I liked the idea of this book as everyone who has a farm whether big or small is interested in projects. My issue with the book was the projects included. I feel most were much too advanced for a beginner. People with advanced skills could do without the book. The book could have been better organized by skill level allowing DIYers to work up to the advanced projects.

Great variety of projects, both as far as skill level/complexity and materials required. Would love to see more from these authors!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a digital ARC!

Good book with interesting and generally useful projects. Glad they included information about metric conversions. I was particularly interested in the project to make a goat milking bail as I could improve on my previous attempt to make one! Overall quite an inspiring book.
I received a complimentary copy on NetGalley but the opinions expressed as my own.

I like the concept and think there are some cool projects here. I also enjoyed the lovely pictures. I think this book will definitely be good inspiration for some. I personally think it could be better with a few tweaks. I think if it would break down the book into skill level sections - beginner, advanced, etcetera; that would have been much better. I felt a little overwhelmed with a huge list of tools and descriptions at the beginning of the book and the very first project after finally getting through all of that was advanced. I believe it would work better to start with the easier projects and progress from there. I wish I could have clicked on the projects I wanted to go to from the contents page, but several (including the ones I really wanted to see) did not have this capability and there were a lot of things that had to be passed before i could get to the section that I was truly wanting.

This is a book of random homestead projects. It provides a good overview of the supplies you will need to complete these projects, as well as detailed instructions for each project. The step-by-step instructions have nice photographs along with a supply/tool list and “cut lists” for wood.

Personally, I like to look at this kind of book for inspiration when considering what project to attempt next. I’ve never considered building a rabbit tractor or making cottage cheese - but these ideas are in here. The projects are random and don’t really have a common factor. They go from extracting honey to planting a fruit tree to building a farmers market display stand.

I always have a long list of projects going. You can read about my gardening and novice homestead efforts at www.Patch405.com.

I was offered an advance digital copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

While the pictures are very nice and easy to follow, it would be better if there was a description for the pictures with letters for more specific instructions or explanations.

There are a good number of projects that are easy enough for the beginner to take a hack at..I suggest that they start the book off with the easier ones and move progressively to the more complex projects.

The reason I would not recommend this is because it seems to be incomplete - no about page and some notes like for the ease the project for some projects were left blank.

This is a pretty basic book, which also includes lists of tools one would need to do the projects. Even though the book has a great variety of DIY projects and instructions on how to make them, not all of the DIY projects are needed to run a homestead/farm. The book is okay for inspiration though.

We went from 1 acre to 50 acres! The projects and tips in this book have helped us with these DIY projects and then we applied our new knowledge and skills to many more projects. The pictures and clear instructions were very helpful and the shopping lists kept us from making numerous trips to town. I'm pretty sure the Johnsons wrote this book for people like us!

I find this to be an interesting book, with good illustrations and some useful tips. The selection of projects, however, is a little strange. Some are essential, like grafting, while most of the wood projects are not really necessary to plan very much. The beehive, which is important, is not easy to build from the descriptions here.

A fairly basic book on making things around your property. Starting with tools needed it progresses to the series of project to make incorporating woodwork, gardening, painting, using produce and making habitat.
It is well presented, explained and with easy to follow instructs and makes a good basic introduction to various jobs found around a farm.

The only reason I am not giving this book five stars is that very few of the projects I will be doing. I live on about 40 acres, but I don't have goats or rabbits, and I will not be building a stone boat, etc. There are a couple of plans that I am interested in however, and all plans are very detailed and have handy shopping lists at the beginning of each project so you don't have to search through the plans to find the items you will need to complete them. The authors explain why each item is needed and the color pictures are great to help illustrate the steps. Very good book.

This is a great book fo projects for people starting a homestead. Not every project is applicable for everyone, but even those that aren't directly applicable can be modified to still create helpful structure for your home.

I only browsed this book enough to tell whether it was of a high enough quality to buy for my library system. My answer is a firm "Yes." The descriptions and instructions are both detailed and interesting to read. I like that the authors made clear why one should go through the level of detail work recommended by the projects such as the "bee shed." As I'm not a farmer I had to guess at whether some elements were true, but I know a bit about planting bushes and small trees and their fruit-tree project was spot on. Photos are appealing and encouraging as are the projects themselves.

Farm DIY is a tutorial and inspiration guide for 20 DIY projects aimed at the homestead or farm. Due out 9th July 2019 from Fox Chapel, it's 192 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

Part of being a homesteader is self reliance. A big part of self reliance is being able to fix equipment and streamline production. There's a real sense of satisfaction in being able to identify a problem and find a workable solution. This book provides tutorials for 20 different useful projects with the additional bonus of being fun to make.

The introductory sections include how to use the book, a short sidebar with metric conversions, tools and safety consideration. The tutorials cover a range of projects, 4 for apiarists (bee-people), a couple for goats, 11 general around-the-farm projects, a couple for rabbits or other small animals, and a basic cheesemaking tutorial.

Each of the tutorials includes a materials and tools list. The step by step instructions are well supported by lots of good construction photographs and the instructions are clear and understandable. There are a range of projects from very simple (making cottage cheese and a rabbit nest box) to quite complex (building a frame built beehouse/shed). The projects have the complexity levels listed along with time requirements which seem to be realistic.

The beekeeping and goat related projects appealed to me especially, but there's something here for pretty much everyone, including suburban folks who would like to increase their self reliance.

Four stars. Useful and fun.

I don’t have a farm or homestead but I definitely aspire to have a small holding one day. Samantha and Daniel’s projects are readable and very easy to follow. This book is a must have for anyone who is new or nervous when it comes to farm diy

This is an amazing book, but not all
Projects are suitable for everyone. I have limited space and so will only be able to use a small amount of the projects or more if I scale back the sizes. For people with more space it is ideal. Sadly also, I don’t keep goats (if only!) so the see-saw is something I’d love to see but will have to go without. The photographs are clear and instructions very detailed. I’d say even the easy projects do require a decent level of skill, but should all be possible from the details in the book. I’m wanting to make a start on a few of these now and wishing for more ideas and more space too. Perfect for someone with a larger homestead.