Latest Book by award-winning Author
Ben Falk

The Resilient Farm and Homestead, Revised and Expanded Edition: 20 Years of Permaculture and Whole Systems Design

The Resilient Farm and Homestead, honored as the American Horticultural Society's Book of the Year (2014), is a comprehensive how-to guide for building durable and productive land-based systems through the reciprocal interplay of humans and the natural world.

In the ten years since he first published this seminal work, Falk has deepened his wisdom in harnessing nature-based solutions for increasingly challenging times, including addressing severe climate disruptions like drought and flood conditions.

The book covers many of the strategies Falk and his team have tested on the Whole Systems Research Farms over the past two decades and includes detailed information on earthworks, gravity-fed water systems, soil fertility management, growing nutrient-dense food and medicine, fuelwood production, agroforestry, managed grazing, and much more.

“This is one of the most practical, down-to-earth, dirt-under-the-fingernails, comprehensive explanations of all things homesteading and small farming. Whether you’re just dreaming or an old hand, Ben Falk’s longer experience horizon is invaluable.”
―Joel Salatin, Polyface Farm

 
 
 

Informed by twenty years of land management and professional design experience, this updated edition of a classic delivers the definitive twenty-first century systems thinking manual in resiliency sure to empower readers to prioritize projects, make positive lifestyle decisions, and take strategic steps toward a more regenerative future.

 

The new edition includes detailed information on:

  • Designing greenhouses and microclimates

  • Reinvigorating human health and embodying a vigorous lifestyle

  • Raising children on a homestead

  • Creating failure-proof and resilient energy systems

  • Focusing on permaculture beekeeping

  • Cultivating proven cold climate plants

  • Overcoming analysis paralysis and mastering the art of knowing where to start and when to take strategic risks

  • And much, much more!

A glimpse into the new edition

Reviews

“A pragmatic, visionary, and empowering exploration of ecological participation, holistic design, radical simplicity, and future proofing, wrapped within a deep reverence for place and the joy of noble work. Just like a good working design, the second edition of The Resilient Farm and Homestead presents readers with an iterative evolution of the book that has inspired many thousands of aspiring and experienced earth stewards around the globe. Building on the book’s practical vision, principles, and tried-and-true techniques, this new edition overlays the depth of a second decade’s worth of observation, innovation, adaptive wisdom, and trial and error, making it an ever more potent resource for a new generation of people wedded deeply to place.”

Mark Krawczyk, author of Coppice Agroforestry

 

“The Resilient Farm and Homestead is my favorite contemporary permaculture book. It’s not based on theory, but rather grounded in Ben Falk’s vast experience. It’s inspiring and accessible, with a healthy dose of skepticism that comes from many years of growing, building, and walking the talk. I especially love Ben’s creative approach to working with marginal land and in colder climates, which are generally not addressed in books about permaculture. I’ve assigned this book during countless courses at my carpentry and permaculture school, Wild Abundance, because I think it is the best resource of its kind.”

Natalie Bogwalker, director, Wild Abundance