English Agriculture

According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), each year, an estimated 24 billion tons of fertile soil are lost due to erosion. That’s a whopping 3.4 tons lost every year for each person on the planet.

When Rudolf Steiner gave these lectures 80 years ago, industrial farming was on the rise and organic methods were being replaced in the name of science, efficiency, and technology. With the widespread alarm over the quality of food in recent years, and the growth of the organic movement and its mainstream acceptance, perceptions are changing. The qualitative aspect of food is once again on the agenda, and in this context Rudolf Steiner's only course of lectures on agriculture is critical to the current debate.

The restoration agriculture system described in this award-winning book works! It is possible for humans to produce staple foods using perennial agricultural ecosystems that actually improve the quality of the environment. This can be done on a backyard, farm, or ranch scale and is needed right now - on a global scale. Restoration Agriculture explains how we can have all of the benefits of natural, perennial ecosystems and create agricultural systems that imitate nature in form and function while still providing for our food, building, fuel, and many other needs.

New from best-selling author Mark Shepard! Written as a companion to the best seller Restoration Agriculture, this book will help farmers capture water in areas they want to and avoid having water flow immediately to the low point. The result? Less water expense, healthier crops and livestock, and less erosion...just to name a few.

Have you been dreaming of a way of living that brings you closer to nature, aligning with your passion for sustainability and wholesome food? Are you overwhelmed by the complexities of starting a small-scale farming business that exists in harmony with Mother Nature? Does the idea of creating an eco-friendly, self-sufficient business resonate with your vision of a fulfilling, purposeful life?

You may think you don’t have the time or the money to start a big permaculture project. But permaculture doesn’t need to be overwhelming. You can start as small as you like, and you can move at a pace that suits you. Don’t feel you have to learn everything in one go and rush out to transform a whole wilderness in a year. Just deal in manageable chunks, and you’ll do just fine. Even if all you have done is tend to a few tomato plants on your window ledge, you can become an expert gardener; all it takes is a little time, patience, and practice.

In Barefoot Biodynamics, organic grower Jeff Poppen—“The Barefoot Farmer”—combines tales from his personal history in rural Tennessee with the practical applications of biodynamic principles and the deep aspects of the biodynamic methods that continue to make his farm a success today.

This text provides a compelling narrative world history through the lens of food and farmers. Tracing the world history of agriculture from earliest times to the present, Isett and Miller argue that people rather than markets have been the primary agents of agricultural change, exploring the actions taken by individuals and groups over time.

Do you know what it takes to run a farm? Gail Gibbons uses her signature combination of clear and informative wording to explore life on a farm throughout the year. Kids will hear the work required to take care of various kinds of animals, as well as indoor chores necessary to maintain the farm. Telling how activities change from one season to the next, Gibbons explains how farmers deal with weather and use machines to grow crops which become our food.

Off Grid Farming Essentials can help you be more successful and overcome challenges. This audiobook explains everything you need to know about planting, growing, maintaining, harvesting, and storing your homegrown nuts and fruit. It then describes which greenhouse structure or garden type will work best for you. You will then learn all about acquiring bees, beehive designs, beekeeping equipment, beehive management, bee health, etc. Finally, you will discover all there is to know about fish farming in open ponds, rearing in net pens and cages, recirculating aquaculture systems, and aquaponics.

Thousands of years ago, the Mesopotamians made many discoveries that we enjoy today.

Building Your Permaculture Property offers a revolutionary holistic method to overcome overwhelm in the complex process of resilient land design. It distills the authors' decades of experience as engineers, farmers, educators, and consultants into a five-step process complete with principles, practices, templates, and workflow tools.

Mini Farming describes a holistic approach to small-area farming that will show you how to produce 85 percent of an average family's food on just a quarter acre - and earn $10,000 in cash annually while spending less than half the time that an ordinary job would require.

Building on and connecting histories of food and work, literary criticism of the pastoral and georgic, histories of elite and vernacular science, and histories of reading and writing practices, among other areas of inquiry, Digging the Past offers fine-grained case studies of projects heralded as innovations both in the 17th century and in our own time: composting and soil amendment, local food, natural wine, and hedgerows.

It’s all but certain that the next 50 years will bring enormous, not to say cataclysmic, disruptions to our present way of life. World oil reserves will be exhausted within that time frame, as will the lithium that powers today’s most sophisticated batteries, suggesting that transportation is equally imperiled. Farming for the Long Haul is about building a viable small-farm economy that can withstand the economic, political, and climatic shock waves that the 21st century portends.

Imagine growing any plant without the need for soil. Imagine being able to better manage the spaces of your garden by increasing the number of plants that grow there. Imagine breeding vegetables and fish at the same time. All this is not only possible, but it is also elementary, thanks to this step-by-step guide, consisting of three books.

A wondrous, eye-opening exploration of symbiosis in nature—from microscopic cells to the earth’s atmosphere—and the ways life is connected, codependent, and poetry in motion. Everything on earth hinges on relationships: animals and bacteria, the soil and its microbes, plants and the...

Embark on a journey to self-sufficiency and sustainability with 'Mini Farming Guide: A Comprehensive Handbook for Small-Scale Agriculture.' This audiobook is your essential companion to cultivating abundance on a miniature scale, whether you have a small backyard, balcony, or limited acreage.

Transform your space into a thriving, sustainable haven! Ready to create an eco-oasis but short on time, space, or resources? The Permaculture Roadmap for Busy Lives offers simple, jargon-free solutions to help you embrace sustainable living effortlessly, regardless of where you live.

This meticulously researched book tells the story of Midwestern agriculture during a period of epochal change in farm technology, farm management, and farm life. The hard work, tight communities, and values that had characterized the family farm were replaced by large corporate enterprises with massive acreages, high-tech methods, and global outlooks. While many decry this change as loss, Nordin and Scott find a net gain. This is their richly detailed account of one of the great transformations in American life.