Recent uploads to the Small Farms Library - classic books, full text online:
"An Agricultural Testament" by Sir Albert Howard, Oxford University
Press, 1940.
This is the book that started the organic farming and gardening
revolution, the result of Howard's 25 years of research at Indore in
India. The essence of organics is brilliantly encapsulated in the
Introduction, which begins: "The maintenance of the fertility of the
soil is the first condition of any permanent system of agriculture."
Read on! Full explanation of the Indore composting process and its
application. Excellent on the relationship between soil, food and
health. Full text online.
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html#howard
"Weeds -- Guardians of the Soil" by Joseph A. Cocannouer, Devin-Adair, 1950.
Professor Cocannouer, who taught biology and conservation for 50
years, demonstrates how the controlled use of weeds is sound ecology,
good conservation and a boon to the gardener and farmer. Weeds as
indicators of soil conditions, weeds as companion plants, weeds as
hay and fodder, for opening up the subsoil, remineralizing the
topsoil, for restoring worn-out and eroded land. A wise and
liberating book!
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html#weeds
"Handy Farm Devices and How to Make Them" by Rolfe Cobleigh, Orange
Judd Company, 1910
Not just nostalgia -- Cobleigh's devices and techniques were good
answers to common farm problems and they're just as functional and
useful now as they were then. Make your own workshop tools, a simple
fence post and stump-puller, fences and gates that don't sag,
building a farmhouse, barns and outbuildings, a bicycle-powered
washing machine, a dog-powered pump, a lightweight orchard ladder, a
portable chicken coop, a stone boat (for moving stone) and much more.
Cobleigh's out to save you time and money -- a treasure for small
farmers or homesteaders and anyone wanting to be more
self-sufficient. Illustrated, good old-style writing, punctuated with
quotes from Shakespeare or a local farmer, whichever's apt. Workshop
and Tools, The Steel Square, In and Around the House, Barns and
Stock, Poultry and Bees, Garden and Orchard, Field and Wood, Gates
and Doors, When We Build, Worth Knowing. Full text online. With
thanks to Kirk McLoren.
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html#handyfarm
Coming soon:
"Profitable Poultry Production" by M. G. Kains
Poultry Editor American Agriculturist Weeklies
New York
Orange Judd Company
1910
... and more besides.
Best wishes
Keith Addison
Journey to Forever
Handmade Projects
Osaka, Japan
http://journeytoforever.org/
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