"Whenever we're looking for someway to explain our own misfortune, we're looking for outsiders, in someway a scapegoat; you know it's a lot easier to blame someone else for your misfortunes than yourself, right?  And that's the origins of witchcraft."  - Emerson Woods Baker II

"Fear is damn powerful and you don't want to get carried away with assumptions."  Marilynne K. Roach

As I began to read this book, the premiere of "Salem" on WGN American was on.  Marilynne K. Roach spoke on the preview for the show and I got hooked!
It definitely made reading this book a lot more fun, I love knowing the facts along with the fiction.  Six Women of Salem is also written in a fun way.  We follow the history of six of the women inundated with the trials, Tituba, Rebecca Nurse, Ann Putnam, Mary Warren, Bridget Bishop and Mary English. 
I loved that there were bits of fiction mixed in with the historical facts in this book.  Marilynne took the liberty to write the women's thoughts at certain points to intersect with the historical records.  A lot of research was done for this book from the remaining records. This was insightful and intriguing, seeing quotes from the accused, accusers and judges.  I knew some of the political troubles that might have spurred some accusations, but this book goes farther into personal squabbles, religious issues, war,  women's rights, racial issues and possible physiological issues that might have spurred the hysteria.  I was really interested in the story of Tituba; the historical records are quite different than most fictional accounts.  Overall, a great historical record of the Salem Witch Trials for anyone who would like to dig deeper into the subject. 

The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden is a gardening book that encourages you to know and understand how the space you are gardening in and the  perennial plants you plant will function with other plants and nature in order for you to do less work and enjoy your garden more.  This might be very different from the way some people garden and it will ask you to question why you do the things that you do in your garden.  

"This book is about gardening in a new way-one that is in harmony with how plants grow and interact with each other in nature."

You will learn the importance of sunlight, soil type, and water.  You will also be encouraged to look at your flowers and plants in a different way, doing an in-depth study of each plant.  The best advice I found was not put make a single plant an island in an ocean of mulch.  I hate seeing gardens like that!  When the plants are closer together, they not only block out weeds from growing, but shares in their own care and maintenance. I liked that the emphasis was on creating plant communities within your garden.   I did not like that this book included the use of glyphosate, even though the author states "I have no desire to promote the unnecessary use of chemicals."  The perennial plants profiled are intended for the Northern US, so I would suggest looking into whatever native perennials your area would need.  Some simple garden plans are also included.  A nice, but fairly involved conversation on the philosophy and ecology of gardening.


This book was provided for free in return for an honest review. 

A great book promoting sustainable foraging and eating locally and in-season. I liked that sustainable practices were highlighted and information was given on how to harvest each plant sustainably so no habitat is destroyed, which can be an issue with foraging.  

A list of plants in the very beginning of the book is arranged by season and habitat so a certain part of the plant that is available at that time is highlighted as edible. After that are plant profiles for over 100 edible plants in the Northeastern United States.  I would definitely make sure you bulk up on identification of any plant you are going to eat before using this book as your definitive guide.  There are identification sections describing each plant, however you would have to know some botany terms to use effectively.  Pictures are included, but every plant may not look like that.  The sections that are a lot more useful are how to harvest the edible part of the plant, when to harvest, and how to eat and preserve.  I was also impressed with the variety of plants in this book that I don't often see elsewhere such as basswood, black nightshade, cattail, garlic mustard, juneberry, mugwart, mulberries (my favorite) and pineappleweed.

This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.