Friday, October 13, 2017

Good Guides: The Backyard Field Guide to Chickens


This is a guide for backyard chicken keepers in search of chickens that best fit their needs.

Each breed of chicken listed in the field guide is thoroughly described and is illustrated by color photos. The book tells you all about the bird, detailing each breed's particular usefulness, adaptation to climate, coloration, number of eggs typically laid, foraging ability, temperament, and unique qualities.

Chicken Breeds for Your Home Flock
by Christine Heinrichs
Voyageur Press, 2016

Animal Husbandry
Guidebooks and How-to Titles
How To Do It Books

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Review: Red 4WD Tractors


"All the colors of tractors and the people who made them have good stories, and those stories share a common thread: innovative farm boy geniuses who built solutions to a problem rooted in the growing American farm," writes Lee Klancher in his introduction to this substantial history of high-horsepower four-wheel-drive tractors manufactured by International Harvester, Steiger, J.I. Case and Case IH.

This history covers six decades from the winter of 1957 -- when Douglass and Maurice Steiger converted a Cat DW-15 scraper into a high-horsepower farm tractor in their dairy barn in order to make their Minnesota family farm more efficient -- to the present day.

by Lee Klancher
Octane Press, 2017
continued in The Book Stall
Reviews Archive
Tractor Books
Tractors and Tractor Parts
Artwork: Case IH Steiger 620 Quadtrac Tractor

Friday, August 25, 2017

Farm and Garden Picks: Red 4WD Tractors


In this book, the story of the four-wheel-drive tractors built by Steiger, International Harvester, Case and Case IH is told in dramatic fashion. Starting with the development of early four-wheel-drive systems at International Harvester, it traces the evolution and design some of the most powerful and capable tractors of the 20th century.

The book includes the complete story of Steiger tractors, which were originally built and designed in the barn of John, Douglas and Maurice Steiger located near Red Lake Falls, Minnesota. With interviews with more than 50 of the people who built Steiger from a barn to a world leader, Red 4WD Tractors traces the evolution of the lime green Steigers in engrossing detail. .

by Lee Klancher
Octane Press, 2017

Outrider Reading Group
The Book Stall
Tractor Books

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Reading the History: Talking Machine West.


This book brings together for the first time the variety of cowboy, cowgirl, and Indian music recorded and sold for mass consumption between 1902 and 1918.

In the book’s introductory chapters, Michael A. Amundson explains how this music reflected the nostalgic passing of the Indian and the frontier while incorporating modern ragtime music and the racial attitudes of Jim Crow America. Hardly Old West ditties, the songs gave voice to changing ideas about Indians and assimilation, cowboys, the frontier, the rise of the New Woman, and ethnic and racial equality.

In the book’s second part, a chronological catalogue of fifty-four western recordings provides the full lyrics and history of each song and reproduces in full color the cover art of extant period sheet music. Each entry also describes the song’s composer(s), lyricist(s), and sheet music illustrator and directs readers to online digitized recordings of each song.

A History and Catalogue of Tin Pan Alley's Western Recordings, 1902–1918
by Michael A. Amundson
University of Oklahoma Press, 2017

Out of the Past
Book List
History and American West Titles

Monday, January 23, 2017

Farm and Garden Picks: The Beekeeper's Problem Solver

Whether you're a newcomer or an old hand, this book provides the information you need to nip problems in the bud and, better still, avoid them in the first place. Longtime bee keeper and apiary expert James E. Tew guides readers through 100 common problems faced by beekeepers, spelling out in clear and simple terms what the underlying cause is and how to solve it. Each one is tackled in depth, with photographs and diagrams, as well as a wide range of practical tips and useful insights. The problems are divided into ten chapters covering the main areas of beekeeping, from health to housing and parasites to predators. A subject-specific index is also included for easy reference.

100 Common Problems Explored and Explained
by James E. Tew
Quarry Books, 2015


Outrider Reading Group
Animal Husbandry Books
Homegrown Honey Bees

Friday, January 13, 2017

Farm and Garden Picks: The Backyard Field Guide to Chickens

Fueled by the local and organic food movements, as well as a sea change in local ordinances, backyard chicken keeping is booming. Anyone who's decided to join the new wave of chicken keepers knows that the poultry breeds available are dizzying in their variety.

This is a guide for backyard chicken keepers in search of chickens that best fit their needs.

Each breed of chicken listed in the field guide is thoroughly described and is illustrated by color photos. The book tells you all about the bird, detailing each breed's particular usefulness, adaptation to climate, coloration, number of eggs typically laid, foraging ability, temperament, and unique qualities.

Chicken Breeds for Your Home Flock
by Christine Heinrichs
Voyageur Press, 2016

Outrider Reading Group
Animal Husbandry Books
Husbandry

A New Guide To... Extreme Coloring: Tatoos.

This unique adult coloring book is from the Extreme Art series of high-quality, lavishly packaged, and specially commissioned artwork to color that will challenge, entertain, and stimulate.

In this volume, there are a whole range of detailed tattoo illustrations accompanied by descriptive copy that will intrigue and inform as they are colored. Perforated pages allow for sharing creations, which include intricately detailed dragons, spectacular angels, incredible wolves, a rising phoenix, a serpent-headed Medusa, and exotic orchids.

Relax and Unwind, One Splash of Color at a Time
by  Carlton Publishing Group
Barron's Educational Series, 2017

The Book Stall
Artwork
Book List