Looking to get out of the rat race? Striving for less? Check out these books for great minimalist tips:

Philosophy of Simplicity

Enough already!: clearing mental clutter to become the best you by Peter Walsh

Simplexity: why simple things become complex (and how complex things can be made simple) by Jeffrey Kluger

Tonight at 7:00PM in the Purple Room

Join us for a Demonstration of Strip Quilting featuring Grace.

Meeting Wednesday, April 6 at 7:00PM in the Purple Room.

We will be featuring Strip Quilting this month. Grace will demonstrate this quick and easy method of putting together quilt tops.

This is a good way for someone to start quilting. There are also more difficult patterns for the more accomplished quilters. Check out The Art of Classic Quiltmaking by Harriet Hargrave and Sharyn Craig; Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts by Pam Lintott; and Strip Quilting by Diane Wold.

Crafting a meaningful home: 27 DIY projects to tell stories, hold memories, and celebrate family heritage by Meg Mateo Ilasco; photographs by Thayer Allyson Gowdy — We all want our homes to be reflections of who we are, but sometimes it's hard to know what will make that happen. This book has a variety of projects that you can make personal by incorporating your own fond memories or keepsakes. For a quick peek, check out this book trailer.

Homegrown harvest: a season-by-season guide to a sustainable kitchen garden by Rita Pelczar, editor in chief — The idea of having a kitchen garden sounds so romantic, but is it really doable? It is! This book will take you through the entire year, from planning to harvest and on. It also contains a wealth of information about particular vegetables, fruits, and herbs that you might grow in your garden. The glorious full-color photographs make this book a treat just to look through, but you'll definitely want to start a garden once you do.

Practical bamboos: the 50 best plants for screens, containers and more by Paul Whittaker — Bamboo seems like such an exotic plant to grow here in suburbia, but there are actually some varieties that would be quite happy here. And not all bamboos are invasive, either! This book covers just about everything you could hope to know about bamboos.

The revolutionary yardscape: ideas for repurposing local materials to create containers, pathways, lighting, and more by Matthew Levesque — When I see a garden or yard with cool planters, trellises, or other accoutrements, I always think about how pricey it would be to do the same in my garden. But with this book, you can make your own goodies from previously used materials — save some cash and go green at the same time. This book has lots of tips for making old items seem new. Isn't it time to add some useful art to your landscape?

Sugar snaps & strawberries: simple solutions for creating your own small-space edible garden by Andrea Bellamy; with photographs by Jackie Connelly — Have you started planning your garden yet? Even if you have, you'll want to check out this book to see some fabulous ideas and pick up some tips. Whether you're designing your garden space or picking out what to grow, this book is full of info and is illustrated with gorgeous photographs (given how grey it can be in Michigan this time of year, just looking at the photos is reason enough to pick up this book!). If you like this, you can also check out the author's blog, Heavy Petal.

The March/2011 issue of This Old House contains 52 Quick Fix-It Trricks, remoldeling money savers, how to problems and many other DIY shortcuts for your reading. This Old House is part of the CPL Adult magazine collection and also available at thisoldhouse.com.

Refresh your home: simple projects and tips to save money, update, and renovate by editors of the Family handyman — Do you ever watch home improvement shows and then look around at your house and think that it's never that easy in your own home? This book has 500 projects, ranging from installing a dimmer switch to mixing your own window cleaner to building a deck planter. It also includes a ton of tips for choosing the best tools and products for the job.

Did you know that there are many really easy to grow veggies that are super-nutritious? Some of them are even extremely tasty, like the sweet peas (from my garden) pictured here. You may find yourself eating them right off the vine! Check out this Top Ten list and start planning your garden for this summer.

Homegrown vegetables, fruits, and herbs: a bountiful, healthful garden for lean times by Jim Wilson; photography by Walter Chandoha

The Canton Winter Farmers Market returns this Sunday, March 13, from 10:00AM-2:00PM, but with a different location due to the soggy weather: Come to historic Cherry Hill School on the Northwest corner of Ridge and Cherry Hill Road at 50440 Cherry Hill Road. Eighteen local vendors will be there this Sunday. Don't miss it!

Save the Date

One more Canton Winter Farmers Market is slated for Sunday, April 10 from 10:00AM-2:00PM

Pasta Drive

The Farmers Market will continue its pasta drive to help restock the shelves at Open Door Ministry's Food Pantry in Canton during all three Winter Markets. Drop off any boxed, dried pasta at Cherry Hill School during the Market.

Seed libraries are a way for people to share the seeds from the plants they grow, as well as to gain access to other heirloom varieties with which their neighbors may have had good luck. The Bay Area Seed Interchange Library is one such organization, which appears to be working well. Have you swapped seeds with others? Do you keep your own library of seeds from year to year? Would you be interested in participating in a seed swap in Canton? For more info on saving seeds, check out this article:

No, really, you can! Even if you live in an dwelling without a yard, you can still turn your food waste into rich, useful compost. Michigan garden expert Colleen Vanderlinden shows you how over at Planet Green. You can also check out some of our many resources on composting:

The compost specialist : the essential guide to creating and using garden compost, and using potting and seed composts by David Squire

Now is the time when many gardeners in our area begin to start seeds indoors, so they'll have lovely seedlings to transplant into the garden when the weather warms up. You can even reuse many items from around the house, to save both money and time. We also have a number of books that will help you with starting from seed:

Gardening with heirloom seeds: tried-and-true flowers, fruits, and vegetables for a new generation by Lynn Coulter

Our group features Grace — a local quilter. She is going to demonstrate "the Paper Piecing Technique" for making quilt blocks. For those of you who are not familliar with this technique, it creates very intricate patterns. Grace has completed 50 pattern squares — one for each state. She will have them to show on Wednesday February 2 from 7:00-8:00PM and will also explain the process. It should be a very interesting demonstration.

Check out Rich Traditions: Scrap Quilts to Paper Piece and 40 Bright and Bold Paper Pieced Blocks for more information on the technique.

From 8:00-8:45 we will have discussion on quilting. If any one has something they have made or are making bring it to share with the group.

Don't those tomatoes look delicious? This winter weather may have us stuck inside, but we can at least prepare for the glorious gardening days to come, right? There are many types of tomato cages you can use to support your plants, several of which are highlighted in this post over at Mother Earth News. Personally, I've never used anything as architectural as these folding wooden tomato cages, but I think I might try building some.

Gardening has many rewards, but as we all have to scrimp and pull our belts a bit tighter, it can seem like it's expensive to get started. There are many things we can do to be more thrifty in the garden, though! Over at The Home Gardener, Dave Townsend offers three really great tips: start from seed, propagate your own plants, and participate in plant swaps.

Are there other ways that you've found to save money in the garden? I like to reuse household objects to make garden items, and I recycle my friends' and neighbors' decorative straw bales as mulch each fall. What tips do you suggest?

We drool over seed catalogs and dream of what we'll grow when the snow is gone! Winter is a great time for some other garden projects, though — the kind you can do while nice and toasty inside. And as an added bonus, many times you can re-use materials that you'd otherwise have to toss in the trash. Check out Michigan gardener and author Colleen VanderLinden's list of 15 "Trashy" Ideas for Your Garden. While you're at it, take a gander at some of the many books we have about crafting for the garden.

The comforts of home : thrifty and chic decorating ideas for making the most of what you have by Caroline Clifton- Mogg — One of the 2010 Librarians' Picks for Non-Fiction, this book offers the philosophy that a comfortable home is an orderly home. With a plan for where things should be, it becomes easy to make it useful and a place in which you want to spend time. There's no time like now for being thrifty as well, and using the tips here you can make your home work for you, using (or at least starting with) what you have.