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Josh Volk, author of the best-selling Compact Farms, offers small-scale farmers an in-depth guide to building customized equipment that will save time and money and introduce much-needed efficiencies to their operations. Volk begins with the basics, such as setting up a workshop and understanding design principles, mechanical principles, and materials properties, then presents plans for making 15 tools suited to small-farm tasks and processes. Each project includes an explanation of the tool’s purpose and use, as well as the time commitment, skill level, and equipment required to build it. Projects range from the super-simple (requiring a half-day to build) to the more complex, and include how-to photographs and illustrations with variations for customizing the finished implement. Along with instructions for building items such as simple seedling benches, a mini barrel washer, a DIY germination chamber, and a rolling pack table, Volk addresses systems design for farm efficiency, including how to design an effective drip irrigation system and how to set up spreadsheets for collecting important planning, planting, and market data. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.
A practical, systems-based approach for a more sustainable farming operation To many people today, using the words "factory" and "farm" in the same sentence is nothing short of sacrilege. In many cases, though, the same sound business practices apply whether you are producing cars or carrots. Author Ben Hartman and other young farmers are increasingly finding that incorporating the best new ideas from business into their farming can drastically cut their wastes and increase their profits, making their farms more environmentally and economically sustainable. By explaining the lean system for identifying and eliminating waste and introducing efficiency in every aspect of the farm operation, The Lean Farm makes the case that small-scale farming can be an attractive career option for young people who are interested in growing food for their community. Working smarter, not harder, also prevents the kind of burnout that start-up farmers often encounter in the face of long, hard, backbreaking labor. Lean principles grew out of the Japanese automotive industry, but they are now being followed on progressive farms around the world. Using examples from his own family's one-acre community-supported farm in Indiana, Hartman clearly instructs other small farmers in how to incorporate lean practices in each step of their production chain, from starting a farm and harvesting crops to training employees and selling goods. While the intended audience for this book is small-scale farmers who are part of the growing local food movement, Hartman's prescriptions for high-value, low-cost production apply to farms and businesses of almost any size or scale that hope to harness the power of lean in their production processes.
A wonderful book for anyone interested in starting their own homestead or small farm. This book will show you how to be self reliant and build the things you'll need. There are more than 200 illustrations showing you how to make handy farm devices. You'll learn about the farmer's workshop and tools, running a grindstone, making a dumb waiter, making a cradle, how to clean a well, how to stake out stock, bee keeping, how to transplant trees, how to build a bridge for a small stream, how to keep a gate from sagging, important points in house building, how to build small greenhouses, advice on the best way to split wood, black smithing, and much, much more in this thrift-conscious and environmentally wise book.
With their classic barns and fences, American small farms, and the buildings that support these farms, serve a much-needed purpose as much today as then have in the past. Even with the advent of new technology frequently used on farms, these buildings have changed relatively little and are still used to house the animals that so many small farm owners work with and the feed, supplies, and equipment needed to maintain those animals. Every well-meaning farmer or property owner with livestock, small animals, or farming equipment has need of a barn or a series of outbuildings. Unfortunately, many farmers now rely on expensive contractors and construction companies to do a job many farmers traditionally undertook themselves. Knowing how to build these structures is not only a lost American art form, it is also a skill that can save you thousands of dollars. This book has been designed to ensure everyone who has ever thought of building their own barns, outbuildings, or animal pens knows exactly what is entailed-from inception of the design to the final construction stages. You will learn exactly what you need to start building outbuildings, barns, farming equipment, and farm supplies. For each of the structures showed within this book, you will learn the required dimensions and extra space you might not have previously considered, including space for your motorized Machinery, a workshop for maintaining your equipment, and loft space for hay bales, feed, and farming equipment. Regardless of what you need for your small farm or property, you will have a complete list of detailed building design plans. You will learn which building materials are best for creating your needed items as well as the best designs and methods of buildings. The companion CD-ROM contains design plans in PDF format for all the structures shown in the book plus bonus plans. Each design plan offers detailed instructions, supply lists, and diagrams. This book offers plans for building barns, storage structures, animal pens, storage sheds, and greenhouses. It also offers plans for building gates, fences, wagons, farm equipment, and other structures and equipment necessary for the success of your small farm. If you are looking to save thousands of dollars by building your own farm structures and equipment; this book will walk you through every step of the design, preparation, and construction process, ensuring success and capturing the lost art of small farm self-sufficiency.
At Clay Bottom Farm, author Ben Hartman and staff practice kaizen, or continuous improvement, cutting out more waste--of time, labor, space, money, and more--every year and aligning their organic production more tightly with customer demand. Applied alongside other lean principles originally developed by the Japanese auto industry, the end result has been increased profits and less work. In this field-guide companion to his award-winning first book, The Lean Farm, Hartman shows market vegetable growers in even more detail how Clay Bottom Farm implements lean thinking in every area of their work, including using kanbans, or replacement signals, to maximize land use; germination chambers to reduce defect waste; and right-sized machinery to save money and labor and increase efficiency. From finding land and assessing infrastructure needs to selling perfect produce at the farmers market, The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables digs deeper into specific, tested methods for waste-free farming that not only help farmers become more successful but make the work more enjoyable. These methods include: Using Japanese paper pot transplanters Building your own germinating chambers Leaning up your greenhouse Making and applying simple composts Using lean techniques for pest and weed control Creating Heijunka, or load-leveling calendars for efficient planning Farming is not static, and improvement requires constant change. The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables offers strategies for farmers to stay flexible and profitable even in the face of changing weather and markets. Much more than a simple exercise in cost-cutting, lean farming is about growing better, not cheaper, food--the food your customers want.
A practical, how-to guide for farmers who want to achieve and maintain financial sustainability in their businesses When you decided to become a farmer, you also became an entrepreneur and business person. In order to be ecologically and financially sustainable, you must understand the basics of accounting and bookkeeping, and learn how to manage a growing business. Author Julia Shanks distills years of teaching and business consulting with farmers into this comprehensive, accessible guide. She covers all aspects of launching, running and growing a successful farm business through effective bookkeeping and business management, providing tools to make managerial decisions, apply for a loan or other financing, and offering general business and strategy advice for growing a business. Whether you've been farming for many years or just getting started, The Farmer's Office gives you the tools needed to think like an entrepreneur and thoughtfully manage your business for success.
The Resilient Farm and Homestead is a manual for developing durable, beautiful, and highly functional human habitat systems fit to handle an age of rapid transition. Ben Falk is a land designer and site developer whose permaculture-research farm has drawn national attention. The site is a terraced paradise on a hillside in Vermont that would otherwise be overlooked by conventional farmers as unworthy farmland. Falk's wide array of fruit trees, rice paddies (relatively unheard of in the Northeast), ducks, nuts, and earth-inspired buildings is a hopeful image for the future of regenerative agriculture and modern homesteading. The book covers nearly every strategy Falk and his team have been testing at the Whole Systems Research Farm over the past decade, as well as experiments from other sites Falk has designed through his off-farm consulting business. The book includes detailed information on earthworks; gravity-fed water systems; species composition; the site-design process; site management; fuelwood hedge production and processing; human health and nutrient-dense production strategies; rapid topsoil formation and remineralization; agroforestry/silvopasture/grazing; ecosystem services, especially regarding flood mitigation; fertility management; human labor and social-systems aspects; tools/equipment/appropriate technology; and much more, complete with gorgeous photography and detailed design drawings. The Resilient Farm and Homestead is more than just a book of tricks and techniques for regenerative site development, but offers actual working results in living within complex farm-ecosystems based on research from the "great thinkers" in permaculture, and presents a viable home-scale model for an intentional food-producing ecosystem in cold climates, and beyond. Inspiring to would-be homesteaders everywhere, but especially for those who find themselves with "unlikely" farming land, Falk is an inspiration in what can be done by imitating natural systems, and making the most of what we have by re-imagining what's possible. A gorgeous case study for the homestead of the future.
Discover the satisfaction of building your own lawn chairs, fences, bootjacks, cold frames, and compost bins. Ken Braren and Roger Griffith show you how to build a variety of easy-to-make items for your home and garden that are designed to save you money and make your life easier. Even if you have limited construction experience, the simple instructions and clear illustrations in this guide will have you confidently crafting your own potting bench and building a basement closet.
Running your own small farm is demanding enough, but making it profitable presents a host of further challenges. In this business-savvy guide to farming on a small scale, Sarah Aubrey covers everything from financial plans and advertising budgets to web design and food service wholesalers. Learn how to isolate your target audience and craft artisanal products that will delight and amaze customers. With a solid business strategy in place, you can confidently turn your passion into a productive and profitable venture.