Angela England’s new book, Backyard Farming on an Acre (More or Less) is an inspiring guide and must have for folks new to small scale backyard farming and homesteading. With 25 helpful and easy to read chapters, England outlines the basics from choosing land to gardening, animal care, preserving and even homestead crafting!
England’s knowledge, experience and wit show through in this well written beginner’s guide to backyard farming. I loved how easy the book was to read since it is organized into distinct categories. This allows the reader to jump around to different sections of the book depending on which topic you are most interested in at the time.
The book is broken down into five main sections:
- Living Large on a Small Scale
- Gardening on a Backyard Farm
- Animals for a Backyard Farm
- Enjoying the Bounty
- Crafting from the Backyard Farm
The first section on living large on a small scale outlines what is wrong with our food system today and why backyard farming is so important. It also gives an excellent outline of what to look for in a property if you happen to be house shopping with the intent of backyard farming. For folks not property shopping, there is a chapter dedicated to making the most of the property you do have and how to utilize your current space for backyard farming.
When I first received the book to review, we were a few weeks into our mid-winter homestead shopping. I had already written a basic homestead property wish list but England’s tips in chapter two, “Buying Land: What do you Need?” brought to light some factors we had not thought of. I quickly added to our wish list thanks to England’s insightful tips.
As I continued reading into chapter three, “Building on Land You Already Own”, we realized that we may not have to move to a different property after all! I was so inspired by this chapter that my husband and I found ourselves outside in the snow walking our property and making plans to rip out our deck and put in raised bed gardens next spring.
The second section on gardening contains chapters dedicated to helping you plan your garden, deciding which tools are necessary, assessing soil content, crop rotation, and saving seeds. There are also in-depth chapters on choosing which vegetables to plant, growing berries and fruit trees and kitchen herb gardens.
This second section is well organized and detailed, making it an excellent guide for a beginner backyard gardener. Since I have been gardening on a small scale for a number of years, I found some of the information in this section to be too basic. I did glean some very helpful tips on companion planting and planning our garden space better to maximize our production in a small space.
The third section on raising animals in the backyard farm was one of my favorite in the whole book. This section was very helpful since this is an area we want to expand in. England broke the chapters down to focus on the most popular backyard farm animals:
- Chickens
- Rabbits
- Sheep and goats
- Bee keeping
Each chapter covers specifics such as different types of breeds, how to recognize symptoms of illness or disease, harvesting, shelters and tools needed. We’ve been wanting to add chickens to our backyard farm but didn’t know where to start. This chapter was quite informative so now we can start planning for our chickens!
The fourth section on enjoying the bounty of your backyard farm shares recipes using common homegrown veggies and fruits, how to can and freeze food, how to dehydrate and smoke foods, storing food in cold storage, and preserving your herb garden.
This last summer I started drying some produce and herbs so there were some helpful tips in these chapters that I’m going to apply next summer. England also shares tips on how to make herbal vinegars, oils, infusions and tinctures. I just began dabbling in this last summer so this chapter was quite informative.
For folks new to canning and preserving, England does a great job in these chapters outlining the basics you need to get started. I grew up in a canning/preserving food family and continue these skills in my own family so the art of canning and freezing is second nature to me. I know a lot of folks who are new to food preservation so this book is an excellent guide to get started!
The fifth section on crafting from the backyard farm is filled with fun how-to projects like making butter, cheese, carding and spinning wool, making goats milk soap, weaving baskets, natural plant based dyes and the list goes no. I always love to craft and create so absolutely loved this section!
I was most excited about the chapters on how to make cheese and card wool, two things that have been on my “learn how to do list”. England explains the basics on how to get started with these projects in easy to read and follow instructions.
After finishing the book, I noticed I had turned down the top corner of quite a few pages in the book to mark something that stood out to me that I want to refer back to. I can always tell I’ve read a good book with a lot of valuable information when there are so many page corners turned down!
If you are interested in starting your own backyard farm or enhance the one you have, I highly recommend Backyard Farming on an Acre (More or Less). It is an excellent beginners guide that covers a wide range of topics to start you out on your small homesteading journey!
You can find England’s book on Amazon by clicking here and as of right now it is on sale for only $13.60 and eligible for their free super saver shipping!
Connect with Angela England on her blog “Untrained Housewife” and the Backyard Farming Facebook page where you can find more helpful backyard farming tips and even giveaways related to backyard farming!
Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for writing a review. All the opinions about this book are my own. This post also contains affiliate links.
This post shared on: Wildcrafting Wednesday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways The Homemacre Hop, Clever Chicks Blog Hop
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Great review! I love books like this and find myself hoarding them like canned goods
Thanks for sharing this info!
Stop by to vote for your favorite post on the People’s choice award for Wildcrafting Wednesday at:
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2012/12/peoples-choice-award-for-wildcrafting-wednesday.html
Ha, I’m a book hoarder too
Thanks for the invite, I was reading over the posts up for the award this morning and have to decide my favorites-it is tough to decide!
This might just be the perfect book for me for the new year. We bought our first home this summer and finally have the small back yard we have been dreaming of. We can’t wait to try out gardening this year!
How exciting to have your first home with a back yard to try out some gardening! You really should check this book out, it is full of so many helpful tips. We have been considering moving to have more land but Angela wrote about some really great ideas on how to garden more productively in small spaces that we need to try out so you might find that helpful too since you have a small back yard.
This book is up my alley! Thank you for the review. We started gardening 4 years ago and I need tips/help.
That’s wonderful you’ve been gardening for a couple years! Even for us folks who have been doing some gardening, this book offers some really helpful tips. It’s only December and I’m already counting down the days until spring when we can try out some of her gardening tips!
I am super new to gardening and this sounds like something I need!
Definitely Nicole! I wish I had a book like this when I was just starting out gardening, I did a lot of experimenting and “winging it” over the years and didn’t always get much produce because of that
I’m so glad you wrote this review. I am considering buying this book and it was great to get a little more detail about what it includes! Thanks!
Hey Annie!
I started a new hop and would love to have you share this!
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/01/the-homeacre-hop-2.html
Thanks for linking up!
This book is definitely on y “to read” list - thanks for the review!
I would love to have you share this on Thursdays at Tasty Traditions: http://myculturedpalate.com/
Hello there! I stopped of the blog Hop “Frugal Days” I can’t wait to read more of your posts! This looks like a really good book and I am always looking to add to my library. I am gonna follow along and stop by my garden blog if you get a chance at: http://theredeemedgardener.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the great review. My wife and I will be looking for homestead property in a couple of years and we are gathering information as we travel. This looks like a great addition to the library. Also, I gather you are from the Missoula area. We have been living in a small town outside of Kalispell for a while now. Very interested in spending more time in the Bitterroot though. You can see what we are up to on our new blog http://www.wildbluebus.com I found this post on the Home Acre Hop. Thanks for sharing -Colin D
This sounds so helpful! I’ve got a bit of a garden, but would love to learn how to do more with it.