Twitter use pays off
I don’t have a lot of time for Twitter but I do check my feed when I can. This is how I found out that Marc Hamer was sending seeds from his own garden to the readers of his very excellent non-fiction book “How to catch a mole“. So, I responded and then we both realized that sending and even worse, planting, flower seeds from another country may not be a good idea.
Then, weeks later, the seeds arrived having cleared customs.
Seed to dust
Speaking of seeds, Marc has a new book called “Seed to Dust” coming out in January, 2021 (UK & USA); amazon.ca lists the book with May, 2021 release so I’ll have to wait. It’s in my wish list.
The book is Marc’s account of working as an estate gardener in the UK. I find these jobs fascinating and sometimes, when I have time to dream, I wonder what it would be like to have a job like that.
Imagine a huge estate, somewhere in England, owned by rich people who may or may not live on the estate. Your job is to maintain the grounds year-round.
It reminds me of a gardener in Anmore, British Columbia. He takes care of the gardens at a private $5 million residence which sits empty all year. Hamer has more fun, I’m sure.
Marc Hamer
Marc is an interesting guy. I like him just because he’s a gardener; free seeds are nice, too! At one time, he was homeless. Now he’s an author.
The title of his first book “How to catch a mole” is a bit misleading. It’s not a manual for mole catchers. It’s a meditation on life and gardening, with information on moles.
Mole catching is done in winter for extra income. As temperatures dip, earthworms go deeper and moles have to dig deeper to find them. That’s when we get those hated mole hills nobody likes. Mole hills destroy the lawn uniformity people seek in their West Coast gardens.
The best point in the book is when a mole trap catches two moles and one is still alive. This means Hamer has to kill it manually and, after he does, he decides there and then, to quit mole catching.
I guess that’s how he freed time to write books and I’m glad this happened. If you like gardening and wonder about moles, this is a great book. I bought it in audio format so I could listen to it at work. In the landscape.
If you like gardening and always wondered about moles, this is a fantastic book. I highly recommend it.
