With in-depth information on electric fencing, watering, and husbandry
for ruminants, poultry, and pigs, plus butchering, dairying, and more
"If we work hard, we sleep well."
Twenty years ago, when authors Shawn and Beth Dougherty purchased the
land they would come to name the Sow's Ear, the state of Ohio designated
it "not suitable for agriculture." Today, their family raises and grows
90% of their own food.
Such self-sufficiency is largely the result of basing their farming
practices around intensive pasture management. Pioneered by such
luminaries as Allan Savory, Greg Judy, and Joel Salatin, the tenets of
holistic grazing--employed mostly by larger-scale commercial
operations--have been adapted by the Doughertys to fit their family's
needs. In The Independent Farmstead, The Sow's Ear model for
regenerating the land and growing food--"the best you ever tasted"--is
elucidated for others to use and build upon.
In witty and welcoming style, The Independent Farmstead covers
everything from choosing a species of ruminant and incorporating it into
a grass-based system to innovative electric fencing and watering
systems, to what to do with all of the milk, meat, and, yes, manure that
the self-sustaining farm produces. Within these pages, the Doughertys
discuss how to:
- Find and improve poor, waste, or abused land and develop its natural
water resources;
- Select and purchase the appropriate ruminant for regenerating your
farmstead;
- Apply fencing strategies and pasture management basics;
- Implement basic, uncomplicated food processing, including large and
small animal butchering and cheese making; and
- Integrate grass, gardens, and livestock to minimize or eliminate the
need for off-farm inputs.
As the Doughertys write, more and more people today are feeling "the
desire for clean, affordable food, unmodified, unprocessed, and
unmedicated and the security of local food sourcing for ourselves and
our children." The Independent Farmstead is a must-have resource for
those who count themselves as part of this movement: both new and
prospective farmers and homesteaders, and those who are interested in
switching to grass-based systems. Best of all it's the kind of rare
how-to book that the authors themselves view not as a compendium of
one-size-fits-all instructions but as "the beginning of a conversation,"
one that is utterly informative, sincere, and inspiring.
