Recommended Farmers’ Resources
If you don’t see any particular resources that you think should be included below, please email us at info.msan@gmail.com and will add it to the list!
BOOKS
ANIMALS / PASTURE:
- Beekeeping, Bonney
- Grass Productivity, Voisin
- Grasses, Brown
- Greener Pastures…, Murphy
- Homeopathic Treatment of Cattle, George McCloud
- Pastured Poultry Profits, Salatin
- Raising Poultry, Mercia
- Raising Sheep the Modern Way, Simmons
- Salad Bar Beef, Salatin
- Sheep Raisers Manual, Knuesi
- Small Scale Sheepk Keeping, Hunt
- The Man Who Listens to Horses, Roberts
- Training Workhorses, Training Teamsters, Miller
- Why Grassfed is Best, Robinson
- Work Horse Handbook, Miller
APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY:
- Micro-Hydropower Sourcebook, NRECA International Foundation
- Solar Living Sourcebook, Real Goods
BIODYNAMICS:
- Agriculture, Rudolph Steiner
- A Biodynamic Farm, Lovel
- Biodynamic Agriculture, Willy Schilthuis
- “Biodynamic Farming practice”, Wistinghausen and Sattler
- “Biodynamic Sprays”, Koepf
- “Compost preps and Sprays”, Pfeiffer
- Culture and Horticulture, Storl
- “Handbook on Composting and the Biodynamic Preps”, Corrin
- Kimberton Calendar
- Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture, Steiner
- “Stella Natura”, Calender from Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association
- The Biodynamic Farm, Herbert Koepf
COVERCROPPING
- The Northeast Cover Crop Handbook, Marianne Sarrantonio Rodale Institute
- Managing Cover Crops for Profitability, Sustainable Ag Network
CSA:
- CSA Farm Network, vol. 1&2, Gilman
- Sharing the Harvest: a guide to community supported agriculture, Elizabeth Henderson
EQUIPMENT:
- Horsedrawn Plows and Plowing, Miller
- The Handcart Handbook, Tresemer
- The Scythe Book, Tresemer
- Steel in the Field, Bowman
- Crop and Vegetable Farming or Gardening, Technical
- Botany for Gardeners, Brian Capon
- Garden Primer, Damrosch
- Knott’s Handbook for Vegetable Growers, Maynard & Hochmuth
- Rodales All New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, Rodale Press
- Small Scale Grain Raising, Logsdon
- Sustainable Vegetable Production from Start Up to Market, Vernon Grubinger
- The Biological Farmer, Zimmer
- The Gardenville Method, Beck
- The Natural Way of Farming, Fukuoka
- The New Organic Grower, Coleman
FARMING OR GARDENING, GENERAL:
- An Agricultural Testament, Albert Howard
- The Albrecht Papers, William Albrecht, ACRES USA
- Changes in the Land, Cronin
- Conversations with Farmers, Finding Sustainable Agriculture, SARE project on Maine farms
- Culture and Horticulture, Storl
- Elements of Sustainable Agriculture, SARE project on Maine farms
- Encyclopedia of Country Living, Emery
- Exploring the Small Farm Dream, New England Small Farm Institute
- Farmers of Forty Centuries: Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan, F.H. King
- Farmland Transfer and Protection in New England, New England Small Farm Institute
- Farms of Tomorrow Revisited, Groh
- Five Acres and Independence, Kains
- Gift of Good Land, Berry
- H.R.M., Alan Savory
- Introduction to Permaculture, Mollison
- Natural Capitalism, Hawkins/Lovings
- On Good Land, Ableman
- Out of the Earth, Daniel Hillel
- Regenerating Agriculture, Pretty
- Successful Small Scale Farming, Schwenke
- The Contrary Farmer, Logsdon
- Organic Gardening Down South, Neal
- The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook, Wiswall
- The Organic Farming Manual, Hansen
- The On-Farm Mentor’s Guide, NESFI
- The New Farmers Market, Corum et al.
- The Real Dirt, Miranda Smith
- The Soul of Soil, Gershuny & Smillie
- Slow Gardening, Rushing
- The Soil & Health, Albert Howard
- Unsettling of America, Wendell Berry (as well as anything else he has written)
- Water for Every farm, P.A. Yeomans
FOOD – HANDLING, STORAGE:
- Putting Food By, Greene et al.
- Root Cellaring, Bubel
- Small Scale Postharvest Handling Practices, Kitinoja and Kader
- Stocking Up, Hupping and the Rodale Staff
FOOD – RECIPIES, NUTRITION:
- Greene on Greens, Greene
- Healing with Whole Foods, Pitchford
- Laurel’s Kitchen, Robertson et al.
- Joy of Cooking, Rombauer, Rombauer Becker, and Becker
- Nourishing Traditions, Fallon
- Recipies From America’s Small Farms, Hayes and Stein
- The Eco-Foods Guide, Barstow
- Conscious Food, Sustainable Growing & Spiritual Eating, Ewing
- The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook, Hayes
- The Moosewook Cookbook, Katzen
- The Simply Grande Gardening Cookbook, Pollard
GREENHOUSE:
- Secrets of Plant Propogation, Hill
- Solviva, Edey
- The Solar Greenhouse Book, McCullagh
HERBS:
- A Modern Herbal, Grieve
- A Woman’s Book of Herbs, Soule
- Green Pharmacy, Griggs
POLITICS:
- Biopiracy, Shiva
- Stolen Harvest, Shiva
SEASON EXTENSION:
- Four Season Harvest, Coleman
- Winter Harvest Manual, Coleman
SEED SAVING:
- Breed your own Vegetable Varieties, Deppe
- “Restoring our Seed” packet, see also their website, growseed.org
- Seed to Seed, Ashworth
SOILS AND COMPOST:
- Building Soils for Better Crops, Magdoff and van Es
- Compost: What it is, How it’s made, What it does, Koepf
- DIRT The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, William Bryant Logan
- Easy Compost, Hanson
- Start With The Soil, Gershuny
- The Complete Book of Composting, Rodale
- The Living Soil Balfour
- The Nature and Properties of Soils, Nyle C. Brady
SPECIFIC CROPS:
- A Garlic Testament, Stanley Crawford
- Growing Great Garlic, Engeland
- Herbal Renaissance, Foster
- Medicinal Herbs, Sturdivant and Blakely
- Specialty Cut Flowers, Alan Armitage
- The Apple Grower, Phillips
- The Back Yard Berry Book, Otto
- The Flower Farmer, Byczynski
- The Organic Apple Grower, Michael Philly’s
- The Potential of Herbs as a Cash Crop, Miller
WEED, PEST, & DISEASE CONTROL:
- Diseases & Pests of Vegetable Crops in Canada, Howard, Garland, & Seaman, Edaphos Paul Sachs
- Identifying Diseases of Vegetables, MacNab et al.
- Rodale’s Color Handbook of Garden Insects, Anna Carr
- The Organic Gardeners Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control, Ellis and Bradey
- Vegetable Farmers and their Weed Control Machines, produced by Vern Grubinger, UVM Extension and Mary Jane Else, UMass extension
- Weeds and What they Tell, Pfeiffer
- Weeds of the Northeast, Uva et al.