Suggestions for good books on small farming to prepare for...

peak oil? Anyone know of any? I am going to start preparing for discussion groups in my area, (hopefully the discussion will be limited, and the action will begin in earnest) to start working on plans to mitigate the effects of peak oil. I see now that this will help only those that see it coming, and that ultimately, the chaos may consume/destroy whatever work we do, but I cannot sit by and do nothing. I would also like a movement to work for less oil dependency and renewable energy sources in municipal utilities. I know it may be too late, but there has to be a way to let people know the time is now to make the change. Any ideas from people that are interested?

to set up cooperative or community efforts to keep groups of like minded citizens supplied.

They are a rather exhaustive compendium of self-sufficiency as practiced by the hill people of the Carolinas and Georgia three generations ago. They show how to raise a garden, build a cabin, care for animals, preserve food without refrigeration, tan hides, make quilts etc etc. There's even a chapter concerning the construction and proper operation of whiskey stills!

There are at least five books in the series, probably more by now. They will be indispensible when the bu$halypse hits.

But Foxfire 7 can probably be dumped as it's basically hill people Christianity. Others are more related to history, etc.

The amazon links to the twelve books:

Foxfire 1:Hog Dressing, Log Cabin Building, Mountain Crafts and Foods, Planting by the Signs, Snake Lore, Hunting Tales, Faith Healing, Moonshining


Foxfire 2: ghost stories, spinning and weaving, wagon making, midwifing, corn shuckin', and

Foxfire 3: animal care, banjos and dulcimers, wild plant foods, butter churns, ginseng and more.


Foxfire 4: Fiddle making, spring houses, horse trading, sassafras tea, berry buckets, gardening, and other affairs of plain living

Foxfire 5: rain-making, blacksmithing, bear hunting, flintlock rifles, and more

Foxfire 6: shoemaking, 100 toys and games, gourd banjos and song bows, wooden locks, a water-powered sawmill, and other fascinating topics.


Foxfire 7: traditions of mountain religious heritage, covering ministers, revivals, baptisms, gospel-singing, faith healing, camp meetings, snake handling, and more.


Foxfire 8: pottery from pug mills, ash glazes, and groundhog kilns to face jugs, churns and roosters; mule swapping, chicken fighting, and more

Foxfire 9: home remedies, trading and general stores, quilting, wagon making, and log cabin making.

Foxfire 10: railroad lore, boardinghouses, Depression-era Appalachia

Foxfire 11: the old homeplace, wild plant uses, preserving and cooking food, hunting stories, fishing, more affairs of plain living.

Foxfire 12: make rose beads and wooden coffins, and on how to find turtles in your local pond, more

And it helps a good cause too


http://www.kliljedahl.net

There's something I hadn't heard about in 30 years.

My folks got them during the last oil crisis. Maybe
I'll break them out and take a refresher.

They're darn good reading.

1) Oil fields have been known to recharge or refill.
2) Oil may have an abiotic source.
3) There have not been enough oil-producing fossils to account for the volume of petroleum that has been consumed to date.
4) Actually, oil was made to be thought a "Fossil" fuel by oil producers to create the concept that oil was of limited supply and therefore extremely valuable.

I have to admit to feeling conflicted about Peak Oil.

Peak oil is what I was brought up to believe-- that oil is a finite entity, but right now I am leaning against Peak Oil-- because the argument that Peak Oil is a scam to get more money for the oil industry makes sense when coupled with the reasons I listed above.

... but how about this simple fact.

Countries around the world, populous countries, now wish to emulate the American lifestyle. Auto, heating and cooling, the whole nine yards in countries like China and India.

For that to happen smoothly, production would have to at least double. While I also doubt we are out of oil "today", I have no doubt that we cannot increase production that much and hence prices are going to rise astronomically.

Part of the actions of the Bush administration, such as invading Iraq and threatening Iran, may be to restrict oil to these countries, so as to maintain American global dominance. I wouldn't put this past them and this is part of the neocon philosophy: America must reign supreme. And if we control the oil, we control the world.

but this thread is for those that want to work to "mitigate the effects of peak oil", it says so in the original post. That being said, any comment by those that do not believe in it, are not welcome. I do hope you are right, but my instincts, and the actions of the chimp administration, shout out loud, that it is otherwise. Besides, even if it does not come to pass, why not be more self-reliant anyway. Homegrown foods may make a great business venture, in any event, if peak oil is false.

Just my thinking is don't spend too many resources on something that may not come to pass. But as I said, I am not convinced either way.

And I'm curious why you think the chimp administration's actions support the idea of peak oil? Becuase they invaded Iraq? There amy well be other reasons for that, including a desire to control oil prices. Remeber, Iraq was considering switching to the Euro for oil trading.

Additionally, Iraq was not producing oil very efficiently. Part of the reason for invading may have been to up-grade their oil infrastructure so that they could produce more.

Do you have a link to get me started learning more about abiotic sources of oil?

Thanks.

This one is most relevant:
http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr71.html

then: "Beware the 'Peak Oil' Agenda"
http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr70.html

Also, this one is interesting:
http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr59.html

If you google around a bit on abiotic oil, there is a lot out there, but like I said it is controversial.

Farms of Tomorrow Revisited. It's about CSA -- Commuity Supported Agriculture. Not everybody grows food, but everybody eats it.

This page tells of a book, and has links to several free essays on CSA (about 1800 of them in USA now)

http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms.html

"The authors provide a penetrating theoretical overview, and practical examples and information that is of high service to any person or group who might choose to become involved in ensuring a clean, healthy, and abundant supply of food for his or her family."

I don't know if you're a gardener, but if not, it's a great way to get started. It stresses using raised beds, so that even if you have a small space to work in, you can raise a lot of food.

Along those lines, another good basic text is "The Sustainable Vegetable Garden" by John Jeavons and Carol Cox. Jeavons is interesting. He's famous (well, by gardening standards) for taking acres of the crappiest, most beatup land in California and converting them, using only organic methods, into hugely productive gardens. Also good emphasis on high production in limited space.

"Seed To Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth is a great resource if you're interested in saving and preserving seeds from your garden for the next year. It's got oodles of stuff on hand pollination (for species that need it), drying and fermentation tips, along with good basic planting information for just about anything you can imagine.

"Keeping Food Fresh" (can't remember the author/editor) is a very cool book based largely on information drawn from interviews with aging French farmers. Everybody knows about home canning and pickling, but what about burying in wood ashes, earthen pits, sun-drying, lactic fermentation or banking greens in straw for fresh-grown salad in January?

There's also a very interesting mail-order company called Lehman's, which you can visit at http://www.lehmans.com - they specialize in non-electrical appliances (like our coffee grinder) but also in lots and lots of things like woodstoves, garden tools & carts, clockwork radios and pretty much everything else under the sun. A lot of what they stock is bought by the Amish, who also make a lot of things they sell.

Also in cyberspace is Seed Savers Exchange - they're based in Decorah Iowa and are dedicated to the proposition that life is too short to eat plastic food. They're all about saving and preserving rare old heirloom fruits and vegetables. The stats are depressing - from something like 1,000 varieties of apples 200 years ago, we're down to about eight widely available commercial varieties, and the numbers are replicated throughout the whole range of food crops. They're all about preserving plant biodiversity, and also about sustainable agriculture, soil conservation, organic methods and the whole environmental ball of wax. They're well worth visiting, whether in person or online at http://www.seedsavers.org - this link was down when I checked a moment ago, but try again later - it's worth the time to visit.

they sell some really cool stuff.

Propane-powered fridges, wood cookstoves, non-electric anything and everything.

I would start with a scrip to the magazine called "Mother Earth News." Their "bookstore" ( I think they call it Mother's Bookshelf) has many good homesteading books. They have great articles, too. I save every copy.

Homestead and backhome mags have good info. Martha Stewart has good info. Hobby farmer has good introductions. your local Cooperative Extension Service has free info and so do most States' Coops online.

Currently, i rely on my herb/gardening books:

"The Garden Primer" Barbara Damrosch.

(It's a great overview, and great as a refresher for someone like me who always neglected learning about vegetables.)

Rodales Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs: tips on growing and using herbs

"The Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery

( Mucho onfo in one volume)

"Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants" is invaluable.

(helps me identify local plants growing wild that can be used for culinary and medicinal purposes. You wouldn't believe what's out there)

I use the Audubon guides for trees and wildflowers, and specific books for animals depending on what I'm doing at the time.


Just start buying the books you think you'll need based on your interest and level of skill.

They used to put out "Organic gardening and farming" magazine, and I had a book in the '70's called "Stocking Up", about many different ways to preserve the food that you grew in your garden. It covers all the basics of canning, drying, freezing, etc.

It tells you how to be self-sufficient on a pretty small bit of land, including water and energy and choosing what to grow as a cash crop.

It has fueled many, many fantasies for me.

Also, as just a couple of really good gardening books : "How to Grow More Vegetables" by John Jeavons, (all about intensive small-space gardening and composting) and "Garden Secrets" by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and Diane Bilderback, which tells about what each vegetable needs to do well and how to harvest and store it.

I've been thinking along the same lines as you. Whether or not Peak Oil might happen, becoming more self-sufficient can't hurt.

and since we will be in some ways going BACK in time, this is a great place to start.

I recently bought a used copy on eBay for a young friend who is starting to get the itch.

I know several people in my parents' generation and my generation who followed that book in their movement back to the land.

www.abebooks.com.

It's just a collection of independent used book dealers -- I've *always* found the book I want with them, no matter how obscure, and get really good service and excellent prices.

Some are just people with used book stores in their garages. I love supporting them.

Also, consider the old Reader Digest book on Homesteading. It is actually very good.

Plus "Square Foot Gardening" and "The Garden Primer".

Lots of suggested books here:

http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic2616.html

Is the monthly magazine Mother Earth News, excellent articles, informative advertising.

As somebody has already mentioned, the Foxfire series of books is an excellent resource for living off the grid.

A few things I can tell you from my own work in this area. First, get a wood stove. You can buy models that have catalytic converters, thus you cut back drastically on emissions(eighty to ninety percent), and almost double your burning efficientcy, since a catalytic converter burns the smoke, thus heating the house in addition to cutting emissions. More than likely you are going to want to get an outdoor model of wood stove. You can burn much larger pieces of wood, and your insurance rates won't take the jump that you get for an indoor model.

I don't know if you live in the country or not, but if you don't, move now. When peak oil hits, the cities are going to become untentable due to lack of food. Granted, with your garden, you could ride out the food shortages, but any urban area is only three days away from food riots at any given time, and do you really want to go through one of those? In addition, out in the country you can erect a windmill on your property, you really only need a quarter acre to do so. Check with your state and local government, depending on where you live you could recieve grants or loans to help mitigate the cost of a windmill. Also, commit to putting up 2kw worth of solar panels on your roof, and if you have a creek that runs through your property, flowing year round, you can install a small scale hydroelectric generator(found out about this in this month's Mother Earth News). Combine these resources with a good battery storage system, and you can insure that you will have electricity when others go dark.

And if peak oil is a myth like some want to pretend, well you can sell off your surplus electricity to your local electric company.

In addition, start composting, preferably with one of those barrel models that go from garbage to compost in a couple of weeks. They cost aprox. two-three hundred dollars, but they're well worth it. And make sure that you've got a source for manure, cow will do, horse and sheep are much better. Thus, you don't have to deal with chemical fertilizers. Check with your local ag extension office, and find out what bugs you will need to protect you crops from other plant destroying insects like aphids, etc. There are several places that you can order bugs by the bucketful. Also, use your local ag extension office to do soil samples of your garden plot. If your soil is anything like mine, you're going to have to spend your first year just building up the soil. Green manure, ie growing a crop and then tilling it under is a great way to build up soil. The land I'm using now is hard pan clay, and so far I've tilled under a crop of rye grass(plant in the fall, let grow over the winter, till under in the spring). I just tilled under the rye grass, have spread horse manure, and will be planting soybeans later this spring, tilling them under in the fall(soybeans are great to use as nitrogen fixers). After another round of manure and rye grass, with possibly a bit of gypsum to loosen the soil, I'll be planting my garden crops next spring. Make sure that you have enough room to work two garden plots, because you will want to switch off, plant one plot and let the other one lie fallow(and build up good soil through manure, green manure, etc.)

Good luck, even if nothing comes of peak oil:eyes: you will still find it rewarding, both monetarily and spiritually to become self sufficient and live off the grid.

I can't find our dog-eared copy. Is it put out by Rodale press?
This is a must-read for any urban homesteader!!

Start planting fruit trees! Give 'em away as presents. Who needs a flowering pear when you can get one that fruits as well?

Nice to think about springtime and planting, there's something inherently optimistic about it. I haven't thought about Urban homesteading since Y2K.

Check his website:

http://squarefootgardening.com/

I dont understand why everyone with a back yard or rooftop dosnt keep a few hens....Peak oil or no.

They weed and fertilize, they eat kitchen waste, they produce tasty eggs. They're pretty and amusing. Your kids will love em!
(Avoid roosters. Your neighbors will hate em!)

Chicken Tractor is a good book as well.


We have a dozen new chicks, and I keep wondering why I never raised any before.

Last night, my eleven-year-old was entranced watching them scurry around and scratch and peck and sleep and chirp. When i came in to tend to them, he whispered, "Shhhh. I'm studying the life of a chicken."

It made me laugh. And it was better than seeing him stuck in front of the TV playing a video game.

There are varieties of ducks that can lay as many eggs as a chicken -- if you live in a cold or damp area, they're more resistant to disease and don't need to be sheltered as much. The Indian Runners are particularly fun -- good layers and very distinctive-looking. A friend and I are raising some at her farm, along with some chickens I hatched out in a tabletop incubator last year.


Dave Holderread's "Raising the Home Duck Flock" is a good read. I've heard that the Storey duck book is also very helpful.

is good too.

Living on a Few Acres (US Dept of Ag)

also, you may want to check out anything by Rodale (press)

and a subscription to Organic Gardening is always good

growing one's own food is not hard to do
but much is learned through trial and error
just remember, its all about the soil
so become knowledgeable about that first
and be prepared to work very hard....but thats ok

also, I would move to a climate that has two growing seasons
rather than only one (!) this is very convenient
although the come-to-jesus factor is high

Specifically, "Self Sufficient Life & How To Live It".
Also, Google for "Permaculture". Oh yeah, and everbody should start getting chickens and goats now.