Books in Organic | Farm Reads

Dirt to Soil One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture

“A regenerative no-till pioneer.”—NBC News “We need to reintegrate livestock and crops on our farms and ranches, and Gabe Brown shows us how to do it well.”—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation “Dirt to Soil is the [regenerative farming] movements’s holy text.”—The Observer Gabe Brown didn’t set out to change the world when he first started working alongside his father-in-law on the family farm in North Dakota. But as a series of weather-related crop disasters put Brown and his wife, Shelly, in desperate financial straits, they started making bold changes to their farm. Brown—in an effort to simply survive—began experimenting with new practices he’d learned about from reading and talking with innovative researchers and ranchers. As he and his family struggled to keep the farm viable, they found themselves on an amazing journey into a new type of farming: regenerative agriculture. Brown dropped the use of most of the herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers that are a standard part of conventional agriculture. He switched to no-till planting, started planting diverse cover crops mixes, and changed his grazing practices. In so doing Brown transformed a degraded farm ecosystem into one full of life—starting with the soil and working his way up, one plant and one animal at a time. In Dirt to Soil Gabe Brown tells the story of that amazing journey and offers a wealth of innovative solutions to restoring the soil by laying out and explaining his “five principles of soil health,” which are: <ul><li>Limited Disturbance</li><li>Armor</li><li>Diversity</li><li>Living Roots</li><li>Integrated Animals</li></ul> The Brown’s Ranch model, developed over twenty years of experimentation and refinement, focuses on regenerating resources by continuously enhancing the living biology in the soil. Using regenerative agricultural principles, Brown’s Ranch has grown several inches of new topsoil in only twenty years! The 5,000-acre ranch profitably produces a wide variety of cash crops and cover crops as well as grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured laying hens, broilers, and pastured pork, all marketed directly to consumers. The key is how we think, Brown says. In the industrial agricultural model, all thoughts are focused on killing things. But that mindset was also killing diversity, soil, and profit, Brown realized. Now he channels his creative thinking toward how he can get more life on the land—more plants, animals, and beneficial insects. “The greatest roadblock to solving a problem,” Brown says, “is the human mind.” See Gabe Brown―author and farmer―in the award-winning documentaries Kiss the Ground and Common Ground!

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Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal War Stories from the Local Food Front

Drawing upon 40 years' experience as an ecological farmer and marketer, Joel Salatin explains with humor and passion why Americans do not have the freedom to choose the food they purchase and eat. From child labor regulations to food inspection, bureaucrats provide themselves sole discretion over what food is available in the local marketplace. Their system favors industrial, global corporate food systems and discourages community-based food commerce, resulting in homogenized selection, mediocre quality, and exposure to non-organic farming practices. Salatin's expert insight explains why local food is expensive and difficult to find and will illuminate for the reader a deeper understanding of the industrial food complex.

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The Green Life Beyond the Tractor Seat

FULL COLOUR EDITION (Also available in B&W) HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT IT TAKES TO LIVE THE DREAM 'GREEN LIFE'? Author Derek Palmer shares the real-life story of how he and his wife turned 50 acres of scrubland into a sustainable, organic farming enterprise. A married couple, nearing retirement age find themselves in the middle of an Aussie bush block, living in an old caravan among rogue cattle, wild dogs and snakes. Through the years of the trials and tribulations that follow, these 50 acres of scrub evolve into "Loradel Park" - a viable, sustainable and organic farm and home. An inspiring story revealing family love, strong friendships, innovation and an undying determination to succeed. It expresses the sheer joy and heartbreak, the successes and failures that go hand in hand with life on the land and introduces some incredible characters, both two-legged and four. Including hands-on know-how and observations gleaned over the years, this book offers an example or illustration of a sustainable lifestyle and hopefully will encourage others who are contemplating living the 'Green Life'.

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The Green Life Beyond the Tractor Seat

(Black and White edition - also available in colour) Have you ever wondered what it takes to live the dream 'Green Life'? Author Derek Palmer shares the real-life story of how he and his wife turned 50 acres of scrubland into a sustainable, organic farming enterprise. A married couple, nearing retirement age find themselves in the middle of an Aussie bush block, living in an old caravan among rogue cattle, wild dogs and snakes. Through the years of the trials and tribulations that follow, these 50 acres of scrub evolve into "Loradel Park" - a viable, sustainable and organic farm and home. An inspiring story revealing family love, strong friendships, innovation and an undying determination to succeed. It expresses the sheer joy and heartbreak, the successes and failures that go hand in hand with life on the land and introduces some incredible characters, both two-legged and four. Including hands-on know-how and observations gleaned over the years, this book offers an example or illustration of a sustainable lifestyle and hopefully will encourage others who are contemplating living the 'Green Life'.

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You Can Farm The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise

Have you ever desired, deep within your soul, to make a comfortable full-time living from a farming enterprise? Too often people dare not even vocalize this desire because it seems absurd. It's like thinking the unthinkable. After all, the farm population is dwindling. It takes too much capital to start. The pay is too low. The working conditions are dusty, smelly and noisy: not the place to raise a family. This is all true, and more, for most farmers. But for farm entrepreneurs, the opportunities for a farm family business have never been greater. The aging farm population is creating cavernous niches begging to be filled by creative visionaries who will go in dynamic new directions. As the industrial agriculture complex crumbles and our culture clambers for clean food, the countryside beckons anew with profitable farming opportunities. While this book can be helpful to all farmers, it targets the wannabes, the folks who actually entertain notions of living, loving and learning on a piece of land. Anyone willing to dance with such a dream should be able to assess its assets and liabilities; its fantasies and realities. "Is it really possible for me?" is the burning question this book addresses.

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Your Successful Farm Business Production, Profit, Pleasure

Twenty years ago Joel Salatin wrote You Can Farm, which has launched thousands of farm entrepreneurs around the world. With another 20 years of experience under his belt, bringing him to the half-century mark as a full-time farmer, he decided to build on that foundation with a sequel, a graduate level curriculum. Everyone who reads and enjoys that previous work will benefit from this additional information. In those 20 years, Polyface Farm progressed from a small family operation to a 20-person, 6,000-customer, 50-restaurant business, all without sales targets, government grants, or an off-farm nest egg. As a germination tray for new farmers ready to take over the 50 percent of America's agricultural equity that will become available over the next two decades, Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley stands as a beacon of hope in a food and farming system floundering in dysfunction: toxicity, pathogenicity, nutrient deficiency, bankruptcy, geezers, and erosion. Speaking into that fear and confusion, Salatin offers a pathway to success, with production, profit, and pleasure thrown in for good measure.

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