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Spring rain : a life lived in gardens / by Hamer, Marc,author,illustrator.;
"From the beloved author of How to Catch a Mole and Seed to Dust comes a highly original memoir of childhood, old age, and the restorative power of the garden. In this restorative little book, best enjoyed in a single sitting under a tree, an adventurous young boy who traveled the world in his mind meets the old man he becomes, and together they build a new garden from a neglected plot behind his house on the edge of town. Alternate chapters follow author and professional gardener Marc Hamer as a child and his current life as a 65 year old. Hamer weaves practical gardening knowledge through these two memoir strands as he describes the planning and planting of his new small garden near Cardiff, Wales. In the words of Hamer, "Spring Rain is about the joy of your own back garden. It is a story about the joy of small things, the world in a grain of sand, a universe in a small garden, with love for all the insects and slugs and flowers and weeds and seeds and roots and boundaries and shade and weather that the garden contains.""--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Hamer, Marc.; Gardeners; Gardens; Human ecology.;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Seed to dust : life, nature, and a country garden / by Hamer, Marc,author.;
"For readers of Late Migrations and Vesper Flights From the acclaimed author of How to Catch a Mole, this meditative memoir explores the wisdom of plants, the joys of manual labor, and the natural cycle of growth and decay that runs through both the garden's life and our own. Marc Hamer has nurtured the same 12-acre garden in the Welsh countryside for over two decades. The garden is vast and intricate. It's rarely visited, and only Hamer knows of its secrets. But it's not his garden. It belongs to his wealthy and elegant employer, Miss Cashmere. But the garden does not really belong to her, either. As Hamer writes, 'Like a book, a garden belongs to everyone who sees it.' In Seed to Dust, Marc Hamer paints a beautiful portrait of the garden that 'belongs to everyone.' He describes a year in his life as a country gardener, with each chapter named for the month he's in. As he works, he muses on the unusual folklores of his beloved plants. He observes the creatures who scurry and hide from his blade or rake. And he reflects on his own life: living homeless as a young man, his loving relationship with his wife and children, and--now--feeling the effects of old age on body and mind. As the seasons change, Hamer also reflects on the changes he has observed in Miss Cashmere's life from afar: the death of her husband and the departure of her children from the stately home where she now lives alone. At the book's end, Hamer's connection to Miss Cashmere changes shape, and new insights into relationships and the beauty and brutality of nature emerge. Just like all good books and gardens, Seed to Dust is filled with equal parts life and death, beauty and decay, and every reader will find something different to admire."-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Hamer, Marc.; Gardening; Gardens; Natural history;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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