The Contrary Farmer's Invitation to Gardening

by Gene Logsdon

Overview

Once upon a time people thought gardens were flat, rectangular, and planted in rows. People grew vegetables such as lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes. Then Gene Logsdon, the self-proclaimed dean of American curmudgeons, came along to smash the concept of garden to smithereens.

Gene Logsdon is an American original, a farmer who thinks, and a writer who gardens. He has written numerous books on aspects of independent living ranging from Organic Orcharding to Small-Scale Grain Raising.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780930031961
Publisher:	Chelsea Green Publishing
Publication date:	06/01/1997
Pages:	177
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Over the course of his long life and career as a writer, farmer, and journalist, Gene Logsdon published more than two dozen books, both practical and philosophical, on all aspects of rural life and affairs. His nonfiction works includeGene Everlasting, A Sanctuary of Trees,andLiving at Nature’s Pace.He wrote a popular blog,The Contrary Farmer,as well as an award-winning column for the Carey, Ohio,Progressor Times. Gene was also a contributor toFarming MagazineandThe Draft Horse Journal.He lived and farmed in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where he died in 2016, a few weeks after finishinghis finalbook,Letter to a Young Farmer.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal-

Logsdon is a farmer, writer, and longtime observer of rural America who has written more than a dozen books on farming, gardening, and country life, including At Nature's Pace (LJ 12/93) and The Contrary Farmer (LJ 4/15/94). His latest work is typical Logsdon, blending philosophy with practical advice from cover to cover. The author includes chapters on the economics (and pleasures) of gardening, as opposed to our present agribusiness, food-factory economy, which he sees as ultimately unsustainable. Other chapters treat mulching, grain gardening, water gardening, garden husbandry (raising chickens and other small animals in combination with gardening), and protecting the garden from destructive wildlife. Readers will learn how to prepare coq au vin, pigeon broth, and sweet corn; when to harvest zucchini; how to read a seed company's catalog; what kind of manure is best for making compost; and why chickens are good for peach trees. Recommended for public libraries and all libraries with alternative agriculture collections.

William H. Wiese

``Cutting down a large tree should be an act charged with ritual.'' Why? Farming columnist Logsdon ( Organic Orcharding ) points to the tree's ``wonderful accomplishment'' and to its ``feat of survival'' as models for ourselves. Then he goes on to discuss ways of felling trees that have come to the end of their lives and can therefore spare their wood for fuel. This collection of essays recommends cottage farming--the small-scale, part-time growing that aims to reduce food expenses and increase pleasure in living--in a tone that combines even-handed pragmatism, idealism (``Measure the value of products in human terms,'' he urges) and impatient realism (``Let those who put their faith in fancy threads laugh at your jeans''). The author rejects ``institutionalized claptrap'' for the greater benefits of rural independence and freedom, and outlines ways we can pursue these. ``Flee the evils that centralized power always generates,'' he advises, calling himself an investor in ``the tools that make sweat more productive.'' Logsdon raises a sanely unruly voice in a society where life too often only seems civilized. His correctives are not easily applied, but their promise and appeal (like his own) are powerful. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Logsdon is a writer for New Farm magazine and author of several books on small-scale farming and American agriculture, including At Nature's Pace: Farming and the American Dream (LJ 12/93). He is also a farmer, and experiences from his small Ohio farm provide much of the the subject material for The Contrary Farmer, which explains how he deals with crops, animals, machinery, the weather, and the neighbors. Just what is a contrary farmer? Among other things, one who is not afraid to go against the grain of conventional agricultural wisdom, who does not believe that bigger is always better or that no-till chemically maintained monocultures are superior to crop rotations and diversified farming. Logsdon is as staunch an advocate for the small family farm or acreage (``cottage farm'' in his parlance) as you are likely to find. His latest book is thoughtful, entertaining, often irreverent, and brimming with ideas and practical advice. For public and academic libraries.-William Wiese, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames

Library Journal