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.
 

Books are listed in no particular order:

The Cattle Health Book, by Heather Smith Thomas; ISBN: 978-1603420952; The Cattle Health Handbook is the essential medical reference for farmers and ranchers confronting day-to-day bovine health issues. Heather Smith Thomas, an expert on livestock with decades of first-hand experience, covers every routine situation — and many not-so-common problems — likely to arise on a cattle ranch or dairy farm. 384 pages

The Blueberry years, by Jim Minick; ISBN: 978-0312571429; This book is simply a great pleasure to read. Jim Minick ties together a marvelous story of the trials and tribulations of a teacher who turns small farmer going back to the land to create a simpler quieter life. He writes of his colorful experiences trying to make a go of growing blueberries on a hilltop in Southwest Virginia. One of my favorite books. 352 pages with color illustrations.

The Organic Farming Manual, by Anne Harkin Larsen; ISBN: 978-1603424806; The Organic Farming Manual is a comprehensive guide to growing, certifying, and marketing organic produce, grains, meat, and dairy. Beginning farmers committed to launching an organic operation and experienced farmers hoping to transition from traditional farming techniques will find all the information they need. 448 pages

The Profitable Hobby Farm, by Sarah Beth Aubrey; ISBN: 978-0470432099; Whether you want to create a small hobby business or start up a full-time venture, this is the book for you. Thoroughly researched and packed with information for putting ideas into action, this is your blueprint for building a sustainable local foods business; 288 pages

The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer, by Joel Salatin; ISBN: 978-0963810960; Anyone looking for ammunition to defend a more localized, solar-driven, diversified food system will find an entire arsenal in these pages. With wit and humor honed during countless hours working on the farm he loves, and then interacting with conventional naysayers, Salatin brings the land to life, farming to sacredness, and food to ministry.  300 pages

Raising Chickens for Dummies; ISBN: 978-0470465448; Provides a thorough introduction to all aspects of caring for chickens, including choosing and purchasing chickens, constructing housing, and proper feeding. 408 pages.

Fresh Food from Small Spaces, by A.J. Ruppenthal; ISBN: 978-1603580281; Until now, there has been no comprehensive "how-to" guide for growing fresh food in the absence of open land. Fresh Food from Small Spaces fills the gap as a practical, comprehensive, and downright fun guide to growing food in small spaces. 178 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.

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

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.

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.