Barb makes the invisible visible. Visible, we can celebrate it, join it, and support it. And with the dozens of farms she describes here …I feel ever more empowered to do so.
---- Anna Lappe, co-author of Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet.

In this timely and informative book, Barbara Berst Adams explortes a quiet revolution: the emergence of "micro-farms" on tiny acreages that achieve astounding yields of organic produce and provide a better-tasting alternative to the products of big agri-business. Anyone interested in micro-farming, food health, the environment, or the future of agriculture will learn from the success stories and lessons in this lively account.
---- William Dietrich, Pulitzer Prize winning environmental journalist and author of Natural Grace and Northwest Passage.

While a major back-to-the-land movement 30 years ago received a lot of press, author Barbara Berst Adams contends another more quiet back-to-the-land movement has been happening. Micro Eco-Farming details how these small farmers succeed. The book focuses on sustainable agricultural operations ranging from "u-gather" nut groves to miniature Shetland sheep wool farms. There also is useful information on the secrets of their success, along with a resources and networking section to help new micro eco-farms get started.
---- National Gardening Magazine

A great new book by one of our writers for The Heirloom Gardener Magazine. This book teaches farming ona tiny but very profitable scale. Learn to make a living right out of your own backyard, raising and marketing natural and unique crops, selling them to niche markets. This exciting book is a must for anyone interested in growing crops for market (and home gardeners).
---- Jere Gettle, Editor of "The Heirloom Gardener" Magazine

Adams, a successful "micro eco-farmer" herself, walks the reader through concepts such as local economies and their environmental and social benefits; heirloom varieties, their attributes and the importance of the stories they tell; and niche marketing, including how to assess one's customer base in relation to one's own vision. The author continually returns to the concept of the "whole farm," where each part integrates with the whole in a mutually beneficial relationship-from the animals, to the insects, to the soil, to the plants, to the farmer and his or her family, expanding outward to the local community and region. She offers an abundance of examples of how farmers have come up with one-of-a-kind products-from specialty wool to simply the experience of interacting with animals-or turned a problem into an advantage-such as the couple who sold homemade salsa "kits" like hotcakes right smack in the middle of a tomato glut.
Throughout the book, Adams counsels the reader to go slow and to observe. That goes for the garden (noting what grows best where) and the marketplace (taking account of what niche might need filling with a particular specialty crop or value-added product).
For the successful micro eco-farm, Adams reminds us, diversity and adaptability are key. She demonstrates this with anecdotes as far ranging as the story of "Chile Man" Robert Farr-who bailed on a corporate job to relocate to a 10-acre Virginia farm where he picks an estimated 2 million peppers annually for his specialty sauces-to Jeremiath Gettle, the young founder of Baker Creek Seeds and publisher of The Heirloom Gardener, who travels the world in search of the best old-time, open-pollinated varieties he can find.
Adams encourages aspiring farmers to take a good look at the resources that already exist around them when planning an enterprise. The less overhead, she wisely counsels, the less pressure and the greater chance of success. She offers an abundance of ideas, lessons and advice from real farmers, including a back section on 25 unique enterprises not otherwise covered in the book. There is also an excellent "Resources & Networking" section of useful organizations.
----Dan Sullivan, Senior Editor, The New Farm, former editor of Organic Gardening Magazine

I have just finishing reading a book that I highly suggest that anyone who is interested in small scale farming read. If you are planning to develop your own food supply whether for market and/or personal consumption, this book will provide inspiration, motivation and information. Barbara Berst Adams' Micro Eco-Farming is an important read. Adams words are informative and inspirational. The reader hears the experiences of those who have started their own micro-farming enterprises. The farmers are as diverse as the crops they raise. I will highlight a few passages so you can get a glimpse of what this treasure has to offer.
"The differences among individual micro eco-farms are many, yet that is their strength." P.31
Diversity is essential and goes far beyond the birds, bees and butterflies. Gardeners build soil and so do farmers. They work with the millions of micro-organisms that live in and create fertile soil. The soil that feeds your crops has many helpers and so does the grower. Gardening and farming are cooperative efforts as Adams shows.
"Micro eco-farmers don't seem to get stuck with any one method and are continually integrating new innovations into their personal system…" p.91
Once again we see how micro eco-farmers are modeling diversity. This is a good strategy that we can learn from observing Nature. Let the landscape be the textbook. Spend time outdoors and pay attention.
The epilogue "Growing Children's Souls: Families and Children on the Farm" provides inspirational ideas, which can assist in allowing Nature to help teach children. This does not require acreage; a community garden plot will be perfect.
Perhaps you have friends or family who are interested in starting a growing cooperative, either formally or on a less formal level. It is up to the people involved to determine how they will relate. Either way you could create common ground where all can prosper. When we work together we have skills and abilities that reach far beyond our numbers.
Read Adams' book. Form a reading and discussion group to talk about what you are reading. If you can't actually find a time to get together under the same roof, use email or a messenger service. Borrow Micro Eco-farming from the library or ask for an inter-library where possible.
---- Bob Ewing, Suite University, Garden workshop facilitator