The Mini Farming Bible: The Complete Guide to Self-Sufficiency on ¼ Acre

by Brett L. Markham

Almost 600 pages of information on how to make your own compost, save seeds, start a compost pile, ferment your own wine, get the most out of your vegetable garden—and more! And all on just ¼ acre or less.

Over 300,000 books by Brett Markham have been sold, because his books offer illustrated expert advice on how to go back to basics and live a more self-sufficient life. Here, in his biggest, most complete book, you will find detailed information

And all on just ¼ acre or less. Learn why hundreds of thousands of readers across North America have chosen Mini Farming for all their self-sufficiency needs. This is the must have guide for any farmer, homesteader, or gardener—whether they’re beginners or experienced looking for new ideas.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

560 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2014

About the author

Brett L. Markham is an engineer, third-generation farmer, and polymath. Using the methods explained in his book, he runs a profitable, Certified Naturally Grown mini farm on less than half an acre. Brett works full time as an engineer for a broadband ISP and farms in his spare time. He lives in New Ipswich, New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Colette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative book. It isn’t the only book you might need, but it is a good one for having as a dense and organized reference. There are many good ideas that expand upon other methods of intensive gardening, such as Square-foot Gardening. Having personal experience with the Square-foot method, I could understand Markham’s thoughts, experiments, and reasoning. I’m not sure someone who hadn’t tried any intensive gardening would get as much out of this book.

I felt the first two sections (or books, really) were the most helpful, since I wasn’t really interested in his brief descriptions of making wine, vinegar and cheese; nor am I in a position to raise poultry right now. Note that there are no garden diagrams or raises bed layouts included. That was not the purpose of this book, so if you are looking for what to plant where, you will have to look elsewhere.

Markham’s experience with mini-farming is in New Hampshire, which is quite different from the desert Southwest, where I live, but with other references to help me tweak his ideas, I feel the practical information on setting up a mini-farm is still quite relevant. The photos are quite good and helpful, although in the copy I read the photos for the last chapter were wrong (repeats from a previous and unrelated chapter). Hopefully this oversight has been corrected in subsequent printings (if there are any).

Overall, I am glad I was able to get this book through ILL. I will probably buy it.

[Julie Sharp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think there is a lot of helpful information in this book, especially for a beginner gardener. However, I felt that the organization and writing were often confusing and would be very frustrating to a beginner. The chapter organization could have been much better and had a better flow. Also, within the chapters, I felt like the author gave a lot of information and said "you need to do this..." And then at the end of the section backtracked and was like "but you don't really need to do all of that complicated stuff". So which is it? It was just a little frustrating. Also there are enough typos and editorial errors that it was annoying. I got this from the library and don't think I'd add this to my personal collection. If you read this, don't let it be your "bible" or only source of information on gardening.

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

at this point i've read 25 gardening books and this one knocks them all out of the water. i love markham's engineering approach to farming - i love an author that respects his readers enough to say "it's hard, but you can do it, and here's how".

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This truly is a complete guide to the more conventional style of raised bed vegetable farming (versus forest gardening, aquaculture, etc.) Well organized, tons of examples, tons of great information. Everything you need to efficiently start raising your own vegetables for self-sufficiency.

[Patina Malinalli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rate this book 5/5 stars! It's extremely informative and highly applicable. I would recommend this book to any gardener or homesteader (this book does contain a few chapters about raising chickens).

[Remington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really helped me start my first garden and sketch out where everythiglng will be planted.

[Christy]

This is one I will just continue to read sporadically, not necessarily cover to cover. Great information for saving seeds from heirloom plants for next year.

[Loz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful info

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this and will probably by his other books as well. I took so long because I actually was reading and referencing it as I started raised beds of my own and several of the sections cover a lot of processes and chemistry that I wanted to research as I read. All in all a great introduction to each of the topics.

[Elise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mainly a description of how to grow individual plants. Not useful at all for me. Was hoping for a layout on how to do it on a 1/4 acre.
Disappointed...

[L]

reading a 981 page pdf, on page 146.