"Instead of taking us through his work, season by season, crop by crop--the narrative approach--Madison explores his farm and its methods analytically, from many overlapping angles. The result is profoundly interesting."-The New York Review of Books
As the average age of America's farmers continues to rise, we face serious questions about what farming will look like in the near future, and who will be growing our food. Many younger people are interested in going into agriculture, especially organic farming, but cannot find affordable land, or lack the conceptual framework and practical information they need to succeed in a job that can be both difficult and deeply fulfilling.
In Fruitful Labor, Mike Madison meticulously describes the ecology of his own small family farm in the Sacramento Valley of California. He covers issues of crop ecology such as soil fertility, irrigation needs, and species interactions, as well as the broader agroecological issues of the social, economic, regulatory, and technological environments in which the farm operates. The final section includes an extensive analysis of sustainability on every level.
Pithy, readable, and highly relevant, this book covers both the ecology and the economy of a truly sustainable agriculture. Although Madison's farm is unique, the broad lessons he has gleaned from his more than three decades as an organic farmer will resonate strongly with the new generation of farmers who work the land, wherever they might live.
This book is part of Chelsea Green Publishing's NEW FARMER LIBRARY series, where we collect innovative ideas, hard-earned wisdom, and practical advice from pioneers of the ecological farming movement-for the next generation. The series is a collection of proven techniques and philosophies from experienced voices committed to deep organic, small-scale, regenerative farming. Each book in the series offers the new farmer essential tips, inspiration, and first-hand knowledge of what it takes to grow food close to the land. "Mike Madison writes from a place of knowing that one acquires only through lived experience. The deep ecology he prescribes, which 'advocates the rights and values of all species regardless of their utility to human enterprises,' should be the central principle of food and farming systems. Akin to the creature in the crystal river in Richard Bach's book Illusions, Mike stopped clinging a long time ago and let the current take him to a higher plane of thought and deed. Proof of this is sprinkled throughout Fruitful Labor.
"This book is a must-read for those embarking on their journey into farming and for all others who are remotely connected to food and farming, which is all of us."―Sridharan (Sri) Sethuratnam, director, California Farm Academy
"Fruitful Labor is both an encomium to self-reliance and a testament to the analgesic effects of organized surrender. One chapter beautifully describes self-sharpening shovels as they pass through sandy soil; the next serenely concedes an annual percentage of fig trees to ravenous gophers. Yes, crops must be planted, the seasons attended and money made. But these urgencies are only revealed by reading between the lines. Calm prevails―the sort of composure that's cultivated through a lifetime devoted to a greater cause."-Wall Street Journal
"Fruitful Labor is a delightful book, full of practical advice and deep thinking about ecology and true sustainability. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in food and farming, but especially for young farmers looking to build their skills while gaining wisdom from someone experienced and respected in the field."―Ben Hartman, author of The Lean Farm and The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables
"A good farming book―a book about the work of farming―shows a kind of narrative reluctance, an unwillingness to tell stories as if the main thing that matters is the way they end. Think of it as a Jeffersonian in
