A tribute to the everyday rewards of rural living. The authors record the rhythms of their work and days, along the way providing advice and instruction on dozens of traditional country arts and crafts. 250 full-color photos.
In the early '70s, Terry and Mark Silber were busy pursuing urban careers. On weekends, they retreated to a farm in Maine. Soon they were selling their produce at the farmer's market. One Monday, they didn't go back, and Hedgehog Hill farm was born. Here is how they were transformed from office dwellers to country folk living off the land.
Amid the sublime beauty of Maine—its primordial forests, remote lakes, rugged mountains, and craggy coastline blooms a handmade culture fed by heritage, self-sufficiency, and collaboration. Handcrafted Maine: Art, Life, Harvest & Home features lively profiles of more than twenty artists, artisans, and craftspeople—weavers and potters, a painter, an architect, a boatbuilder, a leatherworker, bakers, lobster-men, and more—at work in the woods, towns, and cities of Maine, celebrating the triumphs and challenges of entrepreneurship and independence. Including more than 225 inspiring color photographs and intimate narrative portraits, Handcrafted Maine provides a window into the inner lives of creatives and brings to life the powerful environment and spirited character that nurture the unbridled ingenuity and common-sense approach to craft and life found Down East.
The best of Maine’s local food, from noted farms like Dandelion Spring to esteemed restaurants like The Lost Kitchen. There’s a lot more to Maine than stunning coastline. Sure, come for the incomparable lobster rolls or the state’s renowned blueberries, but stay for the locally milled grains, organic grass-fed meats, and surprising foraged delicacies. The Pine Tree State’s active food community springs to life in the hands of Kate Shaffer, Maine cookbook author and chocolatier, and Derek Bissonnette, one of the finest food photographers in the country. The Maine Farm Table Cookbook delivers more than 100 recipes, assembled in chapters that take readers from the pasture and sea to the forest, creamery, and everywhere in between. Discover Autumn Harvest Roast Pork, Haddock and Corn Chowder, Carrot Zucchini Fritters, Blackberry and Almond Torte, and more. With profiles to spotlight Maine’s favorite farms and restaurants, and gorgeous professional photography, this is the perfect way for readers to bring New England’s charm to their own kitchen.
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.
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.
No-till — a method of growing crops and providing pasture without disturbing the soil — has become an important alternative to standard farming practices. In this comprehensive guide to successful no-till vegetable farming for aspiring and beginning farmers, author Daniel Mays, owner and manager of an organic no-till farm in Maine, outlines the environmental, social, and economic benefits of this system. The methods described are designed for implementation at the human scale, relying primarily on human power, with minimal use of machinery. The book presents streamlined planning and record-keeping tools as well as marketing strategies, and outlines community engagement programs like CSA, food justice initiatives, and on-farm education.
Full Moon Suppers at Salt Water Farm invites you to a series of magical, seasonal suppers where dear friends gather around a farm table to celebrate the bounty that the land and sea provide. This menu-driven cookbook offers twelve beautifully crafted meals derived from more than one hundred sold-out evening events at Salt Water Farm, the author’s cooking school in Maine. Even if you can’t make it to one of Annemarie’s monthly Full Moon Suppers, you can re-create them at home, beneath a full moon—or any night—for family and friends. Each supper includes a portrait of the month: its climate, its rewards, and its ritual kitchen tasks—and a menu inspired by those characteristics. A Full Moon Supper is not only a celebration of the earth and its bounty but a reward for the hard work that goes into food production. These meals pay respect to the elements, the conditions of the earth, soil, and sea, and seasonal traditions as we round the lunar cycle.