Parnes, Robert. Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers. Mt.  Vernon, Maine:  Woods End Agricultural Institute, 1986.

Price, Weston A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. La Mesa, California:  Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, reprinted 1970. (1939)

Sits on the “family bible” shelf in my home along with Albrecht, McCarrison, and Howard.  Price, a dentist with strong interests in prevention, wondered why his clientele, 1920s midwest bourgeoisie, had terrible teeth when prehistoric skulls of aged unlettered savages retained all their teeth in perfect condition.  So he traveled to isolated parts of the Earth in the early 1930s seeking healthy humans.  And he found them—­belonging to every race and on every continent.  And found out why they lived long, had virtually no degeneration of any kind including dental degeneration.  Full of interesting photographs, anthropological data, and travel details.  A trail-blazing work that shows the way to greatly improved human health.

Rodale, J.I. The Organic Front. Emmaus:  Rodale Press, 1948.

An intensely ideological statement of the basic tenets of the Organic faith.  Rodale established the organic gardening and farming movement in the United States by starting up Organic Gardening and Farming magazine in 1942.  His views, limitations and preferences have defined “organic” ever since.  See also:  Pay Dirt.

Schuphan, Werner. Nutritional Values in Crops and Plants. London:  Faber and Faber, 1965.

A top-rate scientist asks the question:  “Is organically grown food really more nutritious?” The answer is:  “yes, and no.”

Smith, J. Russell. Tree Crops:  A Permanent Agriculture. New York:  Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1929.

No bibliography of agricultural alternatives should overlook this classic critique of farming with the plow.  Delightfully original!

Solomon, Steve. Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades. Seattle, Washington:  Sasquatch Books, 1989.

My strictly regional focus combined with the reality that the climate west of the Cascades is radically different than the rest of the United States has made this vegetable gardening text virtually unknown to American gardeners east of the Cascades.  It has been praised as the best regional garden book ever written.  Its analysis of soil management, and critique of Rodale’s version of the organic gardening and farming philosophy are also unique.  I founded and ran Territorial Seed Company, a major, mail-order vegetable garden seed business; no other garden book has ever encompassed my experience with seeds and the seed world.

Waterwise Gardening. Seattle, Sasquatch Books, 1992.

How to grow vegetables without dependence on irrigation.  Make your vegetables able to survive long periods of drought and still be very productive.  My approach is extensive, old fashioned and contrarian, the opposite of today’s intensive, modern, trendy postage-stamp living.