title: Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home
author:  Julie Moir Messervy 
description: There are gardening books that tell us what to plant and where. And there are architectural design books that tell us how our homes should look. But never the twain seem to meet. At least not until recently, when the two spaces -- home and garden -- wed harmoniously in the new book, "Outside the Not So Big House" by Sarah Susanka and Julie Moir Messervy.<br />-- NINA A. KOZIOL, The Chicago Tribune
zlib_text: 
  
  
  ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  
    
  
  
  ## The Birth House
  
  
  A Novel by
  
  
  ## Ami McKay
  
  
  ![](images/00002.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For my husband, Ian  
  My heart, my love, my home
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Contents
  
  
  
  
  
  [Prologue](The_Birth_House_split_005.html#filepos18832)
  
  
    
  MY HOUSE STANDS at the edge of the earth. Together,…
  
  
  
  
  
  [Part One](The_Birth_House_split_006.html#filepos24849)
  
  
  
  
  
  [1](The_Birth_House_split_008.html#filepos27261)
  
  
    
  EVER SINCE I CAN REMEMBER, people have had more than…
  
  
  
  
  
  [2](The_Birth_House_split_009.html#filepos47479)
  
  
    
  BETWEEN MY PRAYERS and Miss B.’s spooning porridge into Mrs. Ketch’s…
  
  
  
  
  
  [3](The_Birth_House_split_010.html#filepos58500)
  
  
    
  LATE IN NOVEMBER we bank the house, always on a…
  
  
  
  
  
  [4](The_Birth_House_split_011.html#filepos96224)
  
  
    
  THINKING IS SOMETHING that Father says I do entirely too…
  
  
  
  
  
  [5](The_Birth_House_split_012.html#filepos113390)
  
  
    
  THREE TEAMS OF STURDY horses hitched to three beautiful new…
  
  
  
  
  
  [6](The_Birth_House_split_013.html#filepos13944