Farming
From the Bookshelf of Mr. Permie Bear…
Each of these books has brought information of perspective that continues to bring us value on our farm and homestead.

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
Farming
How to Tan Fur on Hides With a Note on Making Leather
This is an art. Learning takes time, but don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The hide is very forgiving.

By: Salt & Stone Bear

This article was first printed in our very first issue of The Beartaria Times Magazine, Origins, A Revealing of Legends
More and more folks are learning how to keep and butcher their own animals, so comes the need to learn how to tan hides. Tanning used to be a very common skill that has since been forgotten with modern textiles. Fabrics printed in China contain some nasty chemicals and the environmental impact is devastating. Buckskin pants were once as common as blue cotton jeans today, worn by people of all socioeconomic status. Currently, it is estimated that roughly 6 million deer are harvested annually and only a very small percentage of hides are ever used to make leather. Now add the endless numbers of sheep, goats, cow and even pig skin that could be used for a variety of applications. If you do not keep animals, not to worry, contact your local butcher and they will likely tell you to help yourself to whatever they have. It’s a favor to them as they do not have to pay to dispose of them.
Disclaimer: there are lots of ways to tan, this is just how I do it, which would be called fat tanning or brain tanning. I do not like using chemicals, as they are unhealthy for the tanner, environment and less sustainable.
- Skinning
If you are starting with a whole animal, there are plenty of online tutorials on how to do this. Mainly you just want to make sure the hide has not been “knifed up” which will leave marks on the leather. The ultimate goal being no holes or knife marks in the skin, as it will be more difficult (but not impossible) in the tanning process.

- Salting
I use pallets that have hardware cloth stapled on them so that when the hide is laid out, there are no sagging or drooping parts as there are big gaps in a pallet. You could just lay it out on a tarp, but I think the air flow under the skin is helpful. Once the hide is laid out flat on the pallet, spread a good layer, about an inch of white canning salt or sea salt (no iodine) on all parts of the hide, being careful to get all the edges. Leave for 2 weeks or up to a few months if you don’t have the time. I prefer wet salting (the salt stays damp) to dry salting as it makes a nicer finished product. But if you live in a very dry climate that dries out the salt, it will still be fine.

- Fleshing
For this step, you will need to have a fleshing beam and fleshing knife. You can purchase them from a trapping outlet online or make a beam out of a very smooth log. Flip the salt from the hide into a rubbermaid tub or barrel as it can be used again. Then give the hide a good shake in the driveway or woods (probably not your lawn as it can kill the grass) to remove excess salt. I highly recommend watching a YouTube video on how to do this. You want to hit the right angle so you don’t cut the skin.
- Apply tanning solution
Once the hide is fleshed, lay the skin back on the pallet and apply the tanning solution. I like a brain/egg solution, but you can use just brains or just eggs. Or even Spinal cord fat/fluid. One brain will do one hide, but adding an egg and a splash of water will bulk up the solution, which I find to be very helpful. For a single hide, in a designated blender, combine brain(s), one egg and a tablespoon or two of water. Rub in the solution over all parts of the skin. Then, three options- cover with plastic wrap/ fold in half on itself or sandwich together with another hide if you are doing more than one. Allow to sit overnight- one day.


- Stretching & Drying
You will need to build a frame that is a little larger than the hide you are working with. 2x4s are great for this. If you are doing something very small like a squirrel or rabbit, you can use a board with tacks to achieve the same results. Some will also bend a limb into a circle for a very small hide, or if you are doing a very large hide like a moose or cow, an old trampoline frame is great. You just have to innovate with what you have available. With a very sharp knife, carefully puncture the edge, 1/2” or so in on the skin. You don’t want it too close to the edge or the twine will rip out. I really like to use butcher’s twine as it holds a good knot. Start at the 4 corners of the hide, then fill in-between. Give a good pull on the string, but not too hard, stretching the skin very flat. Tie to the frame. You can go back and re-tighten the strings that become loose as you go along. Allow to dry. A dehumidifier is really great in helping this process along, especially for large hides.


- Scrape
Once the hide is completely dry to the touch, you can start scraping off the tanning solution and the layer of skin. You will need a scraping tool from a trapping outlet or you can sometimes find tools to do this at antique shops. Just nothing too sharp, more blunt. Scrape with good force, but not too hard. The skin will turn a beautiful white as you do this. It takes time. I like to give a good push on the hide with my hand as I scrape to aid in softening and stretching those skin fibers. You will know you are done when the leather is very soft. Cut the strings and remove from the frame.
- Smoking
This is where tannins from wood and bark seal and finish the hide. Cut an old pillowcase in half long ways or some kind of fabric and pin on the bottom/ very edge of your hide. Then fold the hide in half long ways and use the existing holes and butcher’s twine to temporarily sew it together. Make a loop at the top to hang. Go back and pin together the fabric at the bottom to essentially make a stove pipe. Collect rotten wood and bark that is wet from the forest then make a fire with dry wood until it gets down to coals. Add rotten/ wet wood and bark. Attach the fabric side to your stove pipe with a rubber band and smoke for 2-4 hours. You want to be VERY careful with this part. Do not leave unattended as you only want smoke NO fire. If it breaks out into a fire, it can scorch or burn your hide. Ruining all your hard work. You want cold-warm smoke only. Periodically check the color of the skin inside, you want a nice deep amber color. Take it down, bring inside and allow it to sit for a day to more thoroughly absorb the tannins.
Then rub in a finishing sealer. Lard is really perfect or a homemade mix of Lard, tallow and a little beeswax.


- Finishing touches
At this point, you can carefully hand wash the finished hide with soap and cool water, but do not soak for too long. Try to be as speedy as possible. A designated washer is great for this stage. Run it on the spin cycle only to get the water out or shake out very well and dry.
With a razor blade, cut off the edges, about where your puncture holes are. Brush out the fleece or fur. Then celebrate haha.



If you want to make leather without fur, dry scraping can be done at the point the hide is stretched on the frame. You can use a razor blade to carefully remove the fur, then scrape and apply tanning solution/ plastic wrap, similarly to how you did the other side. Scrape it down again. Smoke both sides in the same fashion.
This is an art. Learning takes time, but don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The hide is very forgiving.
If you have questions, feel free to reach me on the Beartaria Times app – Salt and Stone Bear or Instagram @salt_and.stone
Happy Tanning!
Farming
Micro Greens – Macro Benefits
Having good nutrition is important, sure, but that’s just scratching the surface of the benefits growing your own greens offers.

By: BalanceBear (aka @johnny.greenleaf)

This article was first printed in our very first issue of The Beartaria Times Magazine, Origins, A Revealing of Legends
Microgreens, as the name suggests, are small by nature, but the benefits they offer are quite the opposite of their size.
What are microgreens and what exactly do they have to offer? Microgreens are vegetable greens harvested just after the cotyledon leaves have developed (7-10 days after germination for most varieties). The benefits? Well, they are countless. We’ll get to many of them, but a few of the biggest advantages of growing microgreens over traditional vegetables are their space efficiency, time to harvest, & ease of getting started. Just because you don’t have a yard, doesn’t mean you can’t grow your own food. With as little as a shelf in an apartment, and a few supplies, you can start sewing seeds and reaping the benefits of these nutrient dense greens in no-time. I was introduced to the world of microgreens this past year by the legendary Urban Farmer, Curtis Stone, and in just a matter of 8 months they have already had a profoundly positive impact on my life, and my community.

Now how could something so small offer so much? It’s been theorized that the reason microgreens are so nutrient dense compared to the leaves of their mature vegetable counterparts is because they are harvested shortly after germination, when all of the nutrients they need to grow are there. Regardless if that theory holds true as to the why, nutrient tests have shown that microgreens contain 4-40 times more concentrated levels of various nutrients than leaves in the mature plants, depending on the variety & specific nutrient (i.e. red cabbage microgreens contain 40 times more vitamin E than mature red cabbage). Buying microgreens from a store can be significantly more expensive than normal mature vegetables, but growing them yourself, especially when you consider the time from planting to harvest, is much more affordable. Furthermore, when you buy anything from a grocery store, the vitality of the food has already been severely diminished due to the fact that it takes so much time for the product to be packaged and shipped off to the store. From the moment a fruit or vegetable is harvested, the nutrients begin to break down. This vitality can actually be measured. Realistically, the freshest produce you can get from a store is 4-7 days post harvest. The total time it takes to get from planting microgreen seeds to harvesting the greens is 10-14 days total (for most varieties), which is right up there with the nutrient density when it comes to the best benefits microgreens have to offer. When you compare that to typical times like 2-3 months for a mature plant to bear fruit, it’s quite astonishing that the microgreens pack such a dense nutrient punch, and when you grow them yourself, you can eat them living, which means you don’t lose out on any nutrients like you do when you get already deteriorated greens from a store.
Having good nutrition is important, sure, but that’s just scratching the surface of the benefits growing your own greens offers. One of the biggest benefits I have personally experienced since becoming an urban farmer, is the community connection that has come from it. I believe that food and community are two of the biggest sources of energy in this realm, and when you grow your own food, and further when you exchange it within your community, the energy boost is multiplied. Picture a closed-loop energy cycle; that’s what you get to experience when you buy, sell, or trade locally within your community. First, you get an energy boost from growing your own food, you then experience an additional energy boost when you exchange your food to someone in your community, because you see the joy it brings them, and you know that it will nourish them. They receive that same energy boost when you buy or trade for their food, and thus the communities’ overall energy goes up by a multiple factor, and the energy loop remains closed. When people in your community buy food from a corporation, especially one that’s not local, energy gets siphoned off into the ether, rather than being kept in your community where it can continue to cycle & recharge.
I’m speaking from experience here, as I have felt a tremendous difference since buying, selling, & trading with local bears at our Southern California Bartertaria Meetups, as well as exchanging my greens for fruit from my neighbors’ trees.
Even if you live in an apartment in a city like I currently do, microgreens can be a great starting point for you to tap into that energy cycle. Furthermore, if you’ve never grown food at all, consider these greens as a great micro-step to start the journey that is gardening/farming.
I won’t go too much into detail about the equipment you need to get started, as there are plenty of great resources online and on YouTube for that (seek and ye shall find), but I will tell you the basics of what you need to get started, and a few good online resources to look in to if you want more details. You will need some kind of tray or container to put the growing medium in (I use 10×20 trays from Bootstrap Farmer), seeds (I get mine from TrueLeaf Market), a growing medium (I use an organic potting soil from ProMix), and lights (I use 4’ Sunblaster Fluorescents) if you want to grow indoor, otherwise you can obviously use sunlight if you have space and want to grow them outside. That’s basically it. Anything else will just upgrade your operation. A few of the best online resources which helped me along my journey, from setup, to growing, all the way through harvesting are: Curtis Stone’s From The Field TV, Donny Greens on YouTube, and OnTheGrow who have great experiments on YouTube & an ebook.
So, whether you just want to add some nutrient dense greens to your smoothies, juices, salads, or dishes as a garnish, have some sunflowers to snack on, take a micro-step towards learning to grow food, or go big & contribute to the energy cycle of your local community, the macro benefits of microgreens are there for you.
“To a man’s heart it brings gladness to eat the figs from his own trees, and the grapes of his own vines”, and to your heart gladness can come from eating the microgreens of your own stem.
Farming
Using Hay to Import Fertility and Feed the Pastures
A recent study I read indicated that pastures responded better to feeding hay directly on the field verses hauling manure and compost from the barn.

By: Mohawk Farmer Bear
When we took over the farm in 2015, the fields were constantly being cropped and hayed. Modern agriculture focuses on production at the expense of soil health and fertility. While we have good soils here, it’s obvious that fertility is low, and the pastures are nowhere near as productive as they have the potential to be. This winter, rather than feeding the cows down by the barn as usual, I focused on rotating them around the pastures and feeding the hay directly on the pasture. By the time grazing starts in May, I will have fed 200 round bales of hay or 50 to 60 tons of hay onto the pastures. That’s a lot of manure, organic matter from wasted hay, and fertility to spread on 50 acres. A recent study I read indicated that pastures responded better to feeding hay directly on the field versus hauling manure and compost from the barn. More fertility is captured with winter bale feeding on pastures. So, this summer, I’ll get to see it. Either way, 50 tons of hay (5 tons to the acre) should have a huge impact on the pastures. More fertility means more grass, which means more beef.

Unrolled hay bale. It spreads the fertility around the pasture and gives all the cows access to the dinner table.

In early February, you can see where the cows have been without snow. I covered this part of the farm well.

The farthest and highest point on the farm. Typically the hardest to get manure spread on, but I fed a ton of hay up there this winter. It’s a pretty good hill, so even with heavy baleage, I start at the top and push the bale down the hill to get it unrolled.
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