Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Grow Food Anywhere: The New Guide to Small-Space Gardening
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: Australia
NATIONALITY: Australian
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | no2016037852 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/no2016037852 |
| HEADING: | Pember, Mat |
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| 001 | 10112454 |
| 005 | 20160319075153.0 |
| 008 | 160318n| azannaabn |n aaa c |
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| 035 | __ |a (OCoLC)oca10423293 |
| 040 | __ |a CaBVa |b eng |e rda |c CaBVa |
| 100 | 1_ |a Pember, Mat |
| 372 | __ |a Gardening |a Garden writing |2 lcsh |
| 375 | __ |a male |
| 670 | __ |a Little veggie patch co, DIY garden projects, 2016: |b title page (Mat Pember) cover flap (Australia’s best-selling gardening author) |
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Gardener, entrepreneur, and writer. Little Veggie Patch Co., Melbourne, Australia, founder, 2007—.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Mat Pember is an Australian gardener, entrepreneur, and writer. He and Fabian Capomolla are the founders of the Little Veggie Patch Co., a Melbourne-based company that helps city residents design, build, and maintain vegetable gardens. Pember has written and cowritten books on gardening.
In an interview with a contributor to the Dreamers website, Pember discussed the source of his lifelong interest in gardening. He stated: “My Italian grandmother … was a huge influence on me. All my memories of her are in the garden or cooking. She’s from a very poor background in Italy and she’s uneducated and can’t read or write. But the one thing she can really relate to and knows a lot about is growing food; it’s really quite natural for her.” Pember continued: “When I was a kid and growing up, that was something that we just did so much of because she had a huge veggie patch and would grow things like tomatoes in summer and broad beans in winter. I was intrigued with growing and killing things, and all the sounds and scents.” Pember commented on the various positive aspects of the trend of urban gardening an interview with a writer on the Cream website. He stated: “Growing food is certainly helping bridge the generation gap. The traditional ‘roses, petunias, daisies and pot-o-colour’ gardeners are now talking the same language as the new wave ‘all the produce used at my café is grown within a fifty mile radius’ hipsters.”
The Little Veggie Patch Co. DIY Garden Projects
Pember collaborated with Dillon Seitchik-Reardon to write the 2016 book, The Little Veggie Patch Co. DIY Garden Projects: Easy Activities for Edible Gardening and Backyard. Seitchik-Reardon is an environmental consultant, who also works for the Little Veggie Patch Co. In this volume, the authors offer thirty-eight examples of projects the reader could implement in his or her garden. The book is divided into sections featuring specific types of projects. Projects utilizing recycled materials, projects to do with kids, and projects involving vertical gardening are among the topics of the sections in the book. For each project listed, Pember and Seitchik-Reardon include photos that illustrate steps to be taken. They also add drawings and textual explanations. The materials and tools needed to complete each project are listed. Pember and Seitchik-Reardon offer estimates on how much time each will take to complete, how much they will cost, and how difficult they are.
Karen Ellis, reviewer in Library Journal, asserted: “Those seeking interesting garden projects will find inspiration in this Australian import.” Ellis noted that the book contained “charming and hip projects.” “Novices will appreciate [this] clear DIY title,” suggested a writer in California Bookwatch.
Grow Food Anywhere
Pember again worked with Seitchik-Reardom on Grow Food Anywhere: The New Guide to Small-Space Gardening. This volume was published in 2018. In this book, Pember and Seitchik-Reardon delve into the science behind growing vegetables in an urban setting. They discuss the way in which various elements interact to allow food to grow. Soil, light, and water are among the topics on which the authors comment. They also mention insects and diseases that could threaten the plants in one’s garden. Pember and Seitchik-Reardon discussing planting zones and seasons, offering advice on when to plant which species. They use Australian names for vegetables, which sometimes differ from their American names. For example, Australians call bell peppers capsicum and Swiss chard silverbeet. Also, they only discuss four climate zones, leaving out two of the zones that can be found in North America.
A Publishers Weekly critic offered a mostly favorable assessment of Grow Food Anywhere. The critic remarked: “The authors’ sprightly tone and the book’s bright cartoonish design will appeal to many readers.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
California Bookwatch, July, 2016, review of The Little Veggie Patch Co. DIY Garden Projects: Easy Activities for Edible Gardening and Backyard Fun.
Internet Bookwatch, July, 2016, review of The Little Veggie Patch Co. DIY Garden Projects.
Library Journal, May 15, 2016, Karen Ellis, review of The Little Veggie Patch Co. DIY Garden Projects, p. 80.
Publishers Weekly, February 19, 2018, review of Grow Food Anywhere: The New Guide to Small-Space Gardening, p. 71.
ONLINE
Cream Online, https://creammagazine.com/ (November 10, 2011), author interview.
Dreamers, http://theweekendedition.com.au/ (September 8, 2018), author interview.
Hardie Grant website, https://www.hardiegrant.com/ (September 8, 2018), author profile.
A Hardie Grant Books author
Mat Pember
In 2007, Mat Pember founded Melbourne’s The Little Veggie Patch Co, a business that specialises in the design, installation and maintenance of chemical-free vegetable gardens for urban dwellers. He has co-written 3 best-selling Little Veggie Patch Co. books.
QUOTED: "Growing food is certainly helping bridge the generation gap. The traditional ‘roses, petunias, daisies and pot-o-colour’ gardeners are now talking the same language as the new wave ‘all the produce used at my café is grown within a fifty mile radius’ hipsters."
Five good reasons for ‘edible gardening’ by Mat Pember
By creammagazine, November 10, 2011
It took flipping through cute coffee table book ‘The Little Veggie Patch Co’ to learn that every eggplant contains a bit of nicotine, that a worm’s poo is 10 times as fertile as the garden waste it eats, and that the olive was the first tree to be cultivated. Gardeners-turned-authors, Fabian Capomolla and Mat Pember, present these tidbits and a host of handy tips on growing gardens in the smallest of spaces – from the best soil to plant particular veggies in to how to make a scarecrow – in a gorgeously presented book that’ll help readers turn even the smallest patch of land into a glorious garden, or create growing spaces even when earth is lacking like, say, in apartment living. Mat Pember suggests five rather great things about ‘edible gardening’ to Cream.
01. Growing food is certainly helping bridge the generation gap. The traditional ‘roses, petunias, daisies and pot-o-colour’ gardeners are now talking the same language as the new wave ‘all the produce used at my café is grown within a 50 mile radius’ hipsters. At family gatherings you now have something to say to your grandparents other than “thank you” for the new socks and underpants.
02. Playing loud music can now be justified as growing aid to your vegetables! Some believe that the bass and frequency of music can affect the migratory patterns of pollinators such as bees and birds; much like it can affect the door-to-door migratory pattern of your next door neighbour. Now when they come to complain of the racket, smokescreen them with talk of bass, frequency, pollination and vegetables all in the one well-thought out and well-rehearsed sentence.
03. “Growing vegetables” in a community plot is apparently all the rage these days and many hint that there’s more to the euphemism to the new age gardener. In fact, it could well be code for growing things other than vegetables. And if that’s the case, who wouldn’t want to “grow vegetables”?
04. Cooking for your beloved, or for someone that your are intently trying to impress, has always been a fool proof way of portraying yourself as thoughtful, cultured and generous in bed. Incorporating food that you have grown yourself raises the level of your game ten-fold. You now got game.
05. Don’t get me wrong; growing food isn’t all about meeting and interacting with members of your interested sex – it’s a meaningful hobby, rewarding and educating; it gets us back in tune with the seasonality of food and a more natural and sustainable style of living; and more than anything it elevates the sensory experience of food again, something that the homogeneity of supermarket produce has deprived. It’s just that I know how you people think, and these things scuttle under the radar sometimes.
‘The Little Veggie Patch Co’ is published through Macmillan.
QUOTED: "My Italian grandmother … was a huge influence on me. All my memories of her are in the garden or cooking. She’s from a very poor background in Italy and she’s uneducated and can’t read or write. But the one thing she can really relate to and knows a lot about is growing food; it’s really quite natural for her."
"When I was a kid and growing up, that was something that we just did so much of because she had a huge veggie patch and would grow things like tomatoes in summer and broad beans in winter. I was intrigued with growing and killing things, and all the sounds and scents."
Sometimes things viewed in wonder through the eyes of a child stay nestled in our hearts well into adulthood. Mat Pember’s hours spent exploring the sights and smells of his nonna’s veggie garden imprinted themselves on his consciousness so profoundly that they would eventually inspire his career. In 2007, he founded Melbourne’s The Little Veggie Patch Co, a business that specialises in the design, installation and maintenance of chemical-free vegetable gardens for urban dwellers. Ensuring that their services aren’t just limited to Melbournites, Mat (pictured left) and business partner Fabian Capomolla have recently released The Little Veggie Patch Co book, spreading their gardening wisdom across Australia.
I was pretty sports mad … as a kid, so I think my childhood dream was to be a sportstar. Anything where I could chase after a ball of any shape I would have been happy to do as a profession. But as I got older and saw how professional sport can be really quite tough, my dream evolved into wanting to just work for myself and be my own boss.
My Italian grandmother … was a huge influence on me. All my memories of her are in the garden or cooking. She’s from a very poor background in Italy and she’s uneducated and can’t read or write. But the one thing she can really relate to and knows a lot about is growing food; it’s really quite natural for her. When I was a kid and growing up, that was something that we just did so much of because she had a huge veggie patch and would grow things like tomatoes in summer and broad beans in winter. I was intrigued with growing and killing things, and all the sounds and scents. It really was my favourite place to be as a kid.
I actually studied commerce and forest science … but, ironically, I dropped forest science after the first semester because I found out I had to go on site for six months. I had a new girlfriend and I didn’t really want to leave her. So I prioritised!
I went to live in Spain … for six months after I finished university. I got there on my 20th birthday. When I came home, I got a part-time job landscaping with the guy who was doing my parents’ house. For the next four years, I would live in Spain for nine or ten months of the year and then come back and work in landscaping as a part-time job.
We were running illegal hostels … in Barcelona, subletting houses to backpackers, and I had a great time doing that for a number of years. When I left in 2003, I had wanted to go back and legitimise the business, but it was quite tough because it was all a little bit on the sly – and if you got caught, you’d be in a lot of trouble!
What really stopped me … from going back to Spain in the end was that I was enjoying the landscaping too much. I got to a point in my late twenties where I no longer wanted to be working for someone else, so that’s when I started doing The Little Veggie Patch Co, around the end of 2007.
Fabian and I were set up … by my sister. She worked in marketing and advertising at Sensis. That was during the GFC when there wasn’t a lot of job security and Fabian had been the last person to come into that team. He’d been doing a blog in his spare time called The Backyard Farmer, which was really just giving people tips on how to grow food. I’d been doing the practical installation side, so my sister set up a discussion and we met for a couple of coffees. He then took the giant leap and decided to do it as a living. I think that was when everything became what it is today, when we started working together midway through 2009.
There’s quite an emerging food culture … and it’s hitting the mainstream now with shows like MasterChef. It’s all about using fresh ingredients and doing it yourself. I think the new demographic of people who are getting into gardening have never grown anything before. Now, all of a sudden, the first thing that they want to grow is a pot of herbs or something they’ve seen on TV or read about in a magazine or online. Most of them are beginners and know nothing about growing anything, so there’s a real education in what we do because they’re starting from nothing.
Attitudes have changed … since we first began The Little Veggie Patch Co. We were in a real niche when we started out and we really serviced just one or two types of people – fairly affluent young families who had the money and the resources. These days, it can really be anyone and we get emails and calls from people all around Australia. A lot of people are in the inner city, so we’re doing things on balconies and rooftops, whereas it used to be big raised garden beds and archways – things like that.
We’ve started up a gardening club … where people can rent plots in a carpark on top of Federation Square and get taught along the way. It’s going to be really interesting learning to work within a space that’s quite exposed in the middle of a concrete jungle. We’re also growing food for all the Federation Square food tenants.
Our book … is intended to put the onus back on our clients to some degree. We always get so many questions from people about taking care of their gardens for themselves. And because we’re based solely in Melbourne and are always getting emails from places like Sydney and Brisbane, the best way for us to pass the knowledge along was through a book. We also wanted to make sure we did it in a way that we were speaking to normal people and not to experienced gardeners.
My favourite meal to make from the contents of my garden … is a ratatouille, because it’s the autumn pick – you get all these things like eggplants, onions, spring onions that are bulbing, capsicum and tomatoes. It probably reminds me more of the season than the food itself. Also, being a tomato lover, having freshly picked tomatoes and basil with olive oil, freshly cooked pasta and a bit of pancetta is always a favourite.
Fabian and I don’t pay ourselves very much … but it’s not a difficult thing for us because we love what we do. The whole road has been a really fun one to walk so far and it’s been quite an easy process to date.
I’m so proud of … all of the opportunities we’ve been given just by working hard and being ourselves. It’s kind of relaying your personality in your business and I think that’s what appeals to people and why opportunities keep coming up. Also, it’s great to be able to make your parents proud of you when they’ve always pressured you to do something else, but you’ve persevered.
My dream for the future … is to own a farm in Tasmania and live there for six months of the year. I’ve got this idyllic lifestyle that’s very much intertwined with the work that I do, so it’s actually very achievable, which is really exciting. Tassie is where all the produce comes from – it’s where the food starts. There’s that whole food community, which is nicely spaced out so that you’ve got room to breathe.
If I had one piece of advice for young people … it would be to not jump into university straight after school. Take a year or two off to go travelling and then decide what you want to do with your life. If you have to get up early in the morning, you may as well be doing something that you really love.
QUOTED: "Those seeking interesting garden projects will find inspiration in this Australian import."
"charming and hip projects."
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Pember, Mat & Dillon Seitchik- Reardon. The Little Veggie Patch Co. DIY Garden Projects Easy Activities for Edible Gardening and Backyard
Fun
Karen Ellis
Library Journal.
141.9 (May 15, 2016): p80. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Pember, Mat & Dillon Seitchik-Reardon. The Little Veggie Patch Co. DIY Garden Projects Easy Activities for Edible Gardening and Backyard Fun. Hardie Grant. Apr. 2016.272p photos by John Laurie, index. ISBN 9781743790991. pap. $34.95. DIY
Those seeking interesting garden projects will find inspiration in this Australian import. Pember, founder of the Little Veggie Patch Co. in Melbourne and author of several gardening books, and Seitchik-Reardon, who works for the company, present a singular collection of 38 gardening arrangements. What jumps out immediately is the graphic collage composition of the project instructions--an abundance of photos detailing steps with added text and line drawings. Arranged by general subject, from kid-friendly projects to recycled materials and vertical gardening, each design includes a rating for complexity, cost, and time, with a list of materials and tools required. The layout is both playful and extremely helpful. This book includes both metric and imperial measurements, but some materials are not readily found in the United States. VERDICT Charming and hip projects emphasize recycled materials and small space gardens that will be attractive in urban settings. Highly recommended, especially where variety is desired.
KAREN ELLIS, Taylor P.L., TX
3 of 7 8/12/18, 10:31 PM
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Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Ellis, Karen. "Pember, Mat & Dillon Seitchik-Reardon. The Little Veggie Patch Co. DIY Garden
Projects Easy Activities for Edible Gardening and Backyard Fun." Library Journal, 15 May 2016, p. 80. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A452883816 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=f2aecf75. Accessed 12 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A452883816
QUOTED: "The authors' sprightly tone and the book's bright cartoonish design will appeal to many readers."
4 of 7 8/12/18, 10:31 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Grow Food Anywhere: The New Guide to Small-Space Gardening
Publishers Weekly.
265.8 (Feb. 19, 2018): p71. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Grow Food Anywhere: The New Guide to Small-Space Gardening
Mat Pember and Dillon Seitchik-Reardon. Hardie Grant, $29.99 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-74379-377-0
Australian gardener Pember and American environmental consultant Seitchik-Reardon combine expertise in a gardening manual that's fun but hard to follow for American readers. The book is well-grounded in the science of gardening, offering useful information about soil nutrients, water, and light that will edify gardeners interested in the hows and whys of what they are growing. A section dealing with plant pests and diseases is clearly written and user-friendly. But the bulk of the book profiles what to grow using Australian taxonomy and seasons. American gardeners won't find information about growing bell peppers or Swiss chard unless they know to look under capsicum and silverbeet. The four climate zones that designate the best time of year to grow each plant don't clearly correspond with the map of North America provided, which has six zones. While the authors' sprightly tone and the book's bright cartoonish design will appeal to many readers, the regional differences will limit the usefulness for gardeners outside of Australia. Color photos. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Grow Food Anywhere: The New Guide to Small-Space Gardening." Publishers Weekly, 19 Feb.
2018, p. 71. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A529357576 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=e957ac6d. Accessed 12 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A529357576
QUOTED: "Novices will appreciate [this] clear DIY title."
5 of 7 8/12/18, 10:31 PM
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The Little Veggie Patch DIY Garden Projects
California Bookwatch.
(July 2016): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2016 Midwest Book Review http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
The Little Veggie Patch DIY Garden Projects
Mat Pember and Dillon Seitchik-Reardon
Hardie Grant
9781743790991, $34.95, www.hardiegrant.com.au
DIY Garden Projects comes packed with easy activities for edible gardening and shows how to change a backyard space of any size into a practical vegetable garden. Nearly forty projects offer step-by-step approaches to this project and show how to build not only garden spaces, but useful accessories such as sheds and containers. The focus on budget incorporates recycled materials and advocates composting, while a wealth of step-by-step photos leave nothing to puzzle over. Novices will appreciate a clear DIY title that encourages easy garden development.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Little Veggie Patch DIY Garden Projects." California Bookwatch, July 2016. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A459507551/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=29897f79. Accessed 12 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A459507551
6 of 7 8/12/18, 10:31 PM
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The Little Veggie Patch Co. DIY Garden Projects
Internet Bookwatch.
(July 2016): From Book Review Index Plus.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Little Veggie Patch Co. DIY Garden Projects." Internet Bookwatch, July 2016. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A459635955/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=ad2b1da1. Accessed 12 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A459635955
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