Today we continue our book reviews, as I run through the 2022 reading list.

A Soil Owner’s Manual by Jon Stika

From the publisher:

“A Soil Owner’s Manual: Restoring and Maintaining Soil Health, is about restoring the capacity of your soil to perform all the functions it was intended to perform. This book is not another fanciful guide on how to continuously manipulate and amend your soil to try and keep it productive. This book will change the way you think about and manage your soil. It may even change your life. If you are interested in solving the problem of dysfunctional soil and successfully addressing the symptoms of soil erosion, water runoff, nutrient deficiencies, compaction, soil crusting, weeds, insect pests, plant diseases, and water pollution, or simply wish to grow healthy vegetables in your family garden, then this book is for you. Soil health pioneer Jon Stika, describes in simple terms how you can bring your soil back to its full productive potential by understanding and applying the principles that built your soil in the first place. Understanding how the soil functions is critical to reducing the reliance on expensive inputs to maintain yields. Working with, instead of against, the processes that naturally govern the soil can increase profitability and restore the soil to health. Restoring soil health can proactively solve natural resource issues before regulations are imposed that will merely address the symptoms. This book will lead you through the basic biology and guiding principles that will allow you to assess and restore your soil. It is part of a movement currently underway in agriculture that is working to restore what has been lost. “

I read this one early in the year, then managed to lose it in our move.

It would be great to write something insightful about it here, but as I don’t have it in hand, I don’t have much to say.

This book is firmly in the “no till” camp. The cows on the front were not well-rendered by the printer and had noticeable digital artifacts. That’s probably not Stika’s fault, though.

This concludes the least insightful review I’ve posted here to date.

4 out of 5 stars

Comeback Farms by Greg Judy

From the publisher:

“Many folks are hesitant to try Holistic Planned Grazing because of what they think it entails. Greg Judy’s book responds to such hesitancy with enthusiasm and positive attitude and by articulating the basics in a very simple way, demonstrating to readers that it is possible to make these changes without a lot of infrastructure investment.

Judy shows how to add sheep, goats and pigs to existing cattle operations. He explains fencing and water systems that build on existing infrastructure set up for Management-intensive Grazing. Sharing his first-hand experience (mistakes as well as successes), Judy takes graziers to the next level. He shows how High Density Grazing (HDG) on his own farm and those he leases can revitalize hayed out, scruffy, weedy pastures, and turn them into highly productive grazing landscapes that grow both green grass and greenbacks.

If you have six cows or 6000, you can utilize High Density Grazing to create fertile soils, lush pastures and healthy livestock. Greg Judy, the master of custom grazing, shows how to earn profits with little risk while using other people’s livestock on leased land. Judy details how to work with Nature without costly inputs, and how to let the animals be your labor force.”

This is a fascinating look at managing grazing cattle and other ruminants to restore poor land. Greg Judy has done it and shares his results.

We did some minimal experiments in the pasture we were borrowing after reading on managed grazing, via arranging the grass into strips. However, the owner’s son then went and mowed all the grass outside our managed area, meaning we couldn’t continue. We may try again on our new land, especially now that we’re up to four cows instead of just two.

5 out of 5 stars

Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown

From the publisher:

“Gabe Brown didn’t set out to change the world when he first started working alongside his father-in-law on the family farm in North Dakota. But as a series of weather-related crop disasters put Brown and his wife, Shelly, in desperate financial straits, they started making bold changes to their farm. Brown―in an effort to simply survive―began experimenting with new practices he’d learned about from reading and talking with innovative researchers and ranchers. As he and his family struggled to keep the farm viable, they found themselves on an amazing journey into a new type of farming: regenerative agriculture.

Brown dropped the use of most of the herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers that are a standard part of conventional agriculture. He switched to no-till planting, started planting diverse cover crops mixes, and changed his grazing practices. In so doing Brown transformed a degraded farm ecosystem into one full of life―starting with the soil and working his way up, one plant and one animal at a time.”

It’s a great story, with lots of ups and downs and unexpected discoveries. One of the best ways to learn is to DO – and that’s what Gabe and his family did on their farm. This book is very inspiring, especially if you are a farmer.

5 out of 5 stars