Book Description

If the idea of getting back to basics, growing your own food, raising livestock, or venturing into a small-farm business appeals to you, this is the book to help you get started!Whether you're a city dweller heading to the country or a suburbanite who wants fresh produce and eggs from the backyard, this comprehensive beginner-friendly guide will answer your questions with practical how-to advice. Six containers of heirloom tomatoes, miniature squashes, and herbs on your back patio or six acres of beets, cabbages, and strawberries? Five chickens and a honey bee hive or a small farm with three dozen sheep and a couple of quarter horses? Regardless of the size of your "field of dreams," this handbook is your best first step to making that farming business for dummies aspiration a pleasurable and profitable reality!A farming business for the past thirty years, author Biden Dum PH.D shares the joys, challenges, and rewards of living the rural life. Carol is also the co-author of Story's Guide to Raising Sheep and the author of Small-Scale Livestock Farming, Story's Illustrated Breed Guide to Sheep, Goats, Cattle, and Pigs, and many more.Assessing resources: finances, land, water, and tools of the trade (trucks, tractors, and various implements)Choosing the best crops for your land, climate, hardiness, and profitabilityLivestock that best fits your farming business for dummies (chickens, goats, cows, sheep, etc.) and how to select and care for themProtecting crops and livestock against predators, pests, and diseaseBusiness options for marketing and selling your "local food" directly to restaurants and farmers' markets and through CSA programsPreserving the harvest through canning, drying, and freezing, plus over two dozen original recipes for your homegrown produceWhy be a farmer in the 21st century? Do you have what it takes?What does sustainable really mean, and how can a small (as little as one acre) to midsize farm survive alongside commodity-scale agriculture?How do you access education, land, and other needs with limited capital?How can you reap an actual profit, including a return on land investment?How do you build connections with employees, colleagues, and customers?At the end of the day, how do you measure success? (Hint: Cash your lifestyle paycheck.)A totally modern, all-purpose handbook for today's agricultural dreamers-covering the challenges and triumphs of launching any successful farm-from two leading lights in sustainable farming. More than a practical guide, Start Your Farm is a hopeful call to action for anyone who aspires to grow wholesome, environmentally sustainable food for a living.