Learn the Things

Educational Resources, Programs, and Events to Help You Grow, Tend, Prepare, and Preserve Nutritious Food

Below is an assortment of resources organized by topic and stage of the growing season. These materials were gathered with an eye towards first-time gardeners and a focus on Monadnock Region gardening.

Need specific help or resources to garden for yourself or your family?
Contact UNH Extension for help with home, garden, and yard.
Have expertise or resources you are able to share with others locally?
Share your expertise with others on our Gardening Connections in the Monadnock Region Facebook group.
Hoping to garden with a community group or in a neighborhood cluster in Keene or Peterborough? Connect with Community Garden Connections (Keene) or the Cornucopia Project (Peterborough).

Resources by topic

Community Garden Plots to Rent

Online gardening information & networks around our state and region

Resources for Racial Equity in Food Systems

Recommended Books: Gardening, how-to

  • Growing Vegetables the Big Yield/Small Space Way, by Duane Newcomb
  • The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times, by Carol Deppe
  • Vegetable Gardening in the Northeast, by Marie Ianotti
  • Four-Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman
  • Almanac & Pest-Control Primer (Gardener to Gardener Series), by Rodale Books
  • The Small Budget Gardener, by Maureen Gilmer
  • Growing Herbs and Vegetables from Seed to Harvest, by Terry and Mark Silber
  • The Community-Scale Permaculture Farm, by Josh Traught
  • Edible Landscaping, by Rosalind Creasy
  • Lasagna Gardening, by Patricia Lanza
  • Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, by Gail Damerow

Recommended Books: Gardening, why-to

  • Tending the Earth, Mending the Spirit: The Healing Gifts of Gardening, by Connie Goldman & Richard Mahler
  • Digging Deep: Unearthing Your Creative Roots Through Gardening, by Fran Sorin
  • The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love, by Kristin Kimball
  • The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture, and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans, by Patricia Klindienst
  • The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food, by Janisse Ray
  • Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden, by Diane Ackerman
  • The Contrary Farmer’s Invitation to Gardening, by Gene Logsdon
  • Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All, by Oran Hesterman
  • Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community, edited by Hannah Wittman, Annette Desmarais, and Nettie Wiebe

Recommended Books: Issues of local food & economy

  • Eating Tomorrow: Agribusiness, Family Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of Food, by Timothy Wise
  • The Town that Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food, by Ben Hewitt
  • The Localization Reader: Adapting to the Coming Downshift, edited by Raymond De Young and Thomas Princen
  • Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable, and Secure Food Systems, by Philip Ackerman-Leist
  • Hungry Neighbors: Hunger & Hope in Northern New England, by Michele Moore
  • Food & Place: A Critical Exploration, edited by Pascale Joassart-Marcelli and Fernando Bosco

Local Experts

Gardening & Food Event Calendar

Coming soon.