Authors:

I grew up in the city, have always been in the city -- San Diego, to be precise.  What I've noticed from the gardening books I'm reading is that alot of these authors grew up on farms, or grew up with parents who were growing vegetables.  

For example, Novella Carpenter's ("Farm City...") parents were hippies and left the city for a ranch in Idaho, growing vegetables and raising rabbits, desiring a lifestyle by which they were living off the land.  Spring Warren ("The Quarter-Acre Farm...") grew up on a ranch in Wyoming.  And Robin Mather ("The Feast Nearby...") grew up in rural Michigan among farms and is now the editor of Mother Earth News.  

Each of these women have quite a bit of prior experience in growing food.  And have all written wonderful books I might add!  But each time I would read another book and think "how did these women know how to do all this," I would become disappointed when I realized they'd grown up doing it.

Where is the book about the city chick, with city parents, who decided to convert her entire backyard and front yard to farming space?  Where is the book that shows how she figured out how to do it?  I'm reading "You Grow Girl" right now by Gayla Trail which seems more focused on the city chick.  She talks alot about container gardening, working under the assumption that you may live in an apartment complex and only have a window or small balcony.  Reading her bio it doesn't seem that she has alot of prior experience, and rather that she learned it all on the go.  Gayla's book is more a how-to, while Novella, Spring, and Robin wrote memoirs.  I think I like the memoirs better, just because there is a bit more to the story line than just the how-to.  However Gayla's book has some great information on companion planting and weeds.  Who would have thought that you could learn about your soil by what type of weeds you have?

I think I'll read some more of her books, once I'm done with this one.

Gayla's website:  http://www.yougrowgirl.com/