Compact Farms

January 1, 2017

Taking his theory and practice from John Jeavons's biointensive How To Grow More Vegetables, the author covers the motivation, personal philosophy, and everyday experiences that led him and 14 other subjects to work the land. Almost all of the geographically diverse representatives were farmhands before being farmers. A few of the stories date from the 1960s and 1980s; over half of the farms were started in the past ten years, much higher than the census of agriculture's 18 percent. While the title says "5 acres," time commitments, personnel, and resources mean most fall into the "or less." Maps of the farms' physical layout and charts of "harvest windows" complement photos that are both informative and personal. A section on tools and infrastructure gives farmers an opportunity to address their particular challenges of planting, harvesting, and delivery with ingeniously devised methods and tools. The final chapter, "Nuts and Bolts," presents the hard facts of what makes a financially successful operation in an increasingly competitive market. Janet Hurst's The Farm to Market Handbook spends little time on farming methods, but uses her farmers' stories as business textbook examples of marketing applications. VERDICT Neither for hobbyist nor homesteader, this title's examples and solid advice are nugget-sized for the farmhand thinking of starting a small-scale, sustainable farm.--Jeanette McVeigh, Univ. of the Sciences, Philadelphia

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