Our Wild Farming Life


Book Description

As seen on the BBC’s This Farming Life The inspirational story of Lynbreck Croft—a regenerative Scottish farm rooted in local food, community, and the dreams of two women. Lynn and Sandra left their friends, family, and jobs in England to travel north to Scotland to find a bit of land that they could call their own. They had in mind keeping a few chickens, a kitchen garden, and renting out some camping space; instead, they fell in love with Lynbreck Croft—150 acres of opportunity and beauty, shrouded by the Cairngorms and deep in the Highlands of Scotland. But they had no money, no plan, and no experience in farming. In Our Wild Farming Life, Lynn and Sandra recount their experiences as they work out what kind of farmers they want to be, learning how to work with Highland cattle, become part of the crofting community, and understand how they can farm with nature to produce food for themselves and the people around them. “Through their journey to becoming farmers,” as The Guardian recently wrote, “it’s clear that nature and the health of the environment plays a central role in everything they do, from planting 17,500 native broadleaf trees for wood pasture to setting aside 22 hectares for rewilding.” And through efforts like these, Lynn and Sandra have been able to combine regenerative farming practices with old crofting traditions to keep their own personal values intact. Our Wild Farming Life is what happens when you follow your dreams of living on the land; a story of how two people became farmers—and how they learned to make a living from it, their way.




This Farming Life


Book Description

Farmer Tim Saunders manages to incorporate some writing into his days, and here he describes his life through the seasons: Summer, shearing, slaughter, crop harvest, conservation; Autumn, floods, trading stock, drenching, dagging; Winter, maize harvest, lambing; and Spring, docking, pet sheep, weaning. It's a tough life and through his powerful, poignant writing Tim tells of his connection to the land, why he loves farming, how he's also conflicted by it and what it is that keeps him tethered to that place




The Dirty Life


Book Description

After interviewing a young farmer, writer Kristen Kimball gave up her urban lifestyle to begin a farm with her interviewee near Lake Champlain in northern New York.




My Farming Life


Book Description

AS SEEN ON BBC TWO'S HIT TV-SHOW 'THIS FARMING LIFE' 'A heartwarming tale of life on the land' Alan Titchmarsh 'There's love and loss, challenge and adversity, but above all it's warm, insightful and inspiring' Helen Skelton 'Will inspire any reader to look at the countryside - and all those who work there - with newfound appreciation' Jimmy Doherty 'Uplifting, charming and beautifully written' Adam Henson Emma Gray was just twenty-three when she moved to an isolated farm in Northumberland, becoming Britain's youngest solo shepherdess. In the seasons that followed, Emma fell in love with its rolling fields, surrounding forest and sturdy farmhouse, tending her sheep and training her dogs - and even found romance. But when Emma finds herself suddenly alone again, heartbroken and recovering from a serious accident, she wonders if her isolated existence is still such a sensible idea. Even if she recovers, how could she make a proper living on Fallowlees Farm? In her heartwarming book, Emma tells the story of how she picked herself up and expanded her cattle herd, added more horses to her menagerie, and became one of the country's most successful breeders and trainers of Border Collies - unexpectedly discovering true love and lasting happiness along the way. Written with warmth and humour, My Farming Life is a joyous celebration of nature and community, and a delight for anyone who's ever dreamed of living closer to the countryside.




A History of Ancient Britain


Book Description

Who were the first Britons, and what sort of world did they occupy? In A History of Ancient Britain, much-loved historian Neil Oliver turns a spotlight on the very beginnings of the story of Britain; on the first people to occupy these islands and their battle for survival. There has been human habitation in Britain, regularly interrupted by Ice Ages, for the best part of a million years. The last retreat of the glaciers 12,000 years ago brought a new and warmer age and with it, one of the greatest tsunamis recorded on Earth which struck the north-east of Britain, devastating the population and flooding the low-lying plains of what is now the North Sea. The resulting island became, in time, home to a diverse range of cultures and peoples who have left behind them some of the most extraordinary and enigmatic monuments in the world. Through what is revealed by the artefacts of the past, Neil Oliver weaves the epic story - half a million years of human history up to the departure of the Roman Empire in the Fifth Century AD. It was a period which accounts for more than ninety-nine per cent of humankind's presence on these islands. It is the real story of Britain and of her people.




The Secret Life of Cows


Book Description

"Within a day of receiving this book, I had consumed it... Absorbing, moving, and compulsively readable."—Lydia Davis In this affectionate, heart-warming chronicle, Rosamund Young distills a lifetime of organic farming wisdom, describing the surprising personalities of her cows and other animals At her famous Kite's Nest Farm in Worcestershire, England, the cows (as well as sheep, hens, and pigs) all roam free. They make their own choices about rearing, grazing, and housing. Left to be themselves, the cows exhibit temperaments and interests as diverse as our own. "Fat Hat" prefers men to women; "Chippy Minton" refuses to sleep with muddy legs and always reports to the barn for grooming before bed; "Jake" has a thing for sniffing the carbon monoxide fumes of the Land Rover exhaust pipe; and "Gemima" greets all humans with an angry shake of the head and is fiercely independent. An organic farmer for decades, Young has an unaffected and homely voice. Her prose brims with genuine devotion to the wellbeing of animals. Most of us never apprehend the various inner lives animals possess, least of all those that we might eat. But Young has spent countless hours observing how these creatures love, play games, and form life-long friendships. She imparts hard-won wisdom about the both moral and real-world benefits of organic farming. (If preserving the dignity of animals isn't a good enough reason for you, consider how badly factory farming stunts the growth of animals, producing unhealthy and tasteless food.) This gorgeously-illustrated book, which includes an original introduction by the legendary British playwright Alan Bennett, is the summation of a life's work, and a delightful and moving tribute to the deep richness of animal sentience.




Farming While Black


Book Description

Farming While Black is the first comprehensive "how to" guide for aspiring African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture. At Soul Fire Farm, author Leah Penniman co-created the Black and Latino Farmers Immersion (BLFI) program as a container for new farmers to share growing skills in a culturally relevant and supportive environment led by people of color. Farming While Black organizes and expands upon the curriculum of the BLFI to provide readers with a concise guide to all aspects of small-scale farming, from business planning to preserving the harvest. Throughout the chapters Penniman uplifts the wisdom of the African diasporic farmers and activists whose work informs the techniques described--from whole farm planning, soil fertility, seed selection, and agroecology, to using whole foods in culturally appropriate recipes, sharing stories of ancestors, and tools for healing from the trauma associated with slavery and economic exploitation on the land. Woven throughout the book is the story of Soul Fire Farm, a national leader in the food justice movement.--AMAZON.




Farming Life in Another World Volume 1


Book Description

After Hiraku dies of a serious illness, God brings him back to life, gives his health and youth back, and sends him to a fantasy world of his choice. In order to enjoy his second shot, God bestows upon him the almighty farming tool! Watch as Hiraku digs, chops, and ploughs in another world in this laidback farming fantasy.




This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm


Book Description

Winner of the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize 2019 selection for the One Book One Nebraska and All Iowa state reading programs "Genoways gives the reader a kitchen-table view of the vagaries, complexities, and frustrations of modern farming…Insightful and empathetic." —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The family farm lies at the heart of our national identity, and yet its future is in peril. Rick Hammond grew up on a farm, and for forty years he has raised cattle and crops on his wife’s fifth-generation homestead in Nebraska, in hopes of passing it on to their four children. But as the handoff nears, their family farm—and their entire way of life—are under siege on many fronts, from shifting trade policies, to encroaching pipelines, to climate change. Following the Hammonds from harvest to harvest, Ted Genoways explores the rapidly changing world of small, traditional farming operations. He creates a vivid, nuanced portrait of a radical new landscape and one family’s fight to preserve their legacy and the life they love.




Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volume 1


Book Description

This is the first volume of the monumental Handbook of Middle American Indians, a definitive encyclopaedia of the environment, archaeology, ethnology, social anthropology, ethnohistory, linguistics, and physical anthropology of the native peoples of Mexico and Central America. The Handbook was published in cooperation with the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University under the general editorship of Robert Wauchope (1909–1979). This volume of the Handbook was edited by Dr. Robert C. West (1913–2001), Boyd Professor of Geography at Louisiana State University, an outstanding authority on Latin America. He was formerly cultural geographer for the Smithsonian Institution. Included in this first volume are chapters written by leading authorities in various fields of the natural and social sciences that are concerned with the natural environment of Middle America, its role in the shaping of Indian cultures, the earliest primitive hunters of this area, the beginnings of agriculture, and the broad patterns of prehistoric civilizations there. There are articles on the geohistory and paleogeography of Middle America, its surface configuration and associated geology, hydrography, the American Mediterranean, oceanography and marine life along the Pacific coast, weather and climate, natural vegetation, the soils and their relation to the Indian peoples and cultures, fauna , the natural regions of Middle America, the primitive hunters, the food-gathering and incipient agricultural stage of prehistoric Middle America, origins of agriculture there, and the patterns of farming life and civilization. The Handbook of Middle American Indians was assembled and edited at the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University with the assistance of grants from the National Science Foundation and under the sponsorship of the National Research Council Committee on Latin American Anthropology.