The argument for ducks is strong: they’re legendary foragers who are particularly resistant to disease and extreme weather. They provide top-notch pest control in your garden and can help control invasive aquatic plant species. Their manure is rich in nitrogen, and they are high egg producers. In fact, Holderread writes that they “lay as well or better than the best egg strains of chickens.”

They’re also, well, nice. Ducks are known for their docility. Plus, Holderread says, you can feed them just about anything: “If humans will eat it, ducks most likely will also – as long as it is in a form they can swallow.”

You’ll find chapters on anatomy and breeds, feeds, behavior and flock management; there’s also an entire chapter on rearing ducklings, where Holderread shares his time-tested incubation procedures in a clear, bulleted list. There are plenty of simple, easy-to-understand illustrations as well, from how to hold a duck correctly to how to set up an incubator.

This guide doesn’t end at raising ducks, either. There’s a chapter on butchering and an appendix with duck recipes and ways to use feathers and down. And if you’re just into the idea of ducks because of their adorable antics and pest-control capabilities, there’s also a chapter on raising them for show.

If you buy one book about ducks (and, if you’re planning on raising them, you definitely should buy and read at least one book cover-to-cover first), you should probably make it this one. It’s a realistic and engaging look at best practices, written by a legitimate expert.

Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread

June 2015. 336 pages.

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The cuisine naturally reflects this rich cultural mix: you’ll find recipes in this book for mashed fava beans and wild chicory, baked squid and potatoes, fried hyacinth bulbs, lamb with aromatic herbs and plenty of reverence for orecchiette, the region’s pasta standby.

In addition to the recipes, which are collected into chapters for each province, you get local history and color – vivid photography of rough Italian shores, delicate olive branches, stores in Bari stocked with beautiful cheeses.

This is not a beginner’s cookbook – you won’t find supplemental guides to bread dough or cooking with octopus. The instructions are simple and straightforward, but they assume you know how to roll out a tart crust or determine what “golden brown” means when frying.

You also won’t find recipes tailored for the gluten-free or vegan here, except via chance – this is a regional cookbook and its purpose is to celebrate Puglia, which includes a lot of high-gluten flours, meat and cheese.

Puglia’s cuisine is well-loved and sought out, and its foodways and traditions are built from generations of poor people developing meals from available ingredients. (A forest full of wild pigs and a sea full of eels, plus beautiful wild native greens, wasn’t always seen as a cornucopia.) The book’s introduction names this cucina povera, or “poor kitchen.”

Though, “far better, and more accurate, would be to regard it as a celebration of the prime ingredients that come from the land, forests and waters,” the book argues in its intro – words that sound familiar to anyone who knows the local food movement influencing cuisine in America right now.

Click here for a sample recipe: TORTA DI BIETOLINE E RICOTTA: Chard and Ricotta Pie.

The Silver Spoon: Puglia
Phaidon Publishing, 272 pages, Spring 2015

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This is Speck’s second grain-centric cookbook, but you won’t miss out if you haven’t read her first, 2011’s Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. She presents a two-step method for cooking grain that allows you to prep long-cooking items like farro up to a day before, so you can enjoy a healthy meal with minimal cooking time.

Speck writes that she used to try to convert people to whole grains by emphasizing the health angle, but realized she could change more minds with delicious recipes that just happen to be good for you. She embraces this philosophy in Simply Ancient Grains with well-thought out, varied recipes that go way beyond simple salads or sides.

You’ll find interesting, creative breakfasts like polentina with strawberries, poppy seeds and lime, mouthwatering Mediterranean fare like baked feta fingers in saffron quinoa with tomatoes, elegant salads like teff polenta verde with dandelions and parmesan, and dessert options that run the kamut (too corny?) from barley thumbprints with honey and hazelnuts to amaranth pudding with amaretto cream. Nearly all of these recipes are healthy choices.

Speck also points out that eating gluten-free doesn’t mean swearing off all grain, and she breaks down which grains have gluten and which don’t in the beginning of the book, which is helpful.

The hardest thing about these recipes will probably be finding the incredibly varied grain options outlined in the book – unless you’re near a Whole Foods or other health food store, you may have a hard time finding black rice or teff. Regardless, this is a great book that will change the way you approach grains in your own cooking – and possibly improve your diet in the process.

Want a taste? Try Breakfast Polentina With Strawberries, Poppy Seeds, And Lime.

Simply Ancient Grains
by Maria Speck

272 pages. Ten Speed Press, April 2014

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In the last 15 years, Benson and his wife have turned land designed for viewing during genteel carriage rides into a farm that feeds a 50-member CSA, complete with eggs and honey, vegetables and heirloom fruit. They also give tours of the property and host farm dinners, workshops and performances. Creating an organic community hub is central to Benson’s message, which is that we should all be growing food as long as we have a sunny space with proper drainage (or can arrange for proper drainage using the right techniques).

The book is part garden guide, part diary – charming “Notes from the Wonderground” are scattered through its pages, offering adoring descriptions of life on the farm, along with pretty tableaus that illustrate them. If you’re a novice gardener and/or worried about the time and commitment even small-scale growing demands, you’ll find these vignettes comforting and inspiring, confirmation that what you get out of tending the land will be worth what you put in.

There’s plenty of hardworking information about growing food – Benson provides an overview of essential tasks like fencing and seed starting, as well as detailed instructions on keeping bees and chickens, all accented with stunning photos from his farm. The most useful sections are on fruit and vegetables. What’s grown at Stonegate is highlighted page by page, alphabetically and by type, so it’s easy to look up whether currants will thrive in you growing zone (check the section on fruit) or when to plant potatoes (that’s in tubers, roots and bulbs).

Some of the suggestions in this book may strike you as a little too dear – Benson readily admits that he’s been referred to as the farm’s “creative director” for swapping lightweight harvest boxes with heavier but more photogenic ones, for instance. But he’s an award-winning and much-published photographer, so of course aesthetics are a priority. Regardless, his food-growing advice and recommendations are solid, and his way of interpreting what farming means to him and how valuable it is to the world is lovely and engaging. It’s good to see someone express those thoughts so thoroughly, and in a way that is useful to others tending the land.

Growing Beautiful Food
by Matthew Benson

264 pages. Rodale Books. March 2015

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But, according to the book’s authors, this almost wasn’t so: in the early 1990s, less than 200 Mangalitsa pigs remained, prompting Peter Toth and a partner to buy a herd of 50 from a Hungarian farmer in order to expand the Mangalitsa’s numbers. Today, Toth is president of the Hungarian National Association of Mangalitsa Breeders, and, he writes, the breed is 10,000 strong.

Mangalitsa pigs are now (again) a big part of Hungarian cuisine, as 23 Hungarian chefs demonstrate with recipes that incorporate Mangalitsa cuts, from lard to brain to loin. Each beautifully photographed recipe comes with a short chef profile and detailed instructions – make Zsolt Litauszki’s Mangalitsa rillette in breadcrumbs with fermented wax beans, or simply marvel at Antonio Fekete’s “Apple dessert,” a white chocolate-covered molded apple mousse complete with dark chocolate stem (no pig included in this recipe).

If you’re desperate to taste Mangalitsa for yourself, there’s a list, including a map, of Hungarian restaurants at the back of the book, plus a couple of pages advertising Mangalitsa farmers in the U.S.

This beautiful book, with gold-embossed title and incredible photography, is translated from Hungarian, which, unfortunately, results in some typographical errors. This may drive you crazy if you’re an editor type, but don’t let it get in the way of the opportunity to read about this fascinating pig breed. If you are interested in a story that merges fine cuisine with a passion for animal husbandry, you’ll enjoy The Mangalitsa Pig, and probably learn something, too.

The Mangalitsa Pig: Royalty is Coming to America

by Mate Dobesch, Wilhelm W. Kohl, Peter Toth, Beata Bencsics, Eszter Szalai (Translator)

247 pages; Boook Publishing Hungary, 2014

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Linda Amendt is a decorated canner – she’s won more than 1,000 awards at state and county fairs across the U.S. and now acts as a judge. Her reverence for the topic is clear – the recipes also come with short bios on the blue-ribbon all-stars who invented them. Shirley Rosenberg of Utah offers up recipes like carrot cake conserve; Anna Mayerhoffer of New York presents us with cinnamon pickled watermelon rind; Brenda Bustillos of Texas serves up red onion marmalade.

The bios are helpful – canning can be a little daunting at first because of the safety concerns, so it’s nice to read about confident, passionate canners; it’s easier to picture yourself doing the same.

So you’re not going blind into a world full of pressure (literally, since pressure canning is a regular technique!), there are also chapters on food safety and very clear step-by-step guides to water bath and pressure canning – though, oddly enough, no troubleshooting info. There is a short list of common mistakes made by canners entering their goods at state fairs, which is useful, but you really need to have the proper methods down pat before you enter your goods at the county fair.

The recipes are clear and detailed, down to instructions detailing how to crush fruit (for a kiwi-pineapple jam, crush fruit with potato masher, but don’t mash – only crush to remove excess air). Breakout boxes offering tips and fun facts about state fairs and canning could be better-organized, but overall, if you’re already into canning, you’ll find some great new recipes to try. And if you’re thinking about packing up some preserves this summer, you’ll definitely be able to use this book as you get started – though you should definitely do some independent research on troubleshooting and safety beforehand.

We’ve picked out a recipe for you to try: Strawberry Margarita Jam.

Blue Ribbon Canning: Award-Winning Recipes
By Linda J. Amendt
272 pages. Taunton Press, April 28, 2015

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As the webmaster of raising-rabbits.com, Patry has also spent years answering people’s dwarf, Flemish, foot-thumping, cardboard-chewing queries: What breed should you get if you’re raising meat rabbits? Why do false pregnancies occur? How do you shear a rabbit? What toys do they like?

The book is smartly laid out, organized in Q&A format with general information at the beginning, then specific chapters on breeding, housing, diseases and injuries. Most of the information is useful on a small or large scale, and the ethics of breeding and raising meat animals are discussed at length – for instance, Patry reminds us it’s “highly unethical” to breed animals with malocclusion, or teeth that grow incorrectly and cause pain and discomfort, sometimes cutting through a rabbit’s cheek.

The chapters on health go into great detail – there are sections on respiratory diseases, infections and intestinal issues, and instructions on how to take a rabbit’s temperature, identify mites and administer medicine.

What’s lacking are instructions on butchering – The Rabbit-Raising Problem Solver is concerned with keeping the animals alive and healthy, so if you’re planning on raising meat animals, you’ll need a supplementary guide for that part. But if you’re considering adding a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed companion to your home or farm, this book is well-worth a cover-to-cover read.

The Rabbit-Raising Problem Solver: Your Questions Answered about Housing, Feeding, Behavior, Health Care, Breeding, and Kindling

by Karen Patry

328 pages. Storey Publishing. May 6, 2014

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The Nourishing Homestead reads as part back-to-the-land missive, part guide to the workings of a full-time family farm, from soil quality to butter production. Every detail of the Hewitts’ farm is recorded – how chores are done and who does them, what each season entails, practices that help provide food for pollinators, raising and nourishing animals, and even the family’s approach to raising children on a farm.

It’s an impressive look at what’s possible with a high level of commitment, and a great unlearning tool. So much farming is done in neat rows, separating and categorizing things by type. The Hewitt family has moved away from this kind of agricultural boundary-setting – hog panels are used to plant peas after animals are moved out in late spring; pigs and meat birds are used to help clear forested areas.

The admirable way the Hewitts live is the result of years of evolution and experimentation. Though Ben Hewitt spends many pages at the start of the book encouraging the reader not to be overwhelmed when thinking about the many tasks and fragile processes going on at once on the farm, it’s easy to be overwhelmed.

“Penny actually went into labor in the lumberyard,” Hewitt writes, “where she had the presence of mind to finish loading the truck and went grocery shopping before driving home to have Fin.” These sorts of examples leave the reader feeling that adopting a similar lifestyle, or even aspects of one, may be impractical, or at least difficult to subscribe to.

Overall, The Nourishing Homestead is a moving read, a great guide to low-impact agricultural practices and an excellent example of a family living true to their principles. The Hewitts live as a reminder that amassing money and goods isn’t the recipe for happiness. We should all remember that, whether we live in a buzzing metropolis or deep within America’s amber waves of grain.

The Nourishing Homestead: One Back-to-the-Land Family’s Plan for Cultivating Soil, Skills, and Spirit

by Ben Hewitt with Penny Hewitt

352 pages. Chelsea Green Publishing. January 2015. $29.95

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At Balfour Farm, an organic dairy in Pittsfield, Maine, the Donahue family brought extra bedding from the field to the barn and kept a reserve of water for their dairy cows. They put aside extra fuel for their generator, tractor and heater, and milked earlier than usual. They don’t do any processing in the farm’s creamery when there’s heavy snow – losing power and having to throw out a batch of cheese is too big a risk to take.

Pittsfield is expecting to get between 18 and 24 inches. “It’s a good time to catch up on bookkeeping, certification and tax paperwork,” said Heather Donahue.

‘It’s a good time to catch up on bookkeeping, certification and tax paperwork.’

In Lanesborough, Massachusetts, where eight to 12 inches of snow is expected, Michael Gallagher of Square Roots Farm was prepared. He keeps his sheep and pigs in greenhouses over the winter, keeping them out of the inclement weather. Heavy snow brings the potential for roof collapse, so he and his wife, Ashley Amsden, plan to keep them clear over the course of the storm.

“This is also a good time of year to lose power,” said Gallagher. “We don’t really have to worry about things in the freezer thawing, we don’t have any babies depending on heat lamps, and we have town water, so we don’t have to worry about a well pump.”

Clayton Carter of Fail Better Farm in Etna, Maine, said there wasn’t much to do to prep for the storm. He runs an organic vegetable farm, so there are “no animals to take care of or worry about.” He has plenty of firewood and has plowed around his hoop houses so the ground around them is clear and ready for new snow.

Ruby and Sather Duke at Raven & Boar in New Lebanon, New York, prepared for the worst but ended up with only seven inches or so. The Dukes raise heritage pigs and often lose power in heavy storms, so they have an emergency plan. Their 200′ x 30′ greenhouse was packed with extra bedding and plenty of water. Sather plans to check electric fence lines for fallen branches that could knock out power; there’s a solar backup for those fences so no pigs are lost in the snow, and greenhouse doors are closed in high winds and frigid temperatures.

Tuesdays are usually pork distribution day for Raven & Boar, so the Dukes had to coordinate with their processor and keep in touch with their chef clients in the Berkshires and New York City.

Ruby Duke said those clients are generally understanding – it’s winter in the Northeast, after all. “Most of them are caught in a blizzard as well,” said Ruby Duke.

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