At the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, we are constantly looking to deepen our knowledge of agriculture, nutrient-dense foods, and farm policy and how they relate to food freedom. This year you are invited to learn with us by joining in our first ever FTCLDF Book Club. Each month we will feature a new title and follow up on that title with a post describing its impact and relevancy to the food freedom movement.
August FTCLDF Book Club Book 
Your Successful Farm Business
by Joel Salatin
Click HERE to buy Your Successful Farm Business
From Chelsea Green Publishing:
Twenty years ago Joel Salatin wrote You Can Farm, which has launched thousands of farm entrepreneurs around the world. With another 20 years of experience under his belt, bringing him to the half-century mark as a full-time farmer, he decided to build on that foundation with a sequel, a graduate level curriculum. Everyone who read and enjoyed that previous work will benefit from this additional information. In those 20 years, Polyface Farm progressed from a small family operation to a 20-person, 6,000-customer, 50-restaurant business, all without sales targets, government grants, or an off-farm nest egg. As a germination tray for new farmers ready to take over the 50 percent of America’s agricultural equity that will become available over the next two decades, Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley stands as a beacon of hope in a food and farming system floundering in dysfunction: toxicity, pathogenicity, nutrient deficiency, bankruptcy, geezers, and erosion. Speaking into that fear and confusion, Salatin offers a pathway to success, with production, profit, and pleasure thrown in for good measure.
July FTCLDF Book Club Book
The Suburban Micro-Farm
by Amy Stross
Click HERE to buy The Suburban Micro-Farm
From Chelsea Green Publishing:
The Suburban Micro-Farm will show you how to grow your own fruits, herbs, and vegetables even on a limited schedule. From seed to harvest, this book will keep you on track so you feel a sense of accomplishment for your efforts.You’ll learn gardening tricks that are essential to success, like how to deal with a ‘brown thumb’, how to develop and nurture healthy soil, and how to manage garden pests.Although this book has everything a new gardener needs to get started, experienced gardeners will not be disappointed. With helpful tips throughout, you will love the in-depth chapters about permaculture and making money on the micro-farm.
May FTCLDF Book Club Book
A Precautionary Tale: How One Small Town Banned Pesticides, Preserved Its Food Heritage, and Inspired a Movement
by Philip Ackerman-Leist
Click HERE to buy A Precautionary Tale
From Chelsea Green Publishing:
Mals, Italy, has long been known as the breadbasket of the Tyrol. But recently the tiny town became known for something else entirely. A Precautionary Tale tells us why, introducing readers to an unlikely group of activists and a forward-thinking mayor who came together to ban pesticides in Mals by a referendum vote—making it the first place on Earth to accomplish such a feat, and a model for other towns and regions to follow.
March FTCLDF Book Club Book
Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide to Community Supported Agriculture, 2nd Edition
by Elizabeth Henderson with Robyn Van En
Click HERE to buy Sharing the Harvest
From Chelsea Green Publishing:
To an increasing number of American families the CSA (community supported agriculture) is the answer to the globalization of our food supply. The premise is simple: create a partnership between local farmers and nearby consumers, who become members or subscribers in support of the farm. In exchange for paying in advance–at the beginning of the growing season, when the farm needs financing–CSA members receive the freshest, healthiest produce throughout the season and keep money, jobs, and farms in their own community. In this thoroughly revised and expanded edition of a Chelsea Green classic, authors Henderson and Van En provide new insight into making CSA not only a viable economic model, but the right choice for food lovers and farmers alike. Thinking and buying local is quickly moving from a novel idea to a mainstream activity. The groundbreaking first edition helped spark a movement and, with this revised edition, Sharing the Harvest is poised to lead the way toward a revitalized agriculture.
February FTCLDF Book Club Book
Letter to a Young Farmer: How to Live Richly without Wealth on the New Garden Farm
by Gene Logsdon
Click HERE to buy Letter to a Young Farmer
From Chelsea Green Publishing:
For more than four decades, the self-described “contrary farmer” and writer Gene Logsdon has commented on the state of American agriculture. In Letter to a Young Farmer, his final book of essays, Logsdon addresses the next generation—young people who are moving back to the land to enjoy a better way of life as small-scale “garden farmers.” It’s a lifestyle that isn’t defined by accumulating wealth or by the “get big or get out” agribusiness mindset. Instead, it’s one that recognizes the beauty of nature, cherishes the land, respects our fellow creatures, and values rural traditions. It’s one that also looks forward and embraces “right technologies,” including new and innovative ways of working smarter, not harder, and avoiding premature burnout.
January FTCLDF Book Club Book
To kick off the Book Club, we are featuring a classic and topic dear to our hearts: The Raw Milk Revolution by David E. Gumpert. Click HERE to buy The Raw Milk Revolution.
Stay tuned as we continue to explore topics relevant to our food freedom community and make sure to follow along with us using #ftcldfreads.
Disclosure: Please note that the above link is an affiliate link. At no additional cost to you, Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund will earn a small commission if you make a purchase via the above link.
YOUR FUND AT WORK
Services provided by FTCLDF go beyond legal representation for members in court cases.
Educational and policy work also provide an avenue for FTCLDF to build grassroots activism to create the most favorable regulatory climate possible. In addition to advising on bill language, FTCLDF supports favorable legislation via action alerts and social media outreach.
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