The Accidental Farmers [Kindle Edition]

I really, really wanted to like this book. I've followed Nature's Harmony Farm for the past two years, so I was very excited to read it. The first half was a joy to read- well written, funny, and heart-warming. It offered a clear sense for what starting a new farm from scratch is like - the anticipation, joy, fear, self-doubt and hard work. I also appreciated the honesty in the chapter that detailed the dark side of farming.

The second half's plunge into ideology was very disappointing to read. Like many American farms, the farm's soil is deficient in nutrients, but fertilizer doesn't fit into their ideology. I was left wondering how many of the animal health problems could have been averted by making sure the soil was well-balanced and had the minimum of minerals (calcium, boron, etc. that aren't supplied by manure from poor soil) to support animal health. Also, the ideology involved in wanting their animals to live completely "natural" lives doesn't jive with the fact that livestock are not wild animals. The point to which they expected their animals to live with minimal support on depleted soil scares me a little, and I wonder if these chapters will end up as fodder for the animal rights movement and conventional ag to argue that pasture-based agriculture is not a viable solution.

I appreciate all that Nature's Harmony Farm has done, especially through their blog and excellent podcasts. Unfortunately, I recommend this book only for those who want to read an account of what happens when livestock are expected to live with minimal help on depleted soil.

As someone who has been involved in sustainable agriculture for over 15 years now, I was disturbed and disappointed by the approach to animal husbandry detailed in this book. I read the book nearly a year ago and in that time, I've been unable to write a review that would reflect my visceral reaction to the Youngs' extreme approach without sounding overwhelmingly negative. If nothing else, the Youngs have increased public awareness of the cause of sustainable agriculture, so there is some merit in their work, and many farms could learn from their no-holds-barred marketing style. But as far as their animal husbandry goes, I think Masanobu Fukuoka said it best in his classic "One Straw Revolution:" "I had acted in the belief that everything should be left to take its natural course, but I found that if you apply this way of thinking all at once, before long things do not go so well. This is abandonment, not 'natural farming.'"

[Note: I'm glad to see that the author is now refraining from writing both reviews and responses to reviews under pseodonyms, as of 11-12-2012. He's edited all of the responses he didn't delete to contain his real name and make it clear that he wrote them. Thank you, Tim, for dropping the charade that the reviews were from "ty" or "jr" or a variety of other folks, or that they were written by other people who had "visited your farm for a farm dinner" or "purchased beef from natures harmony".

Honesty is the best policy, Mr. Young. Thanks for making the right choice.]

With any venture it takes time and effort to become proficient at it. What Tim does over and over again is set himself up for farming failure. With the pigs/chickens/rabbits/sheep/beef/bees, he doesn't stick with it long enough to know what it looks like to succeed.

At this time he's not raising any commercial quantities of many of the animals he describes in his book; beef cattle, laying hens, rabbits, large black and berkshire pigs, bees and sheep.

What I find objectionable about this book is that tim actively promotes a farming style that in my opinion causes the needless death of animals. His laying hen flock caught a disease which may have been avoided by a simple vaccination, and he watches as hundreds of chickens die, and then gives away the survivors and equipment. How about you figure out what went wrong and make it right, Tim?

I cannot think of another farmer who buys livestock and then just watches them die when they could be treated or saved. Chickens, turkeys, dairy cows, sheep... they all get the natures harmony farm treatment, and hundreds die. Turn them out and let them fend for themselves. Survival of the fittest. This is opposite the view that most farmers hold -- that they can, through love and care -- make a positive impact on the animals on their farm.

Most farmers cannot afford to spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on livestock and watch them die. I would hate to see someone who was interested in farming follow in these guys footsteps from an animal welfare or simple economics point of view. If I ran my farm the way they did, I'd go broke.