The Urban Farm Handbook

City-Slicker Resources for Growing, Raising, Sourcing, Trading, and Preparing What You Eat

by Annette Cottrell and Joshua McNichols

Description

Is that . . . a goat in your garage?! It might be if you've been reading The Urban Farm Handbook: City-Slicker Resources for Growing, Raising, Sourcing, Trading, and Preparing What You Eat. In this comprehensive guide for city-dwellers on how to wean themselves from commercial supermarkets, the authors map a plan for how to manage a busy, urban family life with home-grown foods, shared community efforts, and easy yet healthful practices.

More than just a few ideas about gardening and raising chickens, The Urban Farm Handbook uses stories, charts, grocery lists, recipes, and calendars to inform and instruct. As busy urbanites who have learned how to do everything from making cheese and curing meat to collaborating with neighbors on a food bartering system, the authors share their own food journeys along with those of local producers and consumers who are changing the food systems in the Pacific Northwest. Organized seasonally, this handbook instructs on:

> How to maximize space for planting a variety of fruits and vegetables
> Small-animal husbandry and beekeeping
> Canning, drying, freezing, fermenting, and pickling techniques
> Grinding grains for flour and other uses
> Tips for creating a farmer-to-consumer connection
> How to form a "buying club" with neighbors
> "Opportunities for Change" steps to follow

And so much more!