The Joy of Hobby Farming ─ Grow Food, Raise Animals, and Enjoy a Sustainable Life

When the farm is a lifestyle, but not quite a way to earn a living, it’s considered hobby farming. Most of us want to live a sustainable and healthy life in which we protect the environment and keep it safe from development and overproduction. But we can take this a step further by learning how to grow our own produce, while still maintaining an alternative, successful career to fund this passion. In this back to basics guide, Michael and Audrey Levatino share how to:

Grow your own food
Raise chickens, horses, llamas, bees, and more
Practice being (a little) off the grid
Sell the bounty in your local community
Balance a professional career with a rural lifestyle

The Joy of Hobby Farming is a guide that will excite armchair farmers and inspire any do-it-yourselfer. While this book won’t help you become a farmer by trade, it does provide step-by-step instructions and various tips and tricks to maintain a thriving farm. It will surely teach those who aren’t farmers by day to raise their own livestock, plant their own fruits and vegetables, and live out their countryside dream.

Michael and Audrey Levatino have been hobby farming for almost ten years, producing and selling flowers, vegetables, honey, eggs, and handmade jewelry and crafts at several local farmers’ markets. Michael Levatino works off the farm at a major publishing house. Their twenty-three-acre farm, Ted’s Last Stand, is located outside of Gordonsville, Virginia.