Rating: 
Summary: Great High-Level How-To
Review: "You Can Farm" gives you a high-level overview of a family-size pastured beef, poultry, and pork farming operation. There's also a good dose of the "why" as well as the "how-to" included in this book. Joel discusses why a family-friendly farm is superior to a commercial commodity farm for a family with children. He also covers the ethics of properly pricing your products so that you realize a return off the products you provide which will allow you to live comfortably. Joel's viewpoint is that a family who dedicates themselves to farming and being stewards to a piece of land should be able to reap a return on-par with a mid-level attorney. If you want to be a "poor, dumb farmer" don't read Joel's books. But . . . If you want to raise your family in a healthful, wholesome country environment AND make a reasonable living while doing so, this book is a good second step. As a first step, I would highly recommend one of Joel's other books "Family Friendly Farming." That book is all about the "why" behind small family farms. After reading "You Can Farm" and "Family Friendly Farming," I would highly recommend "Pastured Poultry Profit$" and "Salad Bar Beef," as these are the titles that go into the nuts & bolts details of Joel's grass-based small farm production model. Joel also includes an extensive suggested reading list as an appendix in each title discussed above. He is very supportive of new farmers reading as much as possible on any given topic BEFORE they dive into a new enterprise. He doesn't consider his opinion to be the last word on any subject. Joel's writing style is very readable. His advice is valuable and unconventional (i.e., start out on rented land to avoid long-term debt until you are SURE that this is going to work for you, only buy the equipment you need -- when you need it, etc.), it resonates with a high level of caring for those who may take his advice and jump into this "farming thing." Joel Salatin's books come with my highest recommendations
Rating:
Summary: Great High-Level How-To
Review: "You Can Farm" gives you a high-level overview of a family-size pastured beef, poultry, and pork farming operation. There's also a good dose of the "why" as well as the "how-to" included in this book. Joel discusses why a family-friendly farm is superior to a commercial commodity farm for a family with children. He also covers the ethics of properly pricing your products so that you realize a return off the products you provide which will allow you to live comfortably. Joel's viewpoint is that a family who dedicates themselves to farming and being stewards to a piece of land should be able to reap a return on-par with a mid-level attorney. If you want to be a "poor, dumb farmer" don't read Joel's books. But . . . If you want to raise your family in a healthful, wholesome country environment AND make a reasonable living while doing so, this book is a good second step. As a first step, I would highly recommend one of Joel's other books "Family Friendly Farming." That book is all about the "why" behind small family farms. After reading "You Can Farm" and "Family Friendly Farming," I would highly recommend "Pastured Poultry Profit$" and "Salad Bar Beef," as these are the titles that go into the nuts & bolts details of Joel's grass-based small farm production model. Joel also includes an extensive suggested reading list as an appendix in each title discussed above. He is very supportive of new farmers reading as much as possible on any given topic BEFORE they dive into a new enterprise. He doesn't consider his opinion to be the last word on any subject. Joel's writing style is very readable. His advice is valuable and unconventional (i.e., start out on rented land to avoid long-term debt until you are SURE that this is going to work for you, only buy the equipment you need -- when you need it, etc.), it resonates with a high level of caring for those who may take his advice and jump into this "farming thing." Joel Salatin's books come with my highest recommendations
Rating: 
Summary: You can Farm
Review: For a new,never farmed, someone, with seven wonderful young boys and an awesome wife, looking for a way to make it in farming, I have found this book to be extremely eye opening and exciting. Joel has a wonderful way of throwing out ideas...and letting you dream. He not only makes it seem possible but also feasible. Weaknesses for me are that the pictures, (I'm a visual learner), are vague, black and white and sometimes difficult to distinguish. He also tends to overuse catch phrases but balances this with sincerity. Looking forward to Salad Bar Beef and Pastured Poultry.
Rating:
Summary: Fundamental. Foundational. Occasionally Profound.
Review: I have been reading Amazon reviews for 4 years and never, untill now, motivated by the few disapointed reviewers on this title, have I commented in turn about a book. I am compelled to give a solid 5 STAR YES to this book and this man and family's lifework. This title, originally picked up while browsing in the library, has changed our lives profoundly. We farm...nurturing nature, our nieghbors, and the family. We know and experience joy, profit, and life satisfaction from our lifestyle. The mentoring from this book was the motivation and the how-to. This is not a comprehensive nuts and bolts set of quick, easy, and fail-proof instructions. This book is a mind/attitude how-to as well as a natural agricultural laws and correct principles, "put it to you straight the way I see it" book. I agree with everything the 5 star revewers said, adding a caution for long-time, conventional factory/goverment funded farmers: This book will hurt. It hurts to read how it can and is being done when your dream as part of the collective"get big or get out" dream has died. Being from farm families that sold out and lost it all, I know something of the resistance that some with sad experience will have to this book. "Outmoded" virtues such as frugality and thrift are essential to the author's success. Specifics on production can be obtained in other books. (Salatin encloses a singular bibliography) This is the kind of book that needs to be read first, again and often. Most who read it need several readings to come to understand the wisdom of the precautions, steps and principles. Granted, it will stretch your mind, while being a personable and interesting read. It is one of our personal home library's most lent out. I keep quotes from this book on an index card in my pocket and over the sink. It will separate the serious and open minded willing to find a way to make a living from the land, from the wanna be hobby hicks and the proud but burned conventional farmer with his broken dreams. If that's the case, the best hope for America's food supply would be that everybroken but courageous conventional farmer will buy this book and find the humility to change.
Rating: 
Summary: If you fail you didn't work hard enough...
Review: I truly did not find this book useful, and found it so annoying I gave it away after the first read. The book is a constant reminder of the grind and sacrifice the author put his family through to achieve his dream of living on a farm. Let me be the first to mention this: abject poverty is not a prerequisite to building up your farm. While the ability to scrimp, recycle, reclaim, and generally make do, may save you a few bucks... we've found it generally isn't worth it. Better to have one member of the household maintain an off farm income and just buy the power you need to get on with the job. In his delight at displaying the discomfort his family was willing to endure, day in and day out, the author creates the opportunity for the reader to dismiss, utterly, the underlying message. To whit: the average farm family (this probably means you, dear reader) can expect a drop in income and purchasing power if they decide to make a go of small scale agriculture. Or large scale, but that is a topic for another book. Whether or not a drop in purchasing power will impact mightily on your lifestyle and ambitions is a question to ask yourself before leaping into any business venture, farming or otherwise. But probably the most annoying feature of this book was its flat statement that you need to be young to get into farming. Wrong. You can be 65 with a full career behind you, and decide you want to farm as a retirement income. What you lack in physical strength and stamina can more than be replaced by the judicious use of internal combustion. Honestly. You'd think the man had no idea we'd advanced beyond the iron shovel.
Rating:
Summary: GOOD STARTING POINT
Review: Outstanding read for somebody who's still at the pondering stage of farming small-scale. It is mostly philosophical and very little instructional. His other books, most notably Salad Bar Beef tend to repeat, word-for-word, paragraphs and I found that slightly irritating and obviously redundant. That aside though, his philosophies have molded my opinion on several issues as I embark on my own farming venture starting about a month from the time I write this. I think that if you take everything in his model as gospel, there are a myriad of situations and/or locations in which it will not apply and you could set yourself up for disaster. His model relies very heavily on the self-marketing aspect and having a close customer base. Additionally, he skirts issues like USDA, FDA, and other regulatory restrictions which may or may not be a show-stopper in locations other than the Shenandoah Valley. For all the shortcomings, I still think it was a powerful book and hopefully the precursor to a new trend in this country.
Rating:
Summary: GOOD STARTING POINT
Review: Outstanding read for somebody who's still at the pondering stage of farming small-scale. It is mostly philosophical and very little instructional. His other books, most notably Salad Bar Beef tend to repeat, word-for-word, paragraphs and I found that slightly irritating and obviously redundant. That aside though, his philosophies have molded my opinion on several issues as I embark on my own farming venture starting about a month from the time I write this. I think that if you take everything in his model as gospel, there are a myriad of situations and/or locations in which it will not apply and you could set yourself up for disaster. His model relies very heavily on the self-marketing aspect and having a close customer base. Additionally, he skirts issues like USDA, FDA, and other regulatory restrictions which may or may not be a show-stopper in locations other than the Shenandoah Valley. For all the shortcomings, I still think it was a powerful book and hopefully the precursor to a new trend in this country.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: The author would have us believe that the only way you can make farming work is to abandon anything and everything that doesn't turn a profit. No pets, because they don't earn their own keep? Cull mercilessly? Slash expenses until there is no enjoyment to be found anywhere...but at least you're solvent? No need for health insurance because of the healthy lifestyle? Excuse me, but I've been injured more on the farm than I was in combat as a Marine! Look elsewhere for sound advice!
Rating:
Summary: This Model Works
Review: The book is entertaining and motivating. There are numbers of farmers following Salatin's model to some extent. It deserves to be read if you are farming and would prefer prosperity to complaining.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book !
Review: This book is not designed to give you exact deails on a farming enterprise, his other books do that well. This is a book designed to show you that YOU CAN FARM. It gives you the appropriate perspective to take when beginning a farming enterprise. I have read all of his books and this is one intelligent man. While you may not agree with all of his personal views, if you want to start farming, READ THIS BOOK FIRST!!! My family did well in their agricultural enterprises when they followed methods similar to Salatins. When they began using so called "conventional" methods, profits went down, work increased and headaches abounded. This is a must read for anyone thinking about farming. One of the few times you will see farming presented in a positive light.
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