At Nature's Pace: Farming and the American Dream.  From Booklist , February 15, 1994.  Logsdon is as impersonal as a politician seeking office in these essays on the small commercial farmer. The operant word is commercial, for Logsdon is no gentleman farmer. Although he writes about the spiritual rewards of farming, he always counterposes to them the thoroughly material woes suffered by the small "food and fiber producer"--his term for farmer. Such attention to terminology bespeaks Logsdon's resistance to the conventional wisdoms of the agribusiness executive, the noble ecological farmer, and even his constituency, the vanishing commercial farmer. It indicates, too, three pervasive features of his writing: tough-mindedness, historical perspective, and close attention to particularities. Thus, when he discusses the decline of the small commercial farmer, he invokes not some vague urban alienation but the changing curriculum in the department of agriculture at Ohio State; and when he writes about small farmers, he describes in detail--skillfully enough to shame most professional ethnographers--extended conversations in the Pour House restaurant. So we take seriously his prophecy that small farming will revive. Even should it fail, his writing documents with rare honesty and perspicacity a calling that has become all but invisible to most of us. Roland Wulbert  Copyright© 1994, American Library Association. Small Scale Grain Raising.  Do you want to grow just a little bit of grain so you can have your own, fresh-ground flour and whole grains?  Do you want to grow a moderate amount of grain for your livestock, chickens, dairy cow, goats, horse?  Have you searched EVERYWHERE looking for information on growing grain, and come up only with references aimed at the agri-biz farmer with 5000 acres?  Has your extension agent or the farmer down the road with the $500,000 combine laughed you out of the office when you told them you wanted to grow a "little bit of grain" on your own land?  Never fear, this book has all the answers.  Everything you ever wanted to know about raising grain on a human rather than a factory scale is in this book.  From the prosaic (corn, wheat) to the exotic (wild rice, spelt, flax); grains, legumes, pasture grasses, and fodder of all manner are discussed in this book.  Whether you want to grow for human or animal consumption; whether for harvest or as field feed; the information you need is here.  Gene describes how his family threshes their grain with a pillowcase, a window fan, and a whiffle ball bat - or if you're looking for equipment on a slightly larger (but still not factory) scale, the book includes plans for a hand-made grain thresher. This book was published in 1977 so unfortunately many of the suggestions for where to find small-scale equipment may be out of date (for instance, Sears hasn't dealt in mail-order farm equipment for 7 or 8 years now).  But some of the companies he mentions are still in business, and the methods of preparing, planting, harvesting, and rotating crops have certainly not changed in the last 20 plus years.  If you can find a copy of this book, snap it up - its a difficult find.  This is at the top of my list of books I wish Gene could get republished, even though I have not one but two copies (a paperback that fell apart and the hardback copy I finally found to replace it). Homesteading - How to Find New Independence on the Land.  This is one of the better treatises I have ever read on homesteading and sustainable living.  We are talking about every day living here, practical advice and real world solutions.  Some of the advice you get from slef-styled "permaculturists" on sustainable living and permaculture appears aimed at a kind of utopian vision that seems to make room for people only grudgingly (I once had a permaculture fan tell me that no non-native plants should be grown for human consumption - no wheat, no apples, etc, if they're not native to your region and wouldn't have been historically available to a hunter-gatherer society, you're not supposed to be growing them.  Anybody for malnutrition?).  Contrary as always, Gene Logsdon concentrates on what works and what is of practical benefit to the homesteader. Wildlife in Your Garden: Or Dealing With Deer, Rabbits, Raccoons, Moles, Crows, Sparrows, and Other of Nature's Creatures. Living in the country, or on the outskirts of town?  Do you want to have a garden, but it just seems like the deer, raccoons, armadillos, won't let you?  Coping with wildlife without killing them - makes your life easier, and no guilt for offing Bambi and Rascal!  Often available used (Advanced Book Exchange),  this book is coming out December 1999 in a new edition! The Gardener's Guide to Better Soil.  A comprehensive guide to improving the condition of your garden soil.  Good, hard-headed practical advice, as we've come to expect from the Contrary Farmer.  Often available used (Advanced Book Exchange), some of this information is also passed along in "The Contrary Farmer's Invitation to Gardening". Gene Logsdon's Moneysaving Secrets: A Treasury of Salvaging, Bargaining, Recycling, and Scavenging Techniques.  I have yet to find a copy of this book, but hopefully inter-library loan will come through for me soon . . . Gene Logsdon's Practical Skills: A Revival of Forgotten Crafts, Techniques, and Traditions.  Ifinally found a copy of this, thanks to a friend (Thanks, Joyce!).  Here's a review from a reader (I can't improve on her recommendations):  If you want a book to help you through tough times cheaply, this is it! An emergency situation may cause books such as this one to be a life saver.  Covers: 1. Maintaining & Repairing House Items 2. Home Comfort: Buying a Wood Stove; Getting the most heat from fireplaces; Running Water. The Hydrolic Ram. 3. Making and Making Do 4. Food Prep: Milk from the cow to the fridge; Homemade Butter, Butchering a chicken, Hog Butchering, Practical Wild Foods. 5. Yard & Garden: Things To Build & Maintain A Practical Privy, Septic Tank principals, cistern, dry stone walls & fences, building Icehouse Coolers, A Wood heated fruit dryer (dehydrator) Garden Skills: Hoemanship, Low Cost Hothouse frame, Homemade bug fighters. 6. Around The Barn: Basic Construction & Livestock Tips. 7. On The Land: In The Fields: A Farm is a large garden OR a garden is a small farm. Tools for small Time gardens. NOTE:  I just hit the basics of this book.  I have used several of his ideas: One was how to keep a mile long gravel road from "washing" out using a gravel trench type drain with 2 railroad ties filled with loose rock. I weigh 100 lbs. soaking wet, am a female, & can honestly say this book is high on my list for learning practical skills! CJ Getting Food from Water:  A Guide to Backyard Aquaculture.  This book talks about practical down-to-earth methods of home aquaculture.  Often available used (Advanced Book Exchange),  this book is coming out soon in a new edition! The Low Maintenance House.  Excellent, excellent book on designing, building, or renovating and back-fitting a house to become a dwelling that can actually be lived in rather than a money pit for constant repairs and headaches in later years.  This is yet another book that I wish would come out in a new edition.  Especially since it took me over  2 years to find a used copy.  (Finally found it, 6/99) Successful Berry Growing:  How to Plant, Prune, Pick, and Preserve Bush and Vine Fruits.  A good introduction to growing, harvesting, and preserving fruits and berries.  Not only the more familiar (strawberries, raspberries) but also less well-known types of fruits and berries usually passed over by "traditional" fruit growers, such as Buffalo Berry and Elderberry (although elderberry has been making a comeback lately as a popular heirloom berry).  Often available used (Advanced Book Exchange). Two Acre Eden.  Wherein Gene describes his first homestead.  It's been a long time since I read this book, but its another one that I highly recommend if you're considering a life beyond the sidewalks - ore even if you're not.  Take heart, the Contrary One leads where we would follow!  This is another one that I've had trouble finding a used copy of. The Last Days of a Farmer:  A Personal Account.  This is another of Gene's books that I have not been able to lay my hands on.  Oh, well, looks like its interlibrary loan to the rescue again. Wyeth People.  I don't know much about this book, except that its about the painter, Andrew Wyeth. Ada the Ayrshire:  The Cow Nobody Loves.  Edited by Gene Logsdon.  A compendium of cow-humor, including an essay by Gene himself Mindfulness and Meaningful Work contains essays by Gene Logsdon, Thich Nhat Hanh (author of "Peace is Every Step"), Joanna Macy, Sam Keen, E.E Schumacher, Gary Snyder, Shakti Gawain, Shunryu Suzuki, Robert Aitken, Tarthang Tulku, Marsha Sinetar, Rick Fields, Ellen Langer, and many others.  A collection of essays on the integration of mindfulness and ethics in the workplace Gene Logsdon wrote the forward for this reprint of a book written by Charles Smart and originally published in 1938.  It is the story of the trials and tribulations of a family who moved from the city to the country to get back to the land.  Publisher's news release. Meeting the Expectations of the Land.  Edited by Wendell Berry, Bruce Coleman, and Wes Jackson.  Contains essays by Gene Logsdon and others.  Gene's essay is entitled "The Importance of Traditional Farming Practices", wherein he makes the pithy remark "cow spit makes the grass grow".  That's the Contrary Farmer we all know and love. Edited by Christopher and Judith Plant, published by New Society Publishers.  A collection of essays, including "Amish Economics" by Gene Logsdon.

 

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.