Living Organic Online Store
Organic Farming Books
Farming Around the Country: An Organic Odyssey
For twelve consecutive months, author Brian Bender lived a nomadic life on small organic farms across the United States. Leaving behind a teaching career, he hopped from farm to farm through an organization called WWOOF: World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Farming Around the Country reveals the humor and hardship of life dominated by a revolving door of farm animals, injuries, eccentric farmers, and unexpected wisdom. The heart of this story lies with the unusual people and tasks on each farm. Bender entered his year of transformation as a high school science teacher and came out educated in the ways of sustainable living and human happiness.
Small-Scale Grain Raising: An Organic Guide to Growing, Processing, and Using Nutritious Whole Grains for Home Gardeners and Local
First published in 1977, this bookafrom one of Americaas most famous and prolific agricultural writersabecame an almost instant classic among homestead gardeners and small farmers. Now fully updated and available once more, "Small-Scale Grain Raising" offers an entirely new generation of readers the best introduction to a wide range of both common and lesser-known specialty grains and related field crops, from corn, wheat, and rye to buckwheat, millet, rice, spelt, flax, and even beans and sunflowers.More and more Americans are seeking out locally grown foods, yet one of the real stumbling blocks to their efforts has been finding local sources for grains, which are grown mainly on large, distant corporate farms. At the same time, commodity prices for grainsaand the products made from themahave skyrocketed due to rising energy costs and increased demand. In this book, Gene Logsdon proves that anyone who has access to a large garden or small farm can (and should) think outside the agribusiness box and learn to grow healthy whole grains or beansathe base of our culinary food pyramidaalongside their fruits and vegetables.Starting from the simple but revolutionary concept of the garden apancake patch, a Logsdon opens up our eyes to a whole world of plants that we wrongly assume only the agricultural abig boysa can grow. He succinctly covers all the basics, from planting and dealing with pests, weeds, and diseases to harvesting, processing, storing, and using whole grains. There are even a few recipes sprinkled throughout, along with more than a little wit and wisdom.Never has there been a better time, or a more receptive audience, for this book. Localvores, serious home gardeners, CSA farmers, and whole-foods advocatesain fact, all people who value fresh, high-quality foodsawill find a field full of information and ideas in this once and future classic.
The Profitable Hobby Farm: How to Build a Sustainable Local Foods Business
Turn your hobby farm into a successful business No experience in farming? No problem "The Profitable Hobby Farm" gives you all the tools you need to launch a thriving hobby farm business. Based on the author's expert guidance and the motivating experiences of other small farmers, it shows you how to blend strategy, marketing, and money management in order to prosper. "The Profitable Hobby Farm "provides sound, friendly start-up advice on a variety of topics essential to making an initial foray into a local foods venture. A must-read book for raising and selling local, sustainable foods Includes sample business plan, grant application, marketing and advertising plan, and other forms Lengthy resources section directs you to additional reading Also by Aubrey: "Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm Business "Whether it's growing heirloom tomatoes, raising free-range chickens for their eggs, or making organic wine or cheese, this book shows you how to turn your hobby into a profit.
The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2008
The new edition of this annual publication (previously published by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)) documents recent developments in global organic agriculture. It includes contributions from certification agencies, governments, academics and individuals representing the breadth of the organic sector from throughout the world. It provides comprehensive organic farming statistics that cover surface area under organic management, types and numbers of farms and specific information about commodities and land use in organic systems. The book also contains information on the global market of the burgeoning organic sector, the latest developments in organic certification, standards and regulations and insights into current status and emerging trends for organic agriculture by continent from the world's foremost experts.For this edition, all statistical data and regional review chapters have been thoroughly updated. Completely new chapters on organic agriculture in the Pacific and on organic aquaculture have been added.Published with IFOAM and FiBL.
Farming with Nature: The Science and Practice of Ecoagriculture
A growing body of evidence shows that agricultural landscapes can be managed not only to produce crops but also to support biodiversity and promote ecosystem health. Innovative farmers and scientists, as well as indigenous land managers, are developing diverse types of "ecoagriculture" landscapes to generate cobenefits for production, biodiversity, and local people. "Farming with Nature" offers a synthesis of the state of knowledge of key topics in ecoagriculture. The book is a unique collaboration among renowned agricultural and ecological scientists, leading field conservationists, and farm and community leaders to synthesize knowledge and experience across sectors. The book examines: the knowledge base for ecoagriculture as well as barriers, gaps, and opportunities for developing improved ecoagriculture systemswhat we have learned about managing landscapes to achieve multiple objectives at a landscape scaleexisting incentives for farmers, other land managers, and investors to develop and invest in ecoagriculture systemspathways to develop, implement, manage, and scale up successful ecoagricultureInsights are drawn from around the world, in tropical, Mediterranean, and temperate environments, from farming systems that range from highly commercialized to semi-subsistence. "Farming with Nature" is an important new work that can serve as a foundation document for planners, farm organizations, researchers, project developers, and policy makers to develop strategies for promoting and sustaining ecoagriculture landscapes. Replete with valuable best practice guidelines, it is a critical resource for both practitioners and researchers in the field.
Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm Business: Small-Farm Success Stories * Financial Assistance Sources * Marketing & Selling Ideas * Business Plan Forms & Documents
To help farmers position themselves well for the opportunities of today's market, Sarah Aubrey, a successful farm-based business owner, shares her years of research and first-hand experience in Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm Business. Here is everything you need to know to launch a small agricultural enterprise, from initial start-up to consumer marketing. Begin by fine-tuning your idea into a viable business plan, and then learn how to go out and sell it. Secure financing, work out the legalities, follow USDA guidelines--- and a farming business is born. Aubrey explains every step of the process and even includes samples of the required forms.Every small farmer must also become a skilled salesperson and marketing professional. Aubrey covers all sales venues — from rural farmstands to web sites to food service wholesalers — and explains the pros and cons of each. She also explains how to create and stick to an advertising budget, develop pricing strategies, and protect personal assets.Aubrey brings her business advice to life with profiles of farmers who are successfully selling everything from small batches of wine to exotic animals, such as elk and alpacas. Their stories are mini-courses in successful farming, sure to inspire every reader.
Factory Farming
Each anthology is composed of a wide spectrum of primary sources written by many of the foremost authorities in their respective fields. This unique approach provides students with a concise view of divergent opinions on each topic. Extensive book and periodical bibliographies and a list of organizations to contact are also included.
The Soul of Soil: A Soil-Building Guide for Master Gardeners and Farmers, 4th Edition
Soil is the basis not only for all gardening, but for all terrestrial life. No aspect of agriculture is more fundamental and important, yet we have been losing vast quantities of our finite soil resources to erosion, pollution, and development. Now back in print, this eminently sensible and wonderfully well-focused book provides essential information about one of the most significant challenges for those attempting to grow delicious organic vegetables: the creation and maintenance of healthy soil. Chapter 2, "Understanding the Soil System," is alone worth the price of admission. Gershuny and Smillie give lay readers and experts a clear explanation of subjects--soil life and nutrient cycles--that have confounded most authors. Nowhere will the reader find simpler and more coherent descriptions of key concepts including cation exchange capacity and chelation. There are other books about soil available, including Grace Gershuny's comprehensive Start with the Soil, and there are books that feature chapters on soil building. What distinguishes The Soil of Soilis the authors' concise presentation; they give readers important information, including technical essentials, without getting bogged down in scientific or quasiscientific mumbo-jumbo. In addition, useful tables list specific compost materials, green manures, and other resources that allow growers to translate into action the more general information provided by the book. The soil-building techniques featured include: Organic matter management Building and maintaining humus On-site composting Green manures and rotations Cultivation and weed control Nutrient balances and soil testing Using mineral fertilizers Planning for organic certification Updates to the 1999 edition include analysis of Proposed Rules for the National Organic Standards, and expanded recommendations for private testing services and soil-testing equipment for home gardeners and organic farmers. All of us involved in the cultivation of plants--from the backyard gardener to the largest farmer--need to help regenerate a "living soil," for only in the diversity of the soil and its creatures can we ensure the long-term health of ourselves and our environment. The Soul of Soil offers everyone a basic understanding of what soil is and what we can do to improve our own patch of it. Seen in this light, this practical handbook will be an inspiration as well.
The Profitable Hobby Farm, How to Build a Sustainable Local Foods Business
Turn your hobby farm into a successful businessNo experience in farming? No problem! The Profitable Hobby Farm gives you all the tools you need to launch a thriving hobby farm business. Based on the author's expert guidance and the motivating experiences of other small farmers, it shows you how to blend strategy, marketing, and money management in order to prosper.The Profitable Hobby Farm provides sound, friendly start-up advice on a variety of topics essential to making an initial foray into a local foods venture.A must-read book for raising and selling local, sustainable foodsIncludes sample business plan, grant application, marketing and advertising plan, and other formsLengthy resources section directs you to additional readingAlso by Aubrey: Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm BusinessWhether it's growing heirloom tomatoes, raising free-range chickens for their eggs, or making organic wine or cheese, this book shows you how to turn your hobby into a profit.
The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff - and Making a Profit
Contrary to popular belief, a good living can be made on an organic farm. What’s required is farming smarter, not harder. In The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook, Richard Wiswall shares advice on how to make your vegetable production more efficient, better manage your employees and finances, and turn a profit. From his twenty-seven years of experience at Cate Farm in Vermont, Wiswall knows firsthand the joys of starting and operating an organic farm—as well as the challenges of making a living from one. Farming offers fundamental satisfaction from producing food, working outdoors, being one’s own boss, and working intimately with nature. But, unfortunately, many farmers avoid learning about the business end of farming; because of this, they often work harder than they need to, or quit farming altogether because of frustrating—and often avoidable—losses. In this comprehensive business kit, Wiswall covers: Step-by-step procedures to make your crop production more efficient Advice on managing employees, farm operations, and office systems Novel marketing strategies What to do with your profits: business spending, investing, and planning for retirement A companion CD offers valuable business tools, including easy-to-use spreadsheets for projecting cash flow, a payroll calculator, comprehensive crop budgets for forty different crops, and tax planners.
Backyard Market Gardening
Discover how easy and profitable it is to grow ans sell vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs and small livestock from your own backyard market garden. Learn how others grow and sell: o 14,000 pounds of food, on less than one-eighth acre - Ohio o $150,000 from one-half acre, to fancy restaurants - California o $40,000 from one acre of oriental raised beds - Oregon o $36,000 from 3/4 acre, to city farmers' markets - Massachusetts Learn how you can: . Earn top dollar, with minimum effort and maximum profits. . Grow high-value crops in small spaces, efficiently and quickly. . Improve your garden soil for super yields and superb flavor. . Create markets that are profitable, reliable, fun and sustainable. . Improve your garden soil for super yields and superb flavor. . Buy or build tools that speed your work and increase profits. . Enjoy a guaranteed salary from community supported agriculture or a membership garden. Find your market niche in: membership gardening, community supported agriculture, farmers' markets, card table in your front yard, farm stands, clientele membership clubs, producers cooperatives, restaurants, caterers, institutions, pick your own and even growing specialty crops for your neighbor's salsa recipe. "BACKYARD MARKET GARDENING is the book that shows you how to do what you can with what you have where you are." - George DeVault, Organic Gardening Magazine. "Market gardening as described by Andy Lee is very rewarding to the soul, the soil, the environment, and the flow of capital."- Jim Hightower, Austin, Texas
Profitable Organic Farming
The demand for food produced from sustainable and organic farm enterprises continues to grow worldwide, with demand exceeding supply for many items. This second edition of an extremely well received and successful book covers every aspect of an organic farm enterprise that can have an influence on profitability. As such the book is an essential purchase for all those involved in organic and sustainable farming. Topics covered in this second edition of "Profitable Organic Farming" include grassland productivity, production systems for dairy, beef, sheep, pig, poultry and arable farms, farm size and enterprise combinations, organic standards, financial management, marketing, success factors and progress by organic farmers. The book concludes with a new chapter covering potential future scenarios for organic farming. Drawing on new information available in the area and including case studies from successful organic farm businesses, the author Jon Newton has written a book that is of great commercial use to a wide range of workers including organic farm managers and those wishing to commence organic farming operations. The book is also of great use and interest to agricultural scientists and students and those working in government and regional agricultural advisory services worldwide. Libraries in research establishments, universities and colleges where agricultural sciences are studied and taught should have several copies of this important and useful book on their shelves. Review of the first edition 'It is an essential volume for any commercial organic farmers or budding organic farmers bookshelf. It will no doubt also be a very popular read and provide much food for thought amongst many agricultural students': "New Farmer & Grower." Jon Newton is an agricultural consultant specialising in organic and sustainable agriculture based in North Wales, UK.
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
Dirt, soil, call it what you want--it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, "Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations "explores the compelling idea that we are--and have long been--using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, "Dirt "traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil--as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.
The Complete Guide to Organic Livestock Farming: Everything You Need to Know about Natural Farming on a Small Scale (Back-To-Basics Farming)
Small scale farming has grown greatly in popularity during the last two decades, with a greater turn in public awareness toward locally grown, organic, grass fed products that have not been modified, chemically altered, or poorly fed. For that reason, those looking to start a small scale farm and raise livestock have a greater chance than ever before to take advantage of the new market for small scale goods. This book will show any potential small scale farmer how to start raising their livestock and marketing it to the organic, natural lifestyle community that so fervently seeks out these products. You will learn how to start the basic outline for your new small farm, including which livestock to raise, how to build their pens and habitat, and what you will be feeding them to maintain a healthy, organic farm. You will learn the basics of animal husbandry, from genetics and breeding to feeding, building locations, and proper health and reproduction care. You will learn how to find yourself in the right niche for selling your products and what legalities you must see to as well as the butchering and processing phase Hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews have been conducted for this book with top experts in farm management to provide you with details about farm planning, financial planning, and proper livestock planning. A complete appendix will detail the various breeds and needs of cattle, chickens, goats, horses, pigs, and sheep to help you select the right livestock for your farm. In addition, you will learn the basic composition of most feeds, different grasses and legumes you can use, and find a plethora of outside resources to utilize. For anyone with dreams of a small farm and raising livestock in their future, this is a book for you.
Food to Live By: The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook
Organic food is the best food possible. It’s synonymous with premium quality, delicious flavor, conscientious farming, and optimum health. It’s what we need to feed our kids, it’s what we deserve to feed ourselves. And thanks in part to Myra Goodman, co-owner and cofounder of Earthbound Farm with her husband, Drew, organic food is now available just about anywhere fresh food is sold, becoming more mainstream every day. Not only has Myra been growing organic food for over twenty years, she has been cooking with it, too. In Food to Live By she combines her twin food passions, serving up hundreds of recipes, ideas, shopping and cooking tips, health notes, and more. Illustrating the book are full-color photographs throughout that bring readers right into the breathtaking California sunshine. This is perfect cooking for friends and family, packed with irresistible dishes for weeknight dinners and casual entertaining, festive breakfasts and fall picnics. Recipes are all about the ingredients and their intrinsic qualities, not fancy techniques or time-consuming steps. Marry chicken with three simple accompaniments— rosemary, lemons, and garlic—and it’s transformed. Heighten the flavor of a springtime fava bean and orzo salad with an unexpected fava bean “pesto.” Combine Meyer lemon juice and soy sauce to create a marinade, tenderizer, and sauce that results in a perfect grilled flank steak. Food to Live By also includes a wealth of information about organic farming and how to make the wisest food choices; there are full-color Field Guides—to gourmet greens, apples, heirloom tomatoes, winter squash—and Farm Fresh ingredient guides to sorrel, corn, melons, avocados, organic poultry, asparagus, artichokes, ginger, and more, featuring what to look for plus care and handling. The book is a boon to food lovers.
Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening
Whether an experienced gardener is looking to go organic or a beginner wants to create a healthy, eco-friendly garden, the Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening contains the tips and techniques needed to produce beautiful flowers, top-quality herbs, and appetizing, wholesome fruits and vegetables. Explore the latest methods for cultivation without chemicals, discover the benefits of composting, and learn how to maintain an organic garden year-round.
A Green and Permanent Land: Ecology and Agriculture in the Twentieth Century
Once patronized primarily by the counterculture and the health food establishment, the organic food industry today is a multi-billion-dollar business driven by ever-growing consumer demand for safe food and greater public awareness of ecological issues. Assumed by many to be a recent phenomenon, that industry owes much to agricultural innovations that go back to the Dust Bowl era. This book explores the roots and branches of alternative agricultural ideas in twentieth-century America, showing how ecological thought has challenged and changed agricultural theory, practice, and policy from the 1930s to the present. It introduces us to the people and institutions who forged alternatives to industrialized agriculture through a deep concern for the enduring fertility of the soil, a passionate commitment to human health, and a strong advocacy of economic justice for farmers. Randal Beeman and James Pritchard show that agricultural issues were central to the rise of the environmental movement in the United States. As family farms failed during the Depression, a new kind of agriculture was championed based on the holistic approach taught by the emerging science of ecology. Ecology influenced the "permanent agriculture" movement that advocated such radical concepts as long-term land use planning, comprehensive soil conservation, and organic farming. Then in the 1970s, "sustainable agriculture" combined many of these ideas with new concerns about misguided technology and an over-consumptive culture to preach a more sensible approach to farming. In chronicling the overlooked history of alternative agriculture, A Green and Permanent Land records the significant contributions of individuals like RexTugwell, Hugh Bennett, Louis Bromfield, Edward Faulkner, Russell and Kate Lord, Scott and Helen Nearing, Robert Rodale, Wes Jackson, and groups like Friends of the Land and the Practical Farmers of Iowa. And by demonstrating how agriculture also remains central to the public interest-especially in the face of climatic crises, genetically altered crops, and questionable uses of pesticides-this book puts these issues in historical perspective and offers readers considerable food for thought.
From Seed to Table: A Practical Guide to Eating and Growing Green
Eating locally grown seasonal food is the solution to so many of the social and environmental problems raised by modern intensive food production methods. In From Seed to Table, organic gardener Janette Haase offers a month-by-month guide to growing a significant amount of food in a home garden. From the earliest salad leaves to the autumn's sweetest root vegetables, this book will show anyone with a small plot of earth and willing hands how to eat a healthier, more environmentally responsible diet--one with a smaller impact on both the environment and household food bills. The book's introductory chapter explains the importance of eating locally and seasonally and offers some practical considerations before beginning a garden of one's own. The rest of the book is divided into chapters covering each months. Haase takes the home gardener through the tasks of the gardening year, giving clear and helpful instructions for the work to be done at each time, from planning and planting to harvesting and storage. She also offers delicious seasonal recipes and menu ideas. From Seed to Table concludes with a thoughtful essay on food-related environmental issues, from greenhouse gasses to the genetic modification of seeds. Janette Haase was born in Montreal and was raised there and in Newfoundland. She holds a degree in geology from Queen's University. Haase started farming on fifty acres near Kingston, Ontario, and ran a large organic market garden. In 1998, as a single parent with a tiny front garden and no backyard in a village near Kingston, Haase planted vegetables and realized she could feed her family with what she could grow in a very small space.
