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There has never been a better time to make and sell great cheese. People worldwide are consuming more high-quality, handmade cheese than ever before. The number of artisan cheesemakers has doubled in recent years, and many of the industry's newcomers are "farmstead" producers — those who work only with the milk of their own animals. More than ever before, the people who choose to become farmer-cheesemakers need access to the knowledge of established cheese artisans who can help them build their dream.

Few career choices lead to such extremes of labor, emotion and monetary challenge. In The Farmstead Creamery Advisor, respected cheesemaker, instructor and speaker Gianaclis Caldwell walks would-be producers through the many, and often confusing, steps and decisions they will face when considering a career in this burgeoning cottage industry. This book fills the gap that exists between the pasture and cheese plate. It goes far beyond issues of caring for livestock and basic cheesemaking, explaining business issues such as:

• Analyzing your suitability for the career
• Designing and building the cheese facility
• Sizing up the market
• Negotiating day-to-day obstacles
• Ensuring maximum safety and efficiency

Drawing from her own and other cheesemakers' experiences, Caldwell brings to life the story of creating a successful cheesemaking business in a practical, organized manner. Absolutely essential for anyone interested in becoming a licensed artisan cheesemaker, The Farmstead Creamery Advisor will also appeal to the many small and hobby-farm owners who already have milking animals and who wish to improve their home dairy practices and facilities.

Recommended Product for Wiser Living: Today, more than ever before, our society is seeking ways to live more conscientiously. To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, MOTHER EARTH NEWS is recommending books to readers. For 40 years, MOTHER EARTH NEWS has been North America’s “Original Guide to Living Wisely,” creating books and magazines for people with a passion for self-reliance and a desire to live in harmony with nature.

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When you are researching rabbits, this first-ever, full-color pocket guidebook to all kinds of rabbits will be a valuable resource in choosing the perfect rabbit.

This book will help guide you through the maze of rabbit possibilities and arm you with information on all of the 47 breeds recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association, as well as provide you with information on their shapes, sizes, colors, fur varieties and more.

In addition, there is a basic history of rabbits; insights on bunny behavior; coverage of pregnancy, kindling and raising kits; and information about bunny behaviors and tips for showing rabbits.

Whether you are just starting out or already have years of experience, this guide puts a wealth of information at your fingertips, so that you can quickly identify a rabbit’s breed wherever you happen to be, whether you’re wandering about a country fair, attending a rabbit show or shopping at a pet shop.

Cuddly house pet, 4-H project or farm animal, the rabbit is a perennial favorite of children and adults across the country. This first-ever, full-color, pocket guidebook is a handy resource for anyone choosing or caring for a rabbit. For those who want to raise rabbits, whether for pleasure or profit, or for the merely curious, there could be no better guide than this thorough, convenient and accessible book.

The book includes 47 detail-packed breed profiles; highlights of differences in shapes, sizes, colors and fur varieties; insights into bunny behavior; and tips for showing your rabbits.

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Where would you find your groceries if your supermarket's shelves were suddenly empty? The threat of earthquakes, trucker strikes, power outages or a global market collapse makes us vulnerable like never before. With spiraling fuel prices and unstable world economies, individuals and communities are demanding more control over their food supply.

Food Security for the Faint of Heart is designed to gently ease readers into a more empowered place so that shocks to our food supply can be handled confidently. As well as acquiring new skills and ideas, there are other compelling reasons to get better prepared. The local economy gains support and encouragement to expand, in turn boosting food's taste and nutritional value, along with the health of people and ecosystems. Community support helps low-income families eat higher quality food, and the preparation provides a psychological edge in an emergency.

Chapters are devoted to useful, transferable skills, including:

• Preserving garden food
• Saving freezer food during a power outage
• Managing through an earthquake
• Preparing quick herbal medicinals
• Foraging for wild food

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In a hectic world of mass-produced food, clothing, and entertainment, it’s easy to miss out on the simple pleasures of doing things for yourself. Meet Jenna Woginrich, a 26-year-old web designer who decided to take control of her life — what she ate, what she wore, and how she spent her free time. Learn a few basic country skills, she reasoned, and she would be able to produce at least some of the food and other resources she used every day. Made from Scratch tells the story of Woginrich's hilarious, heartbreaking, soul-satisfying journey, inspiring and entertaining readers who dream about a more self-sufficient lifestyle. Discover the joys of homesteading with Woginrich as she experiences the satisfaction of making bread, keeping chickens, keeping bees, sew clothing, grow vegetables and more!

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Dairy goats are a great choice for the small or backyard dairy farmer. They require a smaller investment than cows and produce milk that is great for making delicious fresh yogurt and cheese. This thoroughly revised fourth edition gives you everything you need to know to raise dairy goats, including more information on pygmy goats, updated information on disease diagnosis and treatment, and expanded information on breeding, milking, dairying, and cheese making.

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This trusted resource for new and experienced pig farmers provides authoritative advice on breed selection, housing, humane handling and butchering, disease prevention and treatment, and more. This newly updated third edition includes thorough coverage of green farming methods and an expanded breed guide, including information on rare and heritage breeds.

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CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $18.95. AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Keith Stewart, already in his early forties and discontent with New York’s corporate grind, moved upstate and started a one-man organic farm in 1986. Today, having surmounted the seemingly endless challenges to succeeding as an organic farmer, Stewart employs seven to eight seasonal interns and provides 100 varieties of fresh produce to the shoppers and chefs who flock twice weekly, May to December, to his stand at Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan — the only place where his produce is sold. It’s a Long Road to a Tomato opens a window into the world of Stewart’s Farm, with essays on his development as a farmer, the nuts and bolts of organic farming for an urban market, farm animals domestic and wild, and the political, social and environmental issues relevant to agriculture today — and their impact on all of us.

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The latest buzz is that anyone from 8 to 80 can learn and enjoy the popular hobby of beekeeping. Whether you live in an apartment with just a small balcony or you have a farm with acres of land, this book will teach you how to get started. Find out where to locate your bees, how to get them home, where and how to house them, and the methods for collecting their wax and honey. Whether you want to start a home-based beekeeping business or simply enjoy a new hobby, you'll become an expert in no time at all. Learn the history of bees and beekeeping and get the best advice available for safely collecting the honey and wax from your bees.

Recommended Product for Wiser Living: Today, more than ever before, our society is seeking ways to live more conscientiously. To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, MOTHER EARTH NEWS is recommending books to readers. For 40 years, MOTHER EARTH NEWS has been North America’s “Original Guide to Living Wisely,” creating books and magazines for people with a passion for self-reliance and a desire to live in harmony with nature.

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Rather than cover hundreds of plants in abbreviated accounts like the typical field guide, author Samuel Thayer has chosen a smaller selection of species to discuss in exhaustive detail, including only those plants he has eaten 50 times or more. This book contains as many as 10 high-quality color photographs of each plant. These have been painstakingly selected to facilitate identification and depict the plant parts at exactly the stage of growth in which they should be harvested. The accompanying text is accurate and thorough, giving readers of any experience level the confidence to harvest wild plants for food. Botanically, the text is accurate — yet it remains accessible to the layperson by using technical terms only when necessary.

The Forager’s Harvest has many unique features that will appeal to naturalists, hikers, campers, survivalists, homesteaders, gardeners, chefs, Native Americans and whole-food enthusiasts. The book contains a calendar of harvest times for wild produce, a step-by-step protocol for positive identification, an illustrated glossary tailored to the needs of foragers, a recommended reading list, plus special sections on conservation, safety, nutrition, harvest techniques, preparation methods and storage. While The Forager’s Harvest is not a regional guide, it will prove most useful to readers in the eastern US and Canada, the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest.

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In the farm home of America’s past, the hearth of the home – the kitchen – represented the warmth and well-being of the family that met daily to enjoy hearty, homemade food and converse with pleasure. Award-winning artist Bob Artley evokes this ideal in this beautiful homage to the traditional Midwestern farm kitchen. Filled with heirloom family recipes and cozy memories and accompanied by Artley’s signature pen-and-ink drawings and full-color illustrations, this memoir provides a nostalgic and affectionate look at rural life, family and food from a simpler time.

Peppered with 28 traditional family recipes Dorothy Harchanko gathered from farm wives of the era – including entries for Apple Pie, Carrot Jam and Ice Box Cookies – the chapters provide a description of the farm kitchen; discuss the family larder, cellar and attic; and examine the many ways in which the kitchen served as the center of the farm family’s universe. Used as a medical dispensary, nursery, laundry room, scriptorium, and, of course, gathering place to eat, the kitchen of Artley’s past now gives him the space to tell his unique story in words, with food and through his excellent and unforgettable artwork.