I imagine that many of you have a love of reading that might come close to your love of gardening! Most people I know who garden are curious-minded, and curiosity is rarely sated.
Books have made quite an impression on me - as a child, I knew I was going to be a vet because I had read all the James Herriot stories … until I discovered the need for excellent exam skills, so that idea had to be left behind. There was a brief interest in marine biology thanks to the books of Jacques Cousteau - but the lasting intoxication came from Jane Goodall and her writing about the work she undertook to understand chimpanzee behaviour and ecology in Tanzania.
Okay, so I did not quite reach the heights of Jane, but I found my niche and have been working with and writing about hedgehogs for much of the last 40 years!
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And this is how my latest contribution to Scribehound Gardening begins - it is behind a paywall I am afraid, but, as I have no 'job' I need to earn a crust ... and from that crust I will share what crumbs I can!! Like this podcast in which I talk about the impact of cats in the garden!
Kate's book has featured on here before. I think it is a really important book and I do recommend you go and read it (after mine, of course!) My fondness for the book is not just down to the fact that she is a major fan of hedgehogs ... though that certainly helps!
It took a second reading to really get one of the key messages from Kate. She has a tiny plot of a garden in a very urban setting - yet does so much. But, in the same way we know it takes a village to raise a child, Kate has found it helps to have a community if you want to encourage wildlife - so she has lifted her gaze from the plants, bees, hedgehogs, and swifts, and sought allies, creating connections; connections between gardens, hedgehog holes, etc, and connections between people.
I think we could all learn from that ...
Oh, and when I last mentioned Kate's book it was to encourage you to vote for it - and she won! The People's Book Prize for non-fiction. So thank you to any who helped make that happen!
Now, I know you can't do it on here, but if you pop over to the Substack version you can ... I would love to find out what books have given you the inspiration to dive deeper into nature. Please let me know in the comments.
Now, to pack up my tent and get ready for the first festival of the year - Wood - where I run the Kindling tent - bringing together amazing speakers on such a wonderfully wide range of topics!