Book Review - My Empire of Dirt by Manny Howard

In my previous post about gardening resources, I mentioned your local library as a good source of finding gardening books. During one of my trips to the library, looking for gardening books of course, I came across "My Empire of Dirt: How One Man Turned His Big-City Backyard into a Farm" by Manny Howard. I found it quite by accident. The book was staring at me from eye level on the shelf so I picked it up and took it home with me.

From what I gathered after reading the introduction and first few chapters of the book was that Manny Howard was a writer who bounced around various writing gigs eventually ending up as a sort of freelance writer for the New York Magazine. One day Manny was approached by the editor who asked if he would write about the locavore movement. In case you have never heard of this movement, locavorism is the pursuit to primarily buy and/or produce locally grown food and other necessities. Locavorism has become especially popular in the last several years for various reasons. Back to Manny...the primary stipulation for Manny's writing project was that he was required to live off of only the food he grew in his backyard garden for 1 month. In case you were wondering, Manny lives(ed) in Brooklyn, to my understanding in a large house with a sizable (by Brooklyn standards) backyard.

In the book, Manny describes in great detail the various plans he has envisioned for his garden. He plans on starting plants on top of his basement wet bar. He plans on raising tilapia which will be housed in some sort of swimming pool. Manny devotes a chapter to the tilapia project which turns out to be quite humorous. He plans on raising rabbits to be used for meat, which he describes in various sections throughout the book.

Manny has grand plans for his locavore garden project which I assume was either wholly funded or cost reimbursed by the magazine. In a way, I admired Manny and his project, wishing I had the time and resources to do what he was doing. Albeit, Manny had to contend with family obligations and relationships at the same time as he was dealing with preparing his garden beds and raising his rabbits and chickens. I guess you could call Manny the Willie Wonka of backyard gardeners. He attempted just about everything you could do in the backyard, and he managed to fit it all into his Brooklyn lot.

The book was entertaining but at the same time insightful. Manny was fairly knowledgeable from a research perspective going into his project, but he learned a great deal through experience by the time he was finished. That in itself is admirable and it is something all of us experience every season we garden. From a writing perspective, Manny's self-deprecating humor made some of the more dull and undesirable gardening topics both interesting and entertaining.

For an easy and entertaining read, I would recommend this book. You'll laugh and probably learn something at the same time.

You can check out Manny's article as it appeared in the New York magazine. The book builds upon the original magazine article.