Author Topic: Book recomendations for starting out (Read 2461 times)

Wen3 · « **on:** August 21, 2015, 04:33:39 pm »

Hi all
We are in the process of buying a place with 10acres who we are buying from have offered lots of help as they are happy we are keeping it as a smallholding. What I was wondering was do any of you have any book recomendations that we can start to read? We are hoping to have pigs and cattle, we already have some chickens but I would like to have some turkeys but know nothing about these any help gratefully received.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #1 on:** August 21, 2015, 04:59:09 pm »

Start with the pages here

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/livestock

Rosemary · « **Reply #2 on:** August 21, 2015, 05:01:43 pm »

"Caring for Cows" by Valerie Porter is good for small scale keepers, IMHO. If you get the right cattle, they aren't hard to keep. We've got Shetlands that I've been hand milking until the bull went out. If you look in the Diary above, you'll read some of the milking adventure

And follow Sally's link

Womble · « **Reply #3 on:** August 21, 2015, 08:09:29 pm »

Books on smallholding seem to split into two categories; firstly the encyclopedia type that aim to cover a little bit of everything in not much depth (ooh, a single page on cheese making - how useful!), and those that cover each aspect in more detail.

I do like the encyclopedia type books for inspiration though, even if they soon run out of detail. Practical Self Sufficiency by Dick & James Strawbridge is quite a good coffee table book, whilst The Encyclopedia of Country Living is a more wordy affair and covers just about every conceivable topic, at least briefly. It's a bit US-Centric, but I have referred to it a lot over the past few years. Edit: I just found a copy of it online in PDF form.

Some of the John Seymour books are worth a look too. They are a little dated, let's be honest. However, if you are prepared to ignore the out of date bits, many of the ideas and principles underneath are timeless.

As far as single topic books go, they're probably best searched for once you've decided you want to do something and have exhausted more general information sources. That said, we managed to raise some turkeys for Christmas without needing any special knowledge. BTW, have a not particularly old gardening book that says "The Internet is becoming a very useful resource. For example, using "WebCrawler", I was able to find nearly six hundred pages on gardening!"

nonnatus · « **Reply #4 on:** August 22, 2015, 08:31:42 am »

I agree with Womble - The Dick and James Strawbridge book is a super enjoyable, easy read that really makes you want to get up off the sofa and get started on several projects at once!

Pop over to Amazon and search for SMALLHOLDING or SMALLHOLDER and loads of books appear, most of which can now be bought second hand for pennies.

I read gazillions of books every year and use a Kindle for all of the novels, but if I buy anything relating to my lifestyle or the animals I ALWAYS buy it in it's real, paper format where I can place it lovingly on a shelf and gaze at them proudly and refer to them constantly. I have quite a library of Self Sufficiency now, encompassing everything from Toilet Management to Bee Keeping (and cheese making of course

)

Dan · « **Reply #5 on:** August 23, 2015, 09:25:20 am »

Categorised book recommendations here:

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/books/

If anyone has any to add to any section please yell.

clydesdaleclopper · « **Reply #6 on:** August 23, 2015, 12:18:06 pm »

how about a whole new book section on permaculture - I can give you a list as I've got loads of them

Bex · « **Reply #7 on:** August 23, 2015, 01:52:54 pm »

Quote from: Womble on August 21, 2015, 08:09:29 pm

"The Internet is becoming a very useful resource. For example, using "WebCrawler", I was able to find nearly six hundred pages on gardening!"

A useful resource, certainly. But I would look up that information soon as I really don't see this 'internet' thing catching on!

Dan · « **Reply #8 on:** August 24, 2015, 12:50:55 pm »

Quote from: clydesdaleclopper on August 23, 2015, 12:18:06 pm

how about a whole new book section on permaculture - I can give you a list as I've got loads of them

Yes please, PM or email me.

adrian007 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 25, 2015, 10:12:33 pm »

I agree with the Strawbridge recommendation.

Animal books - I have found alot of conflicting advice - worth reading and drawing a bit from each, but there are no gospels.

Plants/food - I find Mark Diacono and James Wong most interesting. Cleve West too.

'No Nonsense guide' - Field to Farm, David Acreman.

Inspiration - http://www.axeheadfarm.co.uk/adrians-inspiration/