Top Books on PoultryStorey’s Guides are probably the most popular series of books for beginners to learn about caring for animals. Not surprisingly, all my recommendations are either Storey’s Guides or books from authors who also write Storey’s Guides. We raise both layer and meat chickens every year; we have also raised turkeys (one year only, as they are more trouble than chickens, although I wish to try again). We have also recently started raising geese, and we quickly realized that geese are very different from ducks. When I get a good goose book, I will update my recommendations here. 1. Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow This comprehensive guide covers the process of raising chickens, including both egg-laying birds and meat birds. It includes information on breeds, nutrition, and common health concerns. Once we decided to raise chickens in addition to ducks, this was the first chicken book I bought. 2. Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread This book is a great guide on how to raise ducks. Although there are some similarities, caring for ducks differs from raising chickens. Ducks have different nutritional requirements, need access to deeper water than chickens when they eat, and require additional resources. This book highlights everything you need to know before and after getting ducks. Another great resource is the Metzer Farms Hatchery website. Metzer Farms has specialized in waterfowl for decades, and the amount of information available on breeds, nutrition, health issues, and basic care reflects that expertise. 3. Storey’s Guide to Raising Turkeys by Don Schrider Like the Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, this is a comprehensive book that provides the basics you need to get started with turkeys. Raising turkeys is different and more challenging than raising chickens, as the poults are more delicate than chicks. We found that turkeys are more curious and tend to get into more trouble. 4. Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds by Carol Ekarius Aside from the information provided on breeds in this book, it is worth buying for the pictures alone. They are fantastic! Although the book does not cover every breed of bird, it does an excellent job of highlighting the most common breeds of chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys. It also has a section on less common birds such as guinea fowl, ostrich, emu, peafowl, quail, swan, partridge, dove, pigeon, and pheasant. 5. The Chicken Health Handbook: A Complete Guide to Maximizing Flock Health and Dealing with Disease by Gail Damerow The Chicken Health Handbook is a comprehensive guide to health issues you may encounter when raising chickens. It gives more details on nutrition and diseases caused by parasites, worms, protozoa, bacteria, and viruses. Most people who raise chickens do not live near a veterinarian that specializes in birds, and unless a chicken is a pet, many people are not willing to spend money on veterinary care. This book helps you diagnose problems and gives you guidance on how to treat birds on your own.  
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Top Books on Alcohol Fermentation: Wine and Cider1. From Vines to Wines: The Complete Guide to Growing Grapes & Making Your Own Wine by Jeff Cox In addition to covering information on making wine, this book also covers grape growing. Although this is a great beginner's guide to growing grapes and making wine at home, it mostly focuses on the Vitis vinifera varieties, the classic wine varieties that grow in warmer zones (generally 6-9). It does not cover the particular challenges that northern grape growers have (like me in zone 4) when growing Vitis labrusca or hybrid varieties for wine. 2. Techniques in Home Winemaking: The Comprehensive Guide to Making Château-Style Wines by Daniel Pambianchi This is a great, detailed book on making wine and includes much of the science behind the process. I also like that the author is Canadian and therefore has experience working with grapes in colder climates. He also runs two Facebook pages and has an informative website containing free calculators and guides to help winemakers. If you are new to winemaking, I would recommend starting with another of his books, “The Beginner’s Guide to Making Wine from Juice and Grapes,” which is better for those just starting to make wine. Also, on my “to buy” list is his updated book, “Modern Home Winemaking: A Guide to Making Consistently Great Wines.” 3. The New Cider Maker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Craft Producers by Claude Jolicoeur This book is the first I have purchased regarding making hard apple cider. Our apple trees have just started producing in the past two years, and we have started making ciders as we do not have the storage space for bushels of apples. This book includes descriptions of some of the classic cider apple varieties as well as a detailed description of crushing and fermenting the cider. I have several other cider books on my “to buy” list, but this book is a great resource. Chamomile: Roman versus GermanCommon names of plants can be confusing because many plants have multiple common names, and their usage can vary by location. Different plants can also have the same common name. Chamomile is one such name. There are two commonly propagated chamomile species, plus many other wild chamomile species, and although they share a common name, they are not all in the same genus. The two commonly grown/used chamomile species are German chamomile or Matricaria recutita, also known as M. chamomilla, and Roman chamomile or Chamaemelum nobile. Although they share the common name chamomile, they belong to different genera, but share the same family, Asteraceae, or the aster family. If you are allergic to plants related to chamomiles, including daisies, ragweed, chrysanthemums, or marigolds, you may also be allergic to chamomiles. Chamomiles share a similar fragrance and flavor, often described as apple-like, and look like each other as well, although there are differences. German chamomile is probably the most well-known chamomile, commonly found in teas, especially those thought to promote sleep. Wild chamomile, or Pineappleweed (Matricaria discoidea), is native to much of the United States and Canada (BONAP map). Pineappleweed, although edible in salads or teas, is considered a weed by many and generally not cultivated. Both cultivated chamomiles have been used for their potential healing properties since Egyptian times, although most modern studies have not proven a connection. Both chamomiles grow best in full sun to partial shade and tolerate dry soils.  German chamomile from my flower garden steeping in a pot of green tea. German chamomile is native to Europe and perhaps Asia, although it now grows wild throughout much of the United States (BONAP map). It is the taller of the two commonly grown chamomiles, reaching 2-3 feet in height. It has feathery leaves and flowers that resemble daisies. German chamomile is an annual, but it will self-seed prolifically if you allow the flowers to go to seed. Because German chamomile is not a native plant, I try to limit its spread by picking the flowers soon after opening. In addition to being used in teas, German chamomile is also harvested for its essential oil, which is a deep blue color, resulting in another common name of blue chamomile. Roman chamomile, also known as English chamomile, looks similar to German chamomile, but it is shorter, growing up to 12 inches in height, but it usually stays 3-6 inches high. Roman chamomile is a perennial, hardy to zone 3 or 4, often grown as a ground cover, and some believe it has medicinal properties. The flowers are also daisy-like but grow larger than German chamomile flowers and tend to have a stronger fragrance. Roman chamomile is native to Western Europe but can now be found in parts of the United States, particularly the Northeast and California (BONAP map). German chamomile can also be used in teas and for aromatherapy. References and Resources
Top Books on Vegetables and Vegetable Gardening1. All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew This is a classic gardening book. Although I give some plants more room than he suggests, this is a great resource on dense planting and getting more harvest out of a small space. 2. Epic Tomatoes: How to Select & Grow the Best Varieties of All Time by Craig LeHoullier Tomatoes are one of my favorite plants to grow in my garden, so this is one of my favorite gardening books. Epic Tomatoes is a valuable resource from a tomato expert, offering guidance on how to grow tomatoes, save seeds, and even breed your own varieties. I also love the list at the end of the book on his favorite 250 varieties. I have yet to even grow 250 varieties, much less have 250 favorites! My only caveat with this book is not to follow his method of canning tomatoes. He claims he still follows the basics of the Ball Blue Book, but then states he does not bother to remove the tomato skins. Unless otherwise specified (a very, very few canning recipes allow the skins to remain), all tomatoes must have their skins removed before canning. The skins can harbor high levels of bacteria, which can potentially cause your canned goods to go bad or even make you sick. If you do not want the hassle of removing skins, simply freeze your product instead of canning it. See my previous post on safe canning if you wish to learn more. 3. Garden Insects of North America by Whitney Cranshaw and David Shetlar I use this book as a reference guide when I wish to identify an insect or learn more about a specific one. This book contains almost 700 pages of pictures and information on the majority of insects that can affect gardens in North America. I used this book to help me identify a thrips problem in my hydroponic grow system. 4. Growing Great Garlic: The Definitive Guide for Organic Gardeners and Small Farmers by Ron L. Engeland This is one of those books that I feel like I have had forever, at least since I was a teenager (I was a gardening nerd even then). The title says it all: if you want to grow great garlic, read this book. This is a comprehensive guide to growing garlic that will help you determine which varieties to grow, how and when to plant, what to use for fertilizer, and more. 5. How to Grow Vegetables Organically by Jeff Cox & the Editors of Rodale’s Organic Gardening Magazine I use this as a reference guide when I need to look up specific growing requirements, fertilizers, soil types, watering guides, and more for certain vegetables. Although this is an older book, and I wouldn’t mind updating to a newer organic grower’s guide, this book is still full of valuable information on basic gardening. A great all-purpose guide to gardening. 6. Saving Seeds: The Gardener’s Guide to Growing and Storing Vegetable and Flower Seeds by Marc Rogers This is a great starting guide for those interested in saving seeds. It covers everything from easy plants, such as tomatoes and peppers, to difficult-to-save seeds, like squashes and pumpkins, due to cross-pollination. It also covers cleaning, storing, and testing the germination of the seeds you save. 7. The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year-Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses by Eliot Coleman Although this book is still in my to-be-read pile (I hope to get to it this year), Eliot Coleman is well known for his Winter Harvest Handbook and Four-Season Harvest books, which explain how to extend your gardening season. 8. Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom, with over 300 Deliciously Simple Recipes by Deborah Madison This is more of a cookbook than a growing guide, but still full of valuable information. Vegetable Literacy is a large volume containing descriptions of the different edible plant families with beautiful pictures and tasty recipes. If you want to learn more about the plant families you are growing in your garden, this is the book for you. Top Books on Native Plants and the Environment This is a list of my top books regarding native plants and/or the environment. Some of these books I have read in their entirety, others I use as reference books but did not read all the way through, and a couple are still on my "to be read" pile, although I have at least browsed through them. If I have written in more detail about any of these books, I will link to those blog posts for further reading. As I grow my library of native plant books, I will add to this list. 1. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer 2. Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy This book is great for anyone interested in learning more about the benefits of native plants to the environment, particularly regarding feeding insect life, which in turn feeds birds. For more information, including a summary of the book, please see my blog post here. 3. Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants by Heather Holm 3. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson Although this book was written in 1962, much of the information, particularly its warnings about the overuse of pesticides and their ability to bioaccumulate, is still relevant today. Rachel Carson meticulously collected data on the side effects of DDT, and as a direct result of this book, its use was eventually banned. 5. The Midwestern Native Garden: native alternatives to nonnative flowers and plants by Charlotte Adelman & Bernard L. Schwartz This book is a great reference for those who wish to replace non-native or invasive plants with similar-looking native plants that also have similar growing conditions to their non-native counterparts. 6. The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees by Douglas W. Tallamy This book follows a year in the life of an oak tree, specifically focused on the insects found on that tree each month of the year. If you are unaware that Doug Tallamy is an entomologist, this book will clarify that. Each chapter, which is a different month, focuses on what insects are present on the tree, their specific adaptations to survive on an oak tree, and why these native insects are important in maintaining a balanced environment. Doug chooses to focus on the oak because it harbors more insects than any other native tree, which is extremely important for maintaining bird populations, which continue to decline each year.  Aronia juice in a half-gallon jar. Aronia WineAronia berries (Aronia melanocarpa) or chokeberries are berries native to the United States. They grow on a bush known for its ornamental value (red/orange leaves in the fall) and its fruit. The berries are bitter and tannic but are considered by many to be healthy due to their very high levels of anthocyanin, an antioxidant. For more information on the berries see my previous blog post on “Aronia Berries.” I have used the berries in limited quantities in smoothies, but wanted to experiment with making 100% Aronia wine. Due to the tannic nature of the berries, I am planning on using the wine to blend with my Marquette wine, which tends to be lower in tannins, to see if blending can improve the wine. In the past, I have also thrown a few berries into my elderberry wine ferments, but I would like to do a more controlled experiment where I blend known amounts of the different wines. If you are new to fermenting, I recommend checking out my blog post on “The Basics of Fermenting Wine,” and feel free to message me with any questions. Steam Juicing Aronia Berries
To steam juice, you add the fruit to the top colander-type compartment. Add water to the bottom of the juicer and start heating the fruit. Once the fruit softens and starts releasing the juice, it will flow into the middle compartment of the juicer and out of the attached tube. I collect the juice in half-gallon jars. Most juicing takes 1-2 hours to complete. Ensure that water remains in the bottom pan the entire time to avoid warping the pan. Stirring or pressing the fruit is not recommended since it can add small amounts of pulp or seeds to the juice, making it less clear. If I plan to ferment the juice into wine, I do not care about cloudy juice since it will be clarified as it ages. Therefore, I usually stir the pulp or scoop it out, mix the pulp with a little water, and crush it with a potato masher or spoon a second time to release more color and juice. I then add the pulp and water back to the top of the juicer and let the steam extract a little more juice. This will add water to the juice, but I usually add a little water to my fruit wines anyway. The general rule of thumb is 3-5 pounds of fruit per gallon of wine, although there is nothing wrong with using 100% juice, and it will make a more flavorful wine. Once you have extracted as much juice as possible, let it cool (I put the jar in cool water in the sink to cool it down faster, being careful not to crack the jar) before starting your fermentation. You can also refrigerate or freeze the juice to ferment later.  Aronia berries in the top compartment of a steam juicer. The steam is just starting to extract the juice. When complete the berries will have lost most of their color. Making Wine from Aronia Juice I used 1 gallon of Aronia juice with a starting pH of 3.13 and Brix (percent sugar) of 9.9. I added sugar to get a final Brix of 22.6, which should give an alcohol content of ~12.4% (multiply the Brix by 0.55 to get a rough alcohol percentage). I tried testing the total acidity (TA), but the results did not seem accurate, most likely from the color intensity of the juice (it is a colorimetric assay). My recipe is below: 1 gallon Aronia juice 1 tsp pectic enzyme 1 tsp yeast nutrient RC-212 yeast I did not add a Campden tablet since the juice was sterilized from steam juicing, but if you add one, wait 24 hours before pitching your yeast. I used Lalvin Bourgovin RC212 yeast, which I have used for elderberry wine with good results. This yeast is typically used to ferment red wines, has an alcohol tolerance of up to 16%, and ferments well at 64-86°F. Other yeast options include Red Star Premier Rouge (64-86°F; 14% alcohol tolerance) or Lalvin EC-1118 (50-86°F; 18% alcohol tolerance). I fermented the juice in a 2-gallon bucket with an airlock. The airlock bubbled for about 2 weeks, indicating fermentation was occurring. If you do not see bubbling, there is likely a leak in your lid. If you see bubbles when stirring the wine, fermentation is likely occurring. When fermentation slowed, I racked the wine into a 1-gallon glass carboy. After racking, I added 1 Campden tablet plus 18 grams of medium toast French oak cubes. The recommendation from the oak cube manufacturer is to oak for 3-4 months.  Aronia juice in a 2-gallon fermentation bucket. After two months, I racked again to remove the lees that had settled to the bottom and added another Campden tablet. The pH was 3.51, which is good for red wine (recommended pH is 3.4-3.6). I tasted the wine at this point, and it was extremely dry/tannic, which, given the taste of the berries, is not surprising. I used our 2023 Marquette wine to top off the Aronia wine to eliminate headspace in the carboy since I do not have a previous vintage of Aronia wine to use. Since I plan to use the Aronia wine to blend into our Marquette wine anyway, I figured this was the best choice of wine to use to top off. Future PlansI plan to rack the Aronia wine and add an additional Campden tablet every 3 months for about a year. Once the lees stop accumulating at the bottom of the carboy, I will cold stabilize for a month or two in the refrigerator or outside (if it is still winter). Next fall, I will do blending tests with the Marquette wine to see if blending improves the Marquette wine, the Aronia wine, or both wines. If blending improves the Marquette wine, I will blend a larger batch and bottle it. I will update this post or write a new one when I have those results. Update: October 2025 I did a bench trial with the Aronia wine and a batch of Marquette from 2023. This Marquette was picked early due to wasp pressure (we have since invested in better insect netting) and therefore was too acidic, making the wine slightly sour. After aging about a year, the Aronia, while still very dry, was not bad to drink even at 100%. After trying ratios of Marquette to Aronia varying from 90%/10% to 50%/50% we decided we liked 75% Marquette and 25% Aronia the best. The blend really helped reduce the sour taste of the Marquette and added dryness and tannins. Overall, it made a subpar Marquette wine significantly better. |
AuthorIn 2016, my family and I moved from the New York City area to small town Wisconsin. Our move, this website and blog (and our previous Etsy store) is the result of our desire over the past several years to simplify our lives, increase our quality of life, reconnect with nature, and enjoy a more self-sufficient life. I grew up as a country kid in central Pennsylvania working on my grandfather's fruit farm and as a corn "de-tassler" at a local seed farm. My background is in biology where my love of nature originated. I am a former research scientist and professor and have now transitioned to a part-time stay-at-home mom, self-employed tutor, and small business owner. Thank you for taking the time to check out my site. Archives
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