Summer Garden Reading: The Backyard Homestead

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

As I sit in my backyard and survey my beautiful and hopefully bountiful garden I crack open a new reference book.

I discovered this book at the local feed and seed store in my community.

The title and cover caught my eye among the canning, 4-H books, assorted DIYs, and tractor maintenance manuals.

The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre! edited by Carleen Madigan was not just another gardening book but represented a modern day movement that is cropping up everywhere. You can find it on the Internet, in neighbors’ backyards, and even at your child’s school.

The Backyard Homestead claims that 1,400 eggs, 50 pounds of wheat, 60 pounds of fruit, 2,000 pounds vegetables, 280 pounds of pork, and 75 pounds of nuts can be grown on a quarter of an acre. This sounds great and in a perfect world we would never have to go to the grocery store again but Read the rest of this entry »