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 Jeff
Ishee’s recommended reading list on rural and agricultural topics
These are just a few of the books
recently reviewed on Virginia Farming
Television, a production of WVPT, Virginia's Public Television. Most titles
should be available through local book stores or online book sources.
| A great philosopher
once said "A home without books is like a body without a soul." It is no
wonder that farmhouses across America's rural countryside are chock full
of good books. |
Books are listed in no
particular order:
Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm
Business, by Sarah Beth Aubrey; ISBN: 978-1-58017-697-2; Running a small
farm goes beyond growing, raising, and crafting artisanal products. This book is
a business-savvy reference that covers everything from financial plans and
advertising budgets to Web design. 176 pages.
Storey's Illustrated Breed Guide to Sheep, Goats, Cattle and Pigs, by Carol
Ekarius; ISBN: 978-1-60342-036-5; This book covers 163 breeds from common to
rare. It is a colorful, captivating, and comprehensive guide to breed selection
for an extraordinary array of livestock, ranging from the Florida Cracker breed
of cattle to Katahdin sheep to Tamworth hogs to Boer goats. 320 pages.
The 1919 Yearbook of Agriculture, by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture; ISBN: None; This is going to be very difficult to
find, but rural yard sales, estate auctions and antique book stores are great
places to look for this incredible book analyzing one particular year in
American agriculture. There are statistics galore on everything from wheat
yields to lambing efficiency to apple varieties. We were fascinated by chapters
about “The Coming Electric Revolution,” “Reorganization of the Country School”
and “The Horse-Power Problem on the Farm.” This book (or other USDA yearbooks in
the similar time period) will provide the reader with an intimate look at how
America farmed and lived in the early 20th century. 790 pages.
Essential Guide to Calving, by Heather Smith
Thomas; ISBN: 978-1-58017-706-1; Whether you keep a single-family milk cow
or oversee a large herd of beef cattle, there is much to be gained by improving
your knowledge of bovine pregnancies and deliveries. Well illustrated. 336
pages.
Building Soils for Better Crops, by Fred Magdoff: ISBN: 978-1888626056;
This book unlocks the secret of maintaining a diverse ecosystem below ground to
foster healthy crops above. It contains detailed information about soil
structure and the management practices that affect soils, as well as practical
information like how to interpret soil test results. 230 pages.
A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm, by Stanley Crawford;
ISBN: 978-0826319609; This title is an excellent resource (even if you don’t
grow garlic), providing a first-hand experience on small-scale farming and
direct marketing in an easy-to-read format. For those of us who enjoy growing
plants, Crawford’s book reads almost like a novel as we follow his actions and
thoughts through the season. It is representative of life on a small farm with
interesting philosophical perspectives on life, family values, farming, and
relationships between farms and local communities. 255 pages.
Storey’s Guide to Raising Meat Goats, by Maggie Sayer; ISBN:
978-1-58017-661-3; This comprehensive manual is the small-farm guide to
profitable meat goat production. It explains the basics of selecting breeds,
buying goats and raising healthy animals. This well-illustrated book also covers
housing and marketing meat goats. 344 pages.
The New Farmers’ Market, by Vance Corum, Marcie Rosenzweig and Eric Gibson;
ISBN: 0-9632814-2-9; This book covers all of the latest tips, trends and ideas
from leading edge sellers and market managers nationwide. If you are involved
with farmers' markets in any manner, you must read this book. 257 pages.
Virginia’s Cattle Story - The First Four Centuries, by Katherine Brown
and Nancy Sorrells, ISBN: 0-97527451-1; This excellent book is a complete
history of the cattle industry in Virginia from Colonial times to the modern
era. Color illustrations throughout. 358 pages
Raising Pigs Successfully, by Kathy Kellogg and Bob Kellogg; ISBN:
978-0913589151; A comprehensive and understandable book covering topics such as
swine health, housing, and breeding. Everything the home hog-raiser needs to
know, with innovative ideas and insights gained through years of experience. 192
pages.
A Tobacco Farmers Daughter, by Linda Hamlett Childress; ISBN:
1-4033-1907-3; This book contains a collection of homespun tobacco farm stories
of the 60s and 70s from a daughter’s perspective. 108 pages.
Farms of Tomorrow: Communities Supporting Farms, Farms Supporting
Communities, by Trauger Groh and Steven McFadden; ISBN: 978-0938250289;
Explores a new approach to farming called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).
It has been identified as a trend taking root all across America. The authors
weave together an exploration of the simple yet elegant theory of CSA and
provide examples of farms and communities which have embraced this approach. 169
pages.
Welcome to the Country - Things You Need to Know When Moving to Rural
Virginia, by Frank Levering, ISBN: 0-615-22842-9; Consider this book as a
cultural guide to life along some of Virginia’s most intriguing back roads. It
is a guide to the established customs of the countryside; what people do to earn
a living here; how people who own property get along with others; and why
farmers and farmland must never become marginalized. 77 pages.
Organic Orcharding, by Gene Logsdon: ISBN: 978-0878573561; This title is
chock full of excellent and intriguing insights on organic orcharding. It
explores what trees go best with what, when they bloom, when to harvest, and how
to control insects and diseases with organic methods. Logsdon explains in layman
terms the details on growing a wide variety of fruit and nut trees. 415 pages.
Steel in the Field, by Greg Bowman; ISBN: 1-888626-02-X; Real-life,
on-farm agricultural experts explain how mechanical weed control works in their
sustainable cropping systems. 128 pages.
The Truth About Organic Foods, by Alex Avery; ISBN: 978-0-9788952-0-4;
This book gives consumers a thorough and straightforward explanation of trends,
claims, and perceived benefits of organic foods. Consumers, retailers, food
companies and farmers will find this book highly enlightening and helpful when
they are faced with the choice to go organic - or not. 231 pages.
Family Friendly Farming, by Joel Salatin; ISBN: 0-9638109-3-6; Described
as a “multigenerational home-based business testament,” this book offers advice
on goal setting, financial perspective, romancing the next generation, enjoying
your vocation and retirement planning. One intriguing section is entitled “10
Commandments for Making the Kids Love the Farm.” 402 pages
The New Organic Grower’s Four-Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman; ISBN:
0-930031-57-1; The author shows you how to produce fresh, healthy food from your
garden year-round. This well-illustrated book covers everything from soil
fertility to mobile greenhouses. 212 pages
The Donkey Companion, by Sue Weaver; ISBN: 978-1-60342-038-9; Training
tips, valuable advice, fun facts, quotes, and colorful anecdotes are all
included in this comprehensive, up-to-date guide to the versatile donkey. 343
pages.
How to Build Animal Housing - 60 plans for Coops, Hutches, Barns, Sheds,
Pens, Nest Boxes, Feeders, Stanchions, and Much More, by Carol Ekarius;
ISBN: 978-1-58017-527-2; An indispensable guide for small-scale farmers, hobby
farmers, and animal lovers. This book helps you evaluate the housing needs of
your animals and provides dozens of adaptable shelter plans including sheds,
coops, hutches, multi-purpose barns, windbreaks, and shade structures. The
detailed plans are supplemented with an entire section dedicated to construction
techniques. 272 pages.
How to Be a Dirt-Smart Buyer of Country Property, by Curtis Seltzer;
ISBN: 0-7414-3443-1; An exhaustive guide written for buyers, not sellers. This
book shows you the ways to learn values and problems in rural real estate -
second homes, farms, undeveloped land, timberland, minerals and investment
property. Reading this book could save you tens of thousands of dollars and may
prevent many sleepless nights worrying about how to purchase rural property. 751
pages.
You Can Farm - The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming
Enterprise, by Joel Salatin; ISBN: 978-0963810922; The author describes just
how he runs his farm and why. He stresses how to be successful in faming in a
no-nonsense way. By sticking to the example of his own experience and his own
farm, he paints a vivid, detailed and accurate picture of how he makes his
living from farming, and how you can, too. 480 pages.
The Home Creamery, by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley; ISBN: 978-1-60342-031-0;
Discover how easy it is to make fresh dairy products at home! You don't need a
commercial kitchen or hard-to-find specialty ingredients to whip up fresh
buttermilk, yogurt, cream cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, goat cheese, mascarpone
and other dairy delights. 220 pages.
Successful Small-Scale Farming: An Organic Approach, by Karl Schwenke;
ISBN: 978-0882666426; This classic book introduces anyone owning (or planning to
own) a small farm to both the harsh realities and the real potential involved in
making a full or part-time living on the land. 144 pages.
The Pond Lovers, by Gene Logsdon; ISBN: 978-0820329543; This book is the
author’s ode to the watery microcosms all around us, from the half-acre farm
pond to the suburban garden pool. Readers looking for hands-on experience will
find plenty of pond-keeping dos and don'ts. Logsdon's higher purpose, however,
is to proclaim the natural, spiritual, and recreational benefits of ponds. 176
pages.
Backyard Market Gardening, by Andy Lee and Patricia Foreman; ISBN:
978-0962464805; Discover how easy and profitable it is to grow and sell
vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs and small livestock from your own backyard
market garden. If you want to sell what you grow, this book is a good place to
start. 356 pages.
The Encyclopedia of Country Living, by Carla Emory; ISBN: 978-1570615535;
This compendium of home-based food production information is the hefty result of
over three decades of intelligence-gathering by Emery, whose initial
encyclopedia project was designed to help newbies in the "back to the land"
movement of the early 70s learn self-sufficiency. Topics run the gamut from the
simple to the complex, and from the common to the strange, including how to:
bake bread, make seed milk, sew a cornhusk bed, dry flowers, prune kiwi vines,
culture yogurt, plant beans, keep bees, build a fish pond, artificially
inseminate a turkey and help a cow who's eaten nails. 928 pages.
The Best of Virginia Farms Cookbook and Tour Book: Recipes, People, Places,
by CiCi Williamson; ISBN: 978-0897326575; Combining useful information,
agricultural history, and recipes from Virginia's political leaders,
celebrities, chefs, and farm families, the author has created a book that
entertains and educates readers about the state’s land, people, and food. From a
trip to historic Jamestown and Yorktown to a mariner's tour of the lower
Chesapeake Bay to a weekend tour of central Virginia's wineries, the 17 driving
tours sprinkled throughout the book encourage readers to discover historic
farmsteads, museums, plantations, and more. 310 pages.
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