Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre
Brett L. Markham
Language: English
Pages: 240
ISBN: 1602399840
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Start a mini farm on a quarter acre or less, provide 85 percent of the food for a family of four and earn an income.
Mini Farming describes a holistic approach to small-area farming that will show you how to produce 85 percent of an average family’s food on just a quarter acre—and earn $10,000 in cash annually while spending less than half the time that an ordinary job would require. Even if you have never been a farmer or a gardener, this book covers everything you need to know to get started: buying and saving seeds, starting seedlings, establishing raised beds, soil fertility practices, composting, dealing with pest and disease problems, crop rotation, farm planning, and much more. Because self-sufficiency is the objective, subjects such as raising backyard chickens and home canning are also covered along with numerous methods for keeping costs down and production high. Materials, tools, and techniques are detailed with photographs, tables, diagrams, and illustrations.
Black Narcissus (British Film Guides)
hay—is used. Containers for keeping feed safe from pests. What we do instead, when the chickens must be confined because of bad weather, is provide a daily bunch of greens such as lettuce or kale to supplement their feed. This helps give the yolks a nice color and keeps the chickens from getting bored. Housing All birds have similar housing requirements though their habits are a bit different. A coop should be built for the birds with about three square feet of floor space per
canned goods resulting in botulism poisoning in the modern era stem from people who do not follow the most basic directions on how to can. Current standards for home canning come from research by the USDA that is continually updated. Most of the standards haven’t changed for decades, because the research methods are quite thorough. The USDA researchers deliberately introduce viable heat-resistant bacteria spores into foods in home canning jars and then use temperature sensors inside the jars as
of the cucumbers so they are held completely under the brine. The plate may need to be weighted down with a second plate. Cover the container loosely with plastic wrap covered with a clean towel held on with a couple of bungee cords tied together around the container like a big rubber band. Try to keep at room temperature—certainly no warmer than 72 degrees and no cooler than 60 degrees. Uncover and check the pickles for scum once a day. Use a clean spoon to scoop off any scum, then put the
shouldn’t be blanched. Every dehydrator is different in terms of its drying characteristics, so use the drying times and temperatures recommended in the literature that comes with your particular model. Meats, especially ground meat and poultry, are problematic because dehydrating is not the same thing as cooking, and the temperature seldom gets high enough to ensure pathogen destruction. This becomes an issue because bacterial contamination of these meats is common, so failure to thoroughly
but selling your produce is very different from other sorts of sales. First, you are selling something you have created with your own hands and in which you have pride. Second, you are selling something of incomparable quality. Finally, instead of trying to create an artificial need, you are selling something that everybody needs already. As a result, it is something that can be approached with a sense of personal integrity in the spirit of a truly mutually beneficial transaction. Approaching a