The Living Soil Handbook (On Presale Now)

Hard to believe I finally get to stay it…

But I have just finished arguably the biggest creative endeavor of my life—I wrote a dang book!

In 2019, I was fortunate to land a deal with Chelsea Green Publishing to write a very specific farming book—one I felt was so far lacking in the ecological market garden movement. Where a majority of farming books focus on one farm and the methods of that farm—and I am very grateful that those books exist—with “The Living Soil Handbook,” I endeavored to create something different. I wanted to write a choose-your-own farm adventure of sorts. I wanted to publish a book that said not, “this is how things work on my farm,” but rather “this is how soil works, and here are some ways to make it work for you on your farm.” 

To be sure, this book is loaded with specific techniques and examples from my farm and numerous farmers I’ve had on the podcast. I detail several ways to start gardens and flip beds. I cover the pros and cons of all the different mulches. There’s a huge section on interplanting and another on cover crop termination. I dedicate a chapter to the four types of compost. And more. But the goal with The Living Soil Handbook was to intertwine those techniques with the basics of soil biology and photosynthesis.  I wanted the focus not to be on a specific practice but on soil life and what it needs to thrive in your context. 

We will post more about (and from) “The Living Soil Handbook” in the coming months, but the reason we are posting about it right now is simple: it’s on presale and if you buy it from No-Till Growers the proceeds from that sale go to making more content!

Think of this presale as a fundraiser where you—the buyer—get a book (in July) and support more content at the same time. Obviously, we will be working hard to bring you content well before the book is officially printed this summer and are hoping the presales will help fund that work. Humbly, our goal is 1,000 presales by July, which would open up the NTG budget to create even more cool stuff for y’all.

So, order a copy. It was an enormous project (seriously, writing a book is a bonkers thing to do even when you’re not running a farm and a podcast and moving) and I am thankful for everyone who supports it. Patreon discounts apply. You can find it here. Let’s do it. You rock!