The Polyface Bookshelf
Our Recommended Reading List
FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser - Current hot topic book exposing the dangers of America’s fast food icon.
ECO-FARM by Charles Walters - Foundational to understanding the differences between “toxic rescue chemistry” and natural soil fertility.
THE SOVEREIGN INDIVIDUAL by James Dale Davidson - Prophetic about the impacts of the information revolution to democratize everything.
THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE by Steven Covey - Next to the Bible, probably the most effective treatise for becoming all you can be.
FARMER’S PROGRESS by George Henderson - Currently out of print, this book details the farming success of a 1940′s English farmer.
THE FARMING LADDER by George Henderson - Out of print, but my favorite book of all time. From portable chicken shelters to farm entrepreneurialism, this book has it all.
THE CONTRARY FARMER by Gene Logsdon - Possibly Logsdon’s best general work, showing how he goes against the grain of everything conventional.
THE UNSETTLING OF AMERICA by Wendell Berry - My favorite philosophical agriculture book, and Berry’s greatest classic.
PLOWMAN’S FOLLY by Ed Faulkner - Still current, this ex-extension agent shows why plowing should be done sparingly.
MALABAR FARM by Louis Bromfield - Few farmers questioned the culture’s agriculture paradigms as saliently as Bromfield. Still a must for avid students of landscape stewardship.
AN AGRICULTURAL TESTAMANT by Sir Albert Howard - My most oft-quoted book–absolutely the footer of modern natural farming.
PERMACULTURE: DESIGNER’S MANUAL by Bill Mollison - A veritable compendium of symbiotic and synergistic design. My most oft given-away book.
GRASS FARMERS by Allan Nation - A documentation of the nation’s pioneering and leading grass farmers, showing their results and techniques.
GOLD IN THE GRASS by Margaret Leatherbarrow - This is the one for the ladies. It grips your heart, makes you laugh and cry. Powerful.
TREE CROPS by Russell J. Smith - A true classic, detailing multi-vegetative stacking concepts, and as current today as when it was written.
GRASS PRODUCTIVITY by Andre Voisin - The absolute bedrock for any student of grass farming. This is still the Bible for grass farmers.
NOURISHING TRADITIONS by Sally Fallon - The book that launched the groundswell Weston A. Price movement. It will change your life.
THE GIFT OF GOOD LAND by Wendell Berry - Another classic by perhaps the strongest and most articulate voice in ecological agriculture.
ALTARS OF UNHEWN STONE by Wes Jackson - Challenging industrial agriculture’s mindset, this is perhaps Jackson’s best book.
FERTILITY PASTURES by Newman Turner - Still a classic, this book challenges soil tests and shows real success from one of the world’s best pasture farmers.
DOMINION by Matthew Scully - From a conservative’s perspective, this voluminous treatise–sometimes tedious–challenges the religious right with the moral dimension of animal husbandry.
PARADIGMS by Joel Arthur Barker - he book that popularized the term “paradigms.” A great explanation of our preconceived notions.
PASTURE PERFECT by Jo Robinson - The far-reaching benefits of choosing meat, eggs, and dairy products from grass-fed animals.
THE BOTANY OF DESIRE by Michael Pollan - A plant’s-eye view of the world.
OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA by Michael Pollan