In the interest of full disclosure, I should state that I do not do any farming in my backyard. I do have a semi-successful vegetable garden in the front yard, but animals like chickens or bees are not allowed in our township and I travel way too much to get into serious gardening. Also, despite having been the daughter of a farmer, I have never lived on a farm except for a brief period when I was married to the son of a dairy farmer and we rented “the brown house.” Growing up we had a backyard garden every couple of years when my Dad felt like it, but our actual potato and onion farm was scattered across the county. The only people I knew who lived on farms were hired hands or small dairy farmers who hadn’t built their new house yet. You know, away from the dirt roads and manure pits and rusty well water. This caused great confusion when my friends from high school (the ones who lived “in town”–I was bused to a Christian high school 20 miles away) came over and wanted to know where our farm was. They pictured everyone in our area as living on a small farm complete with cows, chickens, etc. Not ranch house neighborhoods butting up to someone else’s cornfield.
Over the years as I’ve learned more about sustainability and local food, like many people, I do have a daydream of someday having a homestead. It would be wonderful (in my head, at least) to live on 40 acres in the middle of nowhere with a small working farm, eating off the land and making my own soap. Except that the commute would be terrible; of course DH and I would have to keep our jobs to actually pay for the place; and the lack of DSL internet would be a real drag.
So when Angela England asked me to review her new book Backyard Farming on an Acre (More or Less): Eat healthy, save money, and live sustainably in the space you have, I was curious. Is it REALLY possible to have a backyard farm in the suburbs? What can I realistically do with a shady yard taken up mostly by a ranch house and additional two stall garage in a place that doesn’t allow chickens? Additionally, I was sort of wondering what would be involved if we did somehow manage to score a place a bit closer to an agriculturally-zoned area.
I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of material that WAS applicable to my current situation. Part 1 talks about the reasons for backyard farming, how to purchase undeveloped land, and how to make the most of where you are living currently. Part 2 talks about gardening, and includes lots of helpful information for planning your garden, tools and skills needed, building the soil, intensive gardening, crop rotation, and more. Part 3 gets into animals (not particularly applicable to my current situation, but I put chickens, rabbits, sheep, goats, and bees in my “someday” mental file). Part 4 covers seasonal eating and preserving the harvest, and Part 5 provides a taste of misc. things that the authors calls “crafting,” including home dairying, fibers from sheep to sweater, home brewing, goat milk soap making, and more.
The book concludes with a delightful appendix of simple plans for the backyard farm, gardening journal pages, and a fairly helpful index.
Overall, I feel that the book is nicely written and includes just enough practical advice for someone like me (suburbs, not much experience) to be inspired and feel equipped to increase my gardening next year, and enough “someday” material to keep the homesteading dream alive and look for ways that I can help others in their endeavors. Sort of like great cookbooks include not only recipes you can make on the weekend, but also recipes that you’ll probably never get around to making because they are too time consuming, but it’s fun to read about them and imagine what it would be like.
If you’d like to learn more about Backyard Farming on an Acre, visit Angela’s website. And, if you purchase a copy of your own before December 20, you’ll receive bonus downloads! Click on over for the details.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Nice review. Book sounds really interesting!