The South Florida Gardening Survival Guide just got its first review on Amazon.

Amy writes:

Florida’s population is growing – hundreds of people per day are relocating here. It’s a tough environment to garden in, if you don’t know the way. This book gives you practical, sensible information so you can succeed with new and unusual plants in a new and exciting location, South Florida. David the Good’s humor makes a gardening book fun again. The illustrations tell part of the story too. This book is a must-have!

That is a nice review – thank you, Amy.

This book was a lot of fun to write, and it made me miss my home town of Ft. Lauderdale.

Leon left a comment the other day wondering what connection I actually had with South Florida:

Dave, when did you last live and grow plants in S Florida?

To which my response was:

I lived there full-time in 2005-06, then moved to Tennessee for a few years, then to North Florida in 2010. Then I was able to travel back and forth to South Florida regularly and helped my parents create The Great South Florida Food Forest Project, which is still growing today. I wish I could garden full-time in South Florida, but the price of living is prohibitive.

I can’t really afford a homestead here in Alabama/the Florida Panhandle, and it’s less than half the price of South Florida. There are some nice properties available – like this one – but we just can’t manage the cost. It would be great to garden and homestead on our own land again but we’re just stuck for now. May I be able to take Paul’s lead:

¹¹ Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

¹² I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

¹³ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

The price of everything is going up and up, but I do believe it will come down again. We’re just waiting…

Meanwhile, I am enjoying the Grocery Row Gardens here and writing books. We have plenty of space for cows and bees and gardens, even if it isn’t “our” land.

Today I hope to finish recording a video on lasagna gardening. I’ve also planted some more cassava and yams over the last couple of weeks, which are some of my favorite tropical crops.

And – finally – if you don’t have The South Florida Gardening Survival Guide yet, you can get your copy here.