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Unclutter Your Life in One Week
by David Allen Erin R DolandSIMPLICITY IS REVOLUTIONARY. Organization expert Erin Rooney Doland will show you how to clear the clutter, simplify your surroundings, and create the stress-free life you deserve--in just one week. Her down-to-earth approach and useful, innovative suggestions for tackling the physical, mental, and systemic distractions in your home and office will help you: *Part with sentimental clutter *Organize your closet based on how you process information *Build an effective and personalized filing system *Avoid the procrastination that often hinders the process *Maintain your harmonious home and work environments with minimal daily effort *And much more!
Uncommon Crochet: Twenty-Five Projects Made from Natural Yarns and Alternative Fibers
by Julie Armstrong HoletzBlack leather granny squares are anything but square, and hot pink organic hemp gives crocheted vases a decidedly modern cachet. In Uncommon Crochet, designer Julie Armstrong Holetz applies new ideas and unconventional materials--like wire, raffia, jute, sisal, recycled belts, fabric strips, and felted beads--to twenty-five patterns for bins, baskets, totes, handbags, clutches, jewelry, and more. Step-by-step instructions, detailed how-to photographs, and essential advice about creativity, design, and experi-mentation encourage you to play with fiber, add funky embellishments, and use your creative spirit to customize any pattern--even the ones in this book! From practical containers like Red's Goodie Basket (a stylish home for your WIP--works in progress) and Vintage Satchel (a sturdy retro messenger bag) to just plain fun projects like Petite Fleur Vases (tiny bud vases that hold water) and Sushi (crocheted California rolls, anyone?), Uncommon Crochet offers fresh twists on old-school techniques that turn simple projects into gift-worthy creations.
Uncultivated: Wild Apples, Real Cider, and the Complicated Art of Making a Living
by null Andy Brennan&“The best wine book I read this year was not about wine."—Eric Asimov, New York TimesToday, food is being reconsidered. It&’s a front-and-center topic in everything from politics to art, from science to economics. We know now that leaving food to government and industry specialists was one of the twentieth century&’s greatest mistakes. The question is where do we go from here.Author Andy Brennan describes uncultivation as a process: It involves exploring the wild; recognizing that much of nature is omitted from our conventional ways of seeing and doing things (our cultivations); and realizing the advantages to embracing what we&’ve somehow forgotten or ignored. For most of us this process can be difficult, like swimming against the strong current of our modern culture.The hero of this book is the wild apple. Uncultivated follows Brennan&’s twenty-four-year history with naturalized trees and shows how they have guided him toward successes in agriculture, in the art of cider making, and in creating a small-farm business. The book contains useful information relevant to those particular fields, but is designed to connect the wild to a far greater audience, skillfully blending cultural criticism with a food activist&’s agenda.Apples rank among the most manipulated crops in the world, because not only do farmers want perfect fruit, they also assume the health of the tree depends on human intervention. Yet wild trees live all around us, and left to their own devices, they achieve different forms of success that modernity fails to apprehend. Andy Brennan learned of the health and taste advantages of such trees, and by emulating nature in his orchard (and in his cider) he has also enjoyed environmental and financial benefits. None of this would be possible by following today&’s prevailing winds of apple cultivation.In all fields, our cultural perspective is limited by a parallel proclivity. It&’s not just agriculture: we all must fight tendencies toward specialization, efficiency, linear thought, and predetermined growth. We have cultivated those tendencies at the exclusion of nature&’s full range. If Uncultivated is about faith in nature, and the power it has to deliver us from our own mistakes, then wild apple trees have already shown us the way.&“The book for cider lovers&”—New York Times&“Andy Brennan is a stubborn, thoughtful original, and his apple memoir is powered by inspiring verve and irreverence. Loving apples or cider is not a prerequisite for loving this book. All that is needed is the willingness to follow a vibrant narrative voice driven by the pursuit of dreams.&”—Alice Feiring, author of Naked Wine and For the Love of Wine
Underground Urbanism
by Elizabeth ReynoldsHave you ever wondered what lies beneath the streets of your city? Do you picture, in isolation, a series of train tunnels and pipes? Or perhaps the foundations of tall buildings that lie scattered, like icebergs, beneath the surface? As our cities grow up, out, and down, it is time we better understood how the different layers of these complex urban environments relate to one another. Underground Urbanism seeks to provide a new perspective on our cities, and consider how this might be used to engage more positively with them. So, tip your cities upside down to have a closer look, and let us rethink them from (below) the ground, up.
Underneath the Christmas Tree: 'A seasonal romance as warm and welcome as a mug of mulled wine' Woman & Home
by Heidi Swain***The sparkling Christmas novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author Heidi Swain!*** Wynter&’s Trees is the home of Christmas. For the people of Wynmouth it&’s where they get their family Christmas tree, and where Christmas truly comes to life. But for Liza Wynter, it&’s a millstone around her neck. It was her father&’s pride and joy but now he&’s gone, she can&’t have anything to do with it. Until her father&’s business partner decides to retire and she must go back to handle the transition to his son Ned. When Liza arrives, she discovers a much-loved business that&’s flourishing under Ned&’s stewardship. And she&’s happy to stay and help for the Christmas season, but then she has other plans. But will the place where she grew up make her change her mind? And can it weave its Christmas cheer around her heart…?Underneath the Christmas Tree is the perfect festive read, promising snowfall, warm fires and breath-taking seasonal romance. Perfect for fans of Milly Johnson, Carole Matthews and Cathy Bramley.Praise for Underneath the Christmas Tree &‘Heidi Swain is the queen of feel-good fiction, and this Yuletide yarn certainly ticks all our boxes&’ New! Magazine &‘A seasonal romance as warm and welcome as a mug of mulled wine&’ Woman & Home &‘You&’ll want to curl up with a hot choc to read this warm hug of a festive book&’ Fabulous MagazinePraise for HEIDI SWAIN: 'Full of Heidi&’s trademark gentle charm. Lock the door, pour some mulled wine and settle into this wonderful Christmas treat!' Milly Johnson 'More Christmassy than a week in Lapland - we loved it!' heat magazine 'Sprinkled with Christmas sparkle' Trisha Ashley 'Give yourself a Christmas treat and curl up with this magical book!' Sue Moorcroft, author of The Little Village Christmas 'A real Christmas cracker of a read!' Penny Parkes, author of Practice Makes Perfect 'Cosy, Christmassy and deeply satisfying! Another wonderful read!' Mandy Baggot, author of One Christmas Kiss in Notting Hill
Understanding Construction Drawings (5th Edition)
by Mark W. HuthUpdated to the 2006 International Building and Residential Codes, the fifth edition of UNDERSTANDING CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS continues to highlight a range of real construction projects - from residential dwellings to commercial structures. This enhanced edition combines information and a hands-on approach to learning. The text provides thorough coverage that builds the foundation for a broad understanding of the entire construction process. The book begins with a simple duplex home that focuses readers on the fundamentals of views, lines, basic dimensioning, and symbols. Next, coverage of a multi-level single family home goes into more depth in orienting and cross-referencing drawings. The third section explores multifamily construction and is accompanied by more complex drawings for practice and more advanced interpretations. The final portion of the book introduces students to elements of commercial construction, including structural steel, masonry, and reinforced concrete. An extensive set of drawings packaged with the book illustrates each building so that students can apply important skills and gain a "real-world" understanding of construction drawings in an engaging way.
Understanding Garden Design: The Complete Handbook for Aspiring Designers
by Vanessa Gardner Nagel APLDDesigning a garden is a complex task. Where do you start? What kind of skills do you need? What are the logical steps in creating a design? How do you communicate your ideas to a client, and how do you accommodate a client’s requests while maintaining the integrity of the project? The answers to these questions, and many more, can all be found in Understanding Garden Design.Most books on garden design focus on only one or a few aspects of garden design—choosing plants or creating a hardscape, for example. This comprehensive, accessible book lays out the entire process from start to finish in clear, precise language that avoids the pitfalls of “designspeak.” In fact, garden owners and clients of garden designers who want to understand more about the designer’s craft will be able to profit from the book’s lessons.Among the many topics covered are how to document a site, how to determine what a client needs and wants from the garden, how to take architectural features into consideration, how to think about circulation and lay out paths, how to use basic design principles, how to work with plants, and how to create a final design. Practical aspects are clearly laid out, including working with contractors and staying on top of the various phases of construction. This thorough handbook is profusely illustrated with helpful photographs and diagrams. A particularly interesting tool is the hypothetical garden plan that appears in each chapter to show how to apply the topics at hand. A practical, logical approach to the planning, design, and installation of a garden, this volume will be an invaluable resource for students, landscape professionals, and garden designers.
Understanding God’s World
by Dawn MerenessThe Author describes GOD's creation in his books, about Science, Insects, Plants, Birds, Water, Air, Weather, Sound and Hearing. Geology, Planet Earth, Oceanography, Wonders of the Sea and Astronomy.
Understanding Metropolitan Landscapes
by Andrew MacKenzieUnderstanding Metropolitan Landscapes considers and reflects on the fundamental relationships between metropolitan regions and their landscapes. It investigates how planning and policy help to protect, manage and enhance the landscapes that sustain our urban settlements. As global populations become more metropolitan, landscapes evolve to become increasingly dynamic and entropic; and the distinction between urban and non-urban is further fragmented and yet these spaces play an increasingly important role in sustainable development. This book opens a key critical discussion into the relational aspects of city and landscape and how each element shapes the boundaries of the other, covering topics such as material natures, governance systems, processes and policy. It presents a compendium of concepts and ideas that have emerged from landscape architecture, planning, and environmental policy and landscape management. Using a range of illustrated case studies, it provokes discussions on the major themes driving the growth of cities by exploring the underlying tensions around notions of sustainable settlement, climate change adaption, urban migration, new modes of governance and the role of landscape in policy and decision making at national, provincial and municipal levels.
Understanding Site in Design Pedagogy (Routledge Focus on Design Pedagogy)
by Sean Burns Matthew WilsonThis book examines diverse ways of questioning, critiquing, and communicating site in the creative process of architecture, interior design, urban planning, and historical and cultural studies. The authors use the term site to connote a series of complex, established, or pre-existing conditions – a setting, an atmosphere, an area – to read, to interpret, to relate to, and to engage with, to redefine, or to create in relation to a design prompt. By acknowledging, accommodating, and empowering the physical, intellectual, and cultural characteristics of a site, students question its history, boundaries, posture, and situational aspects. Such inquiries promote a deeper appreciation of a site and thus help students to acknowledge its capacity to influence design throughout the iterative creative process. Understanding Site in Design Pedagogy adds to the body of literature on design studio pedagogy by presenting a collection of essays that challenge normative assumptions about what defines a site and its distinctive qualities. It poses a series of pedagogical questions for how sites might be diversely interpreted and introduced to design students. This study offers chapters that speak to site, memory, and lived experience; multi-scalar thinking about site; connecting to site through sensory phenomenon in interior design; alternate ways of engaging site for learning sustainable principles; and introducing unorthodox forms of site as the impetus to creative endeavours. It offers innovative approaches to scholarship of teaching and learning with respect to diverse readings of site within design education.
Understanding Tall Buildings: A Theory of Placemaking
by Kheir Al-KodmanyIn recent years, the rapid pace of tall building construction has fostered a certain kind of placelessness, with many new tall buildings being built out of scale, context and place. By analyzing hundreds of tall buildings and by providing hundreds of visuals that inspire, stimulate and engage, Understanding Tall Buildings contends that well-designed tall buildings can rejuvenate cities, ignite economic activity, support social life and boost city pride. Although this book does not claim to possess all the solutions, it does propose specific tall building design guidelines that may help to promote placemaking. Through this work, it is the author’s hope that ill-conceived developments will become less common in the future and that good placemaking will become the norm, not the exception. This book is a must-read for students and practitioners working to create better tall buildings and better urban environments.
Undesign: Critical Practices at the Intersection of Art and Design
by Gretchen Coombs Andrew McNamara Gavin SadeUndesign brings together leading artists, designers and theorists working at the intersection of art and design. The text focuses on design practices, and conceptual approaches, which challenge the traditional notion that design should emphasise its utility over aesthetic or other non-functional considerations. This publication brings to light emerging practices that consider the social, political and aesthetic potential of "undesigning" our complex designed world. In documenting these new developments, the book highlights the overlaps with science, engineering, biotechnology and hacktivism, which operate at the intersection of art and design.
Unearthed: The Landscapes of Hargreaves Associates (Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture)
by Karen M'CloskeyThe work of landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Associates is globally renowned, from the 21st Century Waterfront in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to London's 2012 Olympic Park. Founded by George Hargreaves in 1983, this team of designers has transformed numerous abandoned sites into topographically and functionally diverse landscapes. Hargreaves Associates' body of work reflects the socioeconomic and legislative changes that have impacted landscape architecture over the past three decades, particularly the availability of former industrial sites and their subsequent redevelopment into parks. The firm's longstanding interest in such projects brings it into frequent contact with the communities and local authorities who use and live in these built environments, which tend to be contested grounds owing to the conflicting claims of the populations and municipalities that use and manage them. As microcosms of contemporary political, social, and economic terrains, these designed spaces signify larger issues in urban redevelopment and landscape design.The first scholarly examination of the firm's philosophy and body of work, Unearthed uses Hargreaves Associates' portfolio to illustrate the key challenges and opportunities of designing today's public spaces. Illustrated with more than one hundred and fifty color and black-and-white images, this study explores the methods behind canonical Hargreaves Associates sites, such as San Francisco's Crissy Field, Sydney Olympic Park, and the Louisville Waterfront Park. M'Closkey outlines how Hargreaves and his longtime associate Mary Margaret Jones approach the design of public places—conceptually, materially, and formally—on sites that require significant remaking in order to support a greater range of ecological and social needs.
Unearthed: On race and roots, and how the soil taught me I belong
by Claire RatinonA powerful work of memoir and storytelling that will change the way we think about the natural world.Like many diasporic people of colour, Claire Ratinon grew up feeling cut off from the natural world. She lived in cities, reluctant to be outdoors and stuck with the belief that success and status could fill the space where belonging was absent. But a chance encounter with a rooftop farm was the start of a journey that caused her to rethink the life she'd been creating and her beliefs about who she ought to be. Enlivened, she turned her hand to growing food in London before finding herself yearning for a small parcel of land to call her own. Unearthed tells the story of her leaving the city for the English countryside - and her first garden - in the hope of forging a pathway towards the embrace of the natural world and a sense of belonging cultivated on her own terms.'Ratinon's story will change hearts and minds' Alice Vincent'A beautiful book about nature...I recommend it' Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)
Unearthed: Love, Acceptance, and Other Lessons from an Abandoned Garden
by Alexandra Risen&“A generous, poignant memoir&” of loss, family secrets, and a quest to shape something beautiful out of the chaos of nature (Kirkus Reviews). Just as Alex and her husband buy a house in Toronto, set atop an acre of wilderness that extends into a natural gorge in the middle of the city, she learns that her father, a Ukrainian-born immigrant, has died. Her new home&’s gigantic, abandoned garden, choked with weeds and crumbling antique structures, resembles a wild jungle—and it stirs cherished memories of Alex&’s childhood: When her home life became unbearable, she would escape to the forest. In her new home, Alex can feel the power of the majestic trees that nurtured her in her youth, but as she begins to beat back the bushes to unveil the garden&’s mysteries, her mother has a stroke and develops dementia. When Alex discovers an envelope of yellowed documents while sorting through her father&’s junk pile, offering clues to her parents&’ mysterious past, she reluctantly musters the courage to uncover their secrets. While discovering the plants hidden in the garden—from primroses and maple syrup–producing sugar maples to her mother&’s favorite, lily of the valley—she must come to terms with the circle of life around her, and find the courage to tend to her own family&’s future. &“The land is rife with unexpected delights: a huge, decaying pagoda, underground aquifers, a pond, koi, deer, and all manner of vegetation. . . . As she restores the property and heals her long-troubled soul, Risen paints a vivid and exquisite portrait of nature and its profound significance.&” —Publishers Weekly
Unearthing The Secret Garden: The Plants and Places That Inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett
by Marta McDowell&“Blooming with photos, illustrations, and botanical paintings, McDowell&’s gorgeous book opens an ivy-covered door to new information about one of the world&’s most famous authors.&”—Angelica Shirley Carpenter, editor of In the GardenNew York Times bestselling author Marta McDowell has revealed the way that plants have stirred some of our most cherished authors, including Beatrix Potter, Emily Dickinson, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. In her latest, she shares a moving account of how gardening deeply inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author of the beloved children's classic The Secret Garden. In Unearthing The Secret Garden, McDowell delves into the professional and gardening life of Frances Hodgson Burnett. Complementing her fascinating account with charming period photographs and illustrations, McDowell paints an unforgettable portrait of a great artist and reminds us why The Secret Garden continues to touch readers after more than a century. This deeply moving and gift-worthy book is a must-read for fans of The Secret Garden and anyone who loves the story behind the story.
Unexpected Afghans: Innovative Crochet Designs with Traditional Techniques
by Robyn ChachulaUnexpected Afghans presents 29 innovative interpretations of a favorite at-home essential. From best-selling author Robyn Chachula comes an in-depth look into crocheting traditional afghans using contemporary techniques, colors and patterns.Expert designers including Kristin Omdahl, Kathy Merrick, Kimberly McAlindin, and many more, provide an abundance of fresh patterns and projects that are perfect for new and advanced crocheters as they start out beginner-friendly and become more complex, allowing a crocheter to build skills and confidence. Designers at any level will enjoy: • A detailed technique's workshop in every chapter including cables, motifs, color, lace, and Tunisian crochet. • Helpful tips from designers for working through each afghan project. • Easy-to-follow charts and diagrams. Along with tons of beautiful afghan projects for all skill levels, you'll find many of your favorite designer's biographies--giving you an exploration into their inspiration.
The Unexpected Houseplant: 220 Extraordinary Choices for Every Spot in Your Home
by Tovah MartinIt's time for plant lovers to dust off their houseplants, update their image, and discover just how exciting, trendy, and crucial plants can be in the home.The Unexpected Houseplant, by renowned plant authority Tovah Martin, isn't your typical, old-fashioned, dowdy houseplant book. Martin's approach is revolutionary—picture brilliant spring bulbs by the bed, lush perennials brought in from the garden, quirky succulents in the kitchen, even flowering vines and small trees growing beside an easy chair. Martin brings an evangelist's zeal to the task of convincing homeowners that indoor plants aren't just a luxury—they're a necessity. In addition to design flair, houseplants clean indoor air, which can be up to ten times more polluted. Along with loads of visual inspiration, readers will learn how to make unusual selections, where to best position plants in the home, and valuable tips on watering, feeding, grooming, pruning, and troubleshooting, season by season.
Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess
by Rachel HoffmanFinally, a housekeeping and organizational system developed for those of us who'd describe our current living situation as a “f*cking mess” that we're desperate to fix. Unf*ck Your Habitat is for anyone who has been left behind by traditional aspirational systems. The ones that ignore single people with full-time jobs; people without kids but living with roommates; and people with mental illnesses or physical limitations. Most organizational books are aimed at traditional homemakers, DIYers, and people who seem to have unimaginable amounts of free time. They assume we all iron our sheets, have linen napkins to match our table runners, and can keep plants alive for longer than a week. Basically, they ignore most of us living here in the real world.Interspersed with lists and challenges, this practical, no-nonsense advice relies on a 20/10 system (20 minutes of cleaning followed by a 10-minute break; no marathon cleaning allowed) to help you develop lifelong habits. It motivates you to embrace a new lifestyle in manageable sections so you can actually start applying the tactics as you progress. For everyone stuck between The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Adulting, this philosophy is decidedly more realistic than aspirational, but the goal is the same: not everyone will have a showcase of a home, but whatever your habitat, you deserve for it to bring you happiness, not stress.
Unfare Solutions: Local Earmarked Charges to Fund Public Transport (Transport, Development and Sustainability Series)
by Barry Ubbels Marcus Enoch Stephen Potter Peter NijkampTransport policy is an increasingly difficult area for all national governments and regional/local authorities. Tackling car use and realising a sustainable transport system appears to be very difficult. Developing public transport is seen as an increasingly important element in improving the transport system, especially in densely populated areas. At the same time however, governments are under increasing pressure to cut taxation. As a result there is a growing gap between increasing policy need for public transport and government resources to fund that need. This timely book explores one solution to this dilemma, which is the use of local charges and taxes dedicated to support public transport. Unfare Solutions examines how and why such charges have evolved and how they do (or do not) relate to modern transport policy developments and theory. It shows innovative funding techniques developed by both public transport providers and federal and local authorities.
Unfinished Places (Re)making Cairo’s Old Quarters: The Politics Of (re)making Cairo's Old Quarters
by Gehan SelimThe Emerging Politics of (Re) making Cairo's Old Quarters examines postcolonial planning practices that aimed to modernise Cairo’s urban spaces. The author examines the expanding field of postcolonial urbanism by linking the state’s political ideologies and systems of governance with methods of spatial representations that aimed to transform the urban realm in Cairo. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the study draws on planning, history and politics to develop a distinctive account of postcolonial planning in Cairo following Egypt’s 1952 revolution. The book widely connects the ideological role of a different type of politicised urbanism practised during the days of Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak and the overarching policies, institutions and attitudes involved in the visions for (re) building a new nation in Egypt. By examining the notion of remaking urban spaces, the study interprets the ambitions and powers of state policies for improving the spatial qualities of Cairo’s old districts since the early 20th century. These acts are situated in their spatial, political and historical contexts of Cairo’s heterogeneous old quarters and urban spaces particularly the remaking of one of the city’s older quarts named Bulaq Abul Ela established during the Ottoman rule in the thirteenth century. It therefore writes, in a chronological sequence, a narrative through time and space connecting various layers of historical and contemporary political phases for remaking Bulaq. The endeavor is to explain this process from a spatial perspective in terms of the implications and consequences not only on places, but also on the people’s everyday practices. By deeply investigating the problems and consequences; the strengths and weaknesses; and the state’s reliability to achieve the remaking objectives, the book reveals evidence that shifting forms of governance had anchored planning practices into a narrow path of creativity and responsive planning.
Unhealthy Housing: Research, remedies and reform
by R. Burridge D. OrmandyUnhealthy Housing presents an analysis of the research into the health implications of housing and the significance for legal regulation of housing conditions. Key experts present short papers, together with an overview to give an evaluation of the significance of housing on the health of occupiers.
The Unknown World of the Mobile Home (Creating the North American Landscape)
by John Fraser Hart Michelle J. Rhodes John T. MorganIn American popular imagination, the mobile home evokes images of cramped interiors, cheap materials, and occupants too poor or unsavory to live anywhere else. Since the 1940s and '50s, however, mobile home manufacturers have improved standards of construction and now present them as an affordable alternative to conventional site-built homes. Today one of every fourteen Americans lives in a mobile home. In The Unknown World of the Mobile Home authors John Fraser Hart, Michelle J. Rhodes, and John T. Morgan illuminate the history and culture of these often misunderstood domiciles. They describe early mobile homes, which were trailers designed to be pulled behind automobiles and which were more often than not poorly constructed and unequal to the needs of those who used them. During the 1970s, however, Congress enacted federal standards for the quality and safety of mobile homes, which led to innovation in design and the production of much more attractive and durable models. These models now comply with local building codes and many are designed to look like conventional houses. As a result, one out every five new single-family housing units purchased in the United States is a mobile home, sited everywhere from the conventional trailer park to custom-designed "estates" aimed at young couples and retirees. Despite all these changes in manufacture and design, even the most immobile mobile homes are still sold, financed, regulated, and taxed as vehicles.With a wealth of detail and illustrations, The Unknown World of the Mobile Home provides readers with an in-depth look into this variation on the American dream.
The Unknown World of the Mobile Home (Creating the North American Landscape)
by John Fraser Hart Michelle J Rhodes John T MorganAn in-depth look at the history and culture of mobile homes in the United States.In American popular imagination, the mobile home evokes images of cramped interiors, cheap materials, and occupants too poor or unsavory to live anywhere else. Since the 1940s and ‘50s, however, mobile home manufacturers have improved standards of construction and now present them as an affordable alternative to conventional site-built homes. Today one of every fourteen Americans lives in a mobile home.In The Unknown World of the Mobile Home authors John Fraser Hart, Michelle J. Rhodes, and John T. Morgan illuminate the history and culture of these often misunderstood domiciles. They describe early mobile homes, which were trailers designed to be pulled behind automobiles and which were more often than not poorly constructed and unequal to the needs of those who used them. During the 1970s, however, Congress enacted federal standards for the quality and safety of mobile homes, which led to innovation in design and the production of much more attractive and durable models. These models now comply with local building codes and many are designed to look like conventional houses. As a result, one out every five new single-family housing units purchased in the United States is a mobile home, sited everywhere from the conventional trailer park to custom-designed “estates” aimed at young couples and retirees. Despite all these changes in manufacture and design, even the most immobile mobile homes are still sold, financed, regulated, and taxed as vehicles.With a wealth of detail and illustrations, The Unknown World of the Mobile Home provides readers with an in-depth look into this variation on the American dream.“A clear, concise, and innovative look at the history, the economics, and the politics of the mobile home. The authors reveal the inner workings of mobile home living by drawing upon a wide variety of sources, from industry data to interviews conducted at mobile home parks across the country. Further, they explore new types of mobile home communities—those assembled for workers at meat-processing centers in southwest Kansas, for example—that complicate the familiar image of the mobile home park as retirement village. The ideas presented in this book provide a solid starting point for many detailed studies on this important topic.” —Karl Raitz, University of Kentucky, author of The National Road
An Unlikely Vineyard
by Alice Feiring Deirdre HeekinAn Unlikely Vineyard tells the evolutionary story of Deirdre Heekin's farm from overgrown fields to a fertile, productive, and beautiful landscape that melds with its natural environment. Is it possible to capture landscape in a bottle? To express its terroir, its essence of place--geology, geography, climate, and soil--as well as the skill of the winegrower? That's what Heekin and her chef/husband, Caleb Barber, set out to accomplish on their tiny, eight-acre hillside farm and vineyard in Vermont. But An Unlikely Vineyard involves much more. It also presents, through the example of their farming journey and winegrowing endeavors, an impressive amount of information on how to think about almost every aspect of gardening: from composting to trellising; from cider and perry making to growing old garden roses, keeping bees, and raising livestock; from pruning (or not) to dealing naturally with pests and diseases. Challenged by cold winters, wet summers, and other factors, Deirdre and Caleb set about to grow not only a vineyard, but an orchard of heirloom apples, pears, and plums, as well as gardens filled with vegetables, herbs, roses, and wildflowers destined for their own table and for the kitchen of their small restaurant. They wanted to create, or rediscover, a sense of place, and to grow food naturally using the philosophy and techniques gleaned from organic gardening, permaculture, and biodynamic farming. Accompanied throughout by lush photos, this gentle narrative will appeal to anyone who loves food, farms, and living well.