The Sustainable Homestead
Create a Thriving Permaculture Ecosystem with Your Garden, Animals, and Land
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Pub Date Mar 28 2023 | Archive Date Mar 14 2023
Quarto Publishing Group – Cool Springs Press | Cool Springs Press
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Description
If you’re like most homesteaders, the dream is to make the most of your land by working with it, not against it. From capturing water and building strong soil to helping your animals live their best lives, The Sustainable Homestead is about making your homestead stronger by achieving synergy between what can seem like different parts.
In this book, new and veteran homesteaders alike can find detailed information to put to use this year, this month, even this week! Angela—also the co-host of the HOMESTEADucation podcast and author of the Little Homesteader/Little Country Cottage series of children’s books—has spent more than a decade building and strengthening her small acreage homestead and shares the lessons chapter by chapter:
- Site Selection: Evaluate the elements, water flow and management, wildlife considerations, effective layouts, land elevation, water access points, permaculture zones, considerations based on acreage, how to remedy site shortcomings
- Soil: The importance of soil, symptoms of poor soil, synthetics, water and erosion, healthier crops and animals, how to regenerate soil, cover crops, no-till method, perennial plantings
- Growing: Catching and storing water with swales, catchment ponds, and rain barrels; sunlight and garden design including mandala, terrace, and forest; plant choices; companion planting; holistic pest management including cultural, physical, and biological options
- Pasture: Design considerations, cover cropping, grazing, animal compatibility, pasture rotation, closed-loop grazing systems, maintenance, solar fencing
- Animals: Chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and the sustainable coop; sheep, goats, pigs, and sustainable living quarters; horses, cows, donkeys, and sustainable stable; natural remedies; livestock guardian dogs and barn cats
- Compost: What is compost?, hot vs. cold, decomposition and carbon to nitrogen ratios, creating a composting system, tier considerations, access and rotation, uses of compost, compost tea
- Overstory: Nut trees and permaculture contributions, pollinator groups, fruiting trees, planting in guilds, pest management, tree health
Wherever you want to start first, follow along and make your homestead more resilient by making it more sustainable.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780760380482 |
| PRICE | $25.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 192 |
Available to Buy
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Featured Reviews
This is such a useful book! I will read it a second time more slowly, but I couldn't stop flipping the neatly organized pages to see all the information gathered for this book. From composting to growing to raising livestock to canning, this book has everything needed to homestead. The photos are professional, the information flows from subject to subject, and it's very well done. I think this will be useful for a lot of new homesteaders.
Ashley S, Bookseller
I’m so clueless when it comes to gardening and permaculture. I’ve checked out quite a few books over the years trying to get a grasp on working our little bit of land and I have never been able to get a solid grip on it. It has just felt like this is something every understands that is just not for me.
The Sustainable Homestead is changing all of that. The way the author breaks down permaculture in basic pillars and principles helped me to get a a grasp on the “why and how” of this elusive subject. I find this book to be a foundational handbook for growing the sustainable homestead of my dreams!
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy so this baby gardener can take the right steps towards my dream garden!
The Sustainable Homestead is a well written practical guide to permaculture, farming and self-sufficiency by Angela Ferraro-Fanning. Due out 28th March 2023 from Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint, it's 192 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.
The book has a logical and accessible format with an understandable progression. The author starts with site selection (location location location) and moves on to soil, growing, incorporating animals, creating and maintaining pasture, compost, orchards, and the role of the homesteader. The book also includes a useful reference appendix, bibliography, and index. I really loved the well written no-nonsense foreword by Dr. Temple Grandin, who absolutely knows what she's talking about.
This won't be the *only* book needed to get from dreamer phase to small-farmer, but it is a very useful resource and will be a welcome addition to the smallholder's library. This would also make a good choice for public or possibly school library acquisition, as well as for community gardens and allotments. The photography throughout is superlative; clear and colorful.
Four and a half stars. The information contained in this volume is slanted toward readers in North America, but there are good takeaways for readers living elsewhere.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reviewer 658509
I really enjoyed this book! I love garden, nature, animals and country life so I’m always happy to read about it. This book has 8 chapters, each one going deep in information and tips that are very useful. The chapters are
1- Site assessment / 2- Soil / 3- Growing / 4- Incorporating Animals / 5- Designing a pasture / 6- Compost / 7- The sustainable orchard / 8- The role of the homesteader. The book has lots of photos, images and graphics to explain. It has information about types of garden design, choosing plants, how much food to grow per person, incorporating animals, choosing the bread, pasture rotation, and more. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review
This book is basically an instructional manual on how to have my dream life. I have always envisioned myself having a small home, a hobby farm, a garden and living off the land. The photos in this book are stunning and dreamy. They take the reader away to a beautiful serene atmosphere. The diagrams in the book are simple and informative. This makes it easy for the reader to comprehend and go forth with starting practices aforementioned.
I definitely feel like this book is a good place to look for guidance on creating a homestead. Might have to pick up a copy and display it on my bookshelf as a reminder of my desired future.
Definitely a winner in terms of composition and forethought, this book is very well put together and executed. I enjoyed the breakdown of reasoning behind her decision-making process, and I hope that I get the time to got back through for a more careful second reading.
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