I Love The Farm

A fresh, new guide to the backyard lifestyle The homesteading movement is continuing to grow, as more people are stepping up to have a hand in where their food comes from. Whether you want to dabble or immerse yourself completely in the do-it-yourself, back-to-basics lifestyle, Welcome to the Farm is a comprehensive, fully illustrated guide to growing the very best food right in your own backyard. Shaye Elliott takes readers on a journey that teaches them how to harvest baskets full of organic produce, milk a dairy cow (and make butter), plant a homestead orchard, can jams and jellies, and even raise chickens and bees. From her experience running The Elliott Homestead, Shaye provides all the how-to wisdom you need to know about: The benefits of a home garden The basics of seed starting Building your own greenhouse What belongs in the winter garden Canning, freezing, and dehydrating techniques and recipes The pros and cons of caged vs. free-change chickens Keeping a dairy cow and what to do with all the milk Raising animals for meat Making your own cider and wine And so much more! Welcome to the Farm is aimed to serve homesteaders and urban-farmers alike, guiding them through the beginning stages of small-area farming and utilizing whatever amount of space they have available for optimal and delicious food production.

At Clay Bottom Farm, author Ben Hartman and staff practice kaizen, or continuous improvement, cutting out more waste--of time, labor, space, money, and more--every year and aligning their organic production more tightly with customer demand. Applied alongside other lean principles originally developed by the Japanese auto industry, the end result has been increased profits and less work. In this field-guide companion to his award-winning first book, The Lean Farm, Hartman shows market vegetable growers in even more detail how Clay Bottom Farm implements lean thinking in every area of their work, including using kanbans, or replacement signals, to maximize land use; germination chambers to reduce defect waste; and right-sized machinery to save money and labor and increase efficiency. From finding land and assessing infrastructure needs to selling perfect produce at the farmers market, The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables digs deeper into specific, tested methods for waste-free farming that not only help farmers become more successful but make the work more enjoyable. These methods include: Using Japanese paper pot transplanters Building your own germinating chambers Leaning up your greenhouse Making and applying simple composts Using lean techniques for pest and weed control Creating Heijunka, or load-leveling calendars for efficient planning Farming is not static, and improvement requires constant change. The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables offers strategies for farmers to stay flexible and profitable even in the face of changing weather and markets. Much more than a simple exercise in cost-cutting, lean farming is about growing better, not cheaper, food--the food your customers want.

A celebration of the Australian family farm. 32 page children's book full of photographs of farm animals and activities.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Life is a lucrative business, as long as you play by the rules. Skimm Reads Pick • People Book of the Week • Belletrist Book Pick • “[Joanne] Ramos’s debut novel couldn’t be more relevant or timely.”—O: The Oprah Magazine NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time • Glamour • Real Simple • Good Housekeeping • Marie Claire • Town & Country Nestled in New York’s Hudson Valley is a luxury retreat boasting every amenity: organic meals, personal fitness trainers, daily massages—and all of it for free. In fact, you’re paid big money to stay here—more than you’ve ever dreamed of. The catch? For nine months, you cannot leave the grounds, your movements are monitored, and you are cut off from your former life while you dedicate yourself to the task of producing the perfect baby. For someone else. Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines, is in desperate search of a better future when she commits to being a “Host” at Golden Oaks—or the Farm, as residents call it. But now pregnant, fragile, consumed with worry for her family, Jane is determined to reconnect with her life outside. Yet she cannot leave the Farm or she will lose the life-changing fee she’ll receive on the delivery of her child. Gripping, provocative, heartbreaking, The Farm pushes to the extremes our thinking on motherhood, money, and merit and raises crucial questions about the trade-offs women will make to fortify their futures and the futures of those they love. NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE “So many factors—gender, race, religion, class—may determine where you come down on the surrogacy debate. . . . Ramos plays with many of these notions in her debut novel, The Farm, which imagines what might happen were surrogacy taken to its high-capitalist extreme. . . . The stage is set for lively book chat.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) “A thrilling read.”—New York “Grippingly realistic.”—Entertainment Weekly “Brilliant.”—New York Post “A provocative idea, and Ramos nails it . . . Crisp and believable, this smart debut links the poor and the 1 percent in a unique transaction that turns out to be mutually rewarding.”—People “Wow, Joanne Ramos has written the page-turner about immigrants chasing what’s left of the American dream. . . . Truly unforgettable.”—Gary Shteyngart, New York Times bestselling author of Super Sad True Love Story and Lake Success

* MOONBEAM GOLD AWARD * * GROWING GOOD KIDS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY AND NATIONAL MASTER JUNIOR GARDENER PROGRAM * Milk doesn't just appear in your refrigerator, nor do apples grow in the bowl on the kitchen counter. Before We Eat has been adopted by the USDA’s Agriculture in the Classroom program. Before we eat, many people work very hard—planting grain, catching fish, tending farm animals, and filling crates of vegetables. With vibrant illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Mary Azarian, this book reminds us what must happen before food gets to our tables to nourish our bodies and spirits. This expanded edition of Before We Eat includes back-of-book features about school gardens and the national farm-to-school movement. Fountas & Pinnell Level L

Children share their love for farm animals in a hard-to-find Guided Reading Level A nonfiction reader from an award-winning photographer."I like the pig . . . I like the piglet." Simple, joyful text accompanies Shelley Rotner’s vibrant and heartwarming photographs of children and animals on the farm. Young readers will learn to identify adult farm animals with their babies and will enjoy the children’s looks of happiness and wonder at being close to creatures big and small.

In this adorable illustrated picture book for kids written by Dan McKernan (Saved by the Barn), the rescue farm animals at Barn Sanctuary decide to help a cow who is dealing with fear and anxiety in her new home. Children will learn the importance of friendship and compassion, as well as why it’s important to support others during hard times. Inside this book, kids ages 4-8 will discover: A positive message about friendship, kindness, and understanding others How to show compassion to others Ways of coping with difficult situations, including how to deal with fear and anxiety A page with information on Barn Sanctuary and their rescue efforts, with information on ways you can support the real-life animals featured in the book This Farm Is a Family follows a group of rescued farm animals who are living their best lives at Barn Sanctuary. Each one is eager to meet the newest arrival, Buttercup the cow, and show her all the fun things they can do together. But Buttercup doesn’t want to play--in fact, she doesn’t want anything to do with the other animals. So with a lot of love and understanding, the animals work together to help Buttercup discover she’s part of a new family and can leave her old fears behind. This Farm Is a Family is perfect for: Birthdays, Christmas, and Easter or Passover gifts, as well as back to school reading Children ages 4-8 who love farm animals and cuddly creatures Teaching young readers kindness and compassion, and that they can make a difference in the world Kids who are in a new school, new neighborhood, or new house