New Book; "Making Small Farms Work"

We have decided to self-publish our book, Making Small Farms Work, and aim to have it with you very soon. To achieve this we will be launching a crowd source campaign next week so you can pre-order a copy to raise the funds to print and ship the book to you.  This will be a co-publishing project, a community effort to get this important resource out in the world.  Please be aware the book will only be available direct from the farm, so if you are interested please read on...

You can order a copy on our Kickstarter campaign right now at discounted rates....

​“Industrial chemical agriculture, producing twenty times as much dead eroding soil as food needed every year, is the most destructive industry of mankind - more so than fossil fuels or any mining.  Developing a new biologically-based, and holistically managed, regenerative agriculture is imperative if civilization as we know it is to survive.  I heartily recommend Richard's book for all socially conscious new and old farmers.”
 
Allan Savory President, Savory Institute & Chairman, Africa Center for Holistic Management. 

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Contents of Making Small Farms Work

The way the crowd source campaign works, early birds get a discount from the retail price; the quicker you purchase a copy the cheaper it will be.  You can sign up below if you are interested to know exactly when the campaign launches.  After the upcoming campaign copies will only be available directly from the farm in Sweden, and can be posted worldwide

This book offers fresh perspective for the Permaculture & Regenerative Agriculture space, and focuses solely on real-world stuff.  A pragmatic and profitable approach to a farming life worth living.  No nonsense and no abstract theory devoid of context.  The aim is very much a 'how-to' approach to designing, installing and managing small farms effectively.  Our own farm Ridgedale Permaculture is small at 10ha,  but our approach to design is scalable from 1- 1000 ha. The book is stuffed full of colour images that explain everything described, as well as sharing financial details, spreadsheets, decision-making processes and other elements required to Making Small Farms Work.

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“This might be one of the broadest overviews of designing regenerative farm systems aside from Mollison’s original “black book.” Richard’s book is likely to become an important manual of regenerative farming practices for those starting a farm of any scale.  This is a timely and detailed account of crucial considerations for starting and managing a farm; I cannot think of anyone, from the beginner to seasoned farmer and homesteader, who doesn’t have something to learn from Richard’s work starting and managing Ridgedale Permaculture.”

Ben Falk Whole Systems Design. Author of The Resilient Farm and Homestead

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Who would benefit from this book?

• Farmers interested in a more resilient future (The approach and strategies in this book are scalable from 1- 1000 Ha)
• Permaculture Designers looking to empower their approach to design
• Permaculture Educators looking to deepen their knowledge base
• Homesteaders
• Project leaders/ NGO workers
• Landscape Designers who wish to broaden their horizons
• Ecological/ Social Entrepreneurs
• Anyone curious about learning about Ridgedale in detail
• Anyone interested in real food

Why are we self-publishing?

• We can get the book to you much faster than if we went with a publisher.
• At our farm we go to great lengths to sell our premium farm produce directly to customers.  We want to post you the book right from the farm. 
• We want to publish the book exactly how we created it, not edited to someone else's preferences 
• We want to facilitate translations to other languages though the community networks

A bit more context about the book

I have written this book to share some of my diverse experiences with regenerative design, farming and project management, as well as address the misconception that small farms are not viable.  Our farm in Sweden has quickly become a beacon in Europe as a thriving example of effective farm scale Permaculture & Regenerative Agriculture.  I attribute much of the success to several factors; primarily built upon our approach that draws and integrates practices from other ecological design platforms.  For us, there are three main legs to the stool we use in our work.  Besides Permaculture design we rely primarily on Holistic Management and Keyline design. We also draw a lot of inspiration from pioneering US farmer Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms.
 
Most of us interested in Permaculture & Regenerative Agriculture in Europe look abroad for inspiration.  There is currently no literature in Europe covering the breadth of material presented in this book, and globally there are few financially viable examples of Permaculture farms.  We also see few comprehensive cold climate examples, so it feels great to share our experiences from up here at 59ºN.   Whilst we are situated in the most challenging economic and cultural context I have experienced anywhere on the globe, the approach to design shared in this book is relevant and instructive for people farming in any European climate zone.  Indeed, amazing people have travelled from over 40 countries to the farm to participate in our pioneering education programs.

Making Small Farms Work does not aim to be encyclopedic or claim to offer all the answers. There are no radical innovations that will suddenly make farming an easy profession.  It does, however, share an approach that looks far into the future, takes full responsibility for our actions and imparts deep insight and practical experience in the context of well planned and holistically managed operations.  My primary educational objective is to support others into professional design and regenerative enterprises of their own, so this book is super pragmatic, down-to-earth and focused on getting on with it in a well thought out, well planned and holistically managed manner.  Most books about design in this field are heavily theoretical. Not this one. This book is written for anyone wanting to farm in a way the restores the soil, reinvigorates local economy and food systems whilst maintaining a good livelihood for the farmer.  

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"Richard and Yohanna are an invasive species in Sweden; threatening to destroy our traditional culture of hopelessness.  This book may seem harmless, full of sweet pictures and practical advice for small farms, but it is actually spreading revolutionary seeds that jeopardise agribusiness and the alienation between people and nature.  Romantic dreamers have been advocating rural livelihoods before, whilst struggling to make a living off the land.  Ridgedale Permaculture seem to actually know what they are up to.  These folks are walking the talk of Holistic Management, enabling them to manoeuvre within complexity without losing sight of what they really want to achieve.  So, good people, if you are standing up for your rights as victims of your circumstances, stay away from these people, and this book."  

​Jörgen Andersson (Fjällbete) Nordic Savory Hub

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Translations 

The first translation will be into Swedish and Polish and the process is already begun.  We will be running a separate campaign for the Swedish version which we will also print and distribute. We will announce details to the relevant people when we know them.  We hope the Swedish copy will be available at the end of the summer. The Polish copy is being translated, printed and distributed by our friends at CoHabitat and should be available late this year.  We are open to offers for translation into German, French and Spanish from professional translators and independent publishing houses, but please not contact us regarding this until the crowd source campaign is over as we will not be able to respond. 

Thank you so much to all those who have supported us so far. This book is eagerly awaited by many folks and will only go to print (along with subsequent translations) if the campaign is a success.  If you are excited about this, please consider sharing this page personally on your timeline/ relevant pages and let’s get it out there...

...Farming, innovating & educating for the benefit of all....