I tend to do most of my reading and research over the Winter, once the day length shortens enough that I don’t feel too tired to study after a day working outside. The pattern has changed this year, and I’ve recently had the chance to get a batch of reading underway.
Reason for my Research
My own feeling is that if we want to replace our current system of food production, heavily reliant on fossil fuel, but want to avoid the sheer hard work of subsistence agriculture, then we have to use our imagination, and our intelligence. Now the military version of intelligence is ‘information that has been processed’, and so with that in mind, our ‘intelligence’ depends on an input of information, and a reasoning/evaluation phase, in order to come up with something that is useable. Much of what I read online, falls into two categories. The ‘I’ve just found out about XXXXXXX and here are some links to other sites that tell you all about it’ category is very common, and I tend not to read any further. The second ‘popular’ category is the ‘ this is what I’ve done today/this week/since my last post’ type. Most of what you find falls into one of these categories, including quite a bit of what I write. Of more interest are the sites that point out the unusual stuff. Not weird and wonderful, but new ways of doing things. I usually read these, even if they don’t relate to what I’m doing now, because there is normally something that I can use, or at least consider using. The most valuable sites are those where the writer is either doing something completely new, or unusual, or is writing about direct observations (information) and interpreting that into something useful (creating intelligence).
One thing that many of these sites do, is to review/list useful books, and many of the books that I’ve read recently have come from a recommendation online, or have been listed on a useful website, or blog. Having checked my account with a major online retailer, I was shocked to see that in 2011, I had bought 47 books for myself, and had read almost all of them. I didn’t calculate how much I’d spent, nor did I check back to see what I’d bought September to December 2010. That figure does not include library books, nor books from second hand bookshops, nor online reading.
Food Production Research
My research(reading and online) has so far been to identify and evaluate different methods of food production, to increase my understanding of Permaculture, and to persue further the bits that interest me most. Now, having decided on the way that I want to produce my own food, I am experimenting with a grain/ vegetable/fungi polyculture. My research here is now practical, as opposed to theory, but there are still gaps in my knowledge, which my current, and future reading needs to fill. What I’m trying to do now is fit the detail into the pattern, and to make connections between different books/systems/techniques.
The experimental polyculture will progress at nature’s pace, which gives me the opportunity to widen my reading/research focus. So I’m now looking at the wider community/social/economic implications of a more simple, post peak oil lifestyle. At the same time, I want to explore the inner, spiritual side of living. Learning from the past is also important, so I’m looking at how things were done before industrialisation, and the use of high levels of fossil fuel energy. You can find elements of all of the above in my 2011 list below.
I have roughly divided them into categories, although some do not fit neatly into a box. The books that are listed in bold, are ones that i would highly recommend. Those with an asterisk I have yet to read. I hope that you find something useful in my list, and that you are encouraged to read one, or more, of them.
Permaculture and Forest gardening
Bioshelter Market Garden Darrell Frey
Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture Sepp Holzer
Edible Forest Gardens Vol 1. Jacke and Toensmeir
The Permaculture Home Garden Linda Woodrow
Chicken Tractor Lee, Foreman
The Permaculture Way Graham Bell
Gardening Systems/gardening/Fruit
Organic Fruit Production and Viticulture Stella Cubison
A taste of the unexpected Mark Diacono
Gardening and Planting by the Moon 2012 Kollerstrom
Gardening when it counts Steve Solomon
The Resilient Gardener Carol Deppe
Landscaping with Fruit Lee Reich
Uncommon Fruits for every garden Lee Reich
The New Organic Grower Eliot Coleman
Eco yards Lureen Rama
Nutshell Guide to growing Hazelnuts Clive Simms
Gardening and Planting by the Moon 2011 Kollerstrom
Gardening for the Future of the Earth Shapiro, Harrison
Small Scale Grain Growing / Systems
The One Straw Revolution Masanobu Fukuoka
The Natural Way of Farming Masanobu Fukuoka
Homegrown Wholegrains Sarah Pitzer
New Roots for Agriculture Wes Jackson
The Harmonious Wheatsmith Mark Moodie.
Agriculture / Gardening History
Fifty plants that changed the course of history Bill Laws
Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden Wilson
Farmers of Forty Centuries F H King
Ask the Fellows who cut the Hay George Evans **
Larkrise to Candleford Flora Thompson
The Unsettling of America Wendell Berry
The History of the Countryside Oliver Rackham **
Soil, Soil Fertility and Composting
The Soil of Soil Smillie. Gershuny
The Complete Compost Gardening guide Pleasant, Martin
Compost, Vermicompost, and Compost tea Grace Gershuny
Beekeeping Stuff
The Rose Hive method Tim Rowe
The Bee-friendly Beekeeper David Heaf
Skeps, their History, Making, and Use Alston
Make Your own Skep Rev. E Knobbs
The IBRA Museum Pt. 2 Skeps, tools, and
accessories Richard Jones
Honeybee Democracy Thomas Seeley
Fungi
Mycelium Running Paul Stamets
The Mushroom cultivator Paul Stamets
Spiritual
Peace is every Step Thich Nhat Hahn
Spiritual Compass Satish Kumar
Systems/Economics
Prosperity without Growth.
Economics for a Finite Planet Tim Jackson
Small is Beautiful Schumacher
The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell
Soil not Oil Vandan Shiva
Resilience Thinking Reid
Food
Solar Food Dryer Eben Fodor
Wild fermentation Sandor Katz **
Other
Wildwood Wisdom Ellsworth Jaeger
Storey’s Guide to raising Ducks Dave Holderread
Water Storage Art Ludwig
Thats a long list Deano!
have you visited Root simple blog? lots of practical stuff including a great rocket stove
http://www.rootsimple.com/
Sharron
Hi Sharron
A longerlist than I thought it would be. I haven’t come across the blog, but will check it out. Thanks for the link.
Deano
Hi Deano
Excellent list! I have read quite a few of these and others are on my “wish list”. Like you I am also interested in reading about how things used to be done and am currently reading “Men and the fields” by Adrian Bell and have “Ask the fellows who cut the hay” to follow. My partner has enjoyed both of these. I may well get the “Buffalo Bird Womans Garden” and “The Resilient Gardener” to read next.
Thanks Anni
I’ve added Men and Fields to my list. Thanks. I hope that you do read the two books that you picked out. Both are excellent.
All of the best
Deano
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I forgot to include that I had re read John Jeavons, How to Grow More Vegetables (Twice), and had also read Dry Farming, by John Widtsoe.
And The Overstory Book
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