The Mini Farming Handbook

by Brett L. Markham

Bestselling author Brett Markham’s new handbook gives us the mini farming basics along with in-depth tips on vegetable gardening, fermenting, composting, and self-sufficiency in a handy new format and design. • Soil management and making your own fertilizer • Crop rotation and cover cropping• Composting• Seed starting and timing/planning• Raised beds and pest management• Pvc trellising and planting spacers• Raising chickens, making your own chicken plucker, and butchering• Growing fruit/nut trees and vines• Food preservation (canning and freezing)• Fermenting wine, vinegar and cheeseWith the full color photographs that made the original Mini Farming so popular, and step by step drawings, projects, graphs, and tables, you’ll have everything you need for your new or established mini farm at your fingertips. So dive in a learn how to begin and cultivate your own mini farm on less than a quarter acre.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference, Green

433 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 6, 2014

About the author

Brett L. Markham is an engineer, third-generation farmer, and polymath. Using the methods explained in his book, he runs a profitable, Certified Naturally Grown mini farm on less than half an acre. Brett works full time as an engineer for a broadband ISP and farms in his spare time. He lives in New Ipswich, New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the premise of this - building self-sustainability as a way of protecting against economic precarity. The emphasis on affordability is really great, and I like thinking of a garden as a way of boosting your income by cutting grocery bills significantly. However..... while the introduction is written as if someone with little growing experience could use this book to just up and start a mini farm, this book would be completely inaccessible to that audience. I shudder to think of the beginning gardener who follows his advice to plant multiple very large raised beds their first season. It seems like a recipe for disaster and would be completely impossible for anyone with a full time job (or with limited space). I don't doubt that this system can develop into a low maintenance mini farm that could work with minimal time and money for rural and suburban working families, but you'd have to build up to that. And the quantities he talks about growing here seem excessive, even when your goal is to feed your whole family (and this is coming from a vegan household with higher-than-normal vegetable consumption).

The chapters on chicken farming and wine making would be useful, I guess, if I wanted to do those things (I don't) but it's really not clear how one would integrate these processes into the vegetable farm as presented here.

Basically, this is a good reference book that supplemented my knowledge of intensive food growing, but it is incomplete and certainly not suited to be the only resource for a beginner who wants to grow their own food. There are way better books for that. To be fair though, I haven't read the other books in this series, and it seems like they are all meant to be used together, so it's probably a bit unfair to review this volume on its own.

[Linn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mini Farming Handbook provides practical advice, step-by-step instructions, and valuable insights. This book is a comprehensive guide to achieving self-reliance and sustainable living.
There's advice on everything from selecting suitable land and preparing the soil to planting techniques, animal husbandry, and harvesting.
This book explains concepts and methods that allow you to make the most of limited space and resources. The approach focuses on maximizing yields while minimizing the effort required, making it ideal for those with busy lifestyles or small plots of land.
This book has a balanced approach to sustainability and emphasizes organic and natural farming methods, providing insights into composting, companion planting, and pest control without relying on harmful chemicals. This book is valuable for anyone interested in regenerative and environmentally friendly agriculture. This book also provides valuable insights into the financial aspects of mini-farming. Markham offers guidance on market gardening, selling produce, and generating income from your small-scale farm.

[Scott Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

The chapters are far too short—sometimes barely broaching a subject— for this to be called a “handbook”. It is more of an introduction, and considering the amount of follow-up books on individual topics the author has written, it is in fact just a table of contents.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Farming

Great book , with lots of information on soil , composting ect. Learn different ways to make cheeses, wines and yogurts. Vegetables and soil testing. Alot of valuable information to get your gardens growing.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a lot of overlap from Markham’s other books, but this one also includes how to make cheese and wine.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt the book focused more on winemaking and cheese making while I was more interesting in growing veggies and raising chickens. There were good chapters on the latter two though.

I do see that the author has separate (and probably more detailed) mini farming books on topics that I am more interested in.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It is my first read for this area and I found it to be well written and informative.

[ADD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting reference. Definitely a keeper!