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A review by mrsthrift
Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre by Brett L. Markham
3.0
I think I really enjoyed this book because it feeds into my most basic desire - that it is possible to quit your job and support your family on a small plot of land. The economics and math here are a little bit fuzzy, but essentially, if you make $30,000 a year or less, you could/can reduce your expenses and make enough money on 1/4 of an acre to get by. It sounds preposterous, and I haven't lived it enough to say whether it's possible for most people, but it seems, well, at least not completely impossible after reading this book. I'm not drafting a resignation letter, but I am looking at my yard a little bit and wondering why it's not more profitable. The experts on intensive farming seem to agree that $5/square foot is a reasonable expectation. To feed one person with total self-sufficiently, you need about 700 square feet. 25-35% of your growing area should be green manure at any given time during the growing season, and 100% during the resting/winter. There is an interesting, smart design for a long-lasting, flexible trellis system using electrical conduit and fixtures. Also, the section on bio-char was really inspirational and lead me down a rabbit hole of research I have yet to emerge from. Most of this book fits neatly into the intensive food production ideologies, and it is all presented from the perspective that organic practices are mandatory.
The basic ideas are simple. Grow your own seedlings (and maybe sell extras). Prefer open-pollinated varieties (as to get out of the buying seed cycle). Use intensive gardening techniques to get the max from your land. Compost (the heart of the operation). Grow calorie-dense crops, especially so you can produce more of your family's food & reduce your expenses. Raise meat animals (this includes egg production). Plant some fruit-bearing crops. Grow market crops. Extend your season (hoop houses, cloches, etc). Understand your market (who are you selling to, what do you sell? be strategic). Economics - how to eke out $30,000 worth of productivity/value from your very small space.
There is a whole lot of quality advice in here for someone chomping at the bit to make a difficult job for themselves. Some of it seems really obvious, but if you put it all together like this, it starts to seem possible. While I don't entirely trust the Math in this book, the price of optimism can be quite high, and this book gets it done for a reasonable cost (the only expense is your time if you check this out from the library). Even if you couldn't entirely replace your paycheck with this system, you could build a considerable cottage industry with some of these ideas. I hate this word, but this book is inspirational.
The basic ideas are simple. Grow your own seedlings (and maybe sell extras). Prefer open-pollinated varieties (as to get out of the buying seed cycle). Use intensive gardening techniques to get the max from your land. Compost (the heart of the operation). Grow calorie-dense crops, especially so you can produce more of your family's food & reduce your expenses. Raise meat animals (this includes egg production). Plant some fruit-bearing crops. Grow market crops. Extend your season (hoop houses, cloches, etc). Understand your market (who are you selling to, what do you sell? be strategic). Economics - how to eke out $30,000 worth of productivity/value from your very small space.
There is a whole lot of quality advice in here for someone chomping at the bit to make a difficult job for themselves. Some of it seems really obvious, but if you put it all together like this, it starts to seem possible. While I don't entirely trust the Math in this book, the price of optimism can be quite high, and this book gets it done for a reasonable cost (the only expense is your time if you check this out from the library). Even if you couldn't entirely replace your paycheck with this system, you could build a considerable cottage industry with some of these ideas. I hate this word, but this book is inspirational.