Plowing with Pigs and Other Creative, Low-Budget Homesteading Solutions

by Oscar H. Will, Karen K. Will

Overview

Off-the-wall solutions for real farmstead problems

Fueled by a failing economy and a passionate desire for a return to simpler times, a new wave of homesteaders is seeking the good life and the kind of true satisfaction that can only be built, not bought. Many of these modern pioneers are cash poor, but rich in energy and creativity. Plowing with Pigs and Other Creative, Low-Budget Homesteading Solutions offers them a set of fresh ideas for achieving independence through sweat equity and the use of unconventional resources.

This highly readable and entertaining guide brings together answers to common problems faced by homesteaders young and old, urban, suburban, and rural. Traditional knowledge is combined with MacGyver-style ingenuity to create projects that maximize available resources, including:

• Animal management strategies for the yard, garden, and field
• Pole building and construction techniques from woodlot materials
• Replacing farm machinery with homemade hand tools and implements
• Leveraging increased self-sufficiency into a home-based business

Whether you are a dreamer or a doer, Plowing with Pigs will inspire, challenge, and enable you to do more with less (and have fun doing it).

Oscar H. (Hank) Will III is a farmer, scientist, and author, known for seeking and implementing creative farmstead solutions. The editor of Grit magazine, Hank has published hundreds of articles and five books on a range of topics including antique farm machinery.

Karen K. Will is editor of The Heirloom Gardener magazine and author of Cooking with Heirlooms: Seasonal Recipes with Heritage-Variety Vegetables and Fruits . She operates Prairie Turnip Farm with her husband Oscar H. Will III.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781550925234
Publisher:	New Society Publishers
Publication date:	02/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Oscar H. Will III is a farmer, scientist, and author, known for seeking and implementing creative farmstead solutions. His commercial agricultural production experience includes alfalfa sprouts, hay, beef cattle, free-range poultry (meat and eggs), native perennial plants, trees, cut flowers and vegetables. The editor-in-chief of Grit Magazine , Hank has published hundreds of articles and 5 books on a range of topics including antique farm machinery.

Karen K. Will is editor of The Heirloom Gardener magazine and operates Prairie Turnip Farm in Osage County, Kansas with her husband Oscar H. Will III. She is a freelance writer, photographer and blogger, and the author of Cooking with Heirlooms: Seasonal Recipes with Heritage-Variety Vegetables and Fruits .

Oscar H. Will III is a farmer, scientist, and author, known for seeking and implementing creative farmstead solutions. His commercial agricultural production experience includes alfalfa sprouts, hay, beef cattle, free-range poultry (meat and eggs), native perennial plants, trees, cut flowers and vegetables. The editor-in-chief of Grit Magazine, Hank has published hundreds of articles and 5 books on a range of topics including antique farm machinery.
Karen K. Will is editor of The Heirloom Gardener magazine and operates Prairie Turnip Farm in Osage County, Kansas with her husband Oscar H. Will III. She is a freelance writer, photographer and blogger, and the author of Cooking with Heirlooms: Seasonal Recipes with Heritage-Variety Vegetables and Fruits.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction

SECTION 1. Animals
Chapter 1. Free-Range Fowl
Chapter 2. Plowing with Pigs
Chapter 3. Collecting Solar Energy with Ruminants

SECTION 2. Bounty in the Woodlot and Hedgerow
Chapter 4. Fencing and Fences
Chapter 5. Building What You Need
Chapter 6. You Can Build It

SECTION 3. Gym Membership That Pays
Chapter 7. Row Crops You Can Grow by Hand
Chapter 8. Handmade Hay and Other Forages
Chapter 9. Small Grains, Big Benefit

SECTION 4. Home(Stead) As a Production Center
Chapter 10. Cooking from Scratch
Chapter 11. Organic, Handmade Kitchen Upgrade
Chapter 12. Home-based Food Business

Afterword
Photo Credits
Index
About the Authors

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"From hogging stumps to outwitting weasels, Oscar and Karen Will know all the fun, sweat and tears needed to live off the land. Here, they generously share their hard-learned lessons. Newcomers to the world of homesteading have much to gain from reading this book."
— Shannon Hayes, author of Radical Homemakers and Long Way on a Little

"This book contains a wonderful collection of ideas and advice that will be invaluable to anyone whose goal is to build a more satisfying, sustainable life on the land. Hank and Karen Will are highly skilled farmers/gardeners/cooks/innovators who will teach you how to blend the best of modern tools with old-time country skills. Their “you can do it” attitude provides abundant inspiration and their clever ideas will save any homesteader a great deal of money."
— Cheryl Long, Editor-in-Chief, Mother Earth News

"This book is a resource of limitless value. The Wills describe a life in which personal effort and ingenuity create beauty, health and sustenance. Their practical advice and first-person anecdotes provide an ideal guide for anyone interested in self-reliance and a naturally wholesome lifestyle. You won’t find a better model for a life lived well."
— Bryan Welch, Publisher & Editorial Director, Mother Earth News , GRIT, Mother Earth Living

"Leave it to Karen and Hank Will to write a great introductory book for the aspiring back-to-the-lander. In Plowing with Pigs the Wills cover everything from raising farm animals to growing crops, and from building farmstead improvements to cooking with farm-fresh produce. The Wills not only describe the how-to’s of a small-scale farm or homestead in a way that is easy to follow, but also share many real-life lessons from their own experiences."
— Carol Ekarius, author of Storey’s Guide to Poultry Breeds

"Whatever motivates your reach for greater self-sufficiency—an aspiration toward a more fulfilling life or the looming fractures in our economic systems— you will find abundant practical guidance in Plowing with Pigs . Out of a deep well of hard-won and hands-on experience, Hank and Karen Will offer an impressive array of strategies, grounded in a few principles both profound and simple: using cost-free assets available on the farm or homestead, using domesticated animals as partners—and using our heads."
— Harvey Ussery, author of The Small-Scale Poultry Flock

"Whether you’re an established homesteader or just thinking of a homesteading lifestyle, grab a cup of tea or coffee and curl up with this book. Hank and Karen are the friendly neighbors with sage advice that homesteaders relied upon a century ago. In creating their own sustainable farm, they’ve discovered hundreds of practices that can make everyone’s homestead run more smoothly. (I can’t wait to create my own chicken moat!) Plowing With Pigs should be on the shelf of everyone who wants to live a more self-reliant lifestyle."
— Deborah Niemann, author of Homegrown and Handmade and Ecothrifty

Editorial Reviews

Review, Black Fox Homestead Blog, Jennifer Cazzola

I read from the perspective of a newbie, but there is much here that would be beneficial to the seasoned homesteader as well. The information is detailed, practical, easy to read, down to earth, and most of all doable.

Review, Maple Grove Place Blog, Katie

I was delightfully enthralled by Plowing With Pigsfor its nostalgic look at the past, practical, useful information on "how to" be a homesteader today, and the wide gamut of topics that were covered in an easy-to-read, interesting and very instructional format.

From the Publisher