The Ecological Farm: A Minimalist No-Till, No-Spray, Selective-Weeding, Grow-Your-Own-Fertilizer System for Organic Agriculture

The Ecological Farm is a breakthrough resource for ecological fruit and vegetable growers at every scale who want to go beyond organic. Through a unique ecosystem-balancing approach focusing on reduced tillage, minimising farm and garden inputs and pest control, you’ll learn how to build higher soil quality and fertility by using fewer harmful inputs.

Farmer, consultant, and educator Helen Atthowe (along with her late husband, Carl Rosato) have decades of farming experience which is shared in this essential book. They guide readers on how to reduce or eliminate the use of outside inputs of fertiliser or pesticides – even those that are commonly used on certified organic orchards and market gardens. With clear, easy to action language and colour photography, charts, and graphs throughout, The Ecological Farm emphasizes the importance of managing the details of an entire growing system over the full life of an enterprise.

The Ecological Farm features a crop-by-crop guide to growing more than 25 of the most popular and profitable vegetables and fruits, including specific management advice for dealing with pests and diseases. You’ll also learn how to:

• design a system that establishes a year-round root-in-soil system for microbial health
• strengthen the “immune system” of a farm or garden
• supply crop needs using only on-farm inputs such as cover crops and living mulch
• maximise the presence of beneficial insects and microbes
• minimise ecological impact in dealing with insect pest and disease problems

The Ecological Farm makes complex, sometimes messy, ecological concepts and practices understandable to all growers, and makes healthy farming, in which nature is invited to participate, possible.