Daniel Coleman is looking to find a home. After a childhood that left him feeling placeless, he ended up in Hamilton, Ontario, one of Canada's most polluted cities at the time. Yardwork is his attempt to put down roots in a place he never expected to be. Coleman decided he wanted to truly know and belong to a small piece of land, his patch of garden on the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, to deeply understand its ecology, landscape and history. Starting with the creation myths and geology, moving through the settler era and up to the present, Coleman pours his considerable talents into learning, and sharing, as much of the story of the land as possible. Most books on ecology focus either on protecting the wilderness or analyzing a toxic dump. Most books on gardens focus on plant health or landscape design. Most books on Indigenous-settler relations focus on politics or social inequities. Yardwork meditates on the sedimentary layers of ecological, cultural and political stories that make up Hamilton, the escarpment city at the Head of the Lake. Along the way Coleman strives to build a new awareness of the place where he lives as sacred land.

Gary Hume (born 1962) first found acclaim in London in the late 1980s, when his bold paintings of hospital doors, rendered at life-size scale in high-gloss hardware store paints on aluminum panels, drew much attention and ushered Hume into the ranks of the Young British Artists. Twenty years later, Yardwork features recent paintings and sculpture completed by Gary Hume in his upstate New York studio. The pictures explore familiar themes in Hume's work, including flowers, birds, doors and female figures. In the new work, however, the doors are now barn doors, as opposed to the hospital doors found in his earlier works; the blackbirds, roses and daisies are all things he sees from his window, not images drawn from books or media. Yardwork includes an essay by Dave Hickey that places Hume's paintings in the context of a group of artists the author names abstractionists of daily life.

"Focusing primarily, though not exclusively, on the southeastern United States, the book examines works ranging from James Hampton's well-known Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly (now part of the Smithsonian collection), to several elaborately decorated yards and gardens, to smaller-scale acts of commemoration, protection, and witness. The authors show how the artful arrangement and adornment of everyday objects and plants express both the makers' own experiences and concerns and a number of rich and sustaining cultural traditions. They identify a "lexicon" of material signs that are frequently and consistently used in African American culture and art and then show how such elements have been used in various individual works and what they mean to the practitioners themselves."--BOOK JACKET.

In "How to Cheat at Gardening and Yard Work," Bredenberg offers down-to-earth, friendly-neighbor-next-door advice and new, easier ways of doing gardening and yard work without sacrificing results.

A yard work business is perfect for any young people who are hard working and not afraid to get a little dirty. This title stresses the importance of advertising, attention to detail, and fair pricing to ensure that new businesspeople get repeat customers. The types of supplies that are needed and other tips for a successful yard care business are covered as well.

Taking care of a yard is hard work. Turning yard care into a business is even more work. The advice in this book on advertisement, work ethic, and money management make becoming a successful entrepreneur easy.

The leaves are falling. The snow is accumulating. The grass is growing. Weeds are overtaking the garden. Each of these things is an opportunity to make some cold, hard cash. Many people may be willing to pay someone to help them with tasks around their yard. Your enterprising readers will learn the importance of advertising their business, paying close attention to detail, and pricing their services in a fair yet competitive way. A list of supplies and business tips helps readers prepare for operating their own yard-work business.