Small is beautiful, and these 15 real farm plans show that small-scale farmers can have big-time success. Compact Farms is an illustrated guide for anyone dreaming of starting, expanding, or perfecting a profitable farming enterprise on 5 acres or less. The farm plans explain how to harness an area’s water supply, orientation, and geography in order to maximize efficiency and productivity while minimizing effort. Profiles of well-known farmers such as Eliot Coleman and Jean-Martin Fortier show that farming on a small scale in any region, in both urban and rural settings, can provide enough income to turn the endeavor from hobby to career. These real-life plans and down-and-dirty advice will equip you with everything you need to actually realize your farm dreams.

This is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to fully prepare your family for any cataclysmic event. Every year rivers flood, hurricanes strike, and earthquakes shake buildings to the ground. Catastrophic disasters can hit anywhere at any time. There’s simply no escaping them. The only reasonable thing you can do is get prepared. Accessible to absolute beginners, this guide to prepping shows how to create a self-sustainable home for surviving anything from a power outage to societal collapse. In just a few hundred well-thought-out pages, Countdown to Preparedness takes you and your family from clueless to completely ready.

In Farmall: The Red Tractor That Revolutionized Farming, the history of the Farmall is traced from the first Farmall, developed in the early 1920s, through its evolution to the new Farmall models. The book combines a broad cultural history of Farmall with photos of restored machines, as well as color and black-and-white archival photography.

Discover how to get off the consumer treadmill and enjoy a simpler lifestyle. Gary Collins documents his firsthand experience in this comprehensive guide on how to find property and build a self-sustaining home to achieve happiness through simplicity. Included are tips for how to deal with general contractors and a review of common types of off-the-grid home construction (standard, straw bale, logs, and green cinder block) that highlights energy efficiency and insulation. All the basics are thoroughly covered, such as well water, septic and sewage disposal, and off-the-grid energy options (solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal). Factored in are contemporary concerns, including access to internet and cell phone service and the importance of an effective security system. Chapter summaries drive home key points for success, and a list of resources directs readers to key information.

Interest in local, sustainable food is at an all-time high. Devotees of farmers market and community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, backyard homesteaders, and community gardeners all want to know more (much more) about how our food is raised. Now, seventh-generation farmer and author Forrest Pritchard introduces us to 18 heroes of the sustainable food movement.

Food recalls, dubious health claims, scary and shocking ingredients in health and beauty products. Our increasingly industrialized supply system is becoming more difficult to navigate, more frightening, and more frustrating, leaving us feeling stuck choosing in many cases between the lesser of several evils.

Author Deborah Niemann offers healthier, more empowering choices, by showing us how to reclaim links in our food and purchasing chains, to make choices that are healthier for our families, ourselves, and our planet. In this fully updated and revised edition of Homegrown and Handmade, Deborah shows how making things from scratch and growing some of your own food can help you eliminate artificial ingredients from your diet, reduce your carbon footprint, and create a more authentic life.

Whether your goal is increasing your self-reliance or becoming a full-fledged homesteader, it’s packed with answers and solutions to help you rediscover traditional skills, take control of your food from seed to plate, and much more. This comprehensive guide to food and fiber from scratch proves that attitude and knowledge is more important than acreage. Written from the perspective of a successful, self-taught modern homesteader, this well-illustrated, practical, and accessible manual will appeal to anyone who dreams of a more empowered life.

Deborah Niemann presents and teaches extensively on topics ranging from soapmaking to livestock care. She and her family raise livestock for meat, eggs and dairy products, while an organic garden and orchard provide fruit and vegetables. Deborah is also the author of Raising Goats Naturally.

CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $4.50. AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Reprint by Alan King. 12 pages.

For more than four decades, the self-described “contrary farmer” and writer Gene Logsdon commented on the state of American agriculture. In Letter to a Young Farmer, his final book of essays, Logsdon addressed the next generation: young people moving back to the land to enjoy a better way of life as small-scale “garden farmers.” It’s a lifestyle that isn’t defined by accumulating wealth or by the “get big or get out” agribusiness mindset. Instead, it’s one that recognizes the beauty of nature, cherishes the land, respects our fellow creatures, and values rural traditions. It’s one that also looks forward and embraces “right technologies,” including new and innovative ways of working smarter, not harder, and avoiding premature burnout.

The 1970s classic has been out of print for years. Now, updated for today's readers and back in print, its information is as useful as ever. It contains instructions and illustrations for everything from harnessing solar energy to cultivating a sustainable garden to learning how to keep bees. Simply put, Mother Earth News Almanac is designed to empower readers to be self-sufficient.

We are pairing two great Mother Earth News Collector Series together to give you the ultimate set on modern homesteading and organic gardening! The first volume in this set provides all the knowledge needed to grow your own quick and simple organic garden! It starts with a guide for beginners, takes you through maintaining your garden naturally, and even teaches you how to store what you harvest. That’s just the start of things. The second volume furnishes timeless tips and information for today’s homesteader. Inside its pages, you’ll learn all about making a living off 1.5 acres, financial planning for going off-grid, and taking a simple approach to mob grazing. Together, these editions offer more than 300 pages that provide plenty of information and inspiration for folks looking to live more simply, more securely, and more sustainably. Here are just a few of the other topics covered: • How to Choose the Right Chainsaw for Your Homestead • How to Make Cheap Garden Beds • Feed Your Flock to Boost Omega-3s • Grow More Food in a Movable Greenhouse • DIY Outdoor Cookers • Best Vegetable to Grow in the Shade • How to Tan a Deer Hide • DIY Greenhouse for Winter Growing • Easy Ways to Preserve Fresh Food • Beginning Gardening • Easy One-Pot Meals • Best Tips for Starting Seeds Indoors • Guide to Organic Pest Control • Winning Against Weeds • Grow Your Own Mushrooms • Easy DIY Garden Shed Plans • Winter Gardening Tips Get this great set today while this deal still lasts!