Accessible and comprehensive, Loosening the Grip remains an authoritative source for information about alcohol use and the problems associated with it, while also addressing the relationship between alcohol and other drug use. The text presents the physical and psychological effects of alcohol, alongside the impact of its use on the family and society. Special attention is given to the range of responses to potential problems of alcohol use, including prevention, harm reduction, assessment, referral and treatment, and the risks for anyone of heavy alcohol use. Along with providing an historical foundation, Loosening the Grip also sets forth basic information on other drugs of abuse, whether street drugs or prescription drugs.
NEW FEATURES OF THE 12th Edition
The phenomenon of vaping, particularly among adolescents, and the resulting medical problems.
The advent of a for-profit chain of substance abuse treatment programs, and issues of their substandard clinical care.
The opioid epidemic, sparked by the pharmaceutical industry, and how drinking is interwoven with abuse of pharmaceuticals.
The evolution of the Substance Use Profession, from what was earlier an orphaned, isolated, fringe occupation, to now among the most widely respected of the Human Service Professions.
WHAT AN INSTRUCTOR SAYS ABOUT LOOSENING THE GRIP:
Loosening the Grip is, and has been the standard setter in the addiction profession since first publication in 1978. My first experience with the text occurred as a student in 1999, and I literally devoured the text, which was filled with material about alcohol, its effects on the body and mind, and how to best treat the condition of alcohol use disorder. I now am a licensed addiction counselor and addiction educator, and as such utilize this text exclusively in my alcohol course within our accredited addiction counseling and prevention program. This is not only an essential encyclopedia on all things concerning alcohol addiction and recovery, but includes materials about other substances of abuse, along with materials on co-occurring mental health disorders. Students state that they love this book as much as I did in 1999, and this creates a much higher level of retention in our major and minor. I plan to continue using this very engaging, accurate and useful book for many years to come. -John Korkow, LAC, PhD, SAP
Twenty years ago Joel Salatin wrote You Can Farm, which has launched thousands of farm entrepreneurs around the world. With another 20 years of experience under his belt, bringing him to the half-century mark as a full-time farmer, he decided to build on that foundation with a sequel, a graduate level curriculum.
Everyone who reads and enjoys that previous work will benefit from this additional information. In those 20 years, Polyface Farm progressed from a small family operation to a 20-person, 6,000-customer, 50-restaurant business, all without sales targets, government grants, or an off-farm nest egg.
As a germination tray for new farmers ready to take over the 50 percent of America's agricultural equity that will become available over the next two decades, Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley stands as a beacon of hope in a food and farming system floundering in dysfunction: toxicity, pathogenicity, nutrient deficiency, bankruptcy, geezers, and erosion. Speaking into that fear and confusion, Salatin offers a pathway to success, with production, profit, and pleasure thrown in for good measure.
A regenerative no-till pioneer.--NBC News
We need to reintegrate livestock and crops on our farms and ranches, and Gabe Brown shows us how to do it well.--Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation
Dirt to Soil is the [regenerative farming] movements's holy text.--The Observer
Gabe Brown didn't set out to change the world when he first started working alongside his father-in-law on the family farm in North Dakota. But as a series of weather-related crop disasters put Brown and his wife, Shelly, in desperate financial straits, they started making bold changes to their farm. Brown--in an effort to simply survive--began experimenting with new practices he'd learned about from reading and talking with innovative researchers and ranchers. As he and his family struggled to keep the farm viable, they found themselves on an amazing journey into a new type of farming: regenerative agriculture.
Brown dropped the use of most of the herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers that are a standard part of conventional agriculture. He switched to no-till planting, started planting diverse cover crops mixes, and changed his grazing practices. In so doing Brown transformed a degraded farm ecosystem into one full of life--starting with the soil and working his way up, one plant and one animal at a time.
In Dirt to Soil Gabe Brown tells the story of that amazing journey and offers a wealth of innovative solutions to restoring the soil by laying out and explaining his five principles of soil health, which are:
The Brown's Ranch model, developed over twenty years of experimentation and refinement, focuses on regenerating resources by continuously enhancing the living biology in the soil. Using regenerative agricultural principles, Brown's Ranch has grown several inches of new topsoil in only twenty years! The 5,000-acre ranch profitably produces a wide variety of cash crops and cover crops as well as grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured laying hens, broilers, and pastured pork, all marketed directly to consumers.
The key is how we think, Brown says. In the industrial agricultural model, all thoughts are focused on killing things. But that mindset was also killing diversity, soil, and profit, Brown realized. Now he channels his creative thinking toward how he can get more life on the land--more plants, animals, and beneficial insects. The greatest roadblock to solving a problem, Brown says, is the human mind.
See Gabe Brown―author and farmer―in the award-winning documentaries Kiss the Ground and Common Ground!
Recipient of the 28th Heinz Awards for the Economy: Leah Penniman
James Beard Foundation Leadership Award 2019: Leah Penniman
Choice Reviews, Outstanding Academic Title
An extraordinary book...part agricultural guide, part revolutionary manifesto.--VOGUE
Named a Best Book on Sustainable Living and Sustainability by Book Riot
In 1920, 14 percent of all land-owning US farmers were black. Today less than 2 percent of farms are controlled by black people--a loss of over 14 million acres and the result of discrimination and dispossession. While farm management is among the whitest of professions, farm labor is predominantly brown and exploited, and people of color disproportionately live in food apartheid neighborhoods and suffer from diet-related illness. The system is built on stolen land and stolen labor and needs a redesign.
Farming While Black is the first comprehensive how to guide for aspiring African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture. At Soul Fire Farm, author Leah Penniman co-created the Black and Latinx Farmers Immersion (BLFI) program as a container for new farmers to share growing skills in a culturally relevant and supportive environment led by people of color. Farming While Black organizes and expands upon the curriculum of the BLFI to provide readers with a concise guide to all aspects of small-scale farming, from business planning to preserving the harvest. Throughout the chapters Penniman uplifts the wisdom of the African diasporic farmers and activists whose work informs the techniques described--from whole farm planning, soil fertility, seed selection, and agroecology, to using whole foods in culturally appropriate recipes, sharing stories of ancestors, and tools for healing from the trauma associated with slavery and economic exploitation on the land. Woven throughout the book is the story of Soul Fire Farm, a national leader in the food justice movement.
The technical information is designed for farmers and gardeners with beginning to intermediate experience. For those with more experience, the book provides a fresh lens on practices that may have been taken for granted as ahistorical or strictly European. Black ancestors and contemporaries have always been leaders--and continue to lead--in the sustainable agriculture and food justice movements. It is time for all of us to listen.
A moving and powerful how-to book for Black farmers to reclaim the occupation and the contributions of the BIPOC community that introduced sustainable agriculture.--BookRiot.com
Leah Penniman is . . . opening the door for the next generation of farmers.--CBS This Morning
Overflowing with invaluable tips and innovative strategies, this guide goes beyond the typical fast crops seen in most market gardens. . . I encourage all growers to study it and level up their farming game.--Jean-Martin Fortier, author of The Market Gardener and The Winter Market Gardener
Beyond the Root Cellar is the inspiring guide that proves that--with a little ingenuity--the savvy grower can successfully select, harvest, store, and sell vegetables throughout the off-season, providing their family and community the local food they need during winter months.
Sam Knapp built Offbeet Farm, a winter storage farm in interior Alaska, from the ground up. For the last four years, his success at Offbeet Farm has been a testament to the many benefits of growing crops for wintertime sales. His methods continually prove that winter storage is an excellent way to diversify a farm's offerings, spread the workload more evenly throughout the year, retain customers and employees during the off-season, and bolster local food systems.
Beyond the Root Cellar is a compilation of insights, advice, and instruction, drawing on Sam's experience and that of many other storage farmers Sam has met along the way. It is, Sam says, the book he wishes he had when he embarked on his own winter storage business, and that he hopes will pave the way for growers both new and established who are interested in storage farming.
In Beyond the Root Cellar, you'll find tips and tools for:
Also included are profiles of nine different storage farms, a crop compendium with in-depth information about eighteen storage crops, and full-color photography throughout that depicts a range of storage facilities, methods, and crops.
Beyond the Root Cellar is the must-have, comprehensive winter storage handbook for a wide range of growers, from commercial farmers to market gardeners to homesteaders.
This is next-level market gardening. Knapp is practical and inspiring . . . If you grow vegetables, I recommend that you pick up a copy of this book.--Ben Hartman, author of The Lean Micro Farm
A must-read for anyone who wants to store produce for any length of time. . ., Even if you don't plan on storing produce all winter, this book will show you how to keep it as fresh as possible for as long as possible.--Andrew Mefferd, editor, Growing for Market magazine, author of The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower's Handbook
Principles and farm-tested practices for no-till market gardening--for healthier, more productive soil!
From the host of the popular The No-Till Market Garden Podcast--heard around the world with nearly one million downloads!
Discovering how to meet the soil's needs is the key task for every market gardener. In this comprehensive guide, Farmer Jesse Frost shares all he has learned through experience and experimentation with no-till practices on his home farm in Kentucky and from interviews and visits with highly successful market gardeners in his role as host of The No-Till Market Garden Podcast.
The Living Soil Handbook is centered around the three basic principles of no-till market gardening:
Farmer Jesse then guides readers in applying those principles to their own garden environment, with their own materials, to meet their own goals.
Beginning with an exploration of the importance of photosynthesis to living soil, Jesse provides in-depth information on:
Throughout, the book emphasizes practical information on all the best tools and practices for growers who want to build their livelihood around maximizing the health of their soil.
Farmer Jesse reminds growers that as possible is the mantra for protecting the living soil: disturb the soil as little as you possibly can in your context. He does not believe that growers should anguish over what does and does not qualify as no-till. If you are using a tool to promote soil life and biology, that's the goal. Jesse's goal with The Living Soil Handbook is to provide a comprehensive set of options, materials, and field-tested practices to inspire growers to design a soil-nurturing no-till system in their unique garden or farm ecosystem.
[A] practical, informative debut. . . .Gardeners interested in sustainable agriculture will find this a great place to start.--Publishers Weekly
Frost offers a comprehensive, science-based, sympathetic, wholly practical guide to soil building, that most critical factor in vegetable gardening for market growers and home gardeners alike. A gift to any vegetable plot that will keep on giving.--Booklist (starred review)
It's well known that our industrialized food system has abandoned priorities of nutrition and environmental stability in the pursuit of profit--a model designed to fail, especially as climate change escalates. Yet this groundbreaking book describes a glimmer of hope: a green wave of diverse female farmers, entrepreneurs, community organizers, scientists, and political leaders who operate with the shared goals of combatting climate change through regenerative agriculture, redesigning the food system, and producing healthy, socially responsible food.
From the Ground Up, by award-winning author Stephanie Anderson, offers a journey into the root causes of our unsustainable food chain, revealing its detrimental reliance on extractive agriculture, which depletes soil and water, produces nutritionally deficient food, and devastates communities and farmers. Anderson then delivers an uplifting, deeply reported narrative of women-led farms and ranches nationwide, supported by women-led investment firms, farmer training programs, restaurants, supply chain partners, and advocacy groups, all working together to create a more inclusive and sustainable world.
From the Ground Up sheds light on a set of inspiring journeys, with stories that will transform the way we think about the food chain--one that can weather the storms of climate change, conflicts, and global pandemics.
I love your ideas, but I only have a few acres. How do I do this at my scale?
Success with domestic livestock does not require large land bases. Joel Salatin and his family's Polyface Farm in Virginia lead the world in animal-friendly and ecologically authentic, commercial, pasture-based livestock production. In Polyface Micro he adapts the ideas and protocols to small holdings (including apartments)! Homesteaders can increase production, enjoy healthy animals, and create aesthetically and aromatically pleasant livestock systems. Whether you're a new or seasoned homesteader, you'll find tips and inspiration as Joel coaches you toward success and abundance.
With in-depth information on electric fencing, watering, and husbandry for ruminants, poultry, and pigs, plus butchering, dairying, and more
If we work hard, we sleep well.
Twenty years ago, when authors Shawn and Beth Dougherty purchased the land they would come to name the Sow's Ear, the state of Ohio designated it not suitable for agriculture. Today, their family raises and grows 90% of their own food.
Such self-sufficiency is largely the result of basing their farming practices around intensive pasture management. Pioneered by such luminaries as Allan Savory, Greg Judy, and Joel Salatin, the tenets of holistic grazing--employed mostly by larger-scale commercial operations--have been adapted by the Doughertys to fit their family's needs. In The Independent Farmstead, The Sow's Ear model for regenerating the land and growing food--the best you ever tasted--is elucidated for others to use and build upon.
In witty and welcoming style, The Independent Farmstead covers everything from choosing a species of ruminant and incorporating it into a grass-based system to innovative electric fencing and watering systems, to what to do with all of the milk, meat, and, yes, manure that the self-sustaining farm produces. Within these pages, the Doughertys discuss how to:
As the Doughertys write, more and more people today are feeling the desire for clean, affordable food, unmodified, unprocessed, and unmedicated and the security of local food sourcing for ourselves and our children. The Independent Farmstead is a must-have resource for those who count themselves as part of this movement: both new and prospective farmers and homesteaders, and those who are interested in switching to grass-based systems. Best of all it's the kind of rare how-to book that the authors themselves view not as a compendium of one-size-fits-all instructions but as the beginning of a conversation, one that is utterly informative, sincere, and inspiring.
A comprehensive how-to manual of Polyface Farm's signature designs--with tips, tricks, and a half century of lessons learned through trial and error
Have you wondered how to build the Polyface broiler shelter, or the dolly to move it, or an Eggmobile, Gobbledygo or Shademobile? For folks getting started, folks adding enterprises, or folks wanting a cheaper bootstrap way to build portable livestock infrastructure, Polyface Designs has all the diagrams and do-it-yourself building specifications. Joel Salatin wrote the text and Polyface former apprentice and engineer extraordinaire Chris Slattery did the drawings. Ultimately practical, the book includes how to build a corral, a home-made head gate and even how to select the right axle for your project. Square footage requirements for the deep bedding hay shed and area advice for pig pastures make this the definitive repository for a lifetime of Polyface experimentation.
A massive volume, its 568 pages are in full color and beautiful enough to be a coffee table book even though you'll use it in your shop. Don't let the cover price scare you; one building tip can more than save the price of the book.
In a day when beef is assailed by many environmental organizations and lauded by fast-food chains, a new paradigm to bring reason to this confusion is in order. With farmers leaving the land in droves and plows poised to reclaim set-aside acres, it is time to offer an alternative that is both land and farmer friendly.
Beyond that, the salad bar beef production model offers hope to rural communities, to struggling row-crop farmers, and to frustrated beef eaters who do not want to encourage desertification, air and water pollution, environmental degradation and inhumane animal treatment. Because this is a program weighted toward creativity, management, entrepreneurism and observation, it breathes fresh air into farm economics.
Learn a roadmap to healthy soil and revitalised food systems to powerfully address these times of challenge. This book equips producers with knowledge, skills and insights to regenerate ecosystem health and grow farm/ranch profits. Learn how to: - Triage soil health and act to fast-track soil and plant health-Build healthy resilient soil systems-Develop a deeper understanding of microbial and mineral synergies-Read what weeds and diseases are communicating about soil and plant health-Create healthy, productive and profitable landscapes.Globally recognised soil advocate and agroecologist Nicole Masters delivers the solution to rewind the clock on this increasingly critical soil crisis in her first book, For the Love of Soil. She argues we can no longer treat soil like dirt. Instead, we must take a soil-first approach to regenerate landscapes, restore natural cycles, and bring vitality back to ecosystems. This book translates the often complex and technical know-how of soil into more digestible terms through case studies from regenerative farmers, growers, and ranchers in Australasia and North America. Along with sharing key soil health principles and restoration tools, For the Love of Soil provides land managers with an action plan to kickstart their soil resource's well-being, no matter the scale.For years many of us involved in regenerative agriculture have been touting the soil health - plant health - animal health - human health connection but no one has tied them all together like Nicole does in For the love of Soil Gabe Brown, Browns Ranch, Nourished by Nature. William Gibson once said that the future is here - it is just not evenly distributed. Nicole modestly claims that the information in the book is not new thinking, but her resynthesis of the lessons she has learned and refined in collaboration with regenerative land-managers is new, and it is powerful. Says Abe Collins, cofounder of LandStream and founder of Collins Grazing. She lucidly shares lessons learned from the deep-topsoil futures she and her farming and ranching partners manage for and achieve.The case studies, science and examples presented a compelling testament to the global, rapidly growing soil health movement. These food producers are taking actions to imitate natural systems more closely, says Masters. ... they are rewarded with more efficient nutrient, carbon, and water cycles; improved plant and animal health, nutrient density, reduced stress, and ultimately, profitability.In spite of the challenges food producers face, Masters' book shows even incredibly degraded landscapes can be regenerated through mimicking natural systems and focusing on the soil first. Our global agricultural production systems are frequently at war with ecosystem health and Mother Nature, notes Terry McCosker of Resource Consulting Services in Australia. In this book, Nicole is declaring peace with nature and provides us with the science and guidelines to join the regenerative agriculture movement while increasing profits.Buy this book today to take your farm or ranch to the next level
The first in-depth guide for farmers and gardeners who have access to an established woodland and are looking for productive, innovative ways to create a natural forest ecosystems that produces a wide range of food, medicinals, and other non-timber products.
What a joy to read! Nice pictures, great case studies, and well organized. . . . Farming the Woods is the source for temperate climate agroforestry.--Jonathan Bates, Owner of Food Forest Farm
While this concept of forest farming may seem like an obscure practice, history indicates that much of humanity lived and sustained itself from tree-based systems in the past; only recently have people traded the forest for the field. The good news is that this is not an either-or scenario; forest farms can be most productive in places where the plow is not: on steep slopes, and in shallow soils. It is an invaluable practice to integrate into any farm or homestead, especially as the need for unique value-added products and supplemental income becomes more and more important for farmers.
Farming the Woods covers in detail:
Forest crops covered include
This book is a must-read for farmers and gardeners interested in incorporating aspects of agroforestry, permaculture, forest gardening, and sustainable woodlot management into the concept of a whole-farm organism.
When famine, drought, and malnutrition plagued their communities, these farmers tried something revolutionary--and managed to nourish their families and their land in the process.
Farmers in some of the world's oldest agricultural areas--Africa's Great Rift Valley, India's Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Highlands of Central America, and the Great Plains of the U.S.--were toiling year after year, only to find that modern industrial agriculture was turning on itself. The very practices that they were using to grow food yesterday were making it more difficult to grow food today. Pesticides used to protect their crops were killing off beneficial biodiversity. Monocropping was depleting the soil of necessary nutrients. And deforestation was making the land hotter and drier. Industrial agriculture's effects on our climate and environment were multiplying and worsening, until the very families growing the world's food were starving.
But some of these farmers took a gamble and changed their practices to work with nature rather than bending nature to their will. They terraced the land to catch more rainwater and prevent soil runoff; they planted a diverse range of vegetables that would balance the nutrients in the soil; they replaced commercial fertilizers with organic matter from their own farms; they planted more trees and drought-resistant grains; and, perhaps most importantly, they taught their communities by example that these regenerative farming methods paid off--both in nourishing their families and in bringing their land back to life.
Award-winning author and journalist Roger Thurow has traveled to Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, India, Guatemala, Peru, and the United States to share their stories, highlighting the conflicts inherent in our most important human endeavor: feeding the world using the methods of industrial agriculture is stripping the land of its ability to feed future generations. But, as Thurow points out, these farmers are starting a new kind of revolution, nourishing both humans and the land, and following their lead could help us solve one of the great crises of our time.
Within a decade, nearly half of all American farmland will change hands as an older generation of farmers steps aside. In their place, a groundswell of new growers will face numerous challenges, including soil degradation, insufficient income, and investors devouring farmland at a staggering pace. These new farmers are embracing regenerative agriculture--the holistic approach to growing food that restores the soil and biodiversity--in the movement to reclaim our health and the planet's. But can their efforts help reverse an epidemic of diet-related disease, food inequality, and even climate change?
To answer that question and more, award-winning journalist Jennifer Grayson embedded herself in a groundbreaking farmer training program, then embarked on this investigative journey. The diverse array of farmers, graziers, and food activists whom she profiles here are working toward better, more sustainable foodways for all. From a one-acre market garden in Oregon to activists reviving food sovereignty in South Carolina, A Call to Farms tells the captivating story of these new agrarians finding hope and purpose in reconnecting to the land and striving to improve the future of American food.
Ben Hartman is a true innovator for the small farm.--Curtis Stone, author of The Urban Farmer
It's time to think big about small farms. Award-winning author and green leader (Grist) Ben Hartman shares practical how-to tips, personal stories, and surprising examples of cutting-edge farmers and innovators around the world to show us how.
In the early 1970s, US Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz infamously commanded farmers to get big or get out. In The Lean Micro Farm, author Ben Hartman rejects that disastrous suggestion and instead takes up the charge of the late agrarian thinker Gene Logsdon: Get small and stay in.
Taking inspiration from the groundbreaking ideas of E. F. Schumacher and Mahatma Gandhi, The Lean Micro Farm shows how small, hyperlocal farms can be both ecologically and economically superior to industrial-scale operations geared toward export and commodity markets.
The Lean Micro Farm details the author's remarkable journey to downsize his farm from one acre to a third of an acre in an effort to prioritize family and community over work, all without taking a pay cut. In addition, Hartman profiles six innovative farmers from across the globe who embody this get small mindset. These pioneering farmers show all of us a path toward resilience in the face of supply chain disruption, globalization, and climate change. They model a gentler, more ecological approach to farming that produces less waste and uses less plastic, petroleum, and fertilizer.
Like his previous two books, The Lean Farm and The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables, Hartman's The Lean Micro Farm doesn't just explain why smaller is better, it shows readers exactly how it can be done with step-by-step guides on how to turn a profit from a tiny, but productive, parcel of farmland. Readers will find not just philosophical justifications for a minimalist approach to agriculture but also actionable information for starting your own profitable micro farm, including:
It's time, Hartman makes clear, to pivot to a new kind of farming--one that builds upon ancestral knowledge, nourishes communities, and puts human joy, not technology, at its center.
Hartman has revolutionized his methods, cut down his work hours dramatically, and shrunk the size of his farm, all while making a better income.--Civil Eats
With extensive research, real-world examples, and hands-on applications, this go-to guide offers a comprehensive look at the principles and practices of biochar--and all of its world-changing uses.
Like many human discoveries, biochar has likely been invented, lost, and reinvented multiple times. It can be found in the rich terra preta soils of the Amazon and in the ancient dark earths dotting Africa, Asia, and Europe. However, biochar isn't just an archeological curiosity. In The Biochar Handbook, author Kelpie Wilson argues that the simple process of burning organic material in a low-oxygen, low-emission environment could be one of the most powerful tools we have to restore degraded soils and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
In accessible and authoritative prose, Wilson demonstrates that biochar is a low-tech but effective means of reducing wildfire risks, restoring soil carbon, managing manure, weaning farms off of toxic inputs, and producing the best compost ever made.
In this book, you'll also find:
Wilson makes a compelling case that biochar is both simple to make and a potent solution to a host of knotty problems, both global and close to home. Whether you're a gardener, homesteader, rancher, commercial farmer, permaculturalist, or forest manager, this book will show you how to put biochar to work, making you and your community more resilient as a result.