Maximizing Your Mini Farm: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre

by Brett L. Markham

Mini farming describes a holistic approach to small-area farming that will show you how to produce 85 percent of an average family’s food on just a quarter acre—and earn $10,000 in cash annually while spending less than half the time that an ordinary job would require. Now expanding exponentially on his bestselling Mini Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre , Brett Markham gives you tips, tricks, and planning advice on how to make the most of your mini farm. New topics  
Keep your costs down and production high with this complete guide to maximizing your mini farm—whether it’s a rooftop urban garden, a suburban backyard, or a more substantial plot of land. Materials, tools, and techniques are detailed with tables, diagrams, and 200 color illustrations and author photographs.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Food, Reference, Green

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 21, 2012

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

[Sheri Bauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more information on garden layout and planning.

[Zora · Rating 1 out of 5]

For the most part, a veg-growing guide. Not a bad guide, though not the best, but nothing here is about self-sufficiency and there's nothing self-sufficient about buying all those supplies and plastics and recipe ingredients and two sizes of pressure canners and so on. (Self-sufficient means, let's say everyone else on the planet and everything they owned disappeared, or let's say a dome a la Stephen King came down over your property alone, you'd still be able to feed your family under the dome and survive.)

The 15% of this books that is info beyond veg growing is not necessary to survival. It's about creating luxury goods like wine and vinegar and cheese. And step one is always "Get on the Internet and buy these ten different things, equipment and supplies you'll never be able to find locally" which again, to be precise about the English language, is nothing like "self-sufficient." Needing a propane tank to weed isn't self-sufficient, unless you yourself know how to mine and purify propane and have a home sitting over an oil field, and if you do, I'm sure you can fly to France for dinner tonight and don't need to spare a thought to growing it yourself from carefully saved seeds.

Also, on a quarter acre, you'd be able to rotate crops and grow 20 of every plant to save seed? And feed one person (let alone four)? I can't feed me on more land than that. Maybe acres are different where he lives.

There are some good homesteading books out there (that are honest enough to say that of course when you're ordering things online, you aren't anywhere near self-sufficient). This isn't one of them.

[Alisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent advice and encouragement!

I am just starting to consider this type of gardening/farming. There are many practical ideas that I plan to implement thanks to this book.
The book was easy to read and understand. Anyone who wants to start a small farm or homestead will benefit from this book. This will also work great for anyone living in the suburbs with a decent size back yard and/or front yard.

[Tom Hrabchak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an introductory book to expanding a garden into a sustainable food source for a family. This book does not go into depth on any topic and provides references to other sources for more detail. I appreciated the author tailoring the advice to a more casual reader who does not intend to be a full time farmer but would still like to cultivate more of their own food.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good

This is an all inclusive book on self-sufficiency. Not just gardening. Wine making, cheese making etc. Is included. Not the best book on this topic but it was very thorough.

[Dora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great resource to garden in a small area.

[Susan Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beginner info on gardening, cooking, and food preservation. Excellent pictures!

[Erin Penn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a sequel to Mini-Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre - and the initial chapter keeps saying things like "if you want to find out about please see the first book". But after that annoyance is done, the book moves forward. The author created this book based on questions people asked him from the first book and stuff he discovered in the five years since the first book was published.

This book is very much one man's personal take on mini-farming; a lot of the plants, tips, and hints are related to an area more northern than me. And he keeps emphasizing that these are the things he has run into and these are the choices he and his family has made. Very good advice, but I would recommend seeking more than one source especially if you live in a different climate or soil zone than the author.

Plus side - lots of good information soil preparation for particular crops. the weeds and diseases, how to harvest, and, best-of-all, how to get the seeds you want (if a crop seeds only every two years, if a crop self-pollinates, etc). Around 20 plants in all including carrots, melons, and peppers. I also really like the chapter on making your own cheese at home.

Negatives - no real information on crop rotation between the raised beds (guess that was in the first book) - same problem with compost and soil preparation (very much first book).

Overall an okay book, just not the best without the first book of the series. A beginner book, and I expect as I try to work with it I will start finding other holes because the author concentrated on what he was doing instead of what I might run into hundreds of miles from where he lives. It can be a good addition to your gardening shelf, but certainly not the only book there.

Money saving tip - The author has put together both books 1 & 2 with supplemental books on vegetable gardening and composting and packaged this as the "mini-farming bible" at less than the cost of any two books together.

[Michele Hoover · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent reference for anyone wanting to save energy, time, and money by growing at least some of their own food. With additional information for making your own wine, cheese, and vinegars, this book is very appropriate for the beginning homestead as well. A great deal of good information about setting up a garden, tools that make the work easier, and tried and true gardening techniques - along with specific chapters for many popular vegetables for the home garden, including choosing varieties, planting, harvesting, and preserving.

One note, if you make the ketchup recipe we tried from pg 149 and use the slow cooker method for thickening the ketchup, the book does not indicate to leave the lid OFF of the slow cooker. In the end, we did find it used less time and electricity to boil down the ketchup on the stove. The result was fantastic and gift worthy though.

I do not agree with the authors on the use of disposables for storage to the extent suggested, but good suggestions for easing a hectic schedule by keeping a garden.

I didn't realize when we bought this book that is is a sequel to Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 acre. We will likely be buying that book as well.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Focuses primarily on fruit and vegetable growing with a bit at the end on making your own cheese. I was hoping for a bit more info on animal raising (such as bees, goats, chickens, etc.) If you are looking for information on gardening, though, this book is a pretty nice resource.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Even though I've had a garden for many, many years, I still learned some great tips from this book. Each chapter is divided into different vegetable which makes it easy to focus in on vegetables I grow myself. Even a chapter on making your own cheese.

[Robynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only does Maximizing Your Mini Farm have great information about growing food it also has wonderful chapters on making wine, vinegar and cheeses! The information is easy to read and easy to understand. It's a wonderful book for anyone, just just those with small urban farms.

[Richard A. Neider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference to gardening.

This is best reference manual I've seen for a lot of gardening tips. Excellent and interesting reading. Also, it has a good number of photos to go with the narratives. Easy to read and understand.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good reference book if you're interested in becoming self sufficient.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Specifics on veggies.

[Rachel Heaton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skimmed it