Culture and Horticulture

Culture and Horticulture: A Philosophy of Gardening

This is a fascinating introduction to gardening in its widest sense, setting horticulture in its historical, cultural and cosmological contexts. The author offers both a theoretical understanding of biodynamic gardening and useful tips on light and warmth, ground covers, composts, crop rotation and weeds. The first part of the book is concerned with providing a philosophical and epistemological background to the subject, while the second part deals with the practicalities of horticulture.

About the Author

Wolf D. Storl, PhD, is an ethnobotanist and the author of some two dozen books on herbalism, alternative medicine, ethnobotany, and shamanism. Born in Saxony, Germany, he received his PhD in ethnology from the University of Berne, Switzerland. His early post-doctorate career includes research in a Swiss biodynamic farming community, teaching anthropology and organic gardening at Rogue College in Oregon, participant-observer research at a traditional Swiss farm, and two years in India as a visiting scholar at the Benares Hindu University. Always interested in local gardening practices in his travels around the world, 25 years ago Dr. Storl was able to put his learning to the test when he and his family moved to a mountain farmstead in southern Germany. There he maintains a year-round vegetable garden and continues to teach, also appearing on television in the U.S. and many countries in Europe as a spokesman for natural horticulture. The author lives in Rohrdorf, Germany.