Urban Farm Handbook: City Slicker Resources for Growing, Raising, Sourcing, Trading, and Preparing What You Eat [Paperback]

Annette Cottrell (Author), Joshua McNichols (Author), Harley Soltes photographer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2011

You don t have to live on 50 acres to begin taking control over what you eat.
Is that...a goat in your garage?! It might be if you ve been reading THE URBAN FARM HANDBOOK: CITY-SLICKER RESOURCES FOR GROWING, RAISING, SOURCING, TRADING, AND PREPARING WHAT YOU EAT. In this comprehensive guide for city-dwellers on how to wean themselves off of commercial supermarkets, the authors map a plan for how to manage a busy, urban family life with home-grown foods, shared community efforts, and easy yet healthful practices.

More than just a few ideas about gardening and raising chickens, THE URBAN FARM HANDBOOK uses stories, charts, grocery lists, recipes, and calendars to inform and instruct. As busy urbanites who have learned how to do everything from making cheese and curing meat to collaborating with neighbors on a food bartering system, the authors share their own food journeys along with those of local producers and consumers who are changing the food systems in the Pacific Northwest.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Throughout the book, readers will also find Opportunities for Change - steps people can take to achieve a more sustainable urban kitchen, whether it's as simple as changing the types of vendors you buy from or turning your front yard into an edible farm! --Apartment Therapy

The Urban Farm Handbook is a vast, thorough, interesting tool for those into food production and homesteading. And even if you're not going to become a hardcore urban farmer, it's useful to understand how the urban and farm worlds can collide in a time in which we need to redesign the way we produce and consume food. --Treehugger

go-to guide will have even city slickers eating fresh from the backyard --Seattle Magazine

About the Author

Author Annette Cottrell lives in Carnation, WA. Follow her at SustainableEats.com. Co-author Joshua McNichols is a Seattle-based journalist with a long-term interest in sustainability and food security. His favorite stories feature people connecting through community and food, and his work has been featured everywhere from KUOW to Weekend America and The Splendid Table. Photojournalist Harley Soltes lives on an organic farmer in Bow, Washington. His work has been published in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Time, Life, National Geographic, and the Seattle Times.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books (October 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594856370
• ISBN-13: 978-1594856372
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > By Region > Pacific Northwest
  • #27 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > By Technique > Urban

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, yes you can! October 11, 2011

By ErinW

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Have you ever thought it possible to wean yourself from the grocery store? If I was asked this question 5 years ago I would have said no way, not possible in the city. But the last 2-3 years I have been working toward that end. This book will take me even farther into making it a reality and that excites me! I am about half way through the book and can't seem to put it down. I even took the book to my local Kinkos to have it made in to a spiral bound so that I can read it hands free, while drying my hair, cooking, nursing baby etc. You will learn about bulk buying, grinding your own grains, composting, gardening, preserving, keeping animals on your city lot and oh, did I mention recipes? Yes, there are those too. Don't think you have time? Both the authors have young children and I have three young ones of my own & home school. This book will inspire you to make the time commitment to your health. The authors also give different examples of how you can implement to compliment your family dynamics and time. I have met both the authors through our local bulk buys. They are as inspiring in person as they are in print. Their real life stories of how they are living this life is written with humor and experience. You will not be disappointed with this valuable purchase!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars good resource, tons of useful info for moving toward sustainable food October 10, 2011

By Jennifer D. Lisk

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book arrived a week ago, and since then I've been trying to soak in all the useful information. It's a beautiful book - great photos, well organized. You might think from the title that it mostly covers gardening, but it's not limited to that...it's a collection of closely related subjects that, added together, helps people move toward a more sustainable lifestyle (mostly food-related, but there are some recipes for soaps and such)...eg growing food, composting, recipes for what to do with all that food you grow (including preserving, and not just through canning), how to organize a buying club to support local farmers and get large quantities of food for storing and preserving. It also covers other food topics, like chickens and bees and dairy (including cheesemaking) and meat. Lots on grains: grinding flour (easy, and not a crazy as it sounds - trust me!), and then what to do with that flour. The authors have small kids, so there is some commentary on involving kids in all of this. There are also a number of profiles of various folks engaging in sustainable food-related activities...small farmers, cheesemakers, and such; it's interesting and inspiring to read about these folks who are working on changing our food system. All in all, a great book; I'm glad I bought it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Urbanite Or Not - A Handbook For City Gardening and City Farming February 14, 2012

By Shannon L. Yarbrough VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I won a copy of this book from a GoodReads give away. Had I explored it a bit more before signing up for the raffle, I probably would have had second thoughts. Upon receiving it, I thumbed through it quickly to browse the photographs and was surprisingly shocked at the instructional pages on how to slaughter chickens and pigs. That extremity aside, the rest of the book is a plethora of good information when it comes to urban gardening.

There is a ton of basic information for the small avid gardener like me which includes planting and tending to a year-round vegetable garden, making your own compost, maximizing small spaces, raising backyard animals for eggs and milk, and preserving foods (canning, drying, freezing, pickling, and fermenting).

For those on a higher level, there is information about creating a direct farmer-to-consumer connection, setting up "buying clubs" with other local farmers, creating cold storage for roots and squashes, learning about city farming permits, and making your own soaps and cleaners.

The book itself caters to the Pacific Northwest when it comes to locales and resources, but its wealth of lists, photographs, and home-production recipes makes it a good resource for anyone living in the city with even a flower box reserved for vegetables or herbs. There truly is something here for everyone - young or old, novice or experienced. If you have an interest in at-home sustainable living, this handbook is for you.