Dear Friends;
The dark days are upon us, and I write with greetings of the season. Those of us who are looking forward to a little slow time (or perhaps seeking a few gift ideas) might be interested in exploring a little winter reading. Rather than shamelessly promoting my cookbooks, I thought you might be interested in a few other titles for broadening your mind about grassfed production and lifestyles outside the kitchen. Below are reviews for three books that I think every pasture-based farmer would love to have in their library. You can see all the book reviews, along with cover images here.
I received many emails last week from Grassfed Cooking subscribers who were thrilled about the opportunity for farmers to occupy Wall Street. I also received a few emails from folks who were outraged that I would even consider heading down to NYC for the Farmers Occupy Wall Street march on December 4th. I promised a number of you who wrote to me that I would do some follow-up stories covering all that happened. Click here to read about why a grass-based farmer would choose to head down to NY and join this protest that has spread across the nation. To learn about how the march went, things I saw and learned, and to explore the hornets’ nest that my choice stirred up here on Grassfed Cooking.com, check out this story: When A Farmer Hops Off The Fence.
Whether you cheered when you heard grassfed producers were heading to Wall Street, threw an extra hay bale in with the herd and headed down yourself, or whether you fumed at the very thought that members of your agricultural community would consider participating in this movement, I want you all to know how much I have enjoyed your readership and involvement in my life over the past few years. Writing for Grassfed Cooking and exploring ways our small farm movement will progress in the kitchen and on the pages of history books has been one of my great joys. I wish all of you a peaceful, happy and healthy holiday season.
Fondly,
Shannon Hayes
The Small-Scale Poultry Flock
By Harvey Ussery
ISBN: 978-1603582902: $39.95
Ussery is a homesteader inVirginiawho has taken his passion for poultry to the written page. He paired up with Chelsea Green to publish a phenomenal resource that delves into everything from the philosophy of why and how we should be keeping poultry, to housing, starting a flock, feed and water systems, fencing, working with pasture-based and backyard systems, integrating poultry with home and farm enterprises, predator issues, butchering, producing feed, poultry behavior, wintering over, health and disease management, to handling, storage, and marketing. Ussery doesn’t limit his discussion to one particular breed of chicken, nor does he limit it just to chickens themselves. He delves deeply into breed considerations, and discusses the needs of waterfowl,Guineasand turkeys as well. The book is even more helpful owing to the extensive color photographs that vividly and fearlessly illustrate all the nitty gritty details of poultry production (including some of the best, most helpful images of butchering I’ve seen). I recommend this book highly. It is equally suitable for the potential urban poultry keeper and the large-scale pastured poultry producer, and promises to be the first go-to resource for everything you will need to know about your poultry endeavors.
Permaculture
By Sepp Holzer
ISBN: 978-1603583701: $29.95
Originally published in German, Holzer’s book was translated for American audiences in the past year. When I first saw the book, I must admit that I didn’t think it held much applicability for the North American pasture-based farmer. However, as I spent more time with it, discovering the extreme climate and landscape conditions that Holzer confronts daily on his own mountain farm, I became fascinated. Holzer’s interpretation of permaculture will be mind-candy to the pasture-based farming movement. We have a tendency to think of ourselves as limited in what and how we produce by our landscape and climate; but Holzer shows how, by simply reconsidering the resources available to us in our natural environments, we can tremendously diversify what we produce, and draw incredible sustenance from even the most seemingly hostile landscapes. I think this is a mind-expanding book that will lend itself beautifully to inspiring new ingenuity in the pasture-based farming movement.
A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity
By William S. Coperthwaite
ISBN: 978-1933392479: $25.00
Coperthwaite’s book was originally released in 2002, but I stumbled upon my dog-eared copy a few days ago, and thought it was worth mentioning here. It is not a farmers’ guide by any means, but for those of us who are deeply committed to our agrarian lifestyle, it offers endless food for thought about the whys and hows of our lives. Coperthwaite’s ideas perpetually inspire me to consider different elements of my life. I repeatedly re-visit them when my life calls for deeper introspection, or when I simply crave new ideas and fuel for pushing forward. The book is beautifully illustrated with color photographs, and makes a wonderful gift that will not easily be loaned out (as selfish and anti-simplicity as this may seem, I NEVER let anyone borrow my Coperthwaite…I can’t be away from it for that long).
