Book Review: Mini Farming by Brett L. Markham

Mini Farming by Brett L. Markham

Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre by Brett L. Markham

Great book for the beginning food producer

Mini Farming is a great book for beginning gardeners who want to maximize their output of nutrient-dense, organic food with minimal effort by growing intensively in properly amended, raised beds. Author Brett Markham focuses on organic methods and reducing expenditures as much as possible.

Using his methods, a family can produce most of its own food and eventually produce enough to sell so that one parent can work from home if desired.

Markham introduces the reader to various intensive growing methods (e.g., French Intensive, Biodynamics, Grow Biointensive, Square Foot) and provides his own modification using within-row spacing of plants. He teaches how to build a raise bed, what soil to use, recommended amendments, trellising for vertical growth, acquiring seeds, growing from seed, transplanting, building compost, crop rotation, growing cover crops, extending the season, irrigation, dealing with pests and diseases, and growing fruits and nuts.

Using traditional farming practices, it isn’t even possible to raise food for a single person in a half-acre lot, but using intensive gardening techniques allows only half of that lot–1/4 acre–to provide nearly all the food for a family of four, generate thousands of dollars in income besides, allow raising small livestock plus leave space for home and recreation. Intensive gardening techniques are the key to self-sufficiency on a small lot. — Brett L. Markham

Included are bonus chapters on keeping chickens, building a chicken scalder and plucker, storing and preserving food, and selling your extra produce. These chapters are very short and serve more as an introduction than in-depth coverage.

So if you’re new to farming or think you need a lot of land to grow your own food, you can’t go wrong with Mini Farming.