Their family farm in the Lake District hills was part of an ancient agricultural landscape: a patchwork of crops and meadows, of pastures grazed with livestock, and hedgerows teeming with wildlife. And yet, by the time James inherited the farm, it was barely recognizable. The men and women had vanished from the fields; the old stone barns had crumbled; the skies had emptied of birds and their wind-blown song.Pastoral Song is the story of an inheritance: one that affects us all. It tells of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, and the age-old rhythms of work, weather, community and wild things were lost. And yet this elegy from the northern fells is also a song of hope: of how, guided by the past, one farmer began to salvage a tiny corner of England that was now his, doing his best to restore the life that had vanished and to leave a legacy for the future.This is a book about what it means to have love and pride in a place, and how, against all the odds, it may still be possible to build a new pastoral: not a utopia, but somewhere decent for us all.

    "Grab a cup of coffee and join Caitlin on her porch to hear the lessons God has taught her through the good and hard of everyday life."--Vivian Mabuni, speaker and author of Open Hands, Willing Heart: Discover the Joy of Saying Yes to GodWhen Caitlin, a small-town girl, fell in love with a farm boy named Jake Henderson, she had little idea what farm life--or marriage and motherhood--would bring. But raising a family on a farm is teaching her more about God's goodness and grace than she could have imagined. Faith, Farming, and Family is a rich, story-filled walk through farmhouse hallways, harvest-ready fields, and God's bountiful dreams for our lives. As Caitlin reflects on everything from wayward tractors to watching a marriage grow from surviving to flourishing, she reminds us to see the redemption in our own stories. Join Caitlin in exploring biblical truth through the eyes of a farmer's wife, whether you are wrangling kids onto a school bus, sowing creative seeds in a business meeting, or walking the pastures of your own family farm. Faith, Farming, and Family invites us to recognize God's beauty right in front of us so that we might find the courage to take the next step--or the first step--into His incredible calling.

    

    In the early 1980s, farmers were suffering through the worst economic crisis to hit rural America since the Great Depression. Land prices were down, operating costs and interest rates were up, and severe weather devastated crops. Instead of receiving assistance from the government as they had in the 1930s, these hardworking family farmers were threatened with foreclosure by the very agency that Franklin Delano Roosevelt created to help them. Desperate, they called Sarah Vogel in North Dakota. Sarah, a young lawyer and single mother, listened to farmers who were on the verge of losing everything and, inspired by the politicians who had helped farmers in the '30s, she naively built a solo practice of clients who couldn't afford to pay her. Sarah began drowning in debt and soon her own home was facing foreclosure. In a David and Goliath legal battle reminiscent of A Civil Action or Erin Brockovich, Sarah brought a national class action lawsuit, which pitted her against the Reagan administration's Department of Justice, in her fight for family farmers' Constitutional rights. It was her first case. A courageous American story about justice and holding the powerful to account, The Farmer's Lawyer shows how the farm economy we all depend on for our daily bread almost fell apart due to the willful neglect of those charged to protect it, and what we can learn from Sarah's battle as a similar calamity looms large on our horizon once again.

    

    Liz and her husband, Mr J, transformed a tired 0.8 acre field into a fertile homestead that provides 80% of their food and drink with enough left over to stock a community veggie box scheme!An inspiring blend of practical tips and ideas with personal narrative and a good smattering of humour, Grounded will show you how to:* Fill your garden without emptying your pocket* Be creative with resources* Make the most of the space you have* Achieve more without exhausting yourself* Enjoy the process as much as the resultsThis is a tale of courage and imagination that will inspire you to grow your own productive paradise and live your dreams.

    Baxter’s language is as rich as the soil she tends; it will be a joy to see how she blossoms in her career. - Jodi Picoult, #1 NYT bestselling authorFarm Girl is a memoir of urgent grace that crosses boundaries of genre and time. In her second year of college, Megan finds herself bonded to a lover spiraling into addiction and two thousand miles away from her heart’s home—a stretch of forty certified-organic acres along the banks of the Connecticut River separating Vermont and New Hampshire. In the crucible of a rainy Portland winter, Megan is forced to decide whether to embrace her future as a farm girl or to continue growing into the woman everyone hopes she’ll become. Farm Girl is about two love affairs that force a decision: the love between two people and the love between Megan and the landscape. With innovative prose and lush description, Farm Girl raises the earth up as a character and asks questions about the work we choose to sustain us—how careful attention and devotion to the earth transcends human tragedy.

    And there is a vast world of varieties that goes well beyond the common grocery store offerings. With names like American Beauty, Carter’s Blue, and Fallawater, and flavors ranging from sweet to tart, this treasure trove of unique apples is ripe for discovery.   There is no better guide through this tasty world than Tom Burford, whose family has grown apples in the Blue Ridge Mountains since 1715. His celebratory book Apples of North America is brimming with beautiful portraits of heirloom and modern apples of merit, each accompanied by distinguishing characteristics and common uses. You will also find information on growing apples at home—with specifics on planting, pruning, grafting, and more—and instructions on how to preserve apples through pressing, fermenting, cooking, and drying.

    They make the rain and sustain biodiversity. They are essential for nature and for us. And yet, we are cutting and burning them at such a rate that many forests are fast approaching tipping points beyond which they will simply shrivel and die. But there is still time, and there is still hope. If we had a trillion more trees, the damage could be undone. So should we get planting? Not so fast. Fred Pearce argues in this inspiring new book that we can have our forests back, but mass planting should be a last resort. Instead, we should mostly stand back, make room and let nature — and those who dwell in the forests — do the rest.Taking us from the barren sites of illegal logging and monocrop farming to the smouldering rainforests of the Amazon, Fred Pearce tells a revelatory new history of the relationship between humans and trees – and shows us how we can change it for the better. Here we meet the pilot who discovered flying rivers, the village elders who are farming amid the trees, and the scientists challenging received wisdom. And we visit some of the world’s most wondrous treescapes, from the orchid-rich moutaintops of Ecuador to the gnarled and ancient glades of the South Downs.Combining vivid travel writing with cutting edge science, A Trillion Trees is both an environmental call to arms and a celebration of our planet’s vast arboreal riches.

    People can achieve great things. The next ten years present us with one of our greatest tests - a decade of action to repair the Earth." The Earthshot concept is simple: Urgency + Optimism = Action. We have ten years to turn the tide on the environmental crisis, but we need the world’s best solutions and one shared goal – to save our planet. It’s not too late, but we need collective action now. The Earthshots are unifying, ambitious goals for our planet which, if achieved by 2030, will improve life for all of us, for the rest of life on Earth, and for generations to come. They are to:Protect and Restore NatureClean our AirRevive our OceansBuild a Waste-Free WorldFix our Climate EARTHSHOT: HOW TO SAVE OUR PLANET is the first definitive book about how these goals can tackle the environmental crisis. It is a critical contribution to the most important story of the decade.

    Life on the land is often boom or bust, forever at the mercy of Mother Nature.Aticia 'Teesh' Grey took on the manager's role on her family's West Pilbara cattle station a few years after picking up her first team of kelpies. Almost immediately she was faced with a severe and devastating drought that forced her to question everything she thought she knew about the fragile country of her home.Through the heartbreaking rollercoaster journey that followed, Teesh's loyal canine companions proved invaluable as she and her family worked towards securing the property's future. The versatility of these amazing dogs took the station in directions no one anticipated.In 2020, Teesh got the chance to showcase the potential of working dogs more widely. Joining the ABC TV series Muster Dogs, Teesh and four other farming families took on the challenge of training new kelpie pups and testing their worth on the properties they run. Through this experience they showed the bonds that are formed between human and dog and vividly demonstrated a positive environmental future for farming in rural Australia.This is a story of love, laughter, loss and hope, as Teesh finds her feet in an ever-changing world with the help of the dogs who have stood by her side through it all.PRAISE'Kick your boots off and settle in for a wild journey of love and heartbreak, from the most inspiring cattlewoman I know ...' Margareta Osborn, author and grazier'Evocative, authentic and freshly engaging account of pastoral life ... reads like a Wild West adventure story ... At the end of this journey Grey recounts her transformative shift to a regenerative agriculture approach that puts the landscape first so as to begin healing 'Country'. What is optimistically promised is a fuller, less stressful lifestyle and healthier, more productive livestock' Charles Massy, author and voice for regenerative agriculture

    A joyful and accessible approach to growing tasty, productive, and resiliently diverse food. Advocating a return to traditional regenerative horticulture methods of gardening and farming, while minimizing the use of current agricultural methods. Focusing on communities, and local varieties of crops and animals. Biodiversity and cross pollination allow selection for crops that thrive under ever changing conditions, while lessening the need for costly inputs, like poisons, fertilizer, materials, and labor. Less labor means more time for friends, family, music, dancing, or whatever it is that brings you joy.The book includes detailed suggestions for developing a more reliable food system using local crop varieties. The techniques taught in this book can bring self-reliance and sustainable food security to small scale back yard beginner gardens, large scale farms, and permaculture food forests.A chapter is devoted to pollination and the benefits of encouraging cross-pollination.Chapters are devoted to breeding tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, and grains. Tips on growing many other vegetable varieties are included. The appendix includes a summary of which vegetables and grains are easiest to work with. A chapter is devoted to extending the principles of local gardening to breeding chickens, honeybees, mushrooms, and trees. Reviews“Landrace Gardening is brilliant.” Dan Barber, Blue Hill At Stone Barns, and Row 7 Seed Company“Landrace Gardening gives us a roadmap to the kind of joyful food security that we need for healing many of the most important wounds of our time.” Jason Padvorac“The best part is that everything in this book is adaptable for any gardener.” Jere Gettle— Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.“The western sustainable agriculture movement has long needed its own version of the 'One Straw Revolution'. Joseph Lofthouse provides just that. ” Alan Bishop, Alchemist at Spirits Of French Lick“Awesome to see this process beginning to work in just one year.” Josh Jamison, HEART Village“Inspiring. Empowering. VERY important work.” Stephanie Genus“This book begins to spark the imagination to the possibilities of what we have lost and how to begin to resurrect the return to something even better.” Karin Kee “No Homestead Or Garden Is Complete Without This Book!” Emsy Doodle

    But where to start with curating that vital indoor collection?Green Home features all the green plants Anders has collected in his own apartment of 50 square meters – over 100 plants – and how this inspires him towards greener living.With a guide to houseplant types, hints and tips on how to get your plants to thrive and also on how to integrate them into your home décor scheme, it's a plant book with added personality.

    But he miraculously survived.In Ramrao, rural journalist Jaideep Hardikar attempts to put a face to India’s unending farm crisis with his story. He takes the reader on a journey of the everyday life of an Indian farmer, his daily struggles, his desperation to come out of his situation, his inability and many failings, the quagmire of issues he faces, and how he comes to a pass where he chooses to put an end to it all.The result of years of committed reportage, this is an evocative read that rescues an ordinary life from obscurity and turns it into an essential biography for our times.

    First manufactured in 1917, Ford tractors (initially sold under the Fordson name, a contraction of Henry Ford & Son) were, thanks to mass production, the first affordable and reliable machines that allowed small farmers to replace draft animals. Though manufacture was exclusive to Great Britain by the 1930s, Ford tractors returned stateside with a roar in 1939 with the 9N, which incorporated the hitch system of Irish engineer and inventor Harry Ferguson. In this comprehensive addition to Motorbooks’ Complete Book Series, tractor historian Robert Pripps provides a detailed and complete account of Ford tractors, from the earliest Fordsons to the Ford-Fergusons, the Ford N Series, and the Ford "World" tractors manufactured into the 1970s. Amply illustrated, the book also offers extensive information on the numerous options and accessories, implements and variations that came out of Dearborn, Sherman Bros., and the great Funk Bros. hot rod conversions that could make each of these popular machines utterly unique. In between, the book traces year-to-year model changes within each series. With content from Pripps’ best-selling The Big Book of Ford Tractors and The Illustrated Ford and Fordson Tractor Buyer’s Guide, The Complete Book of Ford Tractors is supplemented with new text, data-packed specification boxes, and a largely new selection of incredible color photography and period advertising. The only book offering comprehensive coverage of the breadth of collectible Ford tractors, The Complete Book of Ford Tractors is a must-have volume for every tractor enthusiast's library. Also available from the Complete Books series: The Complete Book of Classic John Deere Tractors and The Complete Book of Farmall Tractors.

    

    But because the food industry does not bear those costs and the price tag for these losses does not show up at the grocery store, it is too often ignored by economists and policymakers.The Economics of Sustainable Food details the true cost of food for people and the planet. It illustrates how to transform our broken system, alleviating its severe financial and human burden. The key is smart macroeconomic policy that moves us toward methods that protect the environment like regenerative land and sea farming, low-impact urban farming, and alternative protein farming, and toward healthy diets. The book’s multidisciplinary team of authors lay out detailed fiscal and trade policies, as well as structural reforms, to achieve those goals. Chapters discuss strategies to make food production sustainable, nutritious, and fair, ranging from taxes and spending to education, labor market, health care, and pension reforms, alongside regulation in cases where market incentives are unlikely to work or to work fast enough. The authors carefully consider the different needs of more and less advanced economies, balancing economic development and sustainability goals. Case studies showcase successful strategies from around the world, such as taxing foods with a high carbon footprint, financing ecosystems mapping and conservation to meet scientific targets for healthy biomes permanency, subsidizing sustainable land and sea farming, reforming health systems to move away from sick care to preventive, nutrition-based care, and providing schools with matching funds to purchase local organic produce. In the years ahead, few issues will be more important for individual prosperity and the global economy than the way we produce our food and what food we eat. This roadmap for reform is an invaluable resource to help global policymakers improve countless lives.

    Yet most consumers know very little about where those herbs come from and how they are processed into the many products that fill store shelves.Author Ann Armbrecht, director of the Sustainable Herbs Program of the American Botanical Council, reveals the inner workings of a complicated industry, with players that range from small farms where herbs are harvested by hand, to wild collectors who gather herbs using traditional practices, to industrial production fields where herbs are harvested by combines. Her investigation brings up questions about whether the health benefits of medicinal herbs can be preserved when production expands to an industrial scale. Armbrecht shares stories from the people and places she visits around the world, including:A massive industrial facility in New Jersey that produces herbal supplements on a factory floor the size of a soccer fieldA mid-scale herb processing company in Poland struggling to implement rigorous fair-trade certification standardsA mission-driven farm in Vermont building a network of herbalists committed to buying certified organic and domestically grown herbs for their productsAn ecologically conscious herb company working to protect endangered hornbills in India by creating a market for the fruit of the bibhitaki trees in which they nestThe Business of Botanicals is the first book to explore the interconnected web of the global herb industry and its many stakeholders, and will be an invaluable resource for consumers who want to better understand the safety and efficacy of the products they buy.