MADISON, Wis. — A new multi-generational book by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press encourages families and extended families to take learning outdoors to the garden. Seeds in Soil: Planting a Garden and Finding Your Roots (Paperback: $18.95 / ISBN: 978-087020- ) was designed by author and elementary school teacher Susan Apps-Bodilly to empower young readers to grow their own food while and digging deeper into related science and history lessons. Packed with hands-on activities, fun projects, and fresh recipes, this colorful gardening guide provides opportunities for kids to observe, explore, and ask questions while engaging their natural curiosity about nature. A “soil to supper” book for kids and adults to use together, it includes all the details to get started planting and growing, whether working with a whole yard, a community or school garden, or just a balcony.
Chapters include advice for selecting the seeds and tools to get started; ideas for planning and being creative in the garden; tips for harvesting, storing and cooking with fresh produce; engaging lessons about the science of climate, soil and pollinators; and connections to history through the stories of First Nations and immigrant gardeners. Told through the author’s family stories and experience, “Seeds in Soil” will get kids having fun in the garden while digging, planting, growing and finding their roots.
Book Launch Event: Join author Susan Apps Bodilly for a “Seeds in Soil” discussion and activity at the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Stonefield Historic Site’s Antique Tractor Show and Pull, Saturday, June 4, at 11 am and 1 pm. This event features a chance to visit Stonefield’s 1900s Farming Village, 1901 Progressive Farmstead, State Agricultural Museum, and the Nelson Dewey Home Site. (Stonefield site admission required). Dig up more “Seeds in Soil” book talks, including events in Mercer and at the Madison Children’s Museum event this summer, at www.wisconsinhistory.org/
About the Author: Susan Apps-Bodilly is the author of “One Room Schools” and coauthor with Jerry Apps’s of “Old Farm Country Cookbook.” She has been an elementary and middle school educator in rural and urban school districts in Wisconsin and Ohio and currently teaches second grade.
“Seeds in Soil” is available at your local library or favorite book retailer. An e-book edition is also available.
