Backyard Market Gardening (Good Earth)

I got a lot of ideas on how to work a small acreage successfully. I hope to put these ideas into practice starting next year. The book got me to thinking creatively.

This is a nice book of anecdotes and they're each short enough that they stay fresh without being overly long winded. There are a few good ideas and some are quite detailed in their recommendations, but I wouldn't say there was anything earth shattering. I mean don't we all know that to be successful you should cater to a niche market and provide top quality produce and service? After all, that's the final message of this book in a nutshell, cater to the niche and cultivate a loyal following.

Still the stories are short and decidedly pleasant to read, so it's impossible for me to give this anything lower than a 4 in rating. This won't be anywhere near my all time favorites, but it does help pass the time.

this book is great because it tells you the importance of marketing to the success of your small farm. most organic farming books fail to mention or have a small chapter in the back about marketing. this one puts much more emphasis. 80% marketing, 20% farming.

This book was written in the early 90's yet the message -- grow and eat REAL food from your own area is finally, albeit slowly, getting through to the masses. This was one of the most helpful farming books I've borrowed from the library in a long time. I came to Amazon to buy my own copy because there is so much in it which will make it a good reference for us. We have a small farm, summer farm stand and take part in local farmers markets. For me, the end of the book where the reasons for eating local, healthy food were presented seems esp helpful, as I plan to pass the info onto my customers. For my husband (the real farmer in this family) the nitty gritty of growing good food will be helpful. I've read a couple of Mr. Lee's other later books on chicken farming and they were good (albeit not as in depth and that first chicken tractor one, well I thought the format was a bit silly) but I feel this is MUCH better and a more useful tool for the small vegetable farmer. If you are not organic, you may tend to move closer to the organic idea after reading this book! Good marketing advice whether you are large or small, part time, full time or just dreaming of a farm.

We are just beginning to create an organic produce garden. The information in this book is a great help. The personal stories of how others managed this kind of project - give me hope that we too can create such a business.