In this compact book, Robert Smith gives clear and detailed instructions for gardening organically in a semi-arid climate. Using New Mexico as an example, he gives full directors for raising everything from asparagus to zucchini; shows how depressed bed planting protects plants and conserves moisture; and includes instructions about a labor-saving method of soil cultivation. After receiving his master’s degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley, the author taught in a small high school in Jackson, California, and then at Tampere University in Finland. He then moved with his wife and two sons to a ranch near the old village of San Geronimo in northern New Mexico. After building a house, he devoted himself for several years to growing vegetables and raising goats. He then became an instructor at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas. After retiring from teaching, Smith moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he now teaches computer skills to seniors, maintains a web page, and keeps a backyard vegetable patch.