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Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm Business: Small-Farm Success Stories * Financial Assistance Sources * Marketing & Selling Ideas * Business Plan Forms & Documents
Running your own small farm is demanding enough, but making it profitable presents a host of further challenges. In this business-savvy guide to farming on a small scale, Sarah Aubrey covers everything from financial plans and advertising budgets to web design and food service wholesalers. Learn how to isolate your target audience and craft artisanal products that will delight and amaze customers. With a solid business strategy in place, you can confidently turn your passion into a productive and profitable venture.
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Organic Marin: Recipes from Land to Table
"Now more than ever, we need to make decisions about cooking and eating that support the kind of agriculture that takes care of the land we hold in trust for future generations. This beautiful book, full of recipes for delicious, seasonal meals, is a tribute to the Marin County farmers, artisans, and cooks who uphold that stewardship and provid for our future." --Alice Waters, Chez Panisse Restaurant "Organic Marin" gives you a taste of what has become one of America's most vibrant local food scenes; indeed, this beautiful book is the next best thing to eating there." --Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food" "Every society is a direct reflection of the status of its soil . . . Everything comes from soil. We are nothing without it." --Helge Hellberg, executive director of Marin Organic "Organic Marin" is more than a regional cookbook. It also represents an organic movement reverberating around the globe, demanding a more thoughtful, less wasteful approach to life. The connection between field and farmer, land and table, and food and family translates to the passionate belief that food fosters community. And nowhere is this connection more apparent than in Marin County, California, the birthplace and standard-bearer of American organic farming. In "Organic Marin," 16 of America's most esteemed organic farms share their stories and philosophies alongside 50 mouthwatering organic recipes organized by season and contributed by 25 of the San Francisco Bay Area's most popular organic restaurants. With recipes for Heirloom Tomato Flat Bread, Seared Ahi Tuna with Asian Slaw, Chicken Fra Diavolo with Fennel and Dandelion Salad, Double ChocolateBread Pudding, and much more, anyone can create the delicious dishes featured in this beautiful and inspiring organic cookbook. Proceeds of "Organic Marin" support Marin Organic's school lunch program, which serves 12,000 lunches a week with food grown in Marin County.
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.
Urban Farm Handbook: City Slicker Resources for Growing, Raising, Sourcing, Trading, and Preparing What You Eat
You don t have to live on 50 acres to begin taking control over what you eat.Is that...a goat in your garage?! It might be if you've been reading THE URBAN FARM HANDBOOK: CITY-SLICKER RESOURCES FOR GROWING, RAISING, SOURCING, TRADING, AND PREPARING WHAT YOU EAT. In this comprehensive guide for city-dwellers on how to wean themselves off of commercial supermarkets, the authors map a plan for how to manage a busy, urban family life with home-grown foods, shared community efforts, and easy yet healthful practices. More than just a few ideas about gardening and raising chickens, THE URBAN FARM HANDBOOK uses stories, charts, grocery lists, recipes, and calendars to inform and instruct. As busy urbanites who have learned how to do everything from making cheese and curing meat to collaborating with neighbors on a food bartering system, the authors share their own food journeys along with those of local producers and consumers who are changing the food systems in the Pacific Northwest.