Showing titles in Agricultural & Food Sciences

Several years ago, ecologist Lauren E. Oakes set out from California for Alaska's old-growth forests to hunt for a dying tree: the yellow-cedar. With climate change as the culprit, the death of this species meant loss for many Alaskans. Oakes and her research team wanted to chronicle how plants and people could cope with their rapidly changing world. Amidst the standing dead, she discovered the resiliency of forgotten forests, flourishing again in the wake of destruction, and a diverse community of people who persevered to create new relationships with the emerging environment.

Do you think raising chickens is only for farmers with acres of land? In reality: You can enjoy fresh eggs and feathery companions right in your backyard, no matter the size!

How do you recognize healthy soil? How much can your existing soil be improved? What are the best amendments to use for your soil? Let Building Soil answer your questions and be your guide on gardening from the ground up. Fertilizing, tilling, weed management, and irrigation all affect the quality of your soil. Using author Elizabeth Murphy’s detailed instructions, anyone can become a successful soil-based gardener, whether you want to start a garden from scratch or improve an existing garden.

Imagine your backyard filled with the cheerful quacks of happy ducks, fresh eggs in the morning, and natural pest control—all while embracing the joys of homesteading. Raising Backyard Ducks for Beginners by Stewart Sawyer is your ultimate guide to turning this dream into reality. Whether you're new to raising poultry or looking to expand your homestead, this book provides all the tools and insights you need to care for ducks with confidence. Learn the essentials of duck care, from selecting the best beginner-friendly breeds to understanding their unique personalities and needs.

Nature, it has been said, invites us to eat by appetite and rewards by flavor. But what exactly are flavors? Why are some so pleasing while others are not? Delicious is a supremely entertaining foray into the heart of such questions. With generous helpings of warmth and wit, Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez offer bold new perspectives on why food is enjoyable and how the pursuit of delicious flavors has guided the course of human history.

For many outsiders, the word “ranching” conjures romantic images of riding on horseback through rolling grasslands while living and working against a backdrop of breathtaking mountain vistas. In this absorbing memoir of life in the Wyoming high country, Mary Budd Flitner offers a more authentic glimpse into the daily realities of ranch life - and what it takes to survive in the ranching world. Some of Flitner’s recollections are humorous and lighthearted. Others take a darker turn.

Recent public-health crises raise urgent questions about how our animal-derived food is raised and brought to market. In Animal Factory, best-selling author and investigative journalist David Kirby exposes the powerful business and political interests behind large-scale factory farms and tracks the far-reaching fallout that contaminates our air, land, water, and food.

Change the way you approach plant yields by using electricity. Are you tired of seeing your crops fail season after season? Are you tired of experiencing pain and frustration whenever your crops underperform? Are you constantly agitated because you can’t figure out how to get your plants to yield better results? If so, then electroculture is the solution you have been looking for! This comprehensive book teaches you everything about using copper wire, magnets, and electricity to improve the growth and yield of your crops. By harnessing the power of electroculture, you can increase your ...

Are you ready to dive into the fulfilling world of backyard poultry? Your journey towards becoming a self-reliant, poultry-raising expert begins here. This comprehensive guide is your key to unlocking a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle, right in the comfort of your home.

Over the past 50 years, a dangerous set of technologies has crept into beef and dairy farms and ranches. Technologists have succeeded in pushing the pounds of milk that can be extracted from a cow higher and higher and throwing pounds of weight on beef cattle faster. But these advances came with a price. The average age of dairy cow "burnout" has dropped for almost a decade. Infections are rampant. New diseases and health maladies have appeared. Drug use and vet bills have skyrocketed. The healthfulness of milk and beef has been questioned. In this breakthrough book subtitled A Farmer's ...

Drawing from exclusive and unprecedented access to the main players, from polarizing activist-turned-tech CEO Josh Tetrick to lobbyists and regulators on both sides of the issue, Billion Dollar Burger follows the people fighting to upend our food system as they butt up against the entrenched interests fighting viciously to stop them. The stakes are monumentally high: Cell-cultured meat is the best hope for sustainable food production, a key to fighting climate change, a gold mine for the companies that make it happen, and an existential threat for farmers and meatpackers.

In his smash-hit debut The World According to Kaleb, we learnt how Kaleb feels about everything from existentialism to comb-overs, and why he doesn't want to visit the Mediterranean. In this follow-up, Kaleb casts his focus closer to home to examine what people like to get up to in the great outdoors. You'll go gravy wrestling in Lancashire, nettle eating in Somerset, and venture to Hereford for the significant occasion that is Best Dressed Stick.

If you're looking for a way to become self-sufficient in terms of your food supply, then pay attention...Establishing a mini-farm in your backyard is an immensely beneficial and lucrative initiative. It will help you to become self-sufficient in terms of your food supply and also allow you to live a much more sustainable life. Regardless of how large or small your yard is, you can build a farm on it. You will learn how to get started with backyard farming; in addition to the mini-farm, you can raise bees and create a profitable honey business!

Louis Bromfield was a World War I ambulance driver, a Paris expat, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist as famous in the 1920s as Hemingway or Fitzgerald. But he cashed in his literary success to finance a wild agrarian dream in his native Ohio. The ideas he planted at his utopian experimental farm, Malabar, would inspire America's first generation of organic farmers and popularize the tenets of environmentalism years before Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.

In this comprehensive guide for all breeders and keepers of sheep, Pat Coleby draws on decades of experience in natural animal husbandry to provide essential information for organic and sustainable farmers. A longtime commercial livestock farmer who takes a natural approach to husbandry, Coleby covers breeds of sheep, wool, meat and milk production, feeding requirements, poisonous plants, minerals and vitamins, herbal, homeopathic and natural remedies, and more. Originally published in Australia, this edition has been expanded significantly in the areas of breeding for finer wool and meat, ...

Professor Erika Szymanski makes wine science accessible to non-experts. Rather than approach wine science as body of facts about wine, Szymanski explores how wine science can open up multiple ways of seeing, understanding, and appreciating wine. Too often, wine science is presented as a comprehensive body of knowledge that enthusiasts aiming to become experts should memorize. This book instead uses scientific research to explore wine as an endlessly rich cultural phenomenon.

Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste will introduce listeners to the cultural traditions associated with seed saving, as well as the remarkable people who have used grafting practices and hand-by-hand trading to keep alive varieties that would otherwise have been lost. As local efforts to preserve heirloom seeds have become part of a growing national food movement.

Master the art of beekeeping without the sting of uncertainty—even if you’re a complete beginner! Whether you’ve dreamed of nurturing your own hive, contributing to the environment, or enjoying the natural sweetness of honey, The Beekeeper’s Path is your guide to a rewarding and sustainable adventure.

Millions of Americans harbor the dream of living off their land but are held back by the uncertainty of diving into the unknown waters of farming. According to a USDA report, over 40% of the U.S. farmland is operated by someone other than its owner, indicating that the dream of owning and managing a farm is often overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty. But imagine having a comprehensive guide that translates these complex processes into simple, actionable steps - a roadmap that empowers you to convert your little plot into a nourishing, profitable hub of life.

How do dogs think? Do they fantasize? Do they dream? What do their barks, whines, and growls tell other dogs? How do they communicate in groups, and why do they form hierarchies? What do dogs want? Anthropologist Elizabeth Marshall Thomas attempts to answer these and other questions about a species that has been with mankind for over 20,000 years and still remains a mystery. Based on 30 years and hundreds of thousands of hours of research, this volume describes behavior every dog owner has seen thousands of times but will now understand for only the first time.