Compact Farms: 15 Proven Plans for Market Farms on 5 Acres or Less; Includes Detailed Farm Layouts for Productivity and Efficiency

Beautifully laid out book. Josh takes you on a detailed tour of not only his successful small farm, Slow Hand Farm, but also 14 other small (less than 5 acres) farms. Many of the farms he profiles are run by the grandfathers/grandmothers of this industry: Eliot Coleman, Alex Peregrine, Jean-Martin Fortier, to name a few. The others are all run by farmers that may be nationally less-known, but are still pillars within their own farming communities. Josh effectively breaks down each farm in a manner that is easy to digest. He starts with the basic history of each farm, their hopes/needs/wants/desires from their farms and how they have changed or altered themselves in order to reach those goals. He then walks us through everything from basic tools on the farm, to bed prep, all the way through post-harvest washing and packing, and into the nuts and bolts of office organization.The best thing about this book is the diversity of farmers, their locations, and the ways they tackle their own farming ventures. Josh states at the beginning of the book that being exposed to a range and diversity of growing, harvesting, and packing methods will best inform a potential farm or farmer on how to grow their operation. He is right. I've never read such a book that details the intricate systems of so many different farms, all in one place. Even when meeting other farmers at annual conferences does not provide this kind of detail. Going over these various systems and strategies each farm uses would take way too long to explain, even when meeting these folks in person or actually visiting their farms. Having all of this information collected, stored, and ready-to-use in this book is an invaluable tool for any farmer seeking knowledge in how to improve their operation.It is my opinion that established farms will benefit greatly from this book, as seeing how other highly successful small farms operate (15 of them), is key to picking and choosing the most successful methods for YOUR farm. I also believe that new and starting farmers will benefit as well, but it may take a season or two of growing before all of the principles in this book, and how you may fit them into your own personal farm framework, begin to make complete sense. Like Josh says, there is absolutely no substitute for hands-on learning in the farming world. Get out there and do it, and make sure you have this book in your back pocket to reference. You will find it is worth it's weight in gold.

I love all the different varieties of farm layouts and the brief explanation of practices used.

This is definitely a great coffee table book or for a great read. The book is informative on how the farms are laid out, operational principles and so forth. But as a primer for how to get you going not so much. That is fine because that it seems was not the intent of the book. It just shows how other people made their particular space and goals work for them.Now if you are looking to start a mini farm it is very informational not instructive. I have to say it showed me some things I would never have thought of or would have hit on eventually.So in my opinion if you are interested in a mini farm to buy or build this is the book for you. Or if you simply like to see how others did their version of crazy.( a nod to all farmers who are told "You want to farm?! Are you Crazy?!) Also if you like to read about farms this is the book for you. The pictures and illustrations of each farm alone make the book worth the purchase price.

Looking for ideas to lay out my land. Book does just that.

What a great resource, I have a small farm and the ideas in here are so inspiring, I pick it up many times to reread for an idea and to see how the other small farmers did it.Excellent job by Josh putting this book together. There's something inhere for every farm or garden.Highly recommended.

I have always loved gardening and have a great deal of extra unused land. Have been considering building a market garden/small farm with the land and this book has given me a great deal to consider. Very informative, great model farms, enjoyed the illustrations of each farm. Will need to look into the marketing and finance aspects in more details with other literature though.

I especially liked the organization of the book. For each chapter the lessons are presented in the same order, making it easy to compare practices of the different farmers. Of special interest are the comments on garden tools, like hoes, seeders, cultivators. Reviews from folk who actually use these are invaluable. For mini farmers this book, the books by Carol Deppe and Caleb Warnock are must reads. I noted that farmers using more modern tractors all settled on Kubotas, as have we. And many on the Hoss cultivators. We've one with all the attachments. Note that many use the Jang Clean Seeder, which is the only seeder we've found that actually works. O

It is not quite what I/we expected. It is great for someone "thinking" about starting a small profitable farm. The problem is that I/we were looking for something that would have better details. Perhaps more step-by-step how they did it? The book itself is well worth the cost, just wish it would have broken things down a bit more.

- good variety of farms as examples- realistic examples- basic knowledge on how to start your own- not a one size fits all approach which appealed to me

Que vous soyez professionnel ou simple passionné, ce livre est une mine d'or de retours d'expériences. Les illustrations sont splendides et le contenu se dévore. Si vous projetez de créer votre ferme ou votre potager amateur, foncez ! Vous gagnerez des années d'expérimentations grâce aux nombreux plans et précieux conseils de professionnels.

We really like this book. It is one of many that has helped us make a plan and create a farming business plan, bringing us that much closer to our goals.

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Gives a good general idea of how these micro farms work and what products/services they provide.