The Contrary Farmer

by Gene Logsdon

Gene Logsdon has become something of a rabble-rouser in progressive farm circles, stirring up debates and controversies with his popular New Farm Magazine column, The Contrary Farmer. One of Logsdon's principle contrarieties is the opinion that--popular images of the vanishing American farmer, notwithstanding--greater numbers of people in the U.S. will soon be growing and raising a greater share of their own food than at any time since the last century. Instead of vanishing, more and more farmers will be cottage farming, part-time.

This detailed and personal account of how Logsdon's family uses the art and science of agriculture to achieve a reasonably happy and ecologically sane way of life in an example for all who seek a sustainable lifestyle. In The Contrary Farmer , Logsdon offers the tried-and-true, practical advice of a manual for the cottage farmer, as well as the subtler delights of a meditation in praise of work and pleasure. The Contrary Farmer will give its readers tools and tenets, but also hilarious commentaries and beautiful evocations of the Ohio countryside that Logsdon knows as his place in the universe.

Genres: Agriculture, Nonfiction, Gardening, Food, Nature, Philosophy, Society

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Shannan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in 1994, The Contrary Farmer is much more than a book about sustainable farming. It's about the values our grandparents had. It's about being a good steward of what you've been given. It's about making smart, wise choices. It's about not caring what "The Joneses" are doing. It's a discourse on simple, pleasurable living framed within the context of farming.
Living in the heartland of America's Midwest farming community some 23 years after this book was published, I found myself going to this book when I needed to relax and stop to smell the roses.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's not much but goodness from anything by Mr. Logsdon.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t exactly finish but close enough. I really liked the first few chapters but then it got bogged down in minutiae, some of it interesting but most of it not, probably not even to people who farm. For instance, who cares how far apart Logsdon and various of his pals plant corn and the yields they get? I’m really interested in gardening and farming but some of this was just too much. At Ease with the Work of Farming and Pastoral Economics were great chapters and really showed Logsdon’s contrariness— I always appreciate a good contrarian. A Paradise of Meadows was also an enjoyable chapter. The rest of it I could leave— Homesteading is a much better book on the “how to” of cottage farming, and more engagingly written.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked all the details that demonstrate a farmer's intimate knowledge of his craft. Lodgson is even more Berry-like and contrarian than Joel Salatin.

[Chris Clevenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books. Lots of good information on conservation but the jewel to me is that it serves as a well written how-to manual for cottage farming. Something that is a dream of mine. It was required reading for my Environmental History class and I am so glad. This is a must if you like anything nature, farming, agriculture. Even if you just have a small vegetable garden this will help you. Or if you are a just a dreamer of a simpler life, this book will inspire you further.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoroughly fed my curiosity and reminded me of my interest in farming as a kid growing up in the country on a small Horse Farm. Lots of good info, reminisces but the book really focused on Eastern, Ohio in this book, agricultural practices. I stopped reading about halfway through because the chapters went into how to, what grasses to plant, etc, mostly info that would not apply to farming in Colorado. Tha inventory of books to read in the back of the book is excellent.

[Laurla2]

"I don't know if the words 'progressive' or 'advanced' can be applied to a nation that can no longer function without certain technologies over which individuals have no control. The more local communities become dependent on centralized powers for food, clothing, and shelter, the more they become enslaved to that power."

"I never hurry in the woods. That is part of the joy of it. Working for money, we must forever hurry. The slavocracy of a wage economy, Scott Nearing called it. Sitting on a log, watching a downy woodpecker hop over the wood I have just stacked, I realize I like woodcutting because I can split when I want to split, and sit when I want to sit. I forget all the worlds bosses who hover over me when I leave the woods, reminding me that I must work fast enough for their profit as well as my wage, or what is the use of paying me."

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and potentially useful.
This book is basically a manual about how to make a small farm [2-5 acres] turn a profit. It has chapters such as: what tools you will need; how to grow grains; proper crop rotation, etc. I enjoyed the author's curmudgeonly humor.

[William Guerrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wisdom-filled and inspiring. As relevant now as ever.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logsdon is such a charming writer he makes it fun to read about things like crop rotation, that you wouldn't normally expect to find riveting.

[Petra · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books growing up! Keep my interest in gardening and farmer.

[Abby Franks · Rating 3 out of 5]

As per usual, Gene provides wonderful advice and a spunky style that makes me love Ohioans. I prefer Sanctuary of Trees and Two Acre Eden and more “memoir-y” to his extra advice-y books like this one.

[Debbie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will always keep this book on my shelf, wonderful reference book for small farms and country know how.

[Valeria Wicker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am interested in starting up a small farm, and Logsdon's book offers a lot of old-friend advice on how to keep a farm without going broke or biting off more than you can chew. He draws from almost thirty years of experience to tell the reader the best way to raise livestock, maintain pasture and cultivated land, dig a pond, fell trees, and well, you get the idea. It makes me want to put into practice what I read as soon as possible. I look at the land in a whole different way thanks to this book. For those of you into the Bible, this book offers great instructions on being a steward of the land. If you take care of your trees and animals, they'll take care of you.

This book does leave me with a lot of questions, which is good and frustrating at the same time. Since Gene Logsdon grew up on a farm and has spent all his life writing for farmers, he might take for granted the knowledge he has that some of us new to agriculture might not. I still don't know what a combine is, or what a manure spreader looks like, or what keeps the layers warm in the henhouse over the winter. Logsdon mentions in the chapter about forestry that illustrations would best explain the safety precautions that he details with words. That makes me think that maybe there are no illustrations in the book because of restrictions set by the printer or editor.

I would also like to know what assets to look for when buying a farm, or how to go about buying one in the first place. Logsdon also lets on little about what his wife contributes to their 32-acre homestead. He refers to his work only in the first person singular, though obviously it takes at least two people to do the work.

In the end, though, these frustrations just make me want to read more books on the subject, which will make me a better-informed person for when it comes time to start a homestead. I do think, though, that one should first take advantage of the apprenticeships that a lot of cottage farmers in my area, if practical knowledge is lacking. It's hard to imagine putting into practice on a farm what we read from books without first getting a feel for it somewhere else.

Despite my frustrations and suggestions, this is definitely a book to buy and not check out from the library if you plan on farming at all. It can serve as a valuable source of reference throughout the year.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my dreams is to live a closer-to-self-sufficient life, with us raising most of our own food and enough surplus to make a living. In short, I want to be a cottage farmer, and this book is an excellent starting point, offering three things to the would-be cottage farmer: practical advice, a philosophy of farming, and inspiring vignettes of such rural life.

In many ways, Logsdon defies easy categories. He criticizes modern chemical-intensive agriculture repeatedly, but isn't afraid to take ideas from these radically different farmers, if they serve his purpose. Likewise, much of what he does could be categorized as "organic" practices, but he refuses to be tied down to any "party line" there either just to be "certified organic."

In his first chapter, Logsdon not only lays the philosophical groundwork for the book to come, he also gives an overview of the year with what he does each month on the farm, while sprinkling in anecdotes throughout. In short, the first chapter is a microcosm of the book as a whole.

On the practical side, he not only gives recommendations (for instance, regarding which animals to raise and an order of preference--chickens, sheep, a cow or cows, and finally pigs, with other animals from draft animals to rare animals, bee-keeping, and aquaculture) but also discusses in detail the reasons behind those recommendation, working to give the reader the tools to make his or her own decision. That is, after all, in keeping with the spirit of a contrary farmer.

There isn't enough information here to simply head out and start farming just on the basis of this book (at least, not successfully!), but then that isn't really the point. This book is a starting point and a grand overview, and it serves those functions admirably.

The stories he tells are interesting, endearing, sometimes funny, and taken as a whole, quietly inspiring. In this way, too, it is a starting point, serving not only to guide but encourage. I have no doubt that I will read this book again when Lauren and I finally begin such a life, whenever that may be.

[Mark Gowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Contrary Farmer is that person who realizes several aspects about how we live, and further realizes that we cannot continue to live the way we do. Instead of complaining about it, the contrary farmer does something about it; Logsdon is that person. However, Logsdon does not only write a book but has applies the content of the essays in this book to his own life.

The book's essays cover almost all aspects of the (hopefully) growing cottage-farmer movement from politics and business-agriculture to field and livestock management but does so in such a way that is accessible to anyone who reads the book (farmer or non-farmer). The essays are short and packed with much passion as well as knowledge.

Farming is, as Logsdon points out, the "substance of life", but the substance of life is no where to be found on the sprawling, corporate-farms that spread throughout this country. However, Logsdon writes, "I know of only two ways to move humans to become vitally interested in [it]: by fascination or by starvation.". Logsdon is unquestionably fascinated by the aspects of farming that have been thrown out and forgotten by the businesses that call themselves farms today.

The essays are about farming, but as Logsdon points out, all aspects of life are bound up in farming, not just producing food. In fact, the contrary farmer writes, "increasing food production merely increases birth rates", something most do not want to hear: we do not need to produce the type of food nor the amount of food that is produced today.

For those who are interested in putting up, but not necessarily shutting up: this is the book for you. For those interested in straight talk about politics, population and real independence: this is the book for you. For those interested in reading the insights of a man who knows what he is talking about and is not afraid to put it in writing, if not eloquently, than in a manner that leaves no question: this book is for your. As Wendell Berry writes in the Foreword: [Gene Logsdon] is the best agricultural writer we have.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for two separate groups of people. The first group knows nothing about agribusiness and how it endangers our food supply and environment or how food animals are produced for market. The author covers each crop and animal and the practices and abuses of big industries.

The second group is starting a small farm of their own and needs a blue print to follow, i.e., which field should lie fallow and which field should I plant in red clover? Exactly how many cows can my four acres support?

Falling in neither group I didn't enjoy this book as much as my rating would suggest. I've been thoroughly versed in the dangers of single varietal planting, the cruelty of raising animals for market and the idiocy of continuing practices that will eventually fail.

If I were starting my own small farm however, I would consider getting this book as a resource. The author covers his farming methods while managing to avoid repetition and dullness.

A book which educates and illuminates.

[Fernleaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Logsdon's earlier books, the contrary farmer discusses what he terms 'cottage farming,' farming on smaller lots in a more traditional and ecologically friendly way. The chapter on pastoral economics (Ch 2) is particularly interesting, stating that industrial economics really don't mesh with pastoral ways of living and that the attempt to layer them together has caused much of the current crisis with regards to our farming systems. He goes on to muse about barnyard harmony (or lack thereof), water, meadows and pasture, small tree plots, and some crops. All throughout is the genuine feeling for the land, and the respect that he obviously has for natural systems. Another great (and contrasting) perspective on small farming, and an interesting counterpoint to slightly more intensive systems like Joel Salatin and the less-intense-but-lots-of-work-initially systems like permaculture, while still being compatible with both.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dream about self sufficiency, having the ability to produce my own food on my own land, releasing my reliance on the agroindustrial infrastructure into which this country is locked. When I came across this title, it seemed a great introduction to such an idea. While the book is somewhat dated, it contains a lot of information that'll remain current because it focuses on the best way of doing things rather than the popular way of doing things; it describes a way of farming contrary to what the government and big business proscribes.

Logsdon's book reads almost like a how-to manual, although it doesn't delve far enough into the topics it introduces to be used individually as such. Rather, it gives enough information to present an idea of how and why, leaving the details to other manuals. I think that anyone with pastoral agrarian dreams would benefit from this book.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sustainable biodynamic agriculture; just a bunch of fancy words to describe what Logsdon refers to as cottage farming. There is a little bit of 'how-to' advice which may or may not be outdated. There is also a great deal of colorful opinion shaped by decades of practical and hard won experience. This is not a shrill manifesto but a well written plea for sanity and a return to an approach that worked.

The thoughts are not only about choosing farming as a lifestyle as opposed to choosing it as a job; but also about the community that is created out of necessity and the interdependence of rural life. This well told argument is more like a painting with words than the over-length article it could have been. It may be more 'house painting' than 'fine art' but painting a house with words can still be artful. Now I want to find twenty acres or so and make a lifestyle choice all my own.

[Jennifer Miera · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. The author runs a small organic farm, including a small flock of sheep, chickens, a couple of cows. Having never husbanded livestock, I can't say for sure, but seems to me that I wouldn't be cutting the tails off of my lambs. I appreciated his honesty and attempts to be as kind as possible to his animals, but it doest come down to making enough money to being self- sustaining. I'm sure my vegan worldview is naive, but I can't see myself slaughtering animals that I've raised. I did especially like his section on the home garden as the proving ground for bigger ventures...a small cottage farm, perhaps.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about sustainable, or practical, or reasonable agriculture and the benefits of a life lived this way. I think the author would be pleased that my copy of his book has the last 100 pages stained by coffee and several pages stained with dirt and slobber. The coffee coming from a spill while doing some farm related work and the dirt and slobber from a couple of goats that thought the book might be good too.

The best sentence in the book:

"The country is losing its common sense because pompous asses in high places will not allow people to solve local problems in a manner practical for local situations."

[Sam DeSocio · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Contrary Farmer, weaves between a very pragmatic 'Urbanites Guide to the Land', and a much more philosophical question of where is food going.

Logsdon, a journalist, essayist and experimental pasture farmer exists in a wonderful middle space. Pollan, Barber, and other new food authors write from outside the work of growing. Wendell Berry and others are more erudite. Logsdon (a third generation Ohio farmer) is wonderfully practically, deeply passionate, and yet plain faced about the difficulty of his way of life. I was sad to learn that just days before I finished this book Mr. Logsdon had passed away after a battle with cancer.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting story of small-scale farming. The tips on how to choose older machinery was useful, although I have to take issue with Logsdon's assertion that only a young, strong man can harvest grain with a scythe. This is certainly true with an American-style scythe, but an Austrian-style scythe is so lightweight and balanced that even an older child can use it. It is more work than using a machine, but for reasonably small fields the cheaper starting price and maintenence costs can add up to large savings for a contrary farmer.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modern agricultural criticism is a remarkably crowded genre these days, what with Pollan and his ilk, but Logsdon takes a somewhat different track. He does a great job advocating a return to a more traditional scale of agriculture without ever really wandering into polemic; mostly he argues for it simply by demonstrating again and again how it provides the farmer a higher standard of living than agro-industrial commodity production does.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like this book at all. It started out good and then it just droned on in a "know-it-all" tone and I couldn't take it anymore. I made it about 3/4 of the way through and had to take a break. I don't know if I will pick it up again. I am very interested in sustainable living and farming, but would prefer to read advice and how-to's written by authors that aren't so full of themselves.

[Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first few chapters of this book got the five stars. They lay out the "Pastoral Economy," which is very different from our current cash economy and much more beautiful. Someone should write a book on Law and Pastoral Economics; maybe Wendell Berry's Unsettling of America is already that book.
Did I mention that it is also laugh-out-loud funny?

[fleetofhorses · Rating 3 out of 5]

a considerable amount of the writing style is mawkish and embarrassing to read (as in, repeated references to Mother Nature, no matter how ironically, as "Old Bitch Nature", and espousing the use of sewage sludge as an amendment), but that aside, the bulk content is incredibly practical/useful for any small farm outfit.

[Mikey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gene Logsdon is a great voice for traditional style agriculture. Anyone who has started to worry about where their food comes from, or what's in it, and wants to consider trying a different style of life should read this book.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good philosophy of farming with lots of practical ideas about how to make a small farm operation work. My main criticism is that there are lots of crop and equipment lists which make it more of a reference book than a joyful read through.