Reviewing: A Farmers Life for Me – Jimmy Doherty

A Farmer’s Life for Me: How to live sustainably, Jimmy’s way (from Amazon)

This book caught my eye in the local library while I was looking for something about chickens or pigs. Needless to say there wasn’t much in a small suburban library that suited my original needs but I decided to give this book a try anyway.

My first reaction was that this would be just another one of “those” books that just skim the surface of the subject without giving enough detail. Despite this it seemed a good idea to give it a go because the recent TV programs showed that his approach and opinions are not so far from my own.

In some ways this does skim the surface exactly as expected because it just isn’t possible to cover the range of topics in detail without producing a multi-volume epic.

However this book also manages to give better information (or perhaps the same information in a better way) so that I felt I was getting more out of it. As a result this has turned out to be one of the few books that I am able to reread and get more out each time.

There is a wealth of useful information on both growing produce and rearing livestock but the inclusion of the recipes add a little something extra which I think helps to tie the whole book together.

This will certainly be purchased in the near future so that I have it available for future reference at all times. It will be placed up on the book shelf next to the other smallholding books I’ve gathered so far – the obvious book by John Seymour plus one by Dick / James Strawbridge (as discussed elsewhere) and the Haynes Smallholding Manual which is the most recent addition.

Each of these books contribute something to my overall knowledge and together they will hopefully ease my passage while preventing any costly or painful mistakes!

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