‘The Farm That Raised Me’ is a title from onetime farmer, David Jones, who was raised on a traditional borderland farm between Hay-on-Wye and the Black Mountains.
In the book, released in May 2023, he writes about his life and those who worked on the farm in a series of captivating episodes from a vanished world – farming tales set in the midst of a “vividly-evoked” landscape of hills and wildlife.
According to the publishing company, Logaston Press, “affectionate, evocative and illuminating, alive with dialogue but never misty-eyed”, these stories trace day-to-day life on a traditional Welsh Marches farm before the onset of modern farming practices.
Structured around the seasons, the book traces the narrator’s childhood and teenage years, living and working among a close-knit cast of stockmen, horsemen, shepherds and farm workers under the watchful eye of his father.
As well as sheep and horses, the farm is home to a “celebrated herd” of pedigree Hereford cattle, which attracts buyers from around the world.
Bookending the narrative is the enigmatic figure of the grandfather he never knew – affectionately known as Johny Go Buy ’Em – who made his unhurried progress from farm to farm astride a small Welsh cob, buying up stock and quietly growing his empire.
The Two-Wheel Tractor Handbook
Meanwhile, for readers hunting for farming books, The Two-Wheel Tractor Handbook: Small-Scale Equipment and Innovative Techniques for Boosting Productivity may be of interest.
Small but mighty, Zach Loeks provides a “comprehensive” guide to the use of two-wheel tractors for gardeners, homesteaders, landscapers, and farmers.
More affordable than four-wheel tractors and infinitely more versatile than single-purpose power equipment such as rototillers, two-wheel tractors, the author claims, are “an ideal solution” for an “astonishing array” of garden, landscaping, and agricultural applications.
Two-wheel tractors are, as he describes in the book, “multifunctional, economical, practical, manoeuvrable, portable, and low impact”.
The Two-Wheel Tractor Handbook shows small-scale growers how to leverage walk-behind tractors to maximise the productivity and profitability of their enterprises.
Read more on this farming book.
