Offering proven techniques and practical advice, this inspiring handbook covers all aspects of successfully running a small organic farm. With expert tips on everything from buying land to creating a niche market for your products, Karl Schwenke shows you how to naturally enrich your soil, acquire necessary equipment, consistently grow abundant crops, and manage farm finances. You'll enjoy learning essential skills like haying and fencing as you turn your organic farming dream into a profitable reality.
Successful Small-Scale Farming 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. Karl Schwenke's clear-eyed approach to the best farming methods covers a wide range of proven techniques and practical advice, including:
* How to improve, conserve, and enrich your soil organically, to ensure the highest (and healthiest) yields.
* What machinery you'll need and how to use it.
* The best "cash crops" and specialty crops to grow for profit and how to raise them.
* How to use innovative strategies to find or create a market "niche" for your farm's crops or services.
* A concise overview of essential farmstead skills, such as haying, fencing, and managing a woodlot.
* Numerous charts and tables that put useful calculations at your fingertips.
With today's increased concern for the quality of the food we eat and the health of our environment, Successful Small-Scale Farming offers a unique and invaluable perspective on the future of agriculture. Karl Schwenke's message -- that small-scale farms can be cleaner, smarter, and more efficient than corporate agribusiness -- has never been so relevant as it is today
Paperback.