Free range poultry sounds simple - and it can be given the right skills and reasonable expectations. This book has been written to provide easily consumed technical information and real-life examples from growers who range from large scale production to mixed farming of meat and egg production to help you get started in free range poultry. Topics covered include: - Sourcing stock - Pastures for poultry - Health management - Biosecurity - Regulations Plus nine case studies. Each case study is unique—just as your enterprise will be. The examples we use range from large-scale, highly sophisticated production and marketing units to a farm with an eclectic mixture of meat and egg organic production, and all points in between. AgGuides are compiled by highly regarded industry experts to provide easy to follow advice on agriculture and support the Tocal College external study program for agriculture. AgGuides are compiled by highly regarded industry experts to provide easy to follow advice on agriculture and support the Tocal College external study program for agriculture.

“If your garden fantasies involve chickens, Jessi Bloom is here to make those dreams come true.” —The New York Times Many gardeners fear chickens will peck away at their landscape. But you can keep chickens and have a beautiful garden, too! In this essential handbook, award-winning garden designer Jessi Bloom offers step-by-step instructions for creating a beautiful and functional space while maintaining a happy, healthy flock. Free-Range Chicken Gardens covers everything a gardener needs to know, from the basics of chicken keeping and creating the perfect chicken-friendly garden design to building innovative coops.

A proven production model is described, which is capable of producing an income from a small acreage of equal or superior to that of off-farm jobs.

Jill Winger, creator of the award-winning blog The Prairie Homestead, introduces her debut The Prairie Homestead Cookbook, including 100+ delicious, wholesome recipes made with fresh ingredients to bring the flavors and spirit of homestead cooking to any kitchen table. With a foreword by bestselling author Joel Salatin The Pioneer Woman Cooks meets 100 Days of Real Food, on the Wyoming prairie. While Jill produces much of her own food on her Wyoming ranch, you don’t have to grow all—or even any—of your own food to cook and eat like a homesteader. Jill teaches people how to make delicious traditional American comfort food recipes with whole ingredients and shows that you don’t have to use obscure items to enjoy this lifestyle. And as a busy mother of three, Jill knows how to make recipes easy and delicious for all ages. "Jill takes you on an insightful and delicious journey of becoming a homesteader. This book is packed with so much easy to follow, practical, hands-on information about steps you can take towards integrating homesteading into your life. It is packed full of exciting and mouth-watering recipes and heartwarming stories of her unique adventure into homesteading. These recipes are ones I know I will be using regularly in my kitchen." - Eve Kilcher These 109 recipes include her family’s favorites, with maple-glazed pork chops, butternut Alfredo pasta, and browned butter skillet corn. Jill also shares 17 bonus recipes for homemade sauces, salt rubs, sour cream, and the like—staples that many people are surprised to learn you can make yourself. Beyond these recipes, The Prairie Homestead Cookbook shares the tools and tips Jill has learned from life on the homestead, like how to churn your own butter, feed a family on a budget, and experience all the fulfilling satisfaction of a DIY lifestyle.

Whether you hope to produce eggs and poultry meat for local sale, or simply relish the joy of eating your own freshly collected free-range eggs, this new addition gives invaluable advice on the type of poultry to choose, housing, feeding, breeding and general management.

With humor and pathos, Forrest Pritchard recounts his ambitious and often hilarious endeavors to save his family’s seventh-generation farm in the Shenandoah Valley. Through many a trial and error, he not only saves Smith Meadows from insolvency but turns it into a leading light in the sustainable, grass-fed, organic farm-to-market community. There is nothing young Farmer Pritchard won’t try. Whether he’s selling firewood and straw, raising free-range chickens and hogs, or acquiring a flock of Barbados Blackbelly sheep, his learning curve is steep and always entertaining. Pritchard’s world crackles with colorful local characters—farm hands, butchers, market managers, customers, fellow vendors, pet goats, policemen—bringing the story to warm, communal life. His most important ally, however, is his renegade father, who initially questions his son's career choice and eschews organic foods for the generic kinds that wreak havoc on his health. Soon after his father’s death, the farm becomes a recognized success and Pritchard must make a vital decision: to continue serving the local community or answer the exploding demand for his wares with lucrative Internet sales and shipping deals. More than a charming story of honest food cultivation and farmers’ markets, Gaining Ground tugs on the heartstrings, reconnecting us to the land and the many lives that feed us.

"Fresh Eggs Daily blogger Steele lays down as many tips and recipes as her chickens do eggs in this innovative and plucky collection.... This will be hard to beat." – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Lisa Steele, fifth-generation chicken keeper and founder of the popular blog Fresh Eggs Daily, knows a thing or two about eggs. And she’s ready to show you just how easy and delicious it can be to make eggs a staple of every meal. First, Lisa will tell you everything you don’t know about eggs—such as what the different labels on grocery store egg cartons mean—and bust some common egg myths. From there, she provides you with foundational techniques for cooking with eggs, including steaming, grilling, baking, and frying. And finally, Lisa shares her go-to recipes for everything from breakfast staples, like eggs Benedict and a classic French trifold “omelette,” to breads, sandwiches, beverages, snacks, soups, salads, pasta, cakes, pies, and condiments. You’ll encounter a wide variety of both sweet and savory dishes with Lisa’s unique twists. Read The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook to discover new and exciting ways to incorporate fresh eggs into your cooking and baking repertoire each and every day.