Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Small farm resources
Back to the land -- a 140-year trend
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_link1.html

"Ten Acres Enough: The Small Farm Dream is Possible" by Lynn R Miller,
Ralph C Miller, Edmund Morris, 1864, 2nd Edition 1996, Small Farmers
Journal, ISBN 1885210035
First published in 1864, this is the journal of a man who moved from the
city to the country a hundred years before it became the fashion. It's the
story of his experiences building a small farm and living the simple life,
with his advice on a range of topics such as buying land, planting peaches
and berries, livestock, weeds, liquid manure, and hard financial realities.
It was possible then, and it's possible now. Read it online at the Making
of America (MOA) digital library:
http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/cgi/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=AJR0739

"Three Acres And Liberty" by Bolton Hall, 1907, Macmillan
This original back-to-the-land book is much more than a how-to, also a
why-to, and Hall's reasons are as clearcut today as they were 93 years ago.
>From the Foreword: "We are not tied to a desk or to a bench; we stay there
only because we think we are tied. In Montana I had a horse, which was
hobbled every night to keep him from wandering; that is, straps joined by a
short chain were put around his forefeet, so that he could only hop. The
hobbles were taken off in the morning, but he would still hop until he saw
his mate trotting off. This book is intended to show how any one can trot
off if he will." Soil and Health Library keeper Steve Solomon writes: "With
a broad sense of history that would do justice to someone of our own era,
Hall observes the social forces propelling people into city poverty when
they could live with simple liberty and plenty in the country." Out of
print, full text online at the Soil and Health Library:
http://www.soilandhealth.org/

"Five acres and independence: a practical guide to the selection and
management of the small farm" by Maurice Grenville Kains, 1935, 1973, Dover
Publications, ISBN 0486209741
Another great back-to-the-land classic on the basics of self-sufficient
farming, covers all aspects of making a small acreage profitable and
livable. First published in 1935, still in demand and still in print.
Costing information and some other details are out of date now, but the
principles remain intact -- eg, the chapter on "Tried and True Ways to
Fail". From Powell's Books:
http://www.powells.com/biblio/
46600-46800/0486209741.html
>From Lehman's Non-electric Catalog:
http://www.lehmans.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/Product
Display?prmenbr=12426&prrfnbr=14484&FROM_CAT_REF=12822

"The Have-More Plan: A Little Land -- A Lot of Living" by Ed and Carolyn
Robinson, Storey Books, ISBN 0882660241
This homestead classic from the 1940s encouraged thousands to go "back to
the land" to seek a better life after the Great Depression and World War
II. It has been in constant demand since it was first published. A wealth
of information for anyone seeking a self-reliant lifestyle. All the basic
information to get started, good on property layout and building design for
optimum use of space and time, useful, detailed guide. The style is dated
but the message isn't! Order online from Countryside Magazine:
http://www.countrysidemag.com/books/hmp.htm
>From Storey Books:
http://www.storeybooks.com/sell_sheet_frames/garden/024-1prim.html

"How to Make $100,000 Farming 25 Acres: With Special Plans for Prospering
on 10 to 200 Acres" by Booker T. Whatley, 196 pp, $23.95
Ten practical steps from a small farm authority. Year round, daily cash
flow. Good detail and full of how-to drawings and practical advice. From
Powell's Books -- "Search" for "Booker T. Whatley":
http://www.powells.com/

"MetroFarm: The Guide to Growing a Big Profit on a Small Parcel of Land" by
Michael Olson, 1994, ISBN 0-963787-60-8
According to a recent US Census of Agriculture, the most productive
farmland in the US is in the Borough of the Bronx, the second most
productive farmland is in the City of San Francisco. How to earn up to
eight times the average personal income on as little as one acre of land.
Written for both the experienced and the novice, both modern and
traditional technologies used by space-intensive farmers from around the
world. Photos, charts and illustrations. From ECHO's Global Bookstore
http://echonet.org/shopsite_sc/store/html/MetroFarm.html
>From MetroFarm Online:
http://www.metrofarm.com/book.htm

"On Good Land: The Autobiography of an Urban Farm" by Michael Ableman,
1998, Chronicle Books, ISBN 0811819213
Opens with an aerial photograph of the 12.5-acre Fairview Gardens Farm in
California in 1954, part of thousands of acres of farmland, and again in
1998, surrounded by the homes and malls of a modern suburb. Ableman simply
refused to let it be bulldozed -- he's in love with the place. And it's not
even his: he's a tenant farmer. But it's the land itself and what it
produces that matters to him. Now it's become the organically farmed Center
for Urban Agriculture. Ableman's struggles and success make an inspiring
story. "Michael Ableman's farm is a landmark, a source of comfort to all of
us who love good farming and good food. A lot of people are grateful to
him, and I am one of them." -- Wendell Berry. From Powell's Books:
http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=6-0811819213-0
Small farms

"Successful Small-Scale Farming" by Karl Schwenke, 1991, Storey Books, ISBN
0882666428
The potential and the harsh realities of living on the land. Covers organic
soil management, essential machinery, market strategies, basic skills, lots
of useful charts and tables. Small farms can be cleaner, smarter, and more
efficient than corporate agribusiness, says Schwenke -- indeed so. Concise
overview and how-to's, for one acre and up. Lehman's Non-electric Catalog:
http://www.lehmans.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?
prmenbr=12426&prrfnbr=14485&FROM_CAT_REF=12822
>From Storey Books:
http://www.storeybooks.com/new_sell_sheets/642-8.html

"Small Farm Handbook", Small Farm Program at UC Davis. A practical,
easy-reading guide for people interested in operating a successful small
farm. Tips on livestock and crop production, buying property and equipment,
dealing with taxes and regulations, marketing, maintaining healthy family
relationships, and more. Easy-to-use worksheets to fit your farming goals.
Thirty-eight authors -- researchers, farm advisors, small farm specialists,
and farmers -- covering all aspects of owning and operating a small farm:
Requirements for Successful Farming, The Basics, Finances, Marketing,
Selling your Product, Enterprise Ideas, Growing Crops, Raising Animals,
Postharvest, Alternative Agriculture, Labor Management, Keeping the Family
Farm Healthy, Worksheets, resources and references.
http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/docs/sfhandbook.html
Order online:
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/merchant.ihtml?
pid=816&lastcatid=103&step=4

"Grow It! -- The Beginner's Complete In-Harmony-With-Nature Small Farm
Guide -- From Vegetable and Grain Growing to Livestock Care" by Richard W.
Langer and Susan McNeill (illustrator), first published in 1972, reissued
1994, Noonday, ISBN 0374523908
Practical and easy-to-use guide to small-scale organic farming, packed with
good advice on "everything from building and stocking a pond to planting an
orchard or making cheese". Read it or use it as a quick-reference guide.
>From Powell's Books (use "Search"):
http://www.powells.com/

"People's Farming Workbook" Environmental and Development Agency Trust,
David Philip, Cape Town, South Africa, 1995, ISBN 0 86486 112 5
For rural and resource-poor communities, the Workbook has obviously grown
from the ground up, like a good crop: written by a collective, the authors
know the needs of the grass-roots people the book targets. It's easy to
read and easy to use, well-illustrated and well-organized to meet the needs
of everyone from small farmers to backyard gardeners with little time and
few resources. Simple without being simplistic, it's a mine of sheer
usefulness -- an object-lesson for some of the expensive, top-heavy
programs that set out to help poor rural people. Applicable anywhere in the
Third World, not just South Africa. From David Philip Publishers, Cape
Town, South Africa. E-mail: dpp@iafrica.com fax: +27 21 64 3358
Order online from Stylus Publishing:
http://www.styluspub.com/books/book3041.html
>From Intermediate Technology Development Group Bookshop
http://www.developmentbookshop.com/book.phtml?isbn=864861125
>From Maya Books:
http://www.mayabooks.ndirect.co.uk/agriculture.htm

"Amaranth to Zai Holes: ideas for growing food under difficult conditions"
by Laura S. Meitzner and Martin L. Price, 1996, ECHO (Educational Concerns
for Hunger Organization). This book is an updated compilation of 15 years
of ECHO's quarterly technical bulletin, ECHO Development Notes. "Amaranth
is a drought-tolerant plant which provides both high-protein grain and
delicious edible leaves. Zai holes use termites to improve soil fertility
and increase water filtration in farmers' fields in West Africa. These are
just two of the plants and techniques people are using to produce food
under difficult growing conditions in the tropics." A treasurehouse of
practical information for and from the field, mainly for people working
with small farmers or urban gardeners in Third world settings -- new ideas,
techniques, underutilized tropical plants, and offers of trial packets of
seed to evaluate them. Full text free online:
http://www.echotech.org/technical/az/aztext/azcntnts.htm
Order the book online:
http://www.echotech.org/bookstore/

"Smallholders, Householders: Farm Families and the Ecology of Intensive,
Sustainable Agriculture" by Robert McC. Netting, 1993, Stanford University
Press, ISBN 0804721025
A detailed analysis of the livelihoods of farmers practising intensive,
diversified and sustainable agriculture. Focuses on small farms in areas of
dense population around the world. Well-researched ethnographic review of
agricultural practices and their social and economic aspects, many examples
showing how intensive, diversified farming systems are often efficient and
sustainable alternatives to modern chemical and fossil-fuel dependent
agriculture. From Fertile Ground Books:
http://www.agaccess.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/~fg/st_prod.html?
p_prodid=STA013&sid=22zsARv
>From Cambridge University Press (UK):
http://uk.cambridge.org/anthropology/catalogue/0804721025/default.htm

"Making Your Small Farm Profitable" by Ron Macher, 1999, Storey Books, ISBN
1580171613
Ron Macher is the editor of Small Farm Today magazine ("Our readers make
money!"), the original how-to magazine for small farmers, established in
1984. This is a good overview for anyone wanting to start a small,
sustainable farm and make a profit. Order from Small Farm Today:
http://www.smallfarmtoday.com/BackIssues.shtml
>From Storey Books:
http://www.storeybooks.com/
new_sell_sheets/161-3.html

"Small Farm Today" bi-monthly magazine for small-acreage landowners and
small farmers: "Make a profit on your farm!" The original how-to magazine
of alternative and traditional crops, livestock, and direct marketing,
established in 1984. How-to articles on profitable livestock, wool and
fibre, poultry, draft animals, vegetable and small fruit crops,
aquaculture, marketing, gardening, farm equipment, rural/home-based
businesses. "Small farms (178 acres or less, grossing $40,000 a year or
less) are 80% of the farms in the US, and small farm numbers are expected
to increase 17.4% over the next 10 years; 47% of our readers have been
farming less than five years, and 76% farm 100 acres or less." Each issue
has a theme.
http://www.smallfarmtoday.com/

Growers' Connection: Books & online resources for small farm marketing and
farmers' markets, with links to a wide variety of small farm and
sustainable agriculture topics.
http://www.nwpub.net/

"Sell What You Sow! The Grower's Guide To Successful Produce Marketing", by
Eric Gibson, 1993, New World Publishing, ISBN 0963281402
This how-to book that reveals the tricks of the trade from master marketers
around the US. High-value produce marketing for farmers and market
gardeners, hands-on information, practical, how-to guidance on selling what
you grow and making profits from produce. "Far-and-away the outstanding
farm produce marketing text. If you're trying to sell what you grow, this
book will quickly pay for itself" -- Small Farmer's Journal.
http://www.nwpub.net/swys.html

"The New Farmers' Market" by Vance Corum, Marcie Rosenzweig & Eric Gibson,
2001, New World Publishing; ISBN: 0963281429
If you want to succeed at farmers' markets in the US, this is the book for
you. A "must have" for farmers' market sellers, managers, market planners,
and farmers' market community. "Finally, a really good book on farmers'
markets!" -- Growing For Market newsletter.
http://www.nwpub.net/tnfm.html

"Countryside & Small Stock Journal -- The Magazine of Modern Homesteading"
-- promoting self-reliance and simple life style through home food
production, gardening, cooking, food preservation and other homesteading
techniques. "83 years old, and a new wrinkle with every issue!" Gardening,
small-scale livestock, cooking, food preservation, resource conservation,
recycling, frugality, money management, alternative energy, old-time
skills, home business, and more. Useful how-to's and practical information,
detailed and well-written -- stuff you need to know. Features from back
issues online, back issues available (unless sold out), contents listed.
Good bookstore, lots of useful guides and resources for the homesteader.
http://www.countrysidemag.com/

"Tools for Agriculture: A guide to appropriate equipment for smallholder
farmers" by Ian Carruthers and Marc Rodriguez, 4th edition 1992,
Intermediate Technology, ISBN 185339100X
Unique guide to small-scale farming equipment. Each subject is introduced
by an expert who sets the available tools against the background of good
farming practise. Helps you evaluate what's most suitable for your
situation. Analyses why some projects are successful and suggests ways to
improve them. Land preparation, sowing and fertilizing, pest control,
harvesting, water lifting, livestock care, and beekeeping. With lists of
manufacturers (mostly in the Third World). From IT Publishing:
http://www.developmentbookshop.com/book.phtml?isbn=185339100X