The Urban Farm Handbook: City-Slicker Resources for Growing, Raising, Sourcing, Trading, and Preparing What You Eat

by Annette Cottrell, Joshua McNichols, Harley Soltes (Photographer)

Overview

* More than 150 sustainable resources for the Pacific Northwest
* More than 90 basic home-production recipes
* 75 black-and-white and 35 full color photographs
* Up-to-date information on Seattle-area urban farming permits and policy

Is that . . . a goat in your garage?! It might be if you've been reading The Urban Farm Handbook: City-Slicker Resources for Growing, Raising, Sourcing, Trading, and Preparing What You Eat. In this comprehensive guide for city-dwellers on how to wean themselves from commercial supermarkets, the authors map a plan for how to manage a busy, urban family life with home-grown foods, shared community efforts, and easy yet healthful practices.

More than just a few ideas about gardening and raising chickens, The Urban Farm Handbook uses stories, charts, grocery lists, recipes, and calendars to inform and instruct. As busy urbanites who have learned how to do everything from making cheese and curing meat to collaborating with neighbors on a food bartering system, the authors share their own food journeys along with those of local producers and consumers who are changing the food systems in the Pacific Northwest. Organized seasonally, this handbook instructs on:

> How to maximize space for planting a variety of fruits and vegetables
> Small-animal husbandry and beekeeping
> Canning, drying, freezing, fermenting, and pickling techniques
> Grinding grains for flour and other uses
> Tips for creating a farmer-to-consumer connection
> How to form a "buying club" with neighbors
> "Opportunities for Change" steps to follow

And so much more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594856372
Publisher:	Mountaineers Books, The
Publication date:	09/21/2011
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,071,028
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

ANNETTE COTTRELL is the author of the popular blog www.SustainableEats.com. A longtime canner and gardener, in December of 2008 she stopped buying industrial food altogether and transformed her one-fifth-acre Seattle city lot into an edible oasis and urban farm. She recently relocated with her family of four to Carnation, WA where she now raises food for a handful of Seattle-area families. She is a recipient of the 2011 Jeff Fairhall Local Food Hero Award.

JOSHUA McNICHOLS is a 35-year-old journalist (and former architect) in Seattle with a long-term interest in sustainability and food security. He has reported, written, and produced around a hundred pieces for local public radio station KUOW, and has written for nationally syndicated public radio programs, including Weekend America and The Splendid Table. His favorite stories feature memorable characters connecting through community and food; it's these stories that have infected him with a passion for urban farming. Joshua also is currently producing a series of podcasts on composting for Seattle Tilth and a multi-media project for Historylink.org.

HARLEY SOLTES was a staff photographer at Seattle Times for twenty two years. For eight years he was the staff photographer for the newspaper's Sunday magazine, shooting nearly 300 cover stories both in the pacific northwest and around the world. In addition to his work at the Times, Harley has photographed both self-generated and assigned stories for LIFE, Sports Illustrated, TIME, People and The National Geographic Society. He also photographs projects for corporate clients looking for a journalistic approach and I has collaborated with artists, dancers and authors to produce images that promote their work. Harley has received regional and national awards for photography from The Society for Newspaper Design, Society of Professional Journalists, The NFL Hall of Fame, The Associated Press and from the National Press Photographers Association. His photographs of the WTO riots in Seattle were part of a staff entry that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. Learn more about his spectacular work on his website. harleysoltes.com

Editorial Reviews

Throughout The Urban Farm Handbook, you'll find notes on "opportunities for change," laying out the authors' different levels of crazy — venturing from the most subtle changes (buying organic) to the more advanced (making your own) and everything in between. McNichols deems himself as being "crazy," while Cottrell is "very, very crazy" (in a good way, of course!). Think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure DIY manual on urban farming — but be prepared: You might also just find yourself dangling off of the edge of the crazy cliff as well!

Parent Map

An incredible resource and quite inspiring

Dr. Stephen S. Jones

[The Urban Farm Handbook] is a vast, thorough, interesting tool for those into food production and homesteading. And even if you’re not going to become a hardcore urban farmer, it’s useful to understand how the urban and farm worlds can collide in a time in which we need to redesign the way we produce and consume food.

Treehugger

[this] go-to guide will have even city slickers eating fresh from the backyard

Seattle Magazine

Throughout the book, readers will also find "Opportunities for Change" - steps people can take to achieve a more sustainable urban kitchen, whether it's as simple as changing the types of vendors you buy from or turning your front yard into an edible farm!

Apartment Therapy

The authors have done what they are describing and their personal stories and experiences make the book accessible on an emotional level. You will marvel at what each of them has accomplished.....[The Urban Farm Handbook is] full of useful and stimulating ideas.

Transition Lummi Island