DC Public Library System

Seed to dust, life, nature, and a country garden, Marc Hamer, author of How to catch a mole

eng

contains biographical information

illustrations

no index present

non fiction

Seed to dust

1192311200

Marc Hamer, author of How to catch a mole

life, nature, and a country garden

"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

January. White ; Beginnings ; Peppered moth -- February. Returning ; Ice, Jasmine ; Another gardener ; climbing hydrangea ; A story ; Cyclops ; Code-breaker ; Wood pigeon ; The old north ; "I'm here, are you there?" ; She needs a stick -- March. Grass sprouts, trees bud ; Cosmos ; March frost ; Pruning roses ; Snow, Peonies ; Potatoes rattle in a pan ; Cherry buds appear ; The middle way ; Sparrows begin to nest ; Bees ; Daffodils ; Narcissus: are you there? ; Minotaur -- April. Distant thunder ; A vase of cherries ; Dahlias ; Girlish ; Love is... ; The window cleaner ; Tulpen ; Swifts arrive ; Song ; World sings ; A broken heart ; Mouse ; Mowing in the rain ; Floating islands -- May. Peonies bloom ; Gulls rip grass ; Holy thorn ; Mercedes ; An endless stream of days; Fossils ; Night scents ; Burning books ; Sun! ; Heart ; Maybug ; Rain, no rain -- June. A dumb labourer visits ; A new path ; Cold returns ; Solstice ; In your garden ; A round of applause ; Aphids -- July. Stoics ; Wabi-sabi ; Pelargoniums ; Flying ants day ; Swifts leave ; Pine cones ; Carp ; Green flames -- August. Cofiwch Dryweryn (Coffee-ookh Drewehrin) ; Umbellifers ; Fountain ; Cats and dogs ; Distant sounds ; Pond scum ; Laurels ; A break ; Gathering seeds -- September. The Waste Land ; 'Go, go, go, said the bird' ; The many-forking path ; Colchicums ; Scything the meadow ; Autumn equinox -- October. Go now, bonnie boy ; October mist ; Birthday ; Whisky ; Molecatcher ; Our Lady of Flowers ; Apples ; First snow -- November. Hop-tu-naa ; Frost ; Anemone to Zantedeschia ; The great riddle of the self ; Haiku ; Gipsies ; The lily gardens ; Lifting dahlias ; Leaving -- December. We barely spoke, I tell myself... Back to work ; The floating world ; Home ; Flowers