The Contrary Farmer.  A manual of practical small scale ("cottage") farming.  No pie-in-the-sky, back-to the-earth dreaminess here, Gene offers pragmatic and practical advice on life and living.  What does it mean to be a "contrary farmer" in the lexicon of Gene's world?  It is understanding that the smaller diversified farms of the last century had something that today's mega-ag-biz "food factories" can never replace - a quality of life for farmer and consumer alike on a purely animal, purely human, scale.  It is standing up for this quality of life, flying in the face of conventional modern agricultural "wisdom", and making it work on a real-world scale when the "experts" shake their heads and say it can't be done.  The most important thing I take away from Gene's books is the philosophy of "good enough", so at odds with society's emphasis on "only the best will do".  Gene reaches for and attains the "good enough" - and thereby lives very, very well indeed. The Contrary Farmer's Invitation to Gardening.  Gene Logsdon breaks down the garden walls and celebrates the side of gardening that isn't a finicky, style-obsessed, and expensive hobby but rather a hilarious, sensual, and endlessly satisfying way of life.   The borders of the contrary garden are limited only by the imagination. Why should "crops" be merely common vegetables?  Why not wheat? Why not the pigeons on the rafters of the barn, or bluegills and edible cattails from your own homestead pond?  (from Publisher's review) You Can Go Home Again.  A lyrical, heartfelt rendition of growing up in America's heartland, in a time and place that seems infinitely distant.  Distant, but not altogether gone - the love of home, family, hearth, and land still lives in the hearts of many Americans.  For those who yearn for a more human existence than modern society affords today, this is a reckoning of where we've been - and one man's choice of where to go from here.  This is Gene's autobiographical account of a journey away from home - and back again. COMING SOON - Pond Gardening - an updated and revised reprint of "Getting Food From Water" COMING SOON - Wildlife in Your Garden - How to Live in Harmony With Deer, Raccoons, Rabbits, Crows, and Other Pesky Creatures - updated, revised, and slighlty re-titled (See the original below) Scheduled for release August 15, 1999! COMING SOON - Good Spirits!  A book on home brewing. Due out in September 1999.

 

Gene Logsdon, the Contrary Farmer, is a writer and farmer.  He has written numerous books and magazine articles on the subject of small farms, rural living, cottage farming, homesteading, alternative farming practices, organic gardening, composting, aquaculture, and other types of alternative agriculture. These pages are a part of the Blackbird Ridge Homestead site, which is a site devoted to homesteading, small farming, alternative agriculture, family values, rural living, self-sufficiency, and organic or alternative farming practices.