The Official Polyface Resource Guide

The Polyface Bookshelf

Our recommended reading list

FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser – Current hot topic book exposing the dangers of America’s fast food icon.

ECO-FARM by Charles Walters – Foundational to understanding the differences between “toxic rescue chemistry” and natural soil fertility.

THE SOVEREIGN INDIVIDUAL by James Dale Davidson – Prophetic about the impacts of the information revolution to democratize everything.

THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE by Steven Covey – Next to the Bible, probably the most effective treatise for becoming all you can be.

FARMER’S PROGRESS by George Henderson – Currently out of print, this book details the farming success of a 1940’s English farmer.

THE FARMING LADDER by George Henderson – Out of print, but my favorite book of all time. From portable chicken shelters to farm entrepreneurialism, this book has it all.

THE CONTRARY FARMER by Gene Logsdon – Possibly Logsdon’s best general work, showing how he goes against the grain of everything conventional.

THE UNSETTLING OF AMERICA by Wendell Berry – My favorite philosophical agriculture book, and Berry’s greatest classic.

PLOWMAN’S FOLL by Ed Faulkner – Still current, this ex-extension agent shows why plowing should be done sparingly.

MALABAR FARM by Louis Bromfield – Few farmers questioned the culture’s agriculture paradigms as saliently as Bromfield. Still a must for avid students of landscape stewardship.

AN AGRICULTURAL TESTAMANT by Sir Albert Howard – My most oft-quoted book–absolutely the footer of modern natural farming.

PERMACULTURE: DESIGNER’S MANUAL by Bill Mollison – A veritable compendium of symbiotic and synergistic design. My most oft given-away book

GRASS FARMER by Allan Nation – A documentation of the nation’s pioneering and leading grass farmers, showing their results and techniques.

GOLD IN THE GRASS by Margaret Leatherbarrow – This is the one for the ladies. It grips your heart, makes you laugh and cry. Powerful.

TREE CROPS by Russell J. Smith – A true classic, detailing multi-vegetative stacking concepts, and as current today as when it was written.

GRASS PRODUCTIVITY by Andre Voisin – The absolute bedrock for any student of grass farming. This is still the Bible for grass farmers.

NOURISHING TRADITIONS by Sally Fallon – The book that launched the groundswell Weston A. Price movement. It will change your life.

THE GIFT OF GOOD LAND by Wendell Berry – Another classic by perhaps the strongest and most articulate voice in ecological agriculture.

ALTARS OF UNHEWN STONE by Wes Jackson – Challenging industrial agriculture’s mindset, this is perhaps Jackson’s best book.

FERTILITY PASTURES by Newman Turner – Still a classic, this book challenges soil tests and shows real success from one of the world’s best pasture farmers.

DOMINION by Matthew Scully – From a conservative’s perspective, this voluminous treatise–sometimes tedious–challenges the religious right with the moral dimension of animal husbandry.

PARADIGMS by Joel Arthur Barker – he book that popularized the term “paradigms.” A great explanation of our preconceived notions.

PASTURE PERFECT by Jo Robinson – The far-reaching benefits of choosing meat, eggs, and dairy products from grass-fed animals.

THE BOTANY OF DESIRE by Michael Pollan – A plant’s-eye view of the world.

OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA by Michael Pollan