Farming Books

Excellent book Vance. I am going to go read your next one, I am sure it will be as good as this one. Wonderful detail and wonderful storys about wild life.

This book is a delightful combination of science facts, popular un-truths and common sense stories from old time wardens. Written with a real feel of hands-on Americana. Puts the irrational fear of these critters into perspective and gives us all a glimpse into past attitudes and how they compare with present fears. Truly an enjoyable read!

Rattlers & Snappers is not only a book about snakes and turtles, but also about conservation officers and their interactions with venomous reptiles in the mountains of north central Pennsylvania. An entire section is devoted to the art of snake handling and the ordeals of being bitten, as related by the first-hand experiences of retired conservation officer's Norm Erickson and Stan Hastings.
Turtle lovers will appreciate the section, Harvesting Snappers - From Swamp to Soup, where the author leads the reader through the backwaters of rivers, streams, and swamps in pursuit of the old mossback.
This book is a must-read for anyone with a love for the outdoors.

One of the best books I have ever read. Cool stories, excellent narration, very well written.
Definitely a most have for your collection.

I love this book, I simply could NOT bring myself to put it down. Fell madly in love with Chris. This book made me want to move to Brazil! Loved everything about the book, author did a wonderful job of helping you loose yourself within it's pages. This book left me feeling like I needed, wanted more to read! This book is a must have in every collect. Enjoy!

Another wonderful story from a truly gifted author. I could not put this book down! I loved the characters, the humor, the suspence, but especially the romance. A story I'll read again and again.

Santuary is a wonderfully written romance set in Brazil. Ms. Garner's incredible attention to detail made me feel as though I've been there myself. Emily Noble is a humorous and adventurous heroine, and I found that I couldn't wait to what could possibly happen next. The twists and turns of the plot kept me guessinng to the very end. This was a great pageturner....I hope to see more of Ms. Garner's work soon.

Children's book illustrator Emily Noble takes a leave of absence from her work with Tot Press to travel from Upstate New York to the cerrados region of central Brazil. Her half brother international engineer James King is missing with his only message being to seek former mercenary Christovao Santos, owner of Abunancia Farm.

However, she becomes his prisoner as he does not trust her, believing she is an agent out to kill him especially since his friend James never mentioned a sibling. Christovao and Emily talk. She explains the attacks on her brother and he confirms he too has been assaulted. He also explains that he thinks the incidents and her vanished brother are linked to a mission that went bad. As they fall in love, Christovao and Emily face danger form an unknown assailant who wants him and James dead and will use her as pawn to accomplish that quest.

Though there has been an abundance of missing relative stories of late but fans of terse romantic suspense tales will appreciate this exciting tale. The story line never slows down from the moment Emily is captured by Christovao until the final confrontation with the villain. SANCTUARY is a terrific thriller that will garner the author plenty of new readers.

Harriet Klausner

This is a great book, with lots of good info. It really makes things less complicated.

Also, this book can be downloaded for free online, do a little bit of searching ;)

Logsdon provides much practical information about how to raise a few square yards for grain to several acres. He explains how he raises each different type of grain (oats, wheat, corn, soybeans ect.), controls weeds, and problems associated with each grain. Logsdon also gives an explantion of how to properly rotate your different grain crops to improve soil fertility. Different tools one might use to plant, weed, and harvest grain are discussed. An added bonus is his discussion of grasses and clovers. My soybeans (raised solely for green manure) did very well. This is worth reading if one is interested in growing grains, in particular if one is interested in growing grains a naturally as possible.

Logsdon provides the expertise needed plant, grow, harvest, and store all common (and some uncommon) grains using a low level of technology. If you want to know how to raise your own grains without major equipment - THIS IS THE BOOK. At least some of this knowledge is in danger of being lost. An EXCELLENT reference book!

This book provides an excellent introduction to growing grains for gardeners or small farmers. It covers corn, wheat, sorghum, oats, soybeans, rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, rice, and other small grains, such as triticale, spelt, beans, flax, and sunflowers. Each chapter includes information on planting the crop, diseases and pests, harvesting the crop, storing and processing, and even a few recipes. The book also concludes with an illustrated glossary and an index.

Logsdon argues that growing your own grains is not that difficult, and can make financial sense for homesteaders. The biggest hurdle is the Knowledge--how do you do it? The best way to learn to farm is by working with a farmer, someone who already knows the trade and is willing to share the Knowledge. These days, however, it's becoming harder and harder to find someone with experience in growing grains on a small-scale, even harder than it was in the 1970s when Logsdon originally published this book. If you've got to rely on book learning to get started in grain growing, then this book makes an excellent reference. The illustrated glossary at the back is particularly useful for farming newbies.

This little gem of a book captures the essence of Spring in a remote farming village in Southern Japan in all its beauty, earthiness and mystery. As the sole gaijin living in an ancient village (the family whose house he stayed in had owned it for over 20 generations) the author is at once both a detached, curious and perceptive observer of daily Japanese village life and, at the same time, somehow magically involved in their seasonal rhythms and rituals. Miller is an accomplished photographer and poet. His photos and, even more, his haiku poems marvelously convey the beauty of the scenes around him - the forests, cherry blossoms, carp ponds, deep green paddy fields... Reading his poems you can almost smell the mist rising off the damp soil at night, the fragrant morning air, and hear the whispering of the wind in the bamboo groves and the melodic chanting of the farm women tending the fields. Don't we all wish we could sometimes get away from city life and contemplate the beauty of nature in simple village life - and, by doing so, somehow capture their essence while penetrating deeper into our own spirits, as the author has done? Overall, a marvelous book!

Russell Miller has lived and traveled extensively in the Far East, especially in Japan. In his pictorial photography Book "Spring", he depicts a one month stay in Yabe Japan, an hour and a half east of the Japanese City of Kumamoto. The text chronicles the stay, but the photographs are the reason for obtaining the Book. From the exquisite photographic cover, to the garden on p. 99 and the flowering bushes on p. 109, the photographs capture the artistic beauty of Japan. My only complaint is that I wish some of the photographs were larger.The printing quality of the book was outstanding.

Spring, for me, is a sort of journal with huge benefits. The writings are random thoughts both simple and complex, enriched with many delightful haiku and stunning photos.

I marveled at the author's "journey" without agenda. His descriptions of the small piece of another world [Yabe, Japan] in which he resided for a month are moving, funny, and fascinating. Everything, people, places and the natural environment, is offered as savory treats.

For me, Spring provides an experience I can enjoy over and over again.

This is a great book for those who really appreciate the culture of Japan. I love the fabulous photos that captured the images of the Yabe and the people. The stories and experiences written are very touching and sometimes funny. I like to flip to random chapter to just read the haiku poems. This book is truly delightful!!!

My husband recently purchased a mini-ranch and some Zebus, after that the next thing he insisted was to buy the book so that we'd have the knowledge to do a good job. And it gave us what we needed.

Awesome book! I'm so glad that I could finally get a copy of my own. Now I can return my friend's fourth edition book. I can't believe that this book is even more informative!

I would like to know if it is possible to find this book in Spanish. Thank you.

This book originally written in the fifties covers everything from feed to pasture to barn and corral design. If you're new to the ranching life or just want to learn about it, this is the "bible". Just excellent resource material !!!

I have to begin this review by taking note of the delicious irony of finding this slender little gem of a book at my local supermarket, as the essence of this story is an ode to the slow food movement and the community-supported agriculture (CSA) efforts that have been gaining steam around the country over the course of the last decade or so. Definitely not supermarket material.

The author is Scott Chaskey, farmer/poet emeritus of Long Island's Quail Hill Farms, one of the oldest CSA groups in New York State. His text reads like a set of short journal entries, carrying the reader through an entire cycle of seasons on the farm. His prose is beautiful and descriptive, with occasional hints of verse adding depth and color to the proceedings. Chaskey's love of Nature (with a capital N for sure) comes through loud and true, as does the book's central theme of living in harmony with the Earth and her gifts.

It's never explicitly stated, but there's a real neo-Pagan feel to this book, especially in the way that it follows the seasons and the wheel of the year. Chaskey is definitely in touch with his inner Druid, his connection to the land and it's flora and fauna making him an effective advocate for organic farming and the CSA model.

HIGHLY recommended.

This book was a very sweet description of life at a organic farm. It brought to life ideas and processes that must happen every year or helpful hints on what makes this gardening adventure easier. You can feel the joy and effort he has put into the farm and also the challenges. He gives a glimpse of the organic association, and what it means to be organic. Chaskey generously lets us learn from his mistakes. The wholesome roots of farming are embraced by this book, I loved it.

Farmer and Poet Scott Chaskey gives us this wonderful work following his journey on his South Fork farm for a year. Follow Chaskey through the spring, summer, autumn, and Winter as he learns and explores life on this organic farm. This book appeals to the senses and to the heart. ****

A story of love and frustration in building a farm that grows products organically.

It's clear that the love drives Mr. Chaskey to farming, watching things grow, watching the seasons turn. The poet in him makes his prose read like this love -- 'Last night our fields felt the first light touch of Jack Frost.'

The frustration also comes through, especially as he talks about new gtovernment rules -- To qualify as organic compost must be turned a total of five times within a fifteen-day period and you must prove that the temperature inside the pile was between 131 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit for the period. --Who turns compost every three days.

This book is the story of the changing seasons on an organic farm in New York. It is not an instruction book on farming, it is an ode to organic farming.

I'm not sure how I even came across this book but what a wonderful find. This book illustrates the complex relationship among the farmworkers, growers, contractors, unionists, advocates, lobbyists, etc. It was extremely well written and readable, alternating between background information/statistics and first person narratives. I also liked the photographs (which were not of the same people who spoke in the book) but would have liked informative captions to go along with them. I am astounded by the enormity of this industry and the agricultural power of the USA. I would certainly pay more for my produce if it would help improve the farmworkers' situation (although the book clearly states that consumer price has little to do with these conditions). I can no longer look at fruits and vegetables the same way.

With These Hands is an excellent book that contains oral histories -- astonishing interviews -- with farmworkers, growers, labor contractors, government officials and labor union officials. These statements are interspersed with excellent but brief summaries of various issues. The full range of the complexity of farmworkers' lives is explored, from wages and benefits to the structure of the farm labor market to the international consequences of agricultural labor practices. As a lawyer for migrant farmworkers, I'm all for books about them but have been disappointed by a lot of what has been written. This book does not disappoint.

"The Poorest of the Invisible Working Poor" could be an alternate title for Daniel Rothenberg's "With These Hands." Most of us know migrant farm workers only when one of them breaks the law and get written up in the newspaper. However, just about every piece of produce we routinely select at the supermarket has passed through their hands. I particularly liked the format of Rothenberg's book, alternating factual explanation with monologues by those involved in farm labor. I appreciated the wide variety of viewpoints exposed, not just those of migrant workers, but also of contractors, farmer employers, government officials and labor organizers. Most migrant farmworkers are Hispanic, many of them in this country legally, and some are U.S. citizens from years back. Many others, out of economic desperation, risk their lives sneaking across the U.S./Mexican border to find honest work doing the most backbreaking labor, under the most inhumane living conditions, for the most miserable wages. Their sheer numbers help keep farmworker wages low, but the power of the agricultural lobby has helped maintain the dismal conditions of farm labor since the Depression. Everyone who eats should read this book. Every politician should read it twice.

Read This Book! The book With These Hands, is a very accurate depiction of migrant farmworks today. The author, Daniel Rothenberg, is an anthropologist that spent three years living among workers and getting to know the people who work in the labor camps. He compiled more than 250 interviews to try and gain insight on the numerous hardships that these people face. Many people only hear about migrant workers who get into run-ins with the law, therefore giving these people a stereotypical view of how many of these migrants actually are, and what they go through to make such horrible wages. Every aspect of these farmworkers lives are explored, from wages to the farm labor market to consequences of labor practices. This book is really a reality check to people because of how much these workers have an affect on our lives. People don't stop to think about how all of their fruit products are gathered and how the workers are treated for doing such back breaking work. This book differs from many others that have been written on this same topic because it covers all different angles of migrant farmwork for yesterday and today. A definite two thumbs up!

I once owned a restored, 1948 Allis Model B tractor. Long live the "Orange"!!
This book is a very useful reference for the antique tractor collector, restorer, and enthusiast. It does not include information on later model Allis-Chalmers (A-C) products, i.e., it only covers tractors produced during the first half century (1914 thru 1963) of company operation. This pocket sized reference book includes detailed model specifications, product serial numbers and dates, model history comments, and some black and white photographs and drawings.
I have been really pleased with this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in antique Allis-Chalmers tractors and crawlers.
As I have researched antique tractors from other manufacturers, I have been very disappointed to discover that a detailed data book, like this one, does not exist for other antique tractor companies.

Absolutely great package! I couldn't believe how much info the author backed in this small, glove-box size book! He should do more. The info is very thorough, and were details were not available, the author indicated, rather than simply make it up (laugh maybe, but this has been a problem with lots of tractor books out there!). you can trust this one. Been in the tractor hobby for many years, and this is the most useful book on AC I have seen to date.

If you're looking for something to carry in your back pocket or in the glove box for those tractor auctions and collector gatherings and other shows, this is the perfect book. It has all the tractors and the first serial number of each year and model and the last serial number made.

"Restriction of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended and all the land redivided amongst those who work it... That state shall help the peasants... Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed...All shall have the right to occupy land... People shall not be robbed of their cattle, and forced labor and farm prisons shall be abolished."

These are excerpts from the Freedom Charter of the South African National Congress, which led the revolution against apartheid to victory in the 1990s. Was it supported by the leaders of the "Free World", the U.S. and U.K., who are now waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan for "democracy"? Not on your life. They supported and profited from the apartheid system. Learn how forefathers of today's imperialists took the land of South Africa by force and unspeakable terrorist violence against the masses of South Africa.

Other suggested Reading: The Struggle is My Life by Nelson Mandela
New International No. 5, "The Coming Revolution in South Africa," by Jack Barnes.

Written before the overthrow of apartheid in 1990, this 69-page booklet nonetheless provides an essential collection of facts describing an important method that the minority government used to maintain its rule.

Practically from the time they set foot in what has become South Africa, white settlers from Europe laid out plans to disenfranchise blacks from their land. Through a series of wars, laws and theft, the descendants of Dutch and British settlers managed to disposses blacks and appropriate 87 percent of the land for themselves.

The great land theft was as vital to sustaining apartheid as was cheap black labor in the nation's gold and diamond mines and other industries. But from the beginning, blacks resisted white claims on their land, which became codified in the Freedom Charter of the African National Congress. Its leader, Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for his fight against apartheid, became the first president of free South Africa in 1994.

Harsch's pamphlet is based on two articles he wrote in the Dec. 16, 1985 and Dec. 30, 1985 issues of the newsweekly Intercontinental Press. He describes the social inequalities of apartheid land system, and the fight to eradicate them.

Black farmers were turned into sharecroppers, land tenants and peasants on land that they had farmed communally for centuries before the arrival of the white settlers.

When they were given some land, it was often the least arable and only in small plots. White farmers benefited from government loans and assistance, while blacks were left on their own.

White farmers often preferred to hire black women in the fields because the lack of child care meant they also benefited from the labor of their children, Harsch reports. Beatings and punishment of blacks were common.

The apartheid masters created 10 Bantusans, so-called national homelands for blacks. But they were a cruel joke. In the Ciskei homeland, Harsch writes, dry land conditions managed to feed very few people. "Just 27,000 of the 375,000 rural Ciskeians have enough land to enable them to also keep cattle. Nearly a third of the Ciskei's people have no land at all," according to Harsch. "In the Ciskei, 40 percent of the population is unemployed, and 89 percent of the children suffer from malnutrition." This, in one of Africa's richest countries.

Important changes have occurred in South Africa since the struggle against apartheid succeeded in bringing down that hated system and putting Nelson Mandela at the head of a new nation. This little book was written before this transformation but it documents the urgency of one of the central remaining tasks. What must now be completed is "seizing the land from the dispossessor," as one of Mandela's close comrades put it. In other words a radical land reform that would open the land to those whose ancestors were forcibly driven from it. Why is the question of land ownership so important in South Africa today? This book explains how the central pillar of apartheid was the expulsion of native farmers from their land. Many did not even have a concept of private ownership, they simply farmed it in common. As Harsch points out, 87% of land became restricted only to whites. The author explains in a very readable way how land-theft was at the very center of the steps that marginalized the Black toilers. A fight for land-reform is necessary in order to build a worker-farmer alliance, the author cogently argues In so doing he affirms one of the chief demands contained in the freedom charter of Mandela's African National Congress-"the land must be shared among those who work it." Steve Clark's introduction helps to link Harsch's book to other valuable readings.

It is family farmers, not Big agri-Business, that produces most of the food and fiber grown and raised in this country.The superrich that own the banks, fertlizer and seed corporations, etc. that exploit small farmers also own the Democrat and Republican politicians that don't even claim to care a fig about small farmers til election time.Their hog superfarms, for just one example, are monuments to capitalist greed, stupidity, and pollution of everything they touch.This book explains that working people in city and country, in our unions and in fighting farmers organizations-like today's National Black Farmers and Agriculturalists' Association-have got to unite and fight our common enemy and take government power out of the capitalists' hands.The authors also explain we must identify and unite with our friends around the world, like Malcolm X taught--other workers and farmers just like us-- against our enemy in the world: imperialism,in the first place the Yanqui-U.S. Empire.As we enter the new Great Depression and face the continual string of U.S, wars against OUR people, the working people, around the world that go along with, this book's use of the lessons of Cuba's land reform, with speeches by Fidel Castro, could not be more timely.As timely is the 1985 document adopted by the Socialist Workers Party, which explains how the experience of being industrial workers, unionists, and fighters for our class as a whole , after a long absence from those unions, led to that party's call for a workers and farmers government as its most important campaigning slogan and goal.The resolution also explains why the middle-class groups calling themselves "The Left" in this country were/are only pushing for band-aids to cover the abcesses of the system.Must reading for today's and tommorow's fighters for fundamental social change.

"The Fight for a Workers' and Farmers' Government in the U.S." is a key article in this collection. It is based on the fact that farmers who hire no labor but work their own land have common interests with workers. Both are exploited by giant agribusinesses and are in debt slavery to the capitalist banks.

In this article, Jack Barnes presents a convincing argument for the correctness of the strategy of the Socialist Workers Party to "educate and organize the working class to establish a workers' and farmers' government that will abolish capitalism in the United States and join in the world-wide struggle for socialism."

The big battles between farmers and banks, farmers and agribusiness that opened in the late 1970s and early 1980s helped the Socialists Workers Party reconsider the decisive role of farmers and their struggle to the struggle for Socialism in America, and indeed the world.
Two articles in this issue of the New International from 1985 record this new understanding. "Forging a Fighting Worker-Farmer Alliance" by Doug Jenness analyzes how farmers are exploited by big business, how they have begun to fight back, and how workers need to join and support their struggle. "The Workers' and Farmers' Government in the United States" by SWP National Secretary Jack Barnes, is a speech changing the SWP's constitution to call for a workers and farmers government in this country. Barnes' speech in particular integrates the experiences of the Cuban, Nicaraguan and Grenadian revolutions on the common fight of workers and exploited farmers with the battles workers and farmers face in the USA.
Added to these two speeches are two speeches on the alliance between workers and farmers in Cuba by Fidel Castro and a resolution on "The Agrarian Question and Relations to the Peasantry," a resolution adopted by the Cuba Communist Party in 1975.
Along with these articles on the alliance between workers and farmers, this issue contains "Revolutionary Per4spective and Leninist Continuity in the United States," the central political resolution adopted at the SWP's august 1984 convention surveying world and US politics in the early Reagan years.