Measure the height of a tree by standing on your head. Make a watering can out of an old tin. Learn to grow and cook with local leafy greens like xigogo and lekoma.

There’s a lot more interesting stuff packed into Pat Featherstone’s newly published book, Grow to Live to inspire you to get outside and enjoy the pleasures of communing with Mother Earth.

A limited number of copies are available directly through Soil for Life, so order yours soon!

On the simplest level, Grow to Live takes you on a journey into the field of organic food gardening. And if it’s a hands-on, no frills guide for the South African organic food gardener that you’re after, you’d be hard-pressed to beat Pat’s practical text illustrated with Leah Hawker’s expounding pencil drawings and stunning photographs.

The book assumes you are starting from scratch, so the copy is simple, clear and concise. The book is divided into chapters of digestible length, starting with the basics of why to go organic and how to plan and start the organic food garden, right through to a focus on maintenance and preparing for the next planting cycle. But there’s a lot more on offer here.

Once you begin to engage with the book, you realize that you are about to Grow to Live a lifestyle that’s healthier, more in tune with the environment, and ultimately so much more satisfying. Learn about a warm-up exercise routine to help you prepare your back before commencing with your bending and digging and novel ways lighten your contribution to the municipal dump by recycling your kitchen waste, plastic bottles tins – even weeds and those pesky insects.

Then, there are unusual culinary delights like water berry compote to sample. It’s like a trip into a more idyllic time – when we were more in tune with nature. For our own good, we need to go back there and put our hands in the soil. Grow to Live would make an excellent Christmas present for a friend or relative interested in things organic, or for someone in need of a new hobby and a nudge in the right direction.

A limited number of copies are on sale at Soil for Life at a special member’s price of R220. Avoid disappointment by ordering yours now. E-mail info@soilforlife.co.za to order your copy, or phone 021 794 4982 or visit us in Stable Lane, off Brounger Road Constantia.