Appreciating Michael Phillips - and good sale on his books

General Fruit Growing
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I’m new to fruit growing, just making a big push this year to pretty much fill out my 1000m2 village lot with a few apples, pears, 5 or 6 plums (I love plums and dream of them the most), various Rubus, Vaccinium, Sambucus, Saskatoons, Aronia, haskaps, grapes, hops, gooseberries & currants, strawbs, etc., etc. Ripping out the gigantic Euonymous alatus & Norway maple saplings all over, cutting way back (& keeping) the lilacs, with vegetables & flowers also. You know, tiny paradise, no lawn. Even if the birds get a lot (which they deserve for making the world beautiful) I hope there;ll be enough for me to eat, experiment, etc.

Anyway, so I’ve just started reading Michael Phillips’ ‘Holistic orchard’ this year, & really appreciate his friendly, conversational, gentle style. I’ve been thriough the book numerous times by now and need more!

It’s too bad I learned about him just about when he left us, but (like the great Gordon Lightfoot who we lost this week), he left us with a good permanent body of work that I plan to dive into next because I find myself wanting to read more of his writing and of course learn what he knew.

I was doing some poking around the web looking for a decent used copy of ’ Mycorrhizal Planet’ & found that for one more day (until May 8) Chelsea Green Pub. has a great sale on - many or maybe most of their books. I bought ‘Myco-’ as well as his “Apple Grower” & He & Nancy’s “Herbalist’s Way”, plus a small pile of other stuff, all about half price and thus cheaper than any used listed copies I’ve seen (I was ‘convinced’ to bump my order over $100 for free shipping with a few other things I’d been wanting, but think their rates are fair for smaller orders). .

Well,here’s my haul:
Mycorrhizal Planet 1 $20.00
The Herbalist’s Way 1 $15.00
The Apple Grower 1 $20.00
The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments 1 $12.47
Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts 1 $17.48
Wild Fermentation 1 $14.97

So if interested in MP or other books (CG has a great list of titles) this is a pretty good sale, but I think it ends close of day Monday the 8th.

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You all have a few hours left … I couldn’t resist & made a second order today! (everything half off):

Holistic Orcharding with Michael Phillips (DVD) 1 $24.98
The Home-Scale Forest Garden 1 $17.48
Wildcrafted Fermentation 1 $14.97
The Art of Fermentation 1 $19.98
Wildcrafted Vinegars 1 $17.48
The Wildcrafting Brewer 1 $14.97
Subtotal: $109.86

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Chelsea Green does a good job.I have too many books, though, and not enough time, especially now that winter is over!

I had the good fortune to attend several of Michael’s apple round tables at Stump Sprouts in or near Ashfield, MA. At that time it was only 20 people or so. I was just starting out really, and getting to rub elbows with some very smart and experienced growers was very inspiring. In more recent years, it got quite a bit more crowded.
Michael would sort of hold court and steer conversation, with his characteristic speaking style and geeky jokes interspersed. Conversation would just sort of spiral around.
Fun rubbing elbows with Quebec cider maker/author Claude Joliceur, Fedco’s resident apple detective John Bunker, protege of fruit and nut explorer Fred Ashworth and St. Lawrence Nursery founder Bill MacKantley, and a number of other growers large and small pushing the envelopes on growing with ecology in mind, among other things.

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I’ve shared their sales on this forum before. They have had as much as 70 or 80% off sales on certain books in the past. Some go on sale less often and I jump on the opportunity. Edible Forest Gardens volume 1 & 2 are near the top of my “to finish” list, which always seems to be growing.

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Those are never finished, IMO. They were published just at the same time I was putting down roots and starting to think about planting trees, and I read them again and again and again. I’m actually not even sure I’ve read them cover to cover, since I always liked to just pick it up and start in on just about any section.

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Well I got a pretty big haul at 11 books & a DVD (never thought I’d buy a DVD again, but the appeal of 5 hours of MP demonstrations makes the now-obsolete format irrelevant), but I’ll have to wait for the next sale to maybe get those EFG books… I was looking but at the ‘expensive’ half-off price I was trying not to go overboard (at least a third time in 2 days!).

I 'm also a book lover & have a bunch of other CG books; most or all bought second-hand, either cheap at local 2nd hand shops or market value over the web - which is usually more than 50% of new price indicating their appeal.

As a Upper Peninsula (MI) resident, I also appreciate their many books focusing on New England authors, since that’s about the closest growing climate to my area (well, but for the huge influence of the Great Lakes or the Atlantic on the two regions).

Yeah, so that Edible Forest Gardens book is now on my radar… Geez, maybe I should’ve at least bought their “Paradise lot” since that’s my ‘lot’ too, luckily on a fairly sunny larger-tan-city small-town lot but still not exactly huge… I’m sore today from hacking out Euonymous alata (man that thing has a lot of fine & coarse roots!) & Norway maples yesterday to make room for fruit trees. Most exciting project I’ve undertaken in years though!

Well I’ll have enough new stuff to read for a bit anyway!

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I have the holistic orchard and I can easily say it is one of my top five fruit books. I like his writing style too. He not only describes his methods but their mechanism of action. That is important to me.

I have seen a few videos of his presentations and he is the same gentle, informative, and humorous guy you would expect. I feel his loss as well.

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