Successful Small-Scale Farming: An Organic Approach (Down-To-Earth Book) [Paperback]

Karl Schwenke (Author)

Book Description

Series: Down-To-Earth Book | Publication Date: January 4, 1991

“My advice is as old as the plow.”  So says author, Karl Schwenke of his guide to making a full- or part-time living on the land, a book for anyone who plans to own a small farm.  With sections on soil management, farm practices, cash crop selections, machinery, and many other topics, as well as comprehensive series of appendices, the author touches upon the basics of getting started with one’s own small-scale farm.  Schwenke, himself a small farm owner, has provided a great practical resource for the beginning cash crop grower.  Get started on acquiring “the hodgepodge of knowledge blended with a plethora of skills” necessary to becoming a successful organic farmer.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

When I first wrote Successful Small-Scale Farming eleven years ago, writes Karl Schwenke in the preface to this new edition, "an 'organic farmer' was synonymous with a 'lonely hippie troublemaker.' Today he is classed somewhere between a high-priced elitist and an opportunistic liar."

So begins this classic guide to organic small-scale agriculture, fully updated and revised for the 1990s -- for a new generation of readers who would like to live closer to the earth.

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.

About the Author

Karl Schwenke is a professional writer who lives with wife Sue on a farm in Newbury, Vermont, where they have raised strawberries, pigs and hay among other crops. Together, this couple has written the book Build Your Own Stone House, and Karl wrote the Storey title Successful Small-Scale Farming. His other work includes Sierra North and Sierra South from Wilderness Press, an organization in Berkeley, California, that he co-founded after graduating from college. Karl has also written In a Pig's Eye (Chelsea Green Publishing).

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; 2 edition (January 4, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882666428
• ISBN-13: 978-0882666426
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Agricultural Sciences > History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you read it, you will farm! Or you'll run elsewhere FAST., June 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Successful Small-Scale Farming: An Organic Approach (Down-To-Earth Book) (Paperback)

If you're thinking of small scale commercial farming, this is the book for you! If you know about soil and crop rotation and yields and harvest logistics, there's still plenty of information about equipment and storage and seeds and...

If you don't know about those things, this book is the place to start. With the information here and a little current market research, (ie. surf the web for 20 minutes to get prices,) you can write a complete farm business plan.

Well written, clear and to the point, it's full of tips and tricks to make your venture a success. It would be a bargain at ten times the price! (And I'm a hard grader.

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No b.s, uh....manure!, July 15, 2000

By 

"manjuli" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Successful Small-Scale Farming: An Organic Approach (Down-To-Earth Book) (Paperback)

This book is for people who either live and farm in the country already, or have some realastic experience about what it is to work for a living. Anyone who has ever tried to bring in a crop, will appreciate the down-to-earth basic information provided. If you are looking for information about how to make a pretty garden, look elsewhere. this is a not to be missed reference, right up there with your county extension agent's telephone number.

56 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic!, February 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Successful Small-Scale Farming: An Organic Approach (Down-To-Earth Book) (Paperback)

Anyone owning or planning to own a small farm will find this handbook an invaluable guide to both the real potential and the harsh realities in making a full or part-time living on the land - buying land, growing and marketing your crops. Concise how-to. 134 pages.