The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner: What to Do & When to Do It in the Garden, Orchard, Barn, Pasture & Equipment Shed (Backyard Homestead) (Spiral Bound)

$28.95

Biographical Note:
Ann Larkin Hansen is a homesteader and a small-scale organic farmer. The author of The Organic Farming Manual, Finding Good Farmland, and Electric Fencing, Anne has lived on a small farm in northern Wisconsin since 1992, where she manages a small orchard, a moderate garden, 40 acres of tillable acreage, another 20 acres of rough pasture, about 120 acres of woods. She has sold hay, eggs, pork, and chickens in the past, but her main cash crop was always beef cattle until three years ago, when she switched to custom-grazing dairy heifers for a nearby organic dairy farm. She has been a journalist for nearly 30 years, primarily for magazines publications such as The Country Today, a state-wide agricultural newspaper in Wisconsin, and Mother Earth News.

Table of Contents:
Preface
Introduction: Defining the Seasons
Chapter 1: Midwinter
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: Soil Health and Fertility
Chapter 2: Late Winter
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: Meeting Plant Needs
Chapter 3: Early Spring
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: The Lives of Poultry and Livestock
Chapter 4: Mid-Spring
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: Rotational Grazing
Chapter 5: Late Spring
Seasonal Chores
Topics of the Season: Cover Crops and Honey Bee Partners
Chapter 6: Early Summer
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: Making Hay
Chapter 7: Midsummer
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: Caring for an Orchard
Chapter 8: Late Summer
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: Tools and Equipment
Chapter 9: Early Fall
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: Weed, Pest, and Disease Control
Chapter 10: Mid-Fall
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: Managing Your Woods
Chapter 11: Late Fall
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: Restoring Biodiversity
Chapter 12: Early Winter
Seasonal Chores
Topic of the Season: Quality of Life
Tracking Your Year
Seasonal Priorities: Throughout the Year
Resources
Acknowledgments
Index

Jacket Description/Back:
Your Success Depends on Your Timing

Whether it's pruning your apple trees or tuning up your tractor, knowing when to do each chore is key to a well-run farm. Ann Larkin Hansen divides each season into early, mid, and late sections and details what needs to be done during each to keep your garden, field, pasture, orchard, beeyard, barn, coop, equipment shed, woodlot, and wildlife habitate in good order. After setting seasonal priorities, every chapter examines a specific topic - such as cover crops, honey bees, and making hay - that's especially relevant for that sub-season. This practical, informative volume also provides plenty of room for your own record-keeping.


Publisher Marketing:
This hardworking addition to the best-selling Backyard Homestead series offers expert advice on what tasks to do around your farm and when to do them--no matter where on the planet you call home.

Author Ann Larkin Hansen sets the priorities for each area of the farm, including the barn, garden, orchard, field, pasture, and woodlot. For every critical turn of the year (12 in all), Hansen provides an at-a-glance to-do list along with tips and a more in-depth discussion of key topics for the season. Easy-reference charts, checklists, and record-keeping sections help you keep track of it all.

Also available in this series: The Backyard Homestead, The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects, The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals, and The Backyard Homestead Book of Kitchen Know-How.


Contributor Bio:Hansen, Ann Larkin

Ann Larkin Hansen is the author of The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, The Organic Farming Manual, The Electric Fencing Handbook, Finding Good Farmland, and Making Hay; coauthor of A Landowner's Guide to Managing Your Woods with consulting forester Dennis Waterman and master logger Mike Severson; and coauthor with her husband, Steve, of Maintaining Small-Farm Equipment. She has been a journalist for more than 30 years, specializing in organic agriculture and sustainable forestry. A homesteader and a small-scale organic farmer, she lives with her family on a farm in northern Wisconsin.