Regenerating Farms & Gardens

Regenerative Agriculture is all about the biology in the soil. Whether you work with soil in a small garden plot or on a large farm, this book will change your perspective. Learn how to implement the lesson of the buffalo to regenerate "dirt" into a productive soil. Silviculture is the management of trees. Learn how an Amish man in Holmes County, OH saved and made enough money from his small wood lot to pay for the whole farm several times. Farmers, gardeners, and others involved in agronomy will appreciate this treasure chest of information written in simple English. The classroom friendly lesson format with the many full color pictures, and hands-on activities will interest educators, farmers, gardeners, businessmen, and students, and many others. The 2nd edition includes everything in the 1st edition plus several sections are expanded and all new sections added.
 
The soil, plants, and animals were created to work together in a symbiotic relationship. Conventional agriculture has taken a once fertile soil to a soil almost devoid of any topsoil or fertility. Rains erode it away to the oceans at an alarming rate. Why are floods a commonplace occurance today? The once fertile prairies were covered with 6' of topsoil. How was this formed and how long did it take? Where has all the fertility gone? How do we regenerate the soil back to its former state? The secret is how the plants and animals above the soil relate to the life in the soil. Learn the lesson of the buffalo. Use what they taught us on your farm or in your garden to regenerate your soil. The circles on the back cover range from desert to fertile soil. At what stage is your soil? More importantly, which way is it moving?
 
Trees are the forgotten commodity of both farmers and homeowners. Discover how one man paid for his farm several times over by managing his small woodlot well.
 
This book is a treasure chest of knowledge and wisdom in agronomy whether you grow a few flowers in a planter box or farm a thousand acres. Secrets of down to earth, natural, and sustainable practices will help you be a success with our most valuable resource-- the soil. Packed with hands-on activities for the young at heart and written in easy to follow language, the text will clarify previous hard to understand concepts and will help you become a better caretaker of the soil whether you are just beginning or are an old hand at it. This guide will be an essential and valuable reference for you in years to come.
 
Learn more about . . .
• Soil & Plant Biology
• Manure, Compost & Humus
• Soil & Plant Nutrients
• Building Soil Fertility
• Grazing, Cover Crops
• Grains, Grasses, Legumes
• Gardening Methods
• Growing Produce
• Managing Trees
• Beef, Dairy & Sheep
• Pork, Poultry & Fish
• Sprouting Fodder
• Minerals & Animal Health
• Stray Voltage, Toxic Forages
• Aquaculture, Aquaponics
. . . all explained in simple terms.
 
• Full Color
• Laminated Cover
• Durable Binding
• 8 1/2” X 11”
• 330+ Full Color Pictures
• 308 pages
 
Give a gift that lasts all year!
 
Use it in a classroom and watch 'em get excited.
 
Who Is It For?
Great care was taken to make this text readable for the young and old, the educated and those still getting theirs, and for everyone inbetween. If you are an individual intending to study these contents on your own, then congratulations! We hope you have a great time while you learn some things from the comforts of your stuffed arm chair that you will actually use in practical everyday life.
 
2nd Edition!
. . . is revised and expanded. New subjects added. Now classroom friendly with many simple, hands-on activities. Good for study by individuals too. Keep it on your shelf and use it often as a reference. Many others are. If you are an educator of those who are in formal school, then we took great care to try to make it easy and interesting for you to teach it as a “Soils” subject [or whatever else you wish to call it]. Learning is like a string. It’s hard to push it. If someone wants to learn, half the battle is won before you start. We hope those whom you are responsible for will want to absorb it into their “noodle.” You can help by making the subject interesting, especially when you involve them in the activities listed throughout the book. We know, it will be so much easier to skip them but consider this mantra to educators: “Tell me, I forget; show me, I remember; involve me, I learn.”
 
Forward
(by a soil's class teacher)
The family farm provides an ideal setting to teach children scriptural stewardship in God’s earth. Why then have family farms become fewer in number? Someone will answer, “There’s no profit in farming: we can’t pay the bills.” It is true that world economics have changed drastically. But a bigger problem may be that we are not well educated on soil stewardship. This book is a breath of fresh air on this neglected subject. You will find hands-on teaching which includes pictures, illustrations, experiments, and a sprinkling of humor scattered through. Even young children will enjoy looking at the pictures.
 
So as teacher of our school’s soils class, I took most of the lessons from RFAG’s text (1st edition) and correlated each lesson to the growing process. We tested soil. We looked at biology under the microscope. We built a small greenhouse and an outside hotbed for lettuce. We planted tomato and cucumber seeds for the greenhouse. The boys built a compost pile which they turned every week in class. The girls transplanted, suckered tomatoes, and tied up cucumber vines. Each student was rewarded with a flat of vegetable and flower plants and a bucket of compost to take home for a personal garden. They also received a personal copy of “Regenerating Farms and Gardens.” Their last class assignment was a composition, “How I Would Improve My Acre of Neglected Land on a Shoestring Budget.” Is this not real life improving land with little cash? The last class event was a locally grown meal of potato bar, dewberry cobbler, and hand cranked ice cream made with food from our greenhouse and ingredients contributed by our soils committee. Who says you can’t raise your own local food?
 
Did the students learn anything? One mother said, “What are you teaching in that class? My son is requiring me to stop for road kill to retrieve it for his compost pile.” Another son has assumed the management of his family’s garden, including a compost heap to improve the soil. A committee member bought a no-till pasture seed drill and started a custom business drilling cover crops. He did hundreds of acres last year (2019). He found the seed company in the back of Regenerating Farms and Gardens.