About the Book
In their myriad forms, fields are the one of the most familiar and well-tended parts of the countryside and have been so for millennia. They are places in which we work and play, tranquil spaces to be explored or simply admired from afar. The text combines many aspects, including history, natural history, folklore, food, and armchair travel. It also includes practical features on subjects such as collecting and drying wild herbs, a well as identification guides to help readers spot different types of flora and fauna.
Contents include the following: Introduction - what is a field and different field types and definitions; Field Forbears - birth of agriculture, the first domestic crops, the first fields - how to sow seeds; Shaping the Landscape - rice paddies and terracing, open fields and strip farming, hedgerows, and water meadows - how to build a dry stone wall and how to plant a hedge; Brave New World - New World fields, such as prairies, outback, veldt, pampas - how claims were staked and slashing and burning fields; and, Field Flora - a global guide to plants found in fields - Darwin's Meadow, grass as the world's carpet, grains, wildflowers and herbs, mushrooms and other fungi - how to press flowers and the backyard meadow.
This title also includes following contents: Field Fauna - a global guide to the creatures great and small that share the field - cattle, flying things, bugs, beasts - the importance of grazing and beginner's guide to sheep-shearing; Tools and Technology - a look at the devices we've invented to assist in tending our fields, from the plow, to hand tools, to tractors, and mechanical harvesters - how to use a hoe and how to plow a field; Nature's Bounty - guide to the myriad field plants that sustain us, from grains to herbs, fruits, and berries - how to dry herbs and what plants to avoid; and, Field Folklore - fields create a barrier between the true wilderness and where we live - every region has its own collection of tales, legends, and folklore that revolve around fields, herbal remedies, weather lore, fairy rings, and superstitions.
Review :
so much more than a field guide, tucking in whole chapters on the science, folklore, botany, food and history McClatchy Newspapers (The Buffalo News)
It claims to be a field guide, and indeed it is, a primer on the bucolic treasure that is the meadow, prairie, pasture or plain. But [it] is so much more, tucking in whole chapters on the science, folklore, botany, food and history of the middle space (between hunting ground and sleeping cave) where wilderness was tamed and civilization was birthed. Oklahoman
Not only is this a compendium that makes us want to curl up in a comfy cove, it s so packed with deliciousness we want to tuck it in our backpack and haul it everywhere each page and paragraph is rich; all told storyteller-style. The Chicago Tribune
unique, succinct, yet comprehensive resource celebrates the folklore and chronicles the flora and fauna that comprise the stunning variety of field habitats across the globe. Booklist
Illustrated with 300 photographs and handsome linocut-style prints, the book explains how different landscapes, climates, and cultures produced a variety of field types, from the terraced rice paddies of Southeast Asia to the impenetrable hedgerows of Northwest Europe, each reflecting both ancient traditions and agricultural progress. Living the Scientific Life/ Birdbooker Report (http: //scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2010/03/birdbooker_report_109.php)
The illustrations alone are worth the price of this 224-page paperback. The Record (New Jersey)"
."..so much more than a field guide, tucking in whole chapters on the science, folklore, botany, food and history..." -"McClatchy Newspapers (The Buffalo News)"
"It claims to be a field guide, and indeed it is, a primer on the bucolic treasure that is the meadow, prairie, pasture or plain. But [it] is so much more, tucking in whole chapters on the science, folklore, botany, food and history of the middle space (between hunting ground and sleeping cave) where wilderness was tamed and civilization was birthed." -"Oklahoman"
"Not only is this a compendium that makes us want to curl up in a comfy cove, it's so packed with deliciousness we want to tuck it in our backpack and haul it everywhere...each page and paragraph is rich; all told storyteller-style." -"The Chicago Tribune"
."..unique, succinct, yet comprehensive resource celebrates the folklore and chronicles the flora and fauna that comprise the stunning variety of field habitats across the globe." -"Booklist"
"Illustrated with 300 photographs and handsome linocut-style prints, the book explains how different landscapes, climates, and cultures produced a variety of field types, from the terraced rice paddies of Southeast Asia to the impenetrable hedgerows of Northwest Europe, each reflecting both ancient traditions and agricultural progress." -Living the Scientific Life/ Birdbooker Report (http: //scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2010/03/birdbooker_report_109.php)
"The illustrations alone are worth the price of this 224-page paperback." -"The Record" (New Jersey)
