Isn’t summer’s the perfect time to start an exciting DIY project? I may just think this because I’m on vacation, but check out A Slice of Organic Life, a new colorful book detailing over 90 stand-alone green-inspired projects, and you’ll likely get the DIY bug goo.

Full of gorgeous pictures, this coffee-table book’s organized in 3 sections, by size of yard — starting off with “No need for a yard” and moving to “Yard, community garden, or field.”

As an apartment gal, I of course found the beginning parts most manageable — especially the stuff I’ve already done: Eating local, opting for safe cleaning products, choosing natural face and body products, reducing car use. But the book quickly ramps up — to detailed instructions for making own wooden floor polish. Somewhat fortuitously, I don’t have hardwood floors.

For the most part, A Slice of Organic Life’s heavily garden and livestock focused, with lots of specific instructions on making things grow. Start simple by growing your own lettuce or herbs on your windowsill — and if so inspired, move on to drying those herbs for storage or foraging for wild greens and fungi. That mushroom foraging project, btw, comes complete with a mushroom frittata recipe. If you catch the gardening bug, just keep reading to find out how you can grow hanging strawberries and tomatos or sweet peas and beans on a teepee.

The livestock projects, I found to be a bit too hardcore. I mean, the easy one’s raising chickens, and I just don’t see that going over well with the neighbors facing my balcony. The projects ramp all the way up to raising a milking cow! — or a goat, with instructions on how to make goat cheese.

Still, raising goats in the LA-area is not out of the question — Path to Freedom in Pasadena has a couple, and these lil goats always look super cute — at least in pictures.

You can find out how to raise pigs too, if you’re inclined to make your bacon and eat it too. Or even if you’re not — You may, like me, have a vague curiousity about how this may be done, even if they have no intention of buying weaners (aka young pigs). For example: Did you know you should go for personality when picking a pig? Namely, you want ones with “good, easygoing temperaments.” For health, check for a moist snout, bright eyes, shiny coat, and curly tail. Fascinating!

I came away inspired to start a balcony garden — for reals this time. Maybe that’ll be my July project — I’m busy this month.

A Slice of Organic Life would make a perfect gift for green-curious, DIY-savvy people — especially those with a yard. The book’s edited by Sheherazade Goldsmith, with a foreword by Alice Waters; it hits stores today.

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