The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: How to Produce High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale, revised edition, by Jeff Carpenter with Melanie Carpenter
As the market farming movement has grown in North America in the past few decades, growers have branched out from the staples — salad mix, heirloom tomatoes, greens, carrots, etc. — into more diverse offerings. Herbs and flowers are obvious add-ons for many vegetable growers, as many of the techniques and tools are complimentary.
This book — like the previous review, a second edition — is obviously for a niche audience, but it provides an abundance of in-depth information that will be of great aid to those looking to get into herb production.
Why should a grower consider diversifying into herbs? First off, the medicinal herb industry has seen huge growth in the past few decades. Local, fresh offerings are hard to find for many consumers. Many of the marketable herbs are perennials; once established, they will produce for years. Herbs also offer ecological diversity on the farm and are a harbor for pollinators and beneficial insects — a major benefit for the vegetable side of the farm. And herbs are less perishable than many vegetables; with the proper drying and packaging protocols, they can be sold throughout the year, helping even out the business’s cash flow.
The bulk off this book consists of the basics of setting up and maintaining a small- to medium-scale herb farm, from planning to tools to creating optimal soil conditions. Attention is given to elements of the process that are unique to herbs. A main element of this is the equipment and process of drying herbs, which the authors go over in detail. They also provide much beneficial information on creating value-added herbal products and marketing herbs — both ventures that differ in significant ways compared to vegetable operations. Helpful profiles of successful herb growers are interspersed throughout the chapters.
The final hundred pages are devoted to the specific considerations for growing fifty different herbs — invaluable information for anyone looking to get into this space.
Resources Worth Considering
Midwest Vegetable Grower’s Guide — https://mwveguide.org
This guide is designed for more conventionally minded growers, but for those willing and able to glean the good while leaving the bad, it’s a powerful resource. The site allows users to select a crop, choose a disease or pest, and then view a list of
recommended controls, based on land-grant university research from around the Midwest.
Ecological farmers will rarely want to use most of the options the program provides, but for operations that aren’t organically certified, a minimal intervention is sometimes the only way to be able to continue farming next year. This guide at least enables growers to make that difficult decision more intelligently.
Holistic Orchard Network — www.groworganicapples.com
HON helps home and community orchardists grow healthier fruit. It is the lifework of Michael Phillips, a frequent speaker at Acres U.S.A. events and the author of The Holistic Orchard and Mycorrhizal Planet. Phillips sadly died in 2023, but his work carries on through many dedicated volunteers who are revamping the site’s forums. It’s an excellent resource for those hoping to grow fruit without synthetic chemicals — an increasingly challenging endeavor these days.
