Free Plant Guilds E-Book from Midwest Permaculture

http://midwestpermaculture.com/

The team over at Midwest Permaculture has been doing some great work lately, and this free eBook on Plant Guilds is great! If you are unfamiliar with the concept of guilds, you can read my article on Permaculture Guilds.

This eBook is a great resource for Permaculture in a Temperate Climate... so, of course, I had to share it!

Download the eBook here!

Book Review: The Brewmaster's Table

The Brewmaster's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food

I am not a food snob; I am a foodie. I am not a beer snob; I am a beer connoisseur. Food and beer snobs will turn down food that doesn't meet their preconceived ideas of quality, which is often only what they read in an expensive magazine. A foodie will eat just about anything once, and the same is true of a beer connoisseur. However, we foodies and beer connoisseurs still truly appreciate quality food and drink. We just don't care if it made the cover of Food and Wine.

It is with this mindset that I review this book. The Brewmaster's Table by Garrett Oliver (the brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery), is an absolute must read for anyone who appreciates good food and beer. It provides a great history and explanation of all the world's major styles of beer, which to be honest, has been done before in many other books. But what makes this book unique, and why I use this book as a reference quite frequently, is that Garret Oliver provides recommendations for pairing food with each of the styles of beer he describes. He dives into the reasoning behind food and beer pairing so that we can understand why the beer goes so well with a particular food or style of food.

Any book that makes me want to go out and experiment with whatever the author is writing about is a success. This book has inspired me to experiment well over a dozen times already, and I think a lot more experimenting is in store.

One specific subject that this books addresses, and an area I have struggled with for some time, is what beverage to serve with Indian and other Asian meals. Wine is a poor fit, although I have had some success with champagne. I try to avoid soft drinks in all circumstances. Water works well, but is boring. Beer is what is left over, but as it turns out, stands out as a clear front runner. No drink, other than certain styles of beer, come anywhere close to matching the flavor profiles or offering a distinct but complimentary contrast of flavors to these foods. For these precious recommendations alone the book was worthwhile.

Fortunately, the book offers way more than just that. As it turns out, almost every food and style of cooking has an almost perfect pairing (or two or three) with a style of beer (or two or three). I am a wine drinker as well, and I really enjoy wine, but when it comes to matching food with drink, wine has nothing on beer. Sure, a classic American-Italian dinner has a great pairing in almost any table red wine. A juicy ribeye pairs great with a Syrah or Cab. But you can also drink beer with these meals as well. But what about everything else? What about a barbeque with hamburgers and hotdogs and spicy ribs? What about fish and chips. What about all the other foods people eat that just don't really work with wine? This book has the answer. Don't believe me? Read this book. Experiment for yourself, and you will see.

This book is yet another highly recommended read.

Free E-Book: Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison

Bill Mollison, the co-founder of Permaculture

http://www.foodforest.com.au/BillMollisonHeadshot.jpg

This downloadable PDF (which opens great in any e-book reader) is a collection of "pamphlets" dealing with many aspects of Permaculture... all from Bill Mollison, the founder of Permaculture. Well, to be honest, it is not quite from him. It is the transcript of a Permaculture Design Course he was teaching in 1981 in New Hampshire. The good folks from Barking Frogs Permaculture taped the course and then typed it all. On top of that, they made it a public resource...free public domain! This compliation of all 15 pamphlets is free to anyone who wants it. A fantastic resource.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

 

Book Review: Charcuterie

Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing

I received this book from one of my siblings at Christmas. In short, I love it! I recently wrote an article about why I enjoy learning and practicing food preservation (read that article here). I have already tried a few recipes from this book. My favorit so far was the pork confit from my own rendered lard... it was the most tender pork I have ever tasted. My 18-month old daughter almost ate as much as I did! I find it more than interesting that a baby can instictually know quality food. I think it is great.

If you are a foodie and a cook and a person who enjoys meat. You will likely love this book as much as I did. I highly recommend it.

I love this review posted on Amazon:
Starred Review. Without the faintest hint of apology, Ruhlman and Polcyn present an arsenal of recipes that take hours, and sometimes days, to prepare; are loaded with fat; and, if ill-prepared, can lead to botulism. The result is one of the most intriguing and important cookbooks published this year. Ruhlman (The Soul of a Chef) is a food poet, and the pig is his muse. On witnessing a plate of cold cuts in Italy, he is awed by "the way the sunlight hit the fat of the dried meats, the way it glistened, the beauty of the meat." He relates and refines the work of Polcyn, a chef-instructor at a college in Livonia, Mich., who butchers a whole hog "every couple weeks for his students." Together, they make holy the art of stuffing a sausage, the brining of a corned beef and the poaching of a salted meat in its own fat. An extensive chapter on pâtés and terrines is entitled "The Cinderella Meat Loaf" and runs the gamut from exotic Venison Terrine with Dried Cherries to hearty English Pork Pie with a crust made from both lard and butter. And while there's no shortage of lyricism, science plays an equally important role. Everyone knows salt is a preservative, for example, but here we learn exactly how it does its job. And a section on safety issues weighs the dangers of nitrites and explains the difference between good white mold and the dangerous, green, fuzzy stuff.

Here are some other reviews of this fine book:
Charcuterie is an important and definitive work which deserves to stand proudly and forever in every serious cook's kitchen. -- Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential

Charcuterie provides an open window on the delicious possibilities available to the home cook and professional chef alike. -- Paul Bertolli, author of Cooking By Hand

Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn have opened the door for home cooks everywhere to experience the thrill of making charcuterie. -- Mario Batali, chef/owner of Babbo Restaurant, New York

Never has the art of charcuterie been handled this thoroughly for the home cook. -- Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of American Public Media's national radio series The Splendid Table®

The best techniques to cure, smoke and preserve meat in the tradition of the best charcutiers out there. -- Eric Ripert, chef/co-owner of Le Bernardin Restaurant, New York

Free E-Book: An Ax to Grind - A Practical Ax Manual

An Ax to Grind. A Practical Ax Manual. 

by Bernie Weisgerber

DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

I recently posted a fantastic video on axes. The host of this video is Bernie Weisgerber, a US Forest Service historic preservationist. As it turns out, the video was meant to be a companion to his short book, An Ax To Grind, which was produced/printed by the US Department of Agriculture. As such, it is meant to be distributed freely for the furtherance of knowledge. It is a great primer on axes, and it should be viewed as such. It is not the end all, be all of ax books, but it is pretty good, especially if you are new to axes and their history. I found a PDF version of it that reads well in any E-Book reader. Download it (above) if you are interested.

Book Review: Pastured Poultry Profits by Joel Salatin

 

Pastured Poultry Profits

From the Publisher:

A couple working six months per year for 50 hours per week on 20 acres can net $25,000-$30,000 per year with an investment equivalent to the price of one new medium-sized tractor. Seldom has agriculture held out such a plum. In a day when main-line farm experts predict the continued demise of the family farm, the pastured poultry opportunity shines like a beacon in the night, guiding the way to a brighter future.

I have yet to read anything from Joel Salatin that I cannot recommend. This book is no different. The general premise of this book is one of farming, that is, raising food with the intention of selling it. While I may get to that stage at some point in the future, I would suggest that this book is for anyone with some land a bit larger than a small suburban lot and a desire to produce their own healthy food in a sustainable manner. Most of us do not have 20 acres. The beauty of the methods outlined in this book it that they can be scaled down. We could produce some really good chickens in a large backyard. This book will show you how.

Now, if you do happen to have a farm and are looking for a viable revenue stream, I would strongly consider raising chickens by this program. Joel Salatin has spent 20 years perfecting this model. He explains the variations and shortcuts and experiments he has attempted, gives the pros and cons, and deftly outlines his methods.

Maybe it is just me, but I cannot read a book by Joel Salatin without a deep longing to start farming.

Free E-book on Seed Saving

http://seedambassadors.org/

http://www.adaptiveseeds.com/

I wanted to quickly share a website (well two actually, but they are the same organization really) and a free e-book. This is a great organization whose goal is to "grow and steward rare, diverse and resilient seed varieties and distribute these to other ecologically minded farmers, gardeners and seed savers."

They have produced a free, 22-page Guide to Seed Saving that can be downloaded from their site. It is a great tool to help get you started on saving your seeds.  Check it out!

http://www.seedambassadors.org/docs/seedzine4handout.pdf

Book Review: The Art of Fermentation

The Art of Fermentation

 

 

Who is Sandor Katz? If you wanted to blame one person in the U.S. who brought about a revival in home fermentation, then he is the man. I wrote a review about Sandor Katz’s first book, Wild Fermentation, last year. If you want to know a whole lot more about Katz, his personal life, philosophy, and love of fermented foods, you can read this book. It is a good book with a lot of recipes.

However, The Art of Fermentation, is a great book, and it contains virtually no recipes. Almost everyone is familiar with the old saying, Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. His first book had a lot of fish giving (and to be fair it had a decent dose of teaching), but his latest book is a veritable fishing clinic. And just so we don’t get too lost in the analogy, let me say it clearly: The Art of Fermentation is the most comprehensive book on fermenting foods available today; It teaches the what and why of fermentation so that a person can go out and ferment any food.

The natural question then arises, “Why would I want to ferment food?”

Fermentation has been used throughout the world to preserve foods without refrigeration. I have homemade sauerkraut (fermented cabbage), beer (fermented grains), and melomel (fermented honey and fruit wine) at my house right now. And, to be honest, I also have one failed batch of pickles (fermented cucumbers) in my compost bin right now… I attribute the failure of this batch of pickles to my not following Sandor Katz’s suggestions on how to properly make them. I was trying to make do with what I had on hand, but that is another article I will soon write.

Fermentation has given people around the world the ability to feed themselves in lean times by preserving the bounty of the growing season. However, in many places in the world where electricity and refrigeration are now an underappreciated luxury, fermented foods are still made because they taste so good. Fermentation also can make food more nutritious and can make some foods edible that are inedible in its raw state.

I am a huge fan of fermented and fermenting foods. If you have a general interest in this, then I recommend Wild Fermentation, but if you have a desire to understand, to learn, and to be creative in your own fermentation recipes, then you must read The Art of Fermentation.
 

Book review: The Wild Table

The Wild Table: Seasonal Foraged Food and Recipes

I came across this book about a week ago, and I was extremely excited about finding it. I was not disappointed. This book is an amalgamation of many of my favorite things: food, wild harvesting, cooking, and sustainability. While this book is targeting a North American audience, many of the foods outlined in this book are found where I am currently living in the Azores, and they also can also be found where I was previously living in Turkey.

I should note that this is not an identification guide.Great hints are given for proper identification, but a good guidebook or two, and if you are lucky, a local wild food gatherer as well, should join you on your harvesting trips.

Overall, I found this an entertaining read, and I was very inspired to get out and search my local area even more for wild foods.

From the publisher:
A captivating cookbook by a renowned forager of wild edibles-with more than one hundred sumptuous recipes and full-color photographs. In the last decade, the celebration of organic foods, farmer's markets, and artisanal producers has dovetailed with a renewed passion for wild delicacies. On the forefront of this movement is longtime "huntress" Connie Green, who sells her gathered goods across the country and to Napa Valley's finest chefs including Thomas Keller and Michael Mina.

Taking readers into the woods and on the roadside, The Wild Table features more than forty wild mushrooms, plants, and berries- from prize morels and chanterelles to fennel, ramps, winter greens, huckleberries, and more. Grouped by season (including Indian Summer), the delectable recipes-from Hedgehog Mushroom and Carmelized Onion Tart and Bacon-Wrapped Duck Stuffed Morels, to homemade Mulberry Ice Cream- provide step-by-step cooking techniques, explain how to find and prepare each ingredient, and feature several signature dishes from noted chefs. Each section also features enchanting essays capturing the essence of each ingredient, along with stories of foraging in the natural world.

The Wild Table is an invitation to the romantic, mysterious, and delicious world of exotic foraged food. With gorgeous photography throughout, this book will appeal to any serious gatherer, but it will also transport the armchair forager and bring to life the abundant flavors around us.

Book Review: Build Your Own Earth Oven

Build Your Own Earth Oven

Ever since I had by first taste of naan (an Indian flat bread baked on the wall of an earthen oven called a Tandoor), I have wanted an earth oven. From foods more familiar to those in the U.S., like 2-minute flat crust pizzas and sourdough breads, to more ethnic foods that I love, like chicken tikka and earth oven-baked lamb, some food should only be cooked or baked in an earthen oven.

A sampling of wood-fired, earth-oven pizzas!

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEOfsWF4qIjIgHKKB_vOLpVb54gFgdshZBWbiqoU0c6M6x8uuqTm_nXW1ImkeVC_r7V2ptLBA26KTq9TkWyH-l3n5qufMq9YVudUf18Gj6f1RcT5zBwqG4CMxiyJAhPjo1xkp_UiZO4ZR/s1600/DSC_2687.JPG

I have been leisurely reading about ways to make earth ovens for the last few years, but this book provides everything all in one place. From initial design and foundations to bricks and earth mixes to chimneys and firing, this book has it all. I am really excited giving this a try. When I do, I'll post about it.

Fresh naan... a little piece of heaven on earth!

http://www.vegetariansrecipes.org/pictures/Naan-Susheel.JPG

From the Publisher:

Kiko Denzer and Hannah Field, maker and baker, invite you into the artisan tradition. First, build a masonry oven out of mud. Then mix flour and water for real bread "better than anything you can buy." Total cost? Hardly more than a baking stone - and it can cook everything else, from 2-minute pizza to holiday fowl, or a week's meals.

Clear, abundant drawings and photos clarify every step of the process, from making "oven mud," to fire, and to bread. Informative text puts it all into context with artisan traditions of many ages & cultures. Beautifully sculpted ovens (by the author and readers) will inspire the artist in anyone. And the simple, 4 step recipe (based on professional and homestead experience) promises authentic hearth loaves for anyone, on any schedule.

From weekend gardeners to "simple living," back-to-the-landers; Peace Corps volunteers to neighborhood community-builders; third-graders to earth-artists of all ages, this book feeds many hungers!

Chicken Tikka... a classic Indian dish.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-KvWpMWC_OE2ZJev5t5CxThY6Ioyq1yqJld3Wjvxts-BH9SNFbiWklZrGL-NQ0k_yLgmGthbMoWDk5RaU2yeboO2WH5eBpIzYQbYMs2kQz1qOMWPwYHf6rrB3tYCKzhz_I65Ti3wwLDU/s1600/ChickenTikka.jpg

Book Review: Water Storage

Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use.

From the Publisher:
A do-it-yourself guide to designing, building, and maintaining water tanks, cisterns and ponds, and sustainably managing groundwater storage. It will help you with your independent water system, fire protection, and disaster preparedness, at low cost and using principles of ecological design. Includes building instructions for several styles of ferro cement water tanks.

This is a book that I will reference often when I finally get my land and start to build, design, or improve the water systems on it. This book is on water storage and all aspects of it. It focuses mainly on tanks and tank storage, but gives some mention cisterns, ponds, and aquifers. It discusses how to make tanks and ways to set them up. I was hoping for more on pond making as well, but the book doesn't get much into that. What I like the most about this book is the information on things I never really thought much about... preventing mosquitos from breeding in your stored water, preventing animals from getting into it, zoning, drain design, fire fighting systems/set-up, to name a few.

In this day of terrorism, climate issues, and economic uncertainty, I think everyone should have some form of stored water (from high-rise dweller to most rural land owner). It is really just a matter of how much you can store. This book will go a long way to help in that endeavor.

Book Review: The Hand-Sculpted House

The Hand-Sculpted House

This is a book about building cob homes. Cob is a mixture of clay, sand, and straw. I recently posted a brief article that showed a few videos highlighting the beauty of cob homes (read that article here). This book is a motivational and philosophical how-to on building cob structures.

It goes fairly in-depth on how to make cob, how to build foundations, walls, roofs, windows and doors, plasters and finishes, flooring. At first, the entire concept seems a bit overwhelming. We live in a day and age where "professionals" build homes and us mere civilians must work years and years to pay them (indirectly through the bank) for our homes.

But when you read of a single mom and her elementary school-aged daughter building a home almost entirely themeselves, one really starts to question the entire process with a more critical eye. Why can't we build our own homes? What is really stopping us? People all over the world do it every day. Specifically with cob, anyone can easily learn how to do it. Cob homes can be beautiful. In Devon County (in the U.K.) there are almost 30,000 cob homes still being living in today... and most of them are well over a hundred years old!

An example of a cob home.

http://spasticgoat.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cob1-300x225.jpg

Just some things to think about. When a book makes me question and think this much, well, I think it is a pretty good book. Now I have to admit, as with much in the world of "alternative" anything (gardening, medicine, and even building), there is what I call the "crazy hippie component" in this book. But it is not nearly as overwhelming as many "alternative" books I have read.

If building your own home has ever crossed your mind, or even if it hasn't but the idea of even owning your own home seems too distant a dream, seriously consider reading this book. It will challenge you and maybe even inspire you to go out and try it.

Book Review: What Tree is That?

 

What Tree Is That?

I first came across an older version of this book in 2000 or 2001. I was taking a botany course at Western Kentucky University (as part of my biology degree), and we used this for some of our field days. I remember thinking how great this book was at the time, and just last month my wife bought this for me. It is an updated version, and it is even better than the one I used.

From the publisher:

The Arbor Day Foundation's What Tree Is That? is a unique field guide that uses a step-by-step approach to identify common trees of the United States and Canada. The fully illustrated, 164-page book helps readers recognize more than 250 varieties based on trunk bark, leaf margins and textures, pods, nuts, and the arrangement of leaves on twigs.

Focusing on specific characteristics, this easy-to-use field guide poses a series of questions paired with botanical illustrations to help classify the tree in question. Created by the world's largest nonprofit devoted to trees and the environment, this guide offers a proven classification method for people of all ages--from youth to adult, amateur to professional.

The guide is a practical educational tool containing both the common and scientific names of trees and measurements in both inches and centimeters. Equipped with a durable, water-resistant cover, this 8½ x 4-inch companion guide slips easily into a pocket for easy reference on hikes.

I highly recommend this easy to use tree-identification guide book. Fantastic!

Book Review: Wild Fermentation

 

Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods

This is a very difficult book to define.  Did I like it?  Yes.  But how to categorize it?  I am not sure.

It is kind of a cookbook... lots of recipes on fermenting food.
It is kind of a science book... lots of information on how fermenting works.
It is kind of an anthropology book... lots of information on the human cultures that historically fermented food.
It is kind of a health book... lots of information (not as supported as I would have liked, but good none the less) on the health benefits of fermented foods.
It is kind of an editorial... lots of comments on his ultra-liberal, HIV-positive, homosexual lifestyle and stories about living in a commune with other queer folk.  If this kind of thing offends you, then this is not the book for you, but I would strongly suggest trying to look past that for the really good information contained in this book.

So, it is an odd amalgamation of a book.  But it is quite readable if you are into food.  It is a refreshing change from the very meticulous, super sterilized techniques so often seen in books on fermenting (cheese, beer, wine, etc.).  The author, Sandor Katz, takes a much more relaxed and experimental approach to fermentation, one I think, that more closely resembles how our ancestors fermented foods.

Here is a quick, selected list of foods discussed in this book:

• Yogurt
• Cheese
• Bread
• Wine
• Beer
• Miso
• Sauerkraut
• Kimchi
• And a bunch of other fermented foods I only first learned about in this book.

If I got anything out of this book, it is to have fun with fermentation.  Treat it as an art, not quite so much as a science.  Don't get overwhelmed with chemicals and boiling times.  Have common sense with cleanliness, and you will have fun producing tasty and healthy foods.

Home Made Ice Cream

Not my chocolate ice cream... we ate ours before I even thought to take a photo of it!

http://simplyrecipes.com/photos/chocolate-ice-cream-a.jpg

"That is the best chocolate ice cream I have ever tasted!"  That was what my wife (a chocolate addict/snob by the way) said after she tasted a spoonful of the chocolate ice cream I just scraped out of the ice cream maker.  It was smooth, creamy, and rich... delicious!

I've also made a batch of vanilla and a batch of blueberry-banana sorbet.  Both were some of the best ice creams I have ever had, but I have to agree with my wife.  Those ice creams were really, really good, but that was the best chocolate ice cream I have ever had... and I made it!

I am a foodie.  I admit it.  I love to eat.  I love to cook.  And I cook a lot... a whole lot.  I am pretty good at it.  However, I feel I am honest enough to say that there are a lot of things I make that are not the best I have ever tasted.  I can always throw together something that is good, and at times I make food that is really good.  Fewer still are the times something is great.  But I can count on one hand the times that I have made a meal or dish that is the best I have ever tasted.

So this is a big deal.

With all that said, I have really enjoyed making ice cream.  There are a number if things that I like about it.  As I have just mentioned, I love to make food.  I also love to make food where I know all the ingredients and where they came from.  Cream, milk, sugar, chocolate, eggs, a little vanilla, and just a pinch of salt.  Those were the ingredients in the chocolate ice cream.  Simple!  Maybe not the most healthy, but as an occasional treat, it is not too bad.  Especially compared to the mass produced cartons with ingredients you can't pronounce that you typically find at the grocery store.

The blueberry-banana sorbet was even more simple and healthier... blueberries, a banana, sugar, some water, and a little bit of lime juice.  I plan on experimenting with some more natural sugars, like honey, in the future to see if I can make an even more healthy treat.

The Perfect Scoop

Okay, so how am I making my ice cream?  I have two vital tools.  First is the book:  The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.  The author used to be the pastry chef at Chez Panisse, which was really about the first restaurant to use organic, locally grown food ingredients, and then presented them in a simple or traditional manner that really emphasized the quality of the food itself.  If I ever make it to Berkeley, California, this will be a place I visit.  Sorry for the tangent... this book is great!  Great photos.  Great instructions.  Humor.  And best of all, really, really good results!  I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning how to make your own ice cream.

Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker

The second tool is the ice cream maker machine itself.  I am using the Cuisinart ICE-30BC Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker.  I like it quite a bit.  It is simple to use.  It has only a few parts.  And at under $75, I feel that it is a good price.  Ice cream makers can range from $30 for a hand-crank machine to a few hundred dollars for a quality home machine to a few thousand dollars for a very high-end machine.  So, yeah, under $75 is not bad.

That is it for now.  I'll probably be working my way through David Lebovitz book for a while before I start branching out on my own.  When I do, I'll write about it.  So stay tuned!

Book Review: The Small-Scale Poultry Flock

 

The Small-Scale Poultry Flock

This is hands-down the best book on raising chickens (and other poultry) that I have read... and I have read a lot.  For a long time, I have been trying to establish systems of raising chickens on permaculture principles - all theoretical of course, since I have yet had the chance to raise my own chickens, but I hope to remedy this within a year.

As is typically the case, whenever I come up with a brilliant concept, I end up finding a person who has not only come up with the brilliant concept, but has been doing if for years, and they have perfected it.  This is what Harvey Ussery has done.  He has once again reinforced my thoughts that I am on the right track with "all this permaculture stuff" (as everyone always tells me).  But he has also saved me a whole lot of time; I don't have to reinvent the wheel.

While not using the word "permaculture" very much, this book is all about modeling the natural biological systems of chickens to produce healthy eggs and meat in a stress-free environment.  Using the principles outlined in this book, we can almost eliminate all harmful chemicals, unnatural activities, and poor health from our home poultry flock.  These principles can and have been expanded to large, commercial-sized flocks as well.

I cannot recommend this book enough.  If you plan on having chickens or waterfowl at your home, homestead, or farm, then I feel that this book is a must have.

For an even stronger endorsement, Joel Salatin wrote the foreword!

From the publisher:

The most comprehensive guide to date on raising all-natural poultry for the small-scale farmer, homesteader, and professional grower. The Small-Scale Poultry Flock offers a practical and integrative model for working with chickens and other domestic fowl, based entirely on natural systems.


Readers will find information on growing (and sourcing) feed on a small scale, brooding (and breeding) at home, and using poultry as insect and weed managers in the garden and orchard. Ussery's model presents an entirely sustainable system that can be adapted and utilized in a variety of scales, and will prove invaluable for beginner homesteaders, growers looking to incorporate poultry into their farm, or poultry farmers seeking to close their loop. Ussery offers extensive information on:

• The definition of an integrated poultry flock (imitation of natural systems, integrating patterns, and closing the circle)
• Everything you need to know about your basic chicken (including distinctive points about anatomy and behavior that are critical to management)
• Extended information on poultry health and holistic health care, with a focus on prevention
• Planning your flock (flock size, choosing breeds, fowl useful for egg vs. meat production, sourcing stock)
• How to breed and brood the flock (including breeding for genetic conservation), including the most complete guide to working with broody hens available anywhere
• Making and mixing your own feed (with tips on equipment, storage, basic ingredients, technique, grinding and mixing)
• Providing more of the flock's feed from sources grown or self-foraged on the homestead or farm, including production of live protein feeds using earthworms and soldier grubs
• Using poultry to increase soil fertility, control crop damaging insects, and to make compost-including systems for pasturing and for tillage of cover crops and weeds
• Recipes for great egg and poultry dishes (including Ussery's famous chicken stock!)
• And one of the best step-by-step poultry butchering guides available, complete with extensive illustrative photos.

No other book on raising poultry takes an entirely whole-systems approach, or discusses producing homegrown feed and breeding in such detail. This is a truly invaluable guide that will lead farmers and homesteaders into a new world of self-reliance and enjoyment.


Here are some great interviews with the author, Harvey Ussery.

Harvey Ussery on Integrated Systems

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGAS7MA9noM

Harvey Ussery on Natural Feeds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDYO6fj3_ec

Harvey Ussery on Nests

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUDI_9YGAxI

Book Review: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

 

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Let me first say that I am not a vegetarian.  I don't fault those who are, but I don't think that is how we are designed to eat.  The average American eats far too little fruit and vegetable and way too much processed food, bad fat, and grain-finished meat.  I won't go into that big can of worms right now - maybe I'll address that in a later post.  The bottom line is that we really do need to eat more plants!

Now with that said, I will say that this is one of the most used reference cookbooks on my shelf.  I often need a quick reference on how to prepare a specific vegetable that I don't make frequently.  I may have picked up a large bag of a new vegetable at the market because they looked so fresh but I have never cooked.  Maybe I am looking for a way to liven up a common vegetable that I have gotten stuck making the same way over and over.  That is when I grab this book.  There are a few pages devoted to almost any vegetable you can get your hands on, giving selection, cleaning, prepping, and cooking tips.  In addition, there are over 800 recipes!

Other than being a great, encyclopedic resource on vegetables, what I like about this book is that it is practical.  It does not focus on exotic ingredients that taste like you are eating tree bark as many vegetarian cookbooks do.  While there is information on many lesser-known ingredients, the majority of this book is full of recipes that the average person who enjoys vegetables will eat and will be able to prepare with minimal hassle.  There are also many recipes that even the pickiest "meat and potatoes" diner would find appetizing.

You don't have to be a die-hard foodie or militant vegan to enjoy this book.  If you are looking for a way to enjoyably increase the fruit and veggies in your diet, this book will give you many ways to do so.  Highly recommended!