The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: The Ultimate Guide to Producing High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale

My goal of buying this book is to get a resource for growing medicinals for myself and family, rather than relying on others for staple medicinal herbs. While I have yet to really READ this book, having it in my hand I have already spent a few hours in it. It will serve my purpose quite well, but it is better at its stated purpose, "Producing High Quality Herbs on a Market Scale." More than anything, this is a business book. It was written specifically to teach the reader the business basics of starting up a small-scale (1-10 acre) farming of medicinal herbs, from initial business analysis to choice of herbs to grow to sales and marketing. While I normally go into deeper detail in reviews, it would not really add to this review to discuss the types of tractors they recommend, the post-harvest processing specifics or marketing considerations. It is worth mentioning that they give a decent description of about 50 herbs you should consider growing. They are in Vermont and I am in the Republic of Texas, so their recommendations for consideration are just that. Some simply will not grow here except maybe over the winter as annuals. They point this out and give USDA zones and growing specs for each variety, along with general medicinal uses and their own experiences growing each variety. While this is not Very up to date business data, written in 2014 (reviewed in Q4-2015). This may help me some day turn a hobby I'm just starting into a side business. At the very least, it will help me be better at my hobby, which is the reason i purchased it. Looking forward to digging into this one!

This book is a must for a farmer looking at getting into growing medicinal herbs. Jeff & Melanie write a compelling book on how to farm medicinal herbs on their farm in the mountains of Vermont. I read it cover to cover in two days and was blown away by the practical, concise and structured way in which this book reads. It covers land preparation, details caring for weeding harvesting and even drying your herbs on a small farm. Well worth the price of admission for all of its pertinent information and wisdom and an added bonus, very enjoyable to read. This book was a beautiful marriage between being approachable with full-color pictures throughout the book that show the processes being discussed while also being detailed and relevant for a how-to. I used this book as the basis of startinig our small several acre Organic medicinal herb farm and continue to look back at it frequently. I just bought a second copy so my employee can have his own as well. Highly recommend!

Excellent resource for growing herbs on a small farm or even for home gardener. Excellent breakdown (I did skim the section on tractors!) of topics, and also detailed information and profiles about selected specific herbs. No criticisms at all. I have a large shelf about growing and using herbs, and this is the best resource I have found on medicinal herb growing. Plus, I have crossed paths with the authors (at an herb conference) and they are genuinely good people.

I love this book. It gives practical information and points you to sources that can also help you. The details it gives on every plant, including prices both dried and "fresh" for the various herbs is also valuable. I didn't know what mechanized farming tools were out there and this details them all from rototillers to major tractors. I also found it a good read, but then I'm a bit of a garden fanatic.

Good book but not enough of it was on how to grow the actual herbs. More geared toward the commercial grower with pretty mechanized planting and harvesting techniques.

We have been considering starting an herbal farm and this book had the information that I needed. While this is an introductory book, the information provided is concise and wide ranging, and includes very practical advise and first hand experience. In addition, there are numerous pictures not just of herbs, but of life on the farm. The resource section will prove to be very useful as well. The book is printed on high quality glossy paper. Worth every penny!

I love the way this book is written! It is very easy to follow and full of great information and I am only about half way through so far. I think this is one I will have on my shelf forever.

This is a good reference book for any herbalist from beginners to seasoned veterans this book has something to offer.

Very useful, informative book which would be helpful to anyone gardening--saves a lot of researching which has already been done for you.

This book is incredible by the quality and the quantity of details provided by the authors. I really would like to thank them for the mass of knowledge, experience and patience they have put together, thus forming this handbook. The style of writing is concise and straight to the point. I recommend it for everyone thinking of growing herbs & crops in an organic way, for business or for plesure.

Fantastic book Recommended by Michael Pilarski and so I bought it without thinking. Really worth it as it is an excellent book about growing herbs for market.

Great book, very complex and great for beginners! Detailed description of processes.

C'est un livre très complet. Il s'agit d'un très bon ouvrage de référence.