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A compilation of essays by noteworthy farmers and writers such as Joel Salatin, Wendell Berry, Eliot Coleman, Allan Savory. For the days you want to feel like you’re not alone doing what you love or encouragement to know you’re on the right track.
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If you aren’t familiar with Joel Salatin and you’re interested in sustainable farming, local food, or living on the land, you need to be. I won’t say much about this book because I think the title says it all. You. Can. Farm.
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Joel Salatin discusses how we important it is to be raising our next generation with values and meaning. What life lessons and sense of accomplishment do they learn by playing video games and receiving instant gratification? Why not give them more responsibility and allow them to have an impact on the family and even to their community at a young? While he gives stories of raising his children to take responsibility for their actions, to start farm businesses at the age of 10, to learn the hazards of acting carelessly with heavy and dangerous farm machinery…this book applies to all families in urban, suburban and rural farm communities. The way our society is raising our children today ain’t normal!
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A light-hearted, inspirational memoir about Kristin’s drastic lifestyle change from city to country. Easy read, and makes you want to quit everything and move out to the country!
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Just like “The Dirty Life” (above) Tim Young, with his wife, drops his jet-setting business job to move out to the country to satisfy his yearning to be close to nature. A lighthearted, funny but very honest description of the trials and tribulations of working with animals and nature. If you want to be encouraged to dive into the farming or homesteading lifestyle, this is a must-read for you!
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Barbara Kingsolver makes homesteading and eating local and sustainable food seem so attainable to anyone wanting to make a lifestyle change without having to have large acreage or a big life-changing move to the country. Easy and fun read, it makes you want to follow her lead on her food journey.
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If lighthearted and funny reads don’t make you think strongly enough about the issues of America’s food system today, you must read Omnivore’s Dilemma. Torture, abuse, politics and schemes surround the foods found in grocery stores today – and this does not exclude the vegan or vegetarian diets that attempt to solve this issue. Michael Pollen delves into a beautiful, sustainable farming system that is taking over the new food generation and we are so inspired to become a part of it. A MUST READ.
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If you know Joel, he always references “the pigness of the pig” or “the chicken-ness of the chicken” when describing his farming techniques; allowing these animals to fully express themselves the way God intended. Raising a pig on metal grates in a dark facility with their tails cut off and inhibited from rooting in the dirt does not allow a pig to express its pigness. This book delves into Biblical scripture and what is outlined in the Bible regarding good animal husbandry and eating habits, respecting the Earth and all its inhabitants. A call-to-action book for people of any faith.
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For us, it took a long time between starting our interest in gardening and realizing that soil health is the first measure we need to read up on and master. We’re not there yet, but this was the first book that started the ball rolling. What are the different types of soil and their qualities? Their drawbacks? What are the fundamental elements needed to provide good soil health and allow a variety of fungi, bacteria, worms and bugs to inhabit the soil? All questions answered in this concise and useful resource.
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When most people think of farming they imagine lush pasture with cows, sheep, and chickens. When Lynn thinks of farming she thinks flowers. She is very well known in her field, and makes flower farming seem fun and lucrative – while also making sure her readers know that this is not a casual walk in the park. Early mornings, late evenings, tiring physical labor – all to get a beautiful bouquet of flowers onto your dinner table. This was one of our first farming books while living in a small neighborhood and we were so ready to get started immediately with flower farming!
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If all communities farm the way Jean Martin outlines market gardening, we would have an overwhelming plethora of local, sustainable food. Farming on as little as 1/4 acre, J.M. Fortier uses crop rotation, high density seeding, and other techniques to limit weeding and other relentless labor while providing large amounts of crop on a smaller amount of space. A must-read for farmers interested in produce!
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The crafty and economic market gardener, Curtis Stone, puts the fundamentals of small-scale farming into his book with many tables, drawings, resources and examples to make produce production easy to attain in a small space. A must have for anyone wanting to start making money farming in an urban area, small backyard, or even if you don’t have your own yard. If you don’t buy this book, please look him up on his YouTube channel!
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Eliot Coleman is a very well known master grower who outlines the fundamentals of gardening naturally and organically on a large scale. Details such as garden bed size and orientation compared with wind, hills, sun; necessary garden tools; natural pest control and countless more details that make this 1989 book still very highly appreciated thirty years later.
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A great resource for gardening in the Southeast – filled with important growing and seeding information broken down by type of produce. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange goes hand-in-hand, an heirloom seed store that encourages seed-saving.
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Dehydrating is extremely simple and you may not think you need a recipe book to do so, but this book provides numerous recipes for foods that I didn’t even know could be made using dehydration. Baby food, instant soup mixes, fruit rolls, instant-meals for camping/hiking. She covers it all.
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The BEST bread you will ever taste – and you can make it so easily. Ken Forkish only uses four ingredients to make a variety of different tasting bread based on different leavening time and fermenting techniques. Starting with “Saturday White Bread” (my go-to recipe) to complex breads, it will make you feel like a resourceful homesteader, baker, homemaker.
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If you want to learn how to can or preserve, this is the ultimate starter guide. Ball makes the initial learning process very clear, and each recipe is very simple to follow. Buy this before purchasing any canning materials and you’re ready to start.
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Gail Damerow is a trusty resource and thorough author. This book gives such great detail on a variety of farm animals from duck to sheep to cattle. If you are starting a homestead, this is a great resource to start with!
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If you are even thinking about getting chickens, get this book! Gail Damerow (author of Backyard Homestead Guide listed above) provides great detail on raising chickens in all types of settings, health and sickness, injuries, type of feed, egg quality, even egg storage and preservation. You CAN raise chickens even in a small backyard and if we can’t convince you, I hope Storey’s Guide does.
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The title speaks for itself. Anything honey and anything bee can be found in this book. Bees are certainly a foreign enterprise but it can be made easy with resources like this book.
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