This spiritually satisfying collection of stories celebrates the bond of family and the enduring value of leaving a legacy of caring and character. Here you'll discover the richness of your own life and faith and lasting treasures to be handed down with love. Book jacket.

Understanding Roots uncovers one of the greatest mysteries underground—the secret lives and magical workings of the roots that move and grow invisibly beneath our feet. Roots, it seems, do more than just keep a plant from falling over: they gather water and nutrients, exude wondrous elixirs to create good soil, make friends with microbes and fungi, communicate with other roots, and adapt themselves to all manner of soils, winds, and climates, nourishing and sustaining our gardens, lawns, and woodlands. Understanding Roots contains over 115 enchanting and revealing root drawings that most people have never seen, from prairies, grasslands, and deserts, as well as drawings based on excavations of vegetable, fruit, nut, and ornamental tree roots. Every root system presented in this book was drawn by people literally working in the trenches, sketching the roots where they grew. The text provides a verydetailed review of all aspects of transplanting; describes how roots work their magic to improve soil nutrients; investigates the hidden life of soil microbes and their mysterious relationship to roots; explores the question of whether deep roots really gather more unique nutrients than shallow roots; shares the latest research about the mysteries of mycorrhizal (good fungal) association; shows you exactly where to put your fertilizer, compost, water, and mulch to help plants flourish; tells you why gray water increases crop yields more than fresh water; and, most importantly, reveals the science behind all the above (with citations for each scientific paper). This book contains at least eighty percent more new information, more results of the latest in-depth and up-to-date explorations, and even more helpful guidelines on roots than the author’s previous book (Roots Demystified: Change Your Garden Habits to Help Roots Thrive). This is not a revised edition—it’s a whole new stand-alone book.

Motivated by a deeply rooted sense of place and community, Appalachian women have long fought against the damaging effects of industrialization. In this collection of interviews, sociologist Shannon Elizabeth Bell presents the voices of twelve Central Appalachian women, environmental justice activists fighting against mountaintop removal mining and its devastating effects on public health, regional ecology, and community well-being. Each woman narrates her own personal story of injustice and tells how that experience led her to activism. The interviews--many of them illustrated by the women's "photostories"--describe obstacles, losses, and tragedies. But they also tell of new communities and personal transformations catalyzed through activism. Bell supplements each narrative with careful notes that aid the reader while amplifying the power and flow of the activists' stories. Bell's analysis outlines the relationship between Appalachian women's activism and the gendered responsibilities they feel within their families and communities. Ultimately, Bell argues that these women draw upon a broader "protector identity" that both encompasses and extends the identity of motherhood that has often been associated with grassroots women's activism. As protectors, the women challenge dominant Appalachian gender expectations and guard not only their families but also their homeplaces, their communities, their heritage, and the endangered mountains that surround them. 30% of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to organizations fighting for environmental justice in Central Appalachia.

The African proverb states, "When the roots are deep, there is no reason to fear the wind." A complementary precept is, "When the branches are strong, there is no reason to fear climbing higher."Trees are the ideal metaphor for the growth and development of individuals and families across generations. Sturdy trees have deep roots and strong branches, and when exposed to threatening winds, trees grow stress wood, making them even more resilient.Previous generations have nurtured our life's tree, and we then assume stewardship and the responsibility to tend the tree for future generations-further deepening roots and strengthening branches. We can best do this if we develop a sense of self, mindfully answering three questions: 1) Who am I? 2) How did I become this person? 3) How will I affect future generations?In Deep Roots; Strong Branches, Alan Spector reflects on his answers to these questions and prompts the reader to do the same. He uses his life's stories and lessons learned, combines them with the stories and lessons of many others, and invites stories and learning from the reader. Hence the subtitle, Reflecting on Life Lessons Learned; A Mindful Multi-Memoir.

First published in 1986, this classic is back in print by popular demand. It is the authoritative text on edible landscaping, featuring a step-by-step guide to designing a productive environment using vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs for a combination of ornamental and culinary purposes. It includes descriptions of plants for all temperate habitats, methods for improving soil, tree pruning styles, and gourmet recipes using low-maintenance plants. There are sections on attracting beneficial insects with companion plants and using planting to shelter your home from erosion, heat, wind, and cold.

Morgan Matson meets Maggie Stiefvater in a story that will make you believe in friendship, miracles, and maybe even magic. Cottonwood Hollow, Kansas, is a strange place. For the past century, every girl has been born with a special talent, like the ability to Fix any object, Heal any wound, or Find what is missing. To best friends Rome, Lux, and Mercy, their abilities often feel more like a curse. Rome may be able to Fix anything she touches, but that won’t help her mom pay rent. Lux’s ability to attract any man with a smile has always meant danger. And although Mercy can make Enough of whatever is needed, even that won’t help when her friendship with Rome and Lux is tested. Follow three best friends in this enchanting debut novel as they discover that friendship is stronger than curses, that trust is worth the risk, and sometimes, what you’ve been looking for has been under your feet the whole time.

A powerful movement is happening in farming today—farmers are reconnecting with their roots to fight climate change. For one woman, that’s meant learning her tribe’s history to help bring back the buffalo. For another, it’s meant preserving forest purchased by her great-great-uncle, among the first wave of African Americans to buy land. Others are rejecting monoculture to grow corn, beans, and squash the way farmers in Mexico have done for centuries. Still others are rotating crops for the native cuisines of those who fled the “American wars” in Southeast Asia. In Healing Grounds, Liz Carlisle tells the stories of Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian American farmers who are reviving their ancestors’ methods of growing food—techniques long suppressed by the industrial food system. These farmers are restoring native prairies, nurturing beneficial fungi, and enriching soil health. While feeding their communities and revitalizing cultural ties to land, they are steadily stitching ecosystems back together and repairing the natural carbon cycle. This, Carlisle shows, is the true regenerative agriculture – not merely a set of technical tricks for storing CO2 in the ground, but a holistic approach that values diversity in both plants and people. Cultivating this kind of regenerative farming will require reckoning with our nation’s agricultural history—a history marked by discrimination and displacement. And it will ultimately require dismantling power structures that have blocked many farmers of color from owning land or building wealth. The task is great, but so is its promise. By coming together to restore these farmlands, we can not only heal our planet, we can heal our communities and ourselves.

Gardening and creativity expert Fran Sorin's Digging Deep does for gardeners what Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones has done for millions of writers and artists: it shows how to approach your passion with an eye towards freeing your spirit and living a creative and joyful life. If you're yearning to get out of the rut you're in and cultivate more meaning and connection in your life, you'll find the encouragement and tools to make it happen in Digging Deep.

Biology for AP® courses covers the scope and sequence requirements of a typical two-semester Advanced Placement® biology course. The text provides comprehensive coverage of foundational research and core biology concepts through an evolutionary lens. Biology for AP® Courses was designed to meet and exceed the requirements of the College Board’s AP® Biology framework while allowing significant flexibility for instructors. Each section of the book includes an introduction based on the AP® curriculum and includes rich features that engage students in scientific practice and AP® test preparation; it also highlights careers and research opportunities in biological sciences.

Scientists, within a wide field, ranging from applied forestry and agriculture to physiology, ecology and the environmental sciences, are today more than ever involved in root and mycorrhizal research. New problem-oriented research fields have arisen such as the effects of fertilizers and pesticides, forest management and regeneration etc. At a time when root research is expanding into different areas, it is much more difficult for the root scientist to penetrate all the new information appearing in literature. The contributors of this volume are leading scientists from different fields of root research. The ISRR-symposium in Uppsala clearly demonstrated that there are new techniques in progress, in particular with regards to video recording of plant root systems and digital image processing. The main objectives of the symposium were (i) to provide a forum for communication between scientists from different disciplines working with root research problems, (ii) to contribute to an expansion of root studies into new areas, (iii) to use current estimates of root turnover for charting the upper and lower limit of below-ground production, and (iv) to spread knowledge of new findings and techniques of the importance of root research. This book is aimed at serving as a vehicle for improving the coherence of root research, for harmonizing methods and establishing overall objectives and gaps in the knowledge of rhizosphere dynamics.