The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

The Ultimate Guide to Soil is live!

Goat in garden

HugelkulturI'm thrilled to announce that my newest paperback is now live on Amazon!

The Ultimate Guide to Soil isn't technically slated to be published for another week or so. But if you preordered, your copy should be in your hands soon.

My official author copies are still in transit (so signed thank-you books for contributors haven't gone out yet). But I splurged and bought a copy on Amazon to show off (with Punkin's help, of course).

Goat eating onions

The Ultimate Guide to Soil is a hefty book, full of all of the tidbits I've learned over the last decade about improving and maintaining Gardening mistakessoil in a no-till garden. There are sections on soil testing, no-till management, and remineralization, plus an encyclopedic overview of organic soil amendments including everything from manure and straw to bokashi bins, black soldier fly compost, and humanure.

Basically, if we've tried it, it's in this book. And you know I like to try everything.

Ultimate Guide to Soil

Back coverI geared the book toward both beginners and advanced gardeners alike, including highlights of my own garden's growing pains so you won't have to repeat those mistakes. I also included my successes of course, along with tips for turning problematic dirt into prime garden soil. Then I rounded it all out with the experiences of other gardeners and a hefty helping of library research.

Interested? The paperback is live on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and should be hitting bookstores and libraries soon. (If you don't see it locally, be sure to request that your favorite establishment get a copy in stock.)

If you prefer ebook format, please be aware that this is the same book I've been publishing in quarters over the course of 2016, so don't feel you have to buy it again. You can save a few bucks by buying the bundled version on Amazon, though, and you can also download a free ebook copy on Amazon when you order a copy of the print book. The bundle will be available on other platforms in a week or so as well once it's been reformatted for epub.

I hope you enjoy The Ultimate Guide to Soil and will consider telling your friends, sharing the link on social media, or perhaps writing a review. Thank you so much for your support --- you are why I write.



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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Just read Trailersteading! Loved it! Especially the way you cover the downsides without flinching. I know you live in an area with clayey, alkaline soil. Does your soil book have any useful advice for those of us in the rainy subtropics who have great drainage (i.e. sand) and no soil?
Comment by Aunteater Sat Jul 9 08:05:24 2016
Aunteater --- Thanks for your kind words about Trailersteading! I don't have as much firsthand experience with sand, so I have fewer innovative techniques. That said, my understanding is that boosting organic matter is even more effective for fixing sand than fixing clay, and that's the gist of most of the book. So hopefully that portion of the text will be just as handy for your well-drained, subtropical soil!
Comment by anna Sat Jul 9 17:08:24 2016
Just an FYI, I pre-ordered my book and received it in the mail on 7/6/16!
Comment by CG Mon Jul 11 11:55:30 2016
CG --- Thanks so much for giving it a try and for the update! I hope you enjoy the book. :-)
Comment by anna Mon Jul 11 12:44:12 2016
We ordered ours last week and got it today! Just flipping through it looks great. I'm excited to read through it. Thanks for sharing all your expertise with us.
Comment by Brian Fri Jul 29 19:15:03 2016
Brian --- Thank you, as always, for all of your support! Both your purchases and your contributions to my books are much appreciated. :-)
Comment by anna Sun Jul 31 10:02:11 2016





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