Winter Education Ideas

Throughout winter it's a great time to brush up on your education. The weather is nasty and you may only go outside for the necessary animal checks.

You can look at online courses and webinars. Many explore sustainable living, permaculture, and regenerative agriculture.

Webinars and online courses are fantastic if you cannot travel (hello every farmer) and like the community interaction. Some excellent online programs are Freedom Farmers in the USA, and Milkwood or Holmgren courses in Australia.

If, like me, you can never get time on the computer then books are a great option.

Here is my winter reading list (full disclosure, the links included are affiliate links to Amazon, so yes I will get some benefit if you click on these)

Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil.

My go-to books are:

You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise 

This book offers practical advice for aspiring farmers on how to start and run a successful and sustainable farming business.

Pastured Poultry Profits

This book offers insights into raising poultry on pasture, providing practical advice on how to achieve profitability through sustainable practices.

Holistic Management: A Commonsense Revolution to Restore Our Environment by Allan Savory and Jody Butterfield and the Handbook

This foundational book introduces the concept of holistic management, a decision-making framework that helps manage resources sustainably. It covers principles and practices for improving land health and productivity.

Dirt to Soil: One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture by Gabe Brown

This book focuses on Gabe Brown’s personal journey and practical techniques in regenerative agriculture to improve soil health and farm productivity.

Regenerative Agriculture: A Practical Whole Systems Guide to Making Small Farms Work by Richard Perkins

Richard Perkins provides a comprehensive guide to implementing regenerative agriculture on small farms, with a focus on practical advice and case studies.

One-Straw Revolutionary: The Philosophy and Work of Masanobu Fukuoka by Larry Korn

This book covers the work and philosophy of Masanobu Fukuoka, a pioneer of natural farming and regenerative agriculture, focusing on sustainable farming techniques.

Permaculture

Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-system thinking. It applies these principles in fields such as regenerative agriculture, town planning, rewilding, and community resilience. The term was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who formulated the concept in opposition to modern industrialized methods, instead adopting a more traditional or "natural" approach to agriculture.

Permaculture: A Designer's Manual by Bill Mollison

Often considered the permaculture bible, this comprehensive manual covers all aspects of permaculture design and principles, written by one of the founders of the permaculture movement.

Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison

A more concise and beginner-friendly introduction to permaculture concepts and practices, this book is great for those new to the subject.

RetroSuburbia: The Downshifter’s Guide to a Resilient Future by David Holmgren

Co-originator of the permaculture concept, David Holmgren's book focuses on applying permaculture principles to suburban living, offering a vision for sustainable and resilient communities.

Permaculture One: A Perennial Agriculture for Human Settlements by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren

This foundational text, co-authored by the founders of permaculture, lays out the basic concepts and principles of permaculture design and its applications.

Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holmgren

This book explores the philosophical and practical underpinnings of permaculture, providing a deeper understanding of its principles and applications.

Backyard Self-Sufficiency by Jackie French

Jackie French, a well-known Australian author, provides insights into creating a self-sufficient backyard using permaculture principles, covering food production, animal husbandry, and more.

 Water Sustainability

Keyline design is a landscaping technique of maximizing the beneficial use of the water resources of a tract of land. The "keyline" is a specific topographic feature related to the natural flow of water on the tract. Keyline design is a system of principles and techniques of developing rural and urban landscapes to optimize use of their water resources.

Water for Every Farm: Yeomans Keyline Plan by P.A. Yeomans

P.A. Yeomans' pioneering work on the Keyline system provides a comprehensive guide to managing water on farms, focusing on maximizing soil moisture and preventing erosion through innovative landscape design. The method involves implementing major earthworks on a given area of land that has been devastated by deforestation and general agricultural activities, to emulate the role of natural watercourses in an effort to reverse salinity, slow erosion and increase soil and water quality to enable native vegetation to regenerate and restore the zone between soil and water.

Back from the Brink: How Australia's Landscape Can Be Saved by Peter Andrews

This book details Peter Andrews' innovative approach to land and water management. It covers his experiences at Tarwyn Park and outlines the principles of Natural Sequence Farming (NSF), emphasizing the restoration of natural water cycles and sustainable agricultural practices. It also includes some references to biodynamics.

Biodynamics

Biodynamic agriculture is a form of alternative agriculture based on pseudo-scientific and esoteric concepts initially developed in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner. It was the first of the organic farming movements. It treats soil fertility, plant growth, and livestock care as ecologically interrelated tasks, emphasizing spiritual and mystical perspectives.

Agriculture Course: The Birth of the Biodynamic Method by Rudolf Steiner

This foundational text consists of eight lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in 1924, where he introduced the principles of biodynamic farming. It's a must-read for understanding the origins and philosophy of biodynamics.

Grasp the Nettle: Making Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Work by Peter Proctor

Peter Proctor provides a detailed guide to biodynamic practices, drawing on his extensive experience. The book covers preparations, composting, and practical applications for both farmers and gardeners.

DIY 

Polyface Designs: A Comprehensive Construction Guide for Scalable Farming Infrastructure. This book provides detailed plans, step-by-step instructions, and practical advice for building various farming infrastructures needed on a sustainable farm. The designs reflect the innovative and efficient structures used at Polyface Farm, offering valuable insights for farmers looking to implement similar solutions.

Movies or TV (for those who hate reading), you hate to read, well you can watch instead, crack out the popcorn

Diddly Squat Farm

The series follows Jeremy Clarkson as he attempts to run Diddly Squat Farm, a 1,000-acre farm in the Cotswolds. Despite having no prior farming experience, Clarkson tackles the challenges of farming with his signature humour and a genuine attempt to understand sustainable and regenerative farming practices.

The Biggest Little Farm

This acclaimed documentary film follows the same story as the series, detailing the Chesters' efforts to create a regenerative farm and the challenges they face along the way.

Rotten

While not exclusively about regenerative farming, this series explores various issues within the global food system, including episodes that touch on sustainable and regenerative practices.

Special mention  The Great Plant-Based Con by Jayne Buxton provides a critical examination of plant-based diets, questioning their purported health benefits and environmental superiority. The book encourages readers to consider the complexities of dietary choices and the broader implications for health, the environment, and society.