Will Bonsall's Essential Guide to Radical Self-Reliant Gardening

by Will Bonsall

"Society does not generally expect its farmers to be visionaries." Perhaps not, but longtime Maine farmer and homesteader Will Bonsall does possess a unique clarity of vision that extends all the way from the finer points of soil fertility and seed saving to exploring how we can transform civilization and make our world a better, more resilient place.

In Will Bonsall's Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening, Bonsall maintains that to achieve real wealth we first need to understand the economy of the land, to realize that things that might make sense economically don't always make sense ecologically, and vice versa. The marketplace distorts our values, and our modern dependence on petroleum in particular presents a serious barrier to creating a truly sustainable agriculture.

For him the solution is, first and foremost, greater self-reliance, especially in the areas of food and energy. By avoiding any off-farm inputs (fertilizers, minerals, and animal manures), Bonsall has learned how to practice a purely veganic, or plant-based, agriculture—not from a strictly moralistic or philosophical perspective, but because it makes good business sense: spend less instead of making more.

What this means in practical terms is that Bonsall draws upon the fertility of on-farm plant materials: compost, green manures, perennial grasses, and forest products like leaves and ramial wood chips. And he grows and harvests a diversity of crops from both cultivated and perennial plants: vegetables, grains, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and nuts—even uncommon but useful permaculture plants like groundnut (Apios).

In a friendly, almost conversational way, Bonsall imparts a wealth of knowledge drawn from his more than forty years of farming experience.

"My goal," he writes, "is not to feed the world, but to feed myself and let others feed themselves. If we all did that, it might be a good beginning."

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Sustainability, Agriculture, Plants, Reference

432 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2015

About the author

Will Bonsall has worn many hats since going "back to the land," including prospector, draftsman, gravedigger, hobo, musician, logger, and artist, among others; however, he considers subsistence farming to be the only true career he ever had. He is the director of the Scatterseed Project, which he founded to help preserve our endangered crop-plant diversity. His first book, Through the Eyes of a Stranger (Xlibris, 2010), is an eco-novel set in a sustainable society of the future. Will lives and farms in Industry, Maine.

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will definitely knows his stuff. That being said, this book seems to be addressed to more professional gardeners. He seems to spend most of his time addressing things that are way above my head.

On the other hand, he does talk about things I haven't really seen elsewhere (interesting plants/foods like jerusalem artichokes and acorns, propagation, planting supports) and this has been enough for me to consider buying this book. I have read dozens of gardening books and this is the first or second I could say that about.

The book is still missing much information that would be useful to me as an amateur gardener (e.g. more plant information, more on companion planting,etc.) and I will continue looking for a master reference book that contains this kind of information.

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Radical. Informational. Quirky. Will Bonasall's guide is his year's of experience and research for growing not only for his family in Maine but in general of preserving history of gardening facets. Good photos of those incorporated and covers a wide variety of elements.

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is as excellent as one can get in providing a model, a lifestyle choice and process for creating it in our northern hemisphere. Localized knowledge for sure. Lol moments, elder and other wisdom, basic understanding explained well. A gem of a manual, essential for sure.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although most gardening books are breathtakingly similar to other gardening books, this book towers above so many others. It's an ace.

This is one of the most detailed and process-oriented books I have ever read on sustainable feeding yourself. I nearly wrote "sustainable gardening" but I think Will Bonsall would appreciate the gerund substitute, since "sustainable gardening" has a whiff of the unnecessary. Beyond what you might expect in here, this book includes the how, when, and why to apply humanure, plus how to collect it in the first place; the role of pasture in a vegan permaculture setup; oilseed crops (virtually never covered in other similar books); and the fundamentals of rock terracing. Because he has been at this for decades, the fruits of his trial and error are fully explained, and I think some kudos should be reserved for the editors who know their stuff well enough to prompt the author to answer the kinds of questions readers would have. For example: I have always wondered about how to pollinate small scale seed crops when you have to cover them to prevent cross pollination with their neighbors. Sure, with a cover they pretty much can't be cross pollinated with cousins but then they won't get pollinated at all! This book answers that with some clever advice on how to use trapped flies. Haha. There's a lot of gross advice for how to make bona fide self provisioning work. And it's all vegan!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know and love Will Bonsall and his writing, including the first of the Yaro TalesThrough the Eyes of a Stranger, so this review is biased.
In his 'Essential Guide...', I liked the shifting between nitty-gritty and philosophy, his freindly tone and I like reaping the bounty of his years of hard exploratory work from the comfort of my armchair. Thanks, Will,

[Alicia Farmer]

Comprehensive and intimidating for the gardening dabbler such as myself. Doing things Bonsall's way requires a level of focus and commitment that I don't have. And while I may share many of his anti-capitalist sentiments, I did not appreciate his frequent and lengthy editorializing. Nor did his folksy language work for me.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conversationally written, but also dense. I read this cover to cover, but think it would be most useful as reference material to consult as needed. Index at the back facilitates this use.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a permaculture book per se, though he mentions it from time to time, but probably the best permaculture book (especially for northern gardeners) that I've read in the five or six years I've been studying it. Bonsall has an 84-acre farm in Unity, Maine, on which he raises (with very little rototilling) vegetables, fruits, permacrops, grains, pulses, oilseeds -- and no animals at all. His writing is incisive, witty, clear, easy flowing, a pleasure to read. Topics covered include the vision of a garden without borders, composting, making mulch and green manures, soil and minerals, grassland management, propagating seeds, rocks and water, planting more efficiently (trellises, companion planting, new world vs. old world crops), chapters on crops (veggies, grains, pulses, oilseeds, permacrops), using the harvest by milling, baking, sprouting, freezing, fermenting, dehydrating, etc., and pests and diseases -- usually the most boring (no pun intended) chapter in these books, this is one of the best in Bonsall's. Recommended for northern climate gardeners, especially those not interested in keeping animals.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

full of good advice for the backyard gardener

[Zone Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this book.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of useful information if you have a large property, but if you're looking to up your game on a small urban lot, most of it just isn't feasible with the space you have.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The gardening book that I was looking for; the one I needed to read.

[Renwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The contents behave as advertised.

[Pam Dawling · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1971, Will Bonsall went back to the land in Maine, with his wife, Molly Thorkildsen, and their two sons. They built the farm over the course of five years, “one foundation stone and one exquisitely harvested and finished piece of wood at a time. As neat and efficient as a ship’s cabin, Khadighar Farm rises up on a hillock in the midst of 85 acres.” (Press Herald 2014). Will Bonsall runs the Scatterseed Project, (as featured in the documentary "Seed: The Untold Story"), an organization for the collection, preservation and sharing of seeds. Jim Gerritson, in his endorsement says “The risk of describing [this book] as a gardening book is that the aspiring reader may miss the reality that it is really a book on life, centered as a good life should be, around a garden.”

Will Bonsall’s gardening (life) is focused on Veganism and Eco-efficiency, looking deeply into replenishing the soil by considering each organism’s intrinsic energy as a food in proportion to the food energy (or soil fertility) required to produce it. Only photosynthetic plants actually produce a net increase over the soil-derived nutrients they consume. All animals have a negative ratio. This is not to say all livestock are bad (or for that matter, that people are bad). Different animals vary in their Eco-efficiency and different terrains respond to different treatment. As the author says, you can pick and choose from the ideas presented, without needing to agree 100% with his ideology. And before anyone imagines that Will Bonsall advocates isolationist self-sufficiency, note that he points out that the most stable solutions for hard times involve cooperative, collective, community action.

[Jayne]

Read this to provide a review for Edible South Shore. Found it to be very informative and entertaining (this from an amateur, fair weather gardener!). Not going to rate it as it is not a book I would choose to read or would buy. But hats off to Will and his hard work to keep a self sufficient farm.

[Brigid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly skimmed this book. It seems like a great resource for some unique things to do and grow to become more self sufficient.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

fabulous variety suggestions, how-to's, and general ideas for best practices