Small Farm Books
We have gathered together a wide variety of small farm books which we found helpful, and which we now share with you. The following is a combination of history, how-to, experiences, coffee-table imagery, and more. For the time being, all these links to our online store at Amazon.com. That is the single fastest way to get books to you.
In the future, we'll also have warehouse space here so that we can send them directly from here for those folks who don't want to deal with Amazon.
In the meantime, if you'd like to order from us, don't want to work through Amazon and don't want to wait for our warehouse to be completed, just Contact Us with what you need and we'll find a way to get it to you.
Garden Production Books
Garden production may not seem like a core activity for working farms. However, it is a tried and true way to produce a wide variety of fresh, high-value fruits, vegetables, forage, herbs and other useful crops either for our own on-farm use, or for small high ROI, direct-to-consumer sales. The books we've gathered here highlight a number of ways to boost garden production, expand your growing season, cut your workload, and reduce bought-in fertilizers. And many of these books are also gorgeous to look through when you can't actually be outside. There's something here for everyone! Look through our Gardening books and see if there's something new for your own garden goals.
Livestock Production Books
Livestock production is as old as human civilization, and yet we're still learning new things. Some of these books are wonderful collections of old wisdom, while others feature new information on challenging topics. Many of them are a combination. We've read through almost all of these books ourselves, and put them into work right here on our own farm. Many of our copies of these books are tattered and stained from being carried out to the barn to help us feed, train, manage, and diagnose animals as we work on optimizing our own operation. Look through our Livestock books and see if there's something new for your own livestock operation.
Book Sections Yet To Come
We're just getting warmed up! Lots of book categories and pages yet to come, with coverage of the following topics:
- Poultry and Waterfowl Production
- Grazing Management
- Small Farm Business Management
- Small Scale Forestry Management
- Small Scale Grains Production
- Field Crops Production
- Composting, Crops Rotation, Cover Crops and Soil Fertility Management
- Small Farm Marketing Strategies and Options
- Seed Saving, Custom Cultivar Production and Heirloom Varieties
- Wildcrafting and Rare Plants Production
If you'd like to see us cover a small farms topic that you don't see listed above, let us know and we'll add it!
Our Successful Farm and Ranching Books
We released our very first self-published book, The Chicken Coop Manual, in 2014. It is a full color guide to conventional and alternative poultry housing options, including 8 conventional stud construction plans, 12 alternative housing methods, and almost 20 different design features. This book is available on Amazon.com and as a PDF download. Please visit our sister website's The Chicken Coop Manual page for more information.
Rabbit Colonies: Lessons Learned
We started with rabbits in 2002, and we've been experimenting with colony management ever since. Fast forward to 2017 when I decided to write another book, this time about colony management. Rabbit Colonies: Lessons Learned is chock-full of practical information, and is available from both Amazon and as a PDF download. Please visit our sister website's Rabbit Colonies page for more information.
The Pastured Pig Handbook
We are currently working on our next self-published book: The Pastured Pig Handbook. This particular book addresses a profitable, popular and successful hog management approach which sadly is not yet well documented. Our handbook, will cover all the various issues involved with pastured hog management, including case studies of numerous current pastured pig operations. If you have any questions about this book, please Contact Us.