Product Description

Using recycled materials wherever possible, engineer and smallholder Joe Jacobs provides step-by-step instructions for over 50 DIY projects for the Home Farm. From poultry houses to fences, bee hives to solar panels, Joe guides the reader through the equipment needed, materials and plans all accompanied by clear instructions.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20039 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
The author includes basic costs per unit, illustrating the savings you can make. He also recommends suppliers, particularly UK companies as you receive helpful after sales advice and support. The diagrams and text are simple to follow and the author doesn't blind you with science. Practicality is the key here, with the emphasis on 'having a go yourself', making this an ideal text for the permaculturist. --Permaculture Magazine

This is an uncomplicated and enthusiastic guide encouraging people to build all sorts of projects, many would think beyond their capabilities. Don t expect blueprints with a detailed description of each and every step fully explained, but rather excellent simplified instructions and diagrams, which are easier to follow and adapt than more complex works. This is the book s strength. It covers a number of areas with sections on bee keeping, field and barn constructions, poultry projects and renewable energy (which is covered in some detail with an insight and very practical guide into most of the major renewable power sources available to the read). A similar section on water is equally well done and interesting. The author has an easy-going and humorous writing style, so it s not like an instruction book which can be very dry reading. I liked the up-to-date references and particularly the references to internet sites: indeed, throughout the book, the author tells you where to look for more information. It is inspiration in its approach and even demystifies the complex subjects of renewable energy and water conservation projects with a practical, common sense approach. The price of the book is very quickly recovered with the helpful tips and practical advice Joe offers. The second volume is due out next year, and I, for one, am looking forward to reading it. --Landworker Newspaper Aug/Sept --The Landworker Magazine

About the Author
As a smallholder Joe Jacobs has used his extensive technical qualifications and training to apply his skills to farming matters.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic ideas for the budding smallholder
Buy this book if you want to save yourself time and money.
We bought this book as we've just started in the miniature farming game. The diagrams are absolutely ideal for people like us with little background in DIY and self-subsistence. The practical tips on buying wood and tools have already saved us a small fortune, and with designs having plan dimensions included, it has been extremely easy to build our chicken coops. And they look like we bought them in a shop!
My wife has tried growing tomatoes in the past with little success. They've always been juicy, but really small. We've now been able to build a small poly tunnel similar to the one in the book, and the toms are starting to look much better as a result.
I could go on. Managing our smallholding was getting us down, but it's been so much easier now that someone's shown us how to get started. Get the book. Save yourself a whole lot of heartache. Highly recommended!!

Great diagrams!
This book is excellent and contains some really interesting projects. It's well written and witty and non-DIYers have read & enjoyed my copy too. The diagrams are fantastic - complete with farm animals! The scope of projects is wide ranging and thought provoking, from the simple to the Heath-Robinson! This book has very strong green credentials - topics such as recycling, water conservation and renewable energy are covered in a practical, common sense way, with none of the smug green eco tone that sometimes spoils books like these. Definitley recommended even if you just want some inspiration and somebody else will be doing the building.

Mint!
I've just started my own little smallholding, and have found that lots of stuff just ends up lying around taking up space. I got on the web and found this great little book! I've now got lots of space, but that is slowly getting taken up by the kennels, bins, fences and all sorts of other stuff that has come about from buying this book. I'm led to believe there is another Build It! book from the same author, so have asked the wife to get me it for Christmas!

Have recommended to a friend!