/guidebook is the only challenge that you will be taking on in reading The Beetless' Gardening Book. The lyrics in every song are amusing, educational and dripping with compost, while the music is compliments of John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Various gardening tasks are explained to the tunes of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds ("Loosely Firm the Edges of Seedflats"), Maxwell's Silver Hammer ("Maxwell's Plastic Bucket") or you can dance in your garden singing out "Mulch!" to the music of Help! If you know any Beatles songs, you can probably find an organic cover of it in this guidebook.
I found myself singing "I Want to Dig by Hand" (I Want to Hold Your Hand) as I did the dishes and vacuumed. I let a gardener friend of mine look through this songbook and he asked to show it to some other gardeners he worked with; he said that throughout his entire workday someone always had the book and was singing.
Fun is the only word I can imagine to describe The Beetless' Gardening Book, for from the moment I picked it up I had to chuckle and I had to sing. But this book isn't simply entertaining - it includes 99 pages of gardening information and tips which will help the beginning gardener get started right and assist the frequent gardener in maintenance. Everyone could pick up a few new tricks.
Access [1257 Siskiyou Blvd., #86, Ashland, OR 97520; September 1997, p. 26, Book Review by Mary & David Dohrmann.
You know that you will be reading something pretty unusual when a book's category listings include Organic Gardening, Humorous Poetry and Music. It takes a stretch of the imagination to connect these widely divergent classifications, and we can only imagine the librarian's dilemma when attempting to assign the appropriate Dewey Decimal number! So, perhaps you will bear with us if we fumble a bit for the words to describe this most unique literary offering.
The Beetless' Gardening Book will appeal to any and all who consider themselves closet poets, or who sing in the shower, hum while working or whistle when they walk. It will be even more irresistible to those who do any of the above while participating in the great organic food raising adventure. Author/poet Chris Roth is Organic Gardening instructor at Aprovecho Research Center in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Among other things, the Center offers internships in sustainable living skills. The publisher, Carrotseed Press, is also located in Cottage Grove, so the book has a wonderful local flavor about it.
Although claiming it to be the work of Jam Lemon, Pear Machete, Joychoi Heirloom and Rutabaga Variety - The Beetless, Roth has written a volume of poetry in which each of the 57 offerings fits the rhythm of a particular Beatles' song. The author makes it very clear that he is in no way infringing upon the originals, or attempting to substitute lyrics. The poems are simply to be read as if they had certain rhythms and tones running along in the background. Indeed, we found it impossible to read them any other way!
While deliciously satirical, lyrical and eminently hum-able, all of the "songs" in this gem of a collection contain inspirations, hints, knowledge and perspectives which add to our understanding of and appreciation for the current return to home gardening. The only way to give the reader a hint of the unique character of this book is to let you sample it for yourself. Here are a few lines from Bug Me Do:
Bug, bug me do
You'll be my insect zoo
The birds will like it too
So please bug me do
Whoa-ho bug me do
If you found yourself humming Love Me Do by Lennon-McCartney, you get the idea. The words are not only lots of fun, they also contain much wisdom. Another example, from All Your Seeds Are Love will illustrate this:
All your seeds are love (for the children now)
All your seeds are love (and their children)
All your seeds are love, love
Love's in all your seeds
(Music: All You Need Is Love, Lennon-McCartney)
We could go on and on with personal favorites, such as Permaculture Garden, Mulch! or Please Weed Me, but we want to let each of you discover these pleasures for yourself. What lifts this book above the category of just pure fun (which, in itself would be reason enough to buy it), is that each page contains not only the poetry, but also side bars, notes and comments which further explain some of the more important aspects of natural gardening. As the reader thumbs and hums his/her way through the pages, much is gained which can actually be of practical use in the garden. Since reading the Beetless' book, the snails, slugs and bugs in our own garden may still be pests, but we see them with different eyes as we sing Here Come The Slugs. There are hints about everything from seedlings to freezing and canning, plus two quizzes, a glossary and a great bibliography.
While utilizing what is definitely an unconventional, right-brained approach, Roth has managed to educate, stimulate, celebrate and reiterate about important things we all need to know if we are ever to improve the quality of our lives by improving the quality of our soil. And it is so much more fun to read the Beetless' renditions than the typical garden encyclopedia arranged oh, so neatly and precisely alphabetically. We tip our straw hats in salute to Chris Roth, who gets the Golden Hoe Award for the season's most enjoyable guidebook.
The Beetless' Gardening Book: An Organic Gardening Songbook/Guidebook: Containing the Poetry of Jam Lemon, Pear Machete, Joychoi Heirloom, and Rutabaga Variety
The Beetless' Gardening Book: An Organic Gardening Songbook/Guidebook: Containing the Poetry of Jam Lemon, Pear Machete, Joychoi Heirloom, and Rutabaga Variety,Chris Roth,Carrotseed Press,0965709027,American - General,Gardening,Gardening / Horticulture,Gardens,General,Music,Poetry
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