This is a sampling of what I consider some of the most valuable books on my shelf. Each of these books has brought information of perspective that continues to bring us value on our farm and homestead. The only order I have given them is to separate the more advanced books so that people just beginning their adventure don’t unknowingly spend much money on something they will have a hard time applying.
Basic List:
| Title and Author | Why I like it |
| Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway | Classic, home-scale permaculture book. It helps give you a simplified guide to the permaculture design process and principles while giving you actionable steps. It has several reference tables for later when you are getting busy. |
| Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte | A great all-around guide to companion planting to help you find plants that work well together and avoid ones that don’t. |
| The Family Cow by Dirk van Loon | Many consider this the definitive first book and resource on your journey to dairy cow bliss. It doesn’t cover every possible thing that can come up, but you will get your feet under you to have success with your cow. |
| The River Cottage Curing & Smoking Handbook by Steven Lamb | Ok, I haven’t read this cover to cover yet, but we did refer to it when making prosciutto, and this book comes highly recommended by Brandon Sheard of Farmstead Meatsmith, and I trust his opinion. |
| The Art of Natural Cheesemaking by David Asher | Our favorite cheesemaking book because it focuses on what you can do with natural ingredients and processes that our ancestors would have had. I have yet to see a recipe needing the thermophilic culture. Instead, you will find your supplies to include things like kefir, whey, or lemon juice. |
| Duck, Duck, Goose by Hank Shaw | I think most homesteads need ducks. But what do you do when you have too many males, and they go to freezer camp? This book came highly recommended to us when we decided we could take or leave duck meat. Friends don’t let friends eat mediocre duck recipes. |
| Polyface Designs by Joel Salatin and Chris Slattery | I couldn’t decide whether this was advanced or not; after all, this isn’t a cheap book. After thinking about it, I think it belongs on the basic list to help you avoid some design errors when putting your infrastructure together. These are not the only designs that work; this is a solid place to start for all kinds of things. There’s always room to innovate, though, should you be so inclined. |
| Living with Pigs by Chuck Wooster | Definitely not the most in-depth book on pig keeping, and there are things I wish the author talked about that he did not, but we successfully raised pigs our first time after reading this book. It’s an enjoyable read, too, not a textbook. |
| You Can Farm by Joel Salatin | Whether you intend to farm for profit or not, Joel lays out many principles that apply to running a good farm. If you ever plan to sell a product, I highly recommend this. If you don’t know, he is one of the most successful smallish farmers. |
| Pastured Poultry Profits by Joel Salatin | This book is specific to raising meat birds for sale and includes chickens. Pretty dang close to everything you need to know to be successful on just about any scale any of us are likely to do. |
| Salad Bar Beef by Joel Salatin | This is all about… you guessed it, running a 5-acre orchard! Just kidding. Obviously, about beef. He introduces you to the world of managed intensive grazing, low-input farming, and all kinds of good stuff. |
| No Risk Ranching by Greg Judy | Another great resource concerning rotational grazing and pasture management, Greg has quite the track record going from losing the family farm to owning many and leasing thousands of acres without owning the cows. He goes into detail on his business model. I have not done that part, but he has solid advice for pasture management. He also has fantastically hilarious and inspiring stories. |
| Come Back Farms by Greg Judy | In the follow-up to No Risk Ranching, Greg goes into more detail and tries to cover things he either didn’t know at the time or didn’t explain very well. Please don’t get this one without the first one; its value will be limited without foundation. |
| The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman | My favorite gardening author. This one focuses specifically on low-input techniques to maximize your growing season by harvesting all winter long. He is in Maine. If he can do it, it’s possible almost anywhere. |
| Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman | Great for the small farmer and home gardener alike. Eliot lays out the foundation for year-round growth. He’s all about low input and is one of the pioneers here in America when it comes to that. Did I mention he is my favorite garden author? |
| The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds by Robert Gough and Cheryl Moore-Gough | A solid book on saving seeds. It includes all kinds of veggies, herbs, flowers, trees, etc. Not absolutely everything I want to know, but I am a data nerd, and this is a pretty solid resource all around. |
| The Small-Scale Poultry Flock by Harvey Ussery | Harvey is a chicken legend. This book will give you everything you could hope for regarding chickens (primarily laying hens, but he does talk meat, too)—my favorite chicken book. |
| Grow Fruit by Alan Buckingham | I bought this at Lowe’s on a whim. Glad that I did! It gives you a solid foundation on every fruit you could imagine and includes pruning time and how-to, recommended varieties, and what can go wrong. |
| Living with Sheep by Chuck Wooster | Chuck is at it again, this time with sheep. As with pigs, not an absolutely comprehensive guide that will tell you every possible thing you need to know, but you probably won’t kill your first sheep either (at least on accident, he does talk about butchering). It definitely gets you going in the right direction as a newbie. Couple this with Greg Judy’s info on multispecies grazing, and now you’ve got something! |
| The Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk | Ben is awesome. This book is another intro to permaculture-type book that takes you through the basic design process, but Ben has a really unique perspective on things that I appreciate. He might be wrong on the climate change thing, but his points as to what to do in general are spot on. The man grows his own rice in Vermont. How can you not want to read it? |
| Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture by Sepp Holzer | Classic intro to permaculture book. Sepp practiced permaculture before he knew what it was and possibly before it had even been defined. He grows fruit at elevations they told him were impossible—an excellent read for any homesteader, especially those with steep land and challenging conditions. |
| The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live it by John Seymour | This was the first all-around homesteading book I got, and still my favorite. John covers just about every subject you can imagine, from growing vegetables to metalworking. Are you going to be proficient at everything he discusses by reading this? No. But you will have a basic knowledge that will help you get started and quickly learn more as you discover what you are interested in pursuing. He even gives ideas on how he would lay out an urban garden, a 1-acre, and a 5-acre homestead. |
Advanced list:
| Title and Author | Why I like it |
| Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual by Bill Mollison | This is the book. The most in-depth permaculture design book that I am aware of. This book is the foundation of nearly every course one could take to become a permaculture designer. This is a textbook that reads like one most of the time. The depth and breadth of information in this book about every aspect of human needs is staggering. |
| The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman | Look! He made the advanced list too! I almost put this on the basic list but decided on advanced because it is primarily geared toward those who want to grow vegetables as their source of income. However, so much of it is still applicable to home gardeners as well. |
| Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke with Eric Toensmeier | So you want a forest garden? Do you want a 2 volume set that will give you way more information than you could ever possibly remember? Are you a data nerd wanting to know what root pattern just about any tree has, its growth habit, and its attributes that may be of use? Then this book is for you! It goes over the design theory in volume 1. Volume 2 is the process and a terrific resource with tons and tons of charts. This would be my go-to resource if you wanted to design a really well-put-together forest garden or especially if you wanted/needed to design one professionally. |
| Regenerative Soil by Matt Powers | This book blows my soil nerd mind. Just about every nutrient cycle you can imagine is explained. About every physical, chemical, or biological soil attribute you could be curious about. After reading this book, you’d be well on your way to being an expert in soil. The best part is the nearly 100 pages of solutions. How to address all kinds of problems, make your own inoculants and fertilizers, and more. Matt Powers has a gift for assembling vast amounts of information and making it understandable and actionable. Highly recommend it if you want to take your soil to the next level. |
| The Forest Garden Greenhouse by Jerome Osentowski | Jerome has a tropical greenhouse at 7800’ in the Rockies of Colorado and only has to heat it 18 days a year. What’s your excuse? Got some money and want to go greenhouse crazy? Incredible resource and very inspirational. So many possibilities. |
| Restoration Agriculture by Mark Shepard | This is in the advanced list, not because it’s a difficult read or full of complex concepts, but because it is precisely for farm-scale permaculture with a heavy emphasis on tree crops like chestnuts. Great read. You know you want to find out what cat and robin pruning is, don’t you? |
| War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Because I am going to read it one day and you probably should too, if not only to say that you did because you are a legend. |
– Mr. Permie Bear
