I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book. This review was originally written and published at AlternativeConsumer.com

A Little Piece of Earth – how to grow your own food in small spaces

A Little Piece of Earth is a short book written by Maria Finn. As the title of this post indicates, it is a book about how to grow your own food in small spaces. No space is too small. As we have learned 2.5 acres is enough land to feed 100 people and to make a living on. So there is no reason why people in urban and suburban areas cannot grow enough for 2-4 people in their backyards with a little bit of creativity. This is what Ms. Finn shares in her book, along with little stories about the people she’s helped with her gardening experience.

From roof tops and window sills to indoor gardening, Maria Finn provides the beginner and veteran gardener plenty of food for thought.

Such as this line, “Edible gardens not only provide food, but also connections – to the earth, to the past, to the culture and to one another.”

And this a funny tip: A raccoon deterrent is an Oreo cookie with a jalapeño pepper inside! Can you believe that? She also said that aphids do not like hot peppers so grow a few extra to keep them at bay.

Another idea was to grow a grapevine privacy wall between you and a nosey neighbor, which seemed not only a neighbor/privacy solution but a way to grow grapes in a small backyard too.

I loved her section on children’s gardens, like using the Weeping Plum tree as a reading/tea party nook or the Pink Jasmine Tepee that would be more cost effective than many of the commercial tepees on the toy market and would smell a whole lot prettier too!
This book supplied me with enough intriguing information on multitiered worm composters, yummy recipes to try, different kinds of heirloom plants, garden design ideas, precious space saving techniques and even seed saving tips to make me want to study each of these subjects in more depth. After all, this little book is more of a quick study/pocket reference book with only 212 pages in its 8”x 5” covers. I would definitely recommend it to those wanting to use their space more wisely.

Editor’s Note: One thing I did not mention in my original review was the fact that there were a couple of little things that I think the author would have been better off leaving out, but overall this book is very useful to gardeners just beginning or to those looking to save space.