Recommended books for the smallholder.

foxylock

Forget the salmon of knowledge we'll never catch it, I believe there is truth in the old adage that knowledge is power and as an avid reader I have quite a collection of books that I find quite useful and keep referring to time and again. Here's some you may find interesting:

The new organic grower. Eliot Coleman.
The polytunnel handbook. Andy McKee and Mark Gatter.
The Irish gardeners handbook. Michael Brenock.
How to store your garden produce. Piers Warren.
The smallholders manual. Katie Thear.
Get started in pig keeping. Tony York.
Sheep health husbandry and disease. Agnes Winter and Clare Phythian.
A manual of lambing techniques. Agnes Winter and Cicely Hill.
Keeping chickens. Jeremy Hobson and Celia Lewis.
Starting with turkeys. Katie Thear.

What could be more powerful than shared knowledge so please feel free to add to this list and expand the well of available knowledge. Enjoy!!

beanotrout

thank you so much for those books, just what i needed!

thanks

graham

karl tyrrell

foxylock wrote: »

Forget the salmon of knowledge we'll never catch it, I believe there is truth in the old adage that knowledge is power and as an avid reader I have quite a collection of books that I find quite useful and keep referring to time and again. Here's some you may find interesting:

The new organic grower. Eliot Coleman.
The polytunnel handbook. Andy McKee and Mark Gatter.
The Irish gardeners handbook. Michael Brenock.
How to store your garden produce. Piers Warren.
The smallholders manual. Katie Thear.
Get started in pig keeping. Tony York.
Sheep health husbandry and disease. Agnes Winter and Clare Phythian.
A manual of lambing techniques. Agnes Winter and Cicely Hill.
Keeping chickens. Jeremy Hobson and Celia Lewis.
Starting with turkeys. Katie Thear.

What could be more powerful than shared knowledge so please feel free to add to this list and expand the well of available knowledge. Enjoy!!

don't forget john seymour the new complete book of self sufficiency

bbam

karl tyrrell wrote: »

don't forget john seymour the new complete book of self sufficiency

Funny I got this based on the recommendations here and was disappointed, I found it nothing more than a middle of the road gardening book with a few extras thrown in... :o

foxylock

bbam wrote: »

Funny I got this based on the recommendations here and was disappointed, I found it nothing more than a middle of the road gardening book with a few extras thrown in... :o

Yup I think you summed that book up perfectly, no doubt there are some turkeys out there. And poor books too :D

Username John

foxylock wrote: »

Forget the salmon of knowledge we'll never catch it, I believe there is truth in the old adage that knowledge is power and as an avid reader I have quite a collection of books that I find quite useful and keep referring to time and again. Here's some you may find interesting:

The new organic grower. Eliot Coleman.
The polytunnel handbook. Andy McKee and Mark Gatter.
The Irish gardeners handbook. Michael Brenock.
How to store your garden produce. Piers Warren.
The smallholders manual. Katie Thear.
Get started in pig keeping. Tony York.
Sheep health husbandry and disease. Agnes Winter and Clare Phythian.
A manual of lambing techniques. Agnes Winter and Cicely Hill.
Keeping chickens. Jeremy Hobson and Celia Lewis.
Starting with turkeys. Katie Thear.

What could be more powerful than shared knowledge so please feel free to add to this list and expand the well of available knowledge. Enjoy!!

As the Lambing techniques book is mentioned above, another good sheep book is "The Veterinary book for Sheep Farmers" see here
If you have 2 sheep or 200 sheep - when something is wrong, its good to have something to refer to.

redzerologhlen

I can vouch for the smallholders manual by katie thear. A good book with lots of info on poultry pigs and a bit on sheep, cattle and horses. Read it when I was a small boy!!

johngalway

Username John wrote: »

As the Lambing techniques book is mentioned above, another good sheep book is "The Veterinary book for Sheep Farmers" see here
If you have 2 sheep or 200 sheep - when something is wrong, its good to have something to refer to.

He does a lambing DVD that's very good too.

foxylock

Username John wrote: »

As the Lambing techniques book is mentioned above, another good sheep book is "The Veterinary book for Sheep Farmers"

I have this one in the van at all times, quite a tome but worth the investment. Also try "Practical sheep keeping" by Kim Cardell. It gives a good starting base to the novice or just an interesting read ..... I found it quite helpful.

eatmedrinkme

foxylock wrote: »

I have this one in the van at all times, quite a tome but worth the investment. Also try "Practical sheep keeping" by Kim Cardell. It gives a good starting base to the novice or just an interesting read ..... I found it quite helpful.

We picked up a copy of Practical Sheep Keeping. A bit more detail on some things would be good, but it seems to be a great all round book touching on everything from nutrition, to lambing, buying stock, fencing, and pastiure management. From the complete novice perspective, well worth the 15 quid.

Ayla

bbam wrote: »

Funny I got this based on the recommendations here and was disappointed, I found it nothing more than a middle of the road gardening book with a few extras thrown in... :o

Oh no, this book is the bible in our house! Anytime we're feeling discouraged we pick it up & it's just enough to wet our appetite for getting out there again. True, it is a summary of just about everything and doesn't give full service to anything, but we use it as just that...when we need more detail about anything than we go looking for it, but this book is a fantastic starting/dreaming point for beginners.

Ophiopogon

Ayla wrote: »

Oh no, this book is the bible in our house! Anytime we're feeling discouraged we pick it up & it's just enough to wet our appetite for getting out there again. True, it is a summary of just about everything and doesn't give full service to anything, but we use it as just that...when we need more detail about anything than we go looking for it, but this book is a fantastic starting/dreaming point for beginners.

Yeah that's exactly how I use the Seymor book, kinda like an index for things I will look up elsewhere. I think I have sentimental feelings for the book but I would still recommended it.