Product Description

The Edible Estates project proposes the replacement of the domestic front lawn with a highly productive edible landscape. It was initiated by architect and artist Fritz Haeg on Independence Day, 2005, with the planting of the first regional prototype garden in the geographic center of the United States, Salina, Kansas. Since then three more prototype gardens have been created, in Lakewood, California; Maplewood, New Jersey and London, England. Edible Estates regional prototype gardens will ultimately be established in nine cities across the United States.
Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn documents the first four gardens with personal accounts written by the owners, garden plans and photographs illustrating the creation of the gardens--from ripping up the grass to harvesting a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Essays by Haeg, landscape architect Diana Balmori, garden and food writer Rosalind Creasy, author Michael Pollan and artist and writer Lesley Stern set the Edible Estates project in the context of larger issues concerning the environment, global food production and the imperative to generate a sense of community in our urban and suburban neighborhoods. This smart, affordable and well-designed book also includes reports and photographs from the owners of other edible front yards around the country, as well as helpful resources to guide you in making your own Edible Estate.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37750 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-01
• Released on: 2008-02-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

From the Publisher
Advance Praise for Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn:

The best ideas are usually the simplest ones. Fritz Haeg deserves a genius award for his wonderfully subversive plan. Instead of mowing your lawn, you should eat it.
--Eric Schlosser, author, Fast Food Nation

In the future, that quarter-acre next to the house may be as valuable as the house itself. This book reminds us that there are things better than lawns--more beautiful, more hopeful, more fun.
--Bill McKibben, author, The Bill McKibben Reader

Wherever I am, I'm always looking to see what's edible in the landscape. Every time I see the median strip in the street in front of Chez Panisse, I can't help but imagine it planted with waving rows of corn. Edible Estates describes wonderfully how a garden in front of every house can transform a neighborhood, sprouting the seeds not just of zucchini and tomatoes but of biodiversity, sustainability, and community.
--Alice Waters, owner, Chez Panisse Restaurant

Much like a homegrown tomato, Edible Estates is at once delectable, inspiring, and healthy. Read it: you'll never look at your front lawn the same way again.
--Elizabeth Kolbert, author, Field notes from a Catastrophe

About the Author
Fritz Haeg works between his architecture and design practice, Fritz Haeg Studio, the happenings and gatherings of Sundown Salon, the ecology initiatives of Gardenlabm which include Edible Estates, and his role as an educator. He has variously taught in architecture, design, and fine art programs at CalArts, Art Center College of Design, Parsons and the University of Southern California. In 2006, Haeg initiated Sundown Schoolhouse, an alternative educational environment based in his geodesic dome in Los Angeles. He has produced projects and exhibited work at Tate Modern, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Mass MoCA, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, the Wattis Institute and the MAK Center, Los Angeles, among other institutions.

Fritz Haeg works between his architecture and design practice, Fritz Haeg Studio, the happenings and gatherings of Sundown Salon, the ecology initiatives of Gardenlabm which include Edible Estates, and his role as an educator. He has variously taught in architecture, design, and fine art programs at CalArts, Art Center College of Design, Parsons and the University of Southern California. In 2006, Haeg initiated Sundown Schoolhouse, an alternative educational environment based in his geodesic dome in Los Angeles. He has produced projects and exhibited work at Tate Modern, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Mass MoCA, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, the Wattis Institute and the MAK Center, Los Angeles, among other institutions.

Customer Reviews

no oomph
This book reads more like a book report, or maybe a master's thesis than a full-blown book. You can get through it in an hour or two, and although it is an interesting read, it's not something you'll turn to again and again. Honestly, I haven't thought about it since I read through it weeks ago. Thankfully it's not as mind-numbingly verbose as Slow Food Nation, but it also doesn't have the depth of, say, a Pollan book.

no pretty pictures
have to agree with "wendycat". all of the photos i have seen of the edible estates are not very pretty, no offense to anyone but some are even somewhat hideous for a front yard garden. anyways, i've read the author has moved on to something else - animal estates....

Good idea but not very pretty!
I wanted to like this book. I think the idea is great but the gardens shown are not very pretty and the tone of the book is somewhat hostile. If you want to see a PRETTY vegetable garden suitable for a front yard check out "Rosemary Verey's making of a Garden". Look at the chapter entitled "The Potager". Now THAT's a beautiful vegetable garden. If it's too ambitious try just planting a border of red & green lettuce. It looks as beautiful as any other foliage plant. Put down a layer of wood chips. It really is a nice look. When you start getting into netting and wire fencing in the front yard that's when you leave many people behind. No one want to look at raggedy tomato plants in August.