Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre

I just read this book and I am very impressed. It compares favorably both to classics of intensive gardening and to classics on self sufficiency. Less complicated than How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits: (And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) (How to Grow More Vegetables: (And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains,) , less expensive and resource-hogging (in terms of peat moss, vermiculite, and grids) than All New Square Foot Gardening (which is still well worth buying for the beginning gardener; the charts on planting for a continuous three-season harvest alone are probably worth the price of the book). More focused and with more current (though perhaps still debatable) numbers than One Acre and Security: How to Live Off the Earth Without Ruining It , and written for an even smaller (and tractor-free) scale than Successful Small-Scale Farming: An Organic Approach (Down-To-Earth Book) . This book contains the simplest and most understandble description of double-digging that I have ever read, and the simplest way of placing seeds at the correct spacing in intensive gardening. It has good discussions of thermophilic composting and of the importance of aging compost; various types of irrigation systems; food requirements per person and practical ways of meeting them (including the economic infeasibility of growing wheat in the home garden); making aerated compost tea with a simple and inexpensive homemade system; the best media for seed starting; an introduction to saving and storing seeds, and references to excellent books that provide more information (such as Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners and Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener's & Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding & Seed Saving ); inexpensive ways to extend the growing season; fruit trees, bushes, and vines; raising poultry for eggs and/or meat; organic and certified naturally grown; and maximizing the money you make selling produce. The chapter on preserving the harvest by canning, freezing, and dehydrating (no mention of Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables ) is not in-depth and will not take the place of other books on the subject, but serves as a good introduction. The only disappointment to me was that there was no mention of sheet composting (see Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling,No Weeding, No Kidding! ); I might suggest building your raised beds in that way rather than by double digging. If you are trying to move off the grid, grow 100% of your own food, and make your own clothes, this may not be the book for you. If you'd like to raise a lot of your own food in a garden that will fit in the typical suburban yard (the actual number of square feet he suggests cultivating for a family of three is just under 1/20th of an acre), this book is a great place to start.

While I've maintained small gardens and potted plants for years, for 5+ years I've casually kept a 1,000 square foot garden. I've mostly winged it... sometimes impressively, other times with dismally. But, never consistent year over year results. I picked up this book to take my gardening to the next level and broaden my horizons. In short, I'm very satisfied with the insights and guidance I've gleaned from this book. I'd go so far as to say that while you don't need a background in gardening to benefit from this book, this book is a perfect fit for people in my situation. Here are the pros and cons from my perspective. Pros: - The content of each chapter is very well organized, with concepts building onto one another very neatly. - The broader subject matter of the chapters takes one through the process of planning, preparing, selecting, timing, managing, etc. most everything one would need to successfully grow a garden. - This book strikes a good balance between giving you the key information you need for any one aspect of self-sufficient gardening, but not inundating you with too much detail. (In other words, this book threads the needle on delivering a lot of helpful information, while still feeling like an easy read.) - I've seen other reviews for this book that complain that the author 'rips off' others' ideas and re-packages them for profit. I read quite a bit and have over the years seen serious examples of what these other reviewers are claiming. But, in the case of this book, while the author informs on alternative (and even competing models) for gardening, the author always informs the user on what, in his experience, has or has NOT worked from various models; how he has modified some of those ideas to work in his growing climate; and where he completely parts ways from others' techniques and espouses his own approach (including very clear instruction on how to use his modified or totally unique processes). - Finally, where possible, the author provides the equivalent of 'modified workouts' for those 'less fit' (MY WORDS, NOT HIS) in their gardening abilities. In other words, the author provides sufficient detail on what might be the most efficient and beneficial approach to say irrigation or composting, but then across the various subjects covered in the book, he provides a less expensive/quicker/initially easier alternative for those lacking the time, resources, space, skills, etc. to fully implement the best possible approach for one aspect or another of gardening. For example, as I'll be looking to expand my garden this next spring, I fully intend to utilize some of the quicker soil prep techniques offered up in this book for use in a pinch while I build up my long-term composting and soil amendment routines. Cons: - While some of the chapters really cover all the bases for the targeted subject matter (i.e. plant spacing, soil prep, etc.). Others give you just enough to run with but leave you wanting more. A good example of this would be Chapter 7 ("Time and Yield"). While the author gives a good and broad overview of timing techniques (i.e. succession planting, timed planting, interplanting etc.), for such an important subject matter, I was disappointed by just how short this chapter was. I live in Michigan, with a shorter growing season. I see this topic as critical for people in shorter growing zones like mine, and apart from a quick overview of each of the techniques used to maximize productivity, and a handful of real-world examples of plant groups that work well for things like succession planting (taking into consideration their hardiness in colder climates), this chapter really leaves readers wanting. - While this book is beautifully illustrated, there's no doubting that the abundance of pretty pictures of garden produce, chickens, tools, etc. serve as fill to make the book feel a bit more substantial in size than it need be. I don't want to over play this point, as A LOT of the illustrations (pictures/graphics/tables) are pertinent to the content of the book (and in any event, some amount of artwork is always nice to have), BUT... I think you could produce this book, still with plenty of beautiful illustrations, and reduce it from its current 227 pages (including the index and notes pages) down to 175 pages.

When I ordered this book I was expecting something more in line with simple crop farming, but was pleasantly surprised to find an all around guide to small farming. On one level the contents reminded me of what I might find in the magazine, Countryside & Small Stock Journal . Farming can mean more than simply throwing a few seeds in the ground or creating raised beds. This book is about the ability to live off the grid and create a self-sustaining lifestyle for your family. There is a wide array of basic information in this book, but if I were going to seriously attempt a mini farm, I'd add a few other books along with it. For example, I'd add Stocking Up, an essential canning book that I've had on my shelves for years. I love the guidance this book has to offer, but a bit more in specific areas will be of enormous help to anyone who wants to seriously attempt to live beyond the sidewalks. This is a definite must have book if you want to explore the possibility of becoming a self-sufficient farmer. There is everything in here from dehydrating vegetables, intensive gardening, growing crops for sales, to raising chickens for eggs or meat. It's definitely not an in depth encyclopedic tome, but it is a great start and will help people make up their minds as to how they'd like to farm and what they'd like to raise. Not perfect, but definitely a book you should consider.

Lots of great information and really put some ideas in my head for my gardens!

Good little book for starters

This book is a thoroughly good read to introduce you to the idea of efficient food production on a small plot, and effectively bypasses the more traditional folklore-based practices of traditional home veg growers. Various named theories of intensive growing are explained and appraised. There is good science here, explained clearly, and with sufficient information and references to explore further. Although the writer's experience is in New England, the book makes it very simple to convert everything to a place with different climate. I read the book through in a couple of days. It was something of a page turner! I am now using it as a reference for development of my own far-from-perfect plot.

Good

Good but not best.'' All new square foot gardening'' is much better.

Das Buch ist für Anfänger geschrieben. Sehr viele interessante Denkansätze und eine solide Einführung In den modernen Mini-Garten. Mit einer Tabelle über Fruchtfolgen und sich Gegenseitig fördernde Pflanzen wäre das Buch perfekt.