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Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring!
Review: I found this book at an interesting time. My husband and I had just finished the PBS series, "The Farmer's Wife", which was the story of small family farmers trying to make it in an Agribusiness World. It was particularily interesting that the farming couple were so strapped for cash that they couldn't work their own farms, but had to take off-farms jobs such as factory work and house cleaning. They didn't even have a chance to plant and harvest a home vegetable garden for their own needs! The sense I got from watching this show was that someting was Terribly Wrong! In his book, The Contrary Farmer, Gene Logsdon tells his readers just what is wrong with the situation farmers and farms find themselves in today...horrendously expensive equipment, monoculture and an endless cycle of huge bank loans and crop failures, which lead to more loans. This book was also a refreshing look at small self-sufficient farming and I found myself inspired to be satisfied with our small operation and to always WANT to keep it small!
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Summary: A great story of realistic sustainability and independance
Review: I'm a wanna-be contrary farmer. I read this book from cover to cover quickly, soaking up the experiences and wisdom from somone who has taken the path I long for.
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Summary: Good information. A pleasurable read!
Review: Just finished Logsdon's book and will surely be re-reading it and using it as a reference. I purchased this text, along with Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, which I think will be more useful in terms of practical advice. I found The Contrary Farmer more helpful in terms of reiterating the very reasons why I am thinking about moving to my own small farm. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone wanting to figure out whether s/he wants to be a farmer or to anyone looking for "a day-in-the-life" type stories. However, Logsdon gives well-written, often laugh-out-loud funny, and definately contrary ideas about how farming is much more a lifestyle than a mere job.
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Summary: great! a Good read for everyone
Review: Mr Logsdon explores all the aspects critical to proper land management on a homesteaders smallholding and offers well thought out, practical advice that REALLY WORKS! Had he been able to keep some of his misdirected predjudicial rants in check I would have given it 5 stars.
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Summary: Very, Very Good! A classic!
Review: The Contrary Farmer is very informative about small scale farming. Logsdon has many creative and interesting ideas. The book interlaces information with good stories and philosophizing. It is often rather humorous. Overall, it is perhaps one of the most enjoyable farming books on the market, if not THE most enjoyable. This is true whether you farm or whether you are only interested in farming. Very highly recomended!
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Summary: Plain talking
Review: This is a highly enjoyable book about how to make a profit on a small farm. The author's contention is that few people will ever get rich any more farming, but a family that's willing to work hard should be able to earn the money they need on a farm with considerably less than 100 acres. Logsdon stresses that if you calculate a dollar value for your labor, you'll find that your hourly wage is rather low, but on the other hand, if you enjoy what you're doing, then perhaps it isn't really valid to calculate the hourly wage anyhow. There's no arguing that farm labor is hard work, but how many city people pay large sums of money for gym memberships in order to get the exercise that they miss while sitting at their desks? Hoeing a garden provides great exercise at no cost, as well as an income when the produce is sold. However, on a huge factory farm, weeds must be controlled with herbicides or expensive gas-driven machinery, which brings down the profitability of the enterprise as well as damaging the environment. Logsdon's golden rule is never to finance farming by borrowing. He points out that "rates of money growth (interest) seldom match rates of biological growth," so borrowing money to buy farm or equipment or land is almost always the start of a losing proposition.After the first few chapters about what he terms "pastoral economics", Logsdon devotes separate chapters to each of the parts of his small farm ecosystem, the garden, the animals, water, meadows, trees, corn, mechanics, and pastures. Although he eschews wide-spread use of pesticides, he's not an organic purist, which may rub certified organic farmers the wrong way. He's very keen on maintaining animals like some sheep and chickens, a few pigs, and a cow or two. Many of his observations and suggestions center around maintaining the land and feeding the animals while getting the farm to yield a modest living for himself and his family. This book is thoroughly enjoyable to read, and contains many practical bits of advice as well as some interesting ideas to chew on.
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Summary: My favorite of all my small farm books.
Review: This wonderful book is almost written as though the author is talking to a new young neighbor farmer, sharing his wise, hard learned experiences and reasons behind his cottage farm techiques. As a city boy myself (although nearly 50 now), I read this book with the excitement of a much younger man hanging onto every word from the authors mouth. I purchased this book along with nearly a dozen others on small farms, homesteading, chickens and such. This book is my favorite of all of them. The other books are just that, books, but The Contrary Farmer was like having grampa talking to you personally, giving direction, perspective and guidance in plain talk that instills his love for the cottage farm. Although this book taught me much about livestock, crops and machinery, the book left me with much more. I regret that the book has an end. I am planning to buy 10 acres for a cottage farm as I sort out how I will spend the rest of my life. I have no answers yet, but I will leave The Contrary Farmer on the lamp table instead of placing it in the bookshelf with the other 'books'.
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