The Family Garden Plan: Grow a Year's Worth of Sustainable and Healthy Food

Melissa Norris is a fifth generation homesteader, a wealth of knowledge and experience, and a fantastic teacher. I discovered Melissa Norris, her books, podcast, and Facebook groups several years ago. I’m grateful. I’ve learned much from her. Her books are a joy to read. It’s less like reading an instruction manual or textbook, and more like chatting with a good friend. Her guidance is invaluable. Her books “Hand Made” and “The Made From Scratch Life” inspired me to step back from the chaos of modern living and get back to old-fashioned living. From mason jars to cast iron cooking, Melissa and “Pioneering Today” academy has helped me confidently embrace a simpler, more satisfying, healthier life. Her newest book, “The Family Garden Plan: Grow a Year's Worth of Sustainable and Healthy Food” is a wonderful step by step guide to help us grow a year’s worth of healthy food in our own gardens!! This book is a perfect “how-to guide” for beginners covering every aspect from planning, choosing and starting seeds, planting, maintaining your garden, and bringing in and preserving the harvest. The charts, worksheets, and photos will make it easy to plan our best garden yet. While being perfect for beginners, it’s still a great resource for more experienced gardeners. The charts and worksheets are incredibly helpful. So much information, concisely organized in an easy to read, easy to find manner. It’s a handy way to keep notes together for planning each years garden. The food needs for a year worksheet will be helpful while planning out how much food we can anticipate needing. The charts on how much to plant per person to grow a years supply and how much each plant produces on average are helpful too. We will be more likely to grow enough of what we will use, and less of things we won’t. The sections on planning your garden space has so many practical and cleaver ideas for maximizing yield with minimal space. It also discusses things to consider for best garden placement, size, shape, and even info in raised beds and vertical gardening. The section on choosing seeds is so informative. I love that Melissa uses heirloom seeds passed down through the generations within her own family. Seed saving is a practical and valuable tradition, one I hope to start. The section on crop rotation and companion planting is packed with helpful tips. I was excited to learn more about trap crops; this is when you use another plant to trap or pull threats away from your desired harvest crop. This is such a wonderful way to protect your crops from bugs, without using chemicals. Attracting pollinators makes me happy too. There is even space in the book to record your garden plans. This will make it easier while planning next years garden taking crop rotation in mind. Growing, harvesting, using, and preserving fresh herbs is one of my favorite things to do. Fresh herbs just taste better. Growing herbs is a very easy way for beginners to start and doesn’t require much skill or space. It’s refreshing to see an informative section on medicinal herbs. As a herbalist, I’m so glad this is included in this book!! Growing your own herbs is a wonderful way to become more self-reliant and self-sufficient. I’m eagerly going through this book. I’m starting to plan our garden based on our needs. I’ll be putting in more raised beds this year. This book has brought some concerns to my attention I had previously overlooked. This book is already helping me avoid making costly and inconvenient mistakes in my garden planning. Having a place to record information will be a nice time saver in future years, I can do my research once, then next year I’ll still have it all in one easy to find place. Of course, I’ll make updates as needed. I plan to use this resource as a guidebook and workbook. It will become a nice piece of our family history to pass on to the next generation, hopefully along with some of our own saved heirloom seeds.

Full disclosure, I was part of the pre-release launch group of The Family Garden Plan. I loved this as an ebook then and waited not so patiently for the actual book to arrive after the release date. I love the way Melissa K Norris gives examples of what she is writing about. I have read a lot of gardening and food preservation books and know more then the basics, but very rarely have I made it through a whole book because of sheer boredom. This book is very different. It walks the reader through every step of growing more food for your family. The format provides a guide for each reader versus a one garden fits all. There are many reasons to buy this book. Melissa adds a personal touch to the reference material that she clearly writes about. She begins by engaging her readers in self discovery of their family's own food needs. By doing this, she makes each chapter as individual as each reader. The Family Garden Plan educates both novice and experienced gardeners in things like gardening zones and micro climates, planning a garden, seed starting, and choosing which type of gardening fits best. The information doesn't stop there. Norris covers caring for your soil from seed to harvest and then ways to preserve the harvest that you have lovingly grown. One of my favorite parts are the many charts that are included. After filling out the " food needs for a year" chart I know how much of each vegetable we eat. This chart along with the "how many vegetables to plant" and other worksheets gives me a good idea of the amount of plants and the best way to get them all in. I highly recommend The Family Garden Plan.

I got an advance copy to read and pre-ordered a paper copy right away to make sure I had my own. This book is for anyone who is serious about growing enough food in the family garden to feed your family for a year. Melissa has the charts and planners to help you with that, plus lots of extra gardening tips to keep that garden healthy and productive without making you exhausted. If you've been looking for an all-purpose garden planning and advice book, this is the one to get. The book is worth the charts alone! The companion planting charts, the pest control charts, the charts on how much of each plant it takes to feed one person for a year so you know how many to plant, the charts for everything--these charts are so amazingly helpful in the garden planning stage as well as the actual gardening phases for succession planting and tracking pest control. Last year, I found Melissa's blog post on how much to plant for a year, and my husband and I took the plunge. We didn't get there, not by a long shot, but it was the best gardening year we've had yet, and even the teens ate the fresh produce without grumping about it. This year, with this book's help, we have a better handle on what we're doing (again, those charts are huge!), and we are really planning out our succession planting, pest control, and just how much to plant this year. Even my husband is 100% on board and making plans for helping more with canning this year. We have three teens, one on the high school swim team, and growing enough to feed them for months, if not a year, has seriously helped our food budget. Add in some sustainable gardening practices, which Melissa goes into practical detail in the book, and it isn't as much work as a traditional garden, not to mention cheaper in terms of water and seed saving and more. I've read through a lot of sustainable gardening and permaculture books, and honestly, this is the most practical, most useful book I've seen yet.

I've been a fan of Melissa K. Norris for several years after finding her podcast (Pioneering Today Podcast, check it out if you're into homesteading, gardening, self-sufficiency, etc!) I have her other books, "The Made-from-Scratch Life" and "Hand Made" so I was very excited when I heard she was releasing another book. I put myself in the "beginner" category when it comes to gardening, but I have no doubt you will learn something new even if you've been gardening for decades. Not only does Melissa's book have an incredible value, but she also has awesome bonuses for those that order! Here are some of my favorite parts of the book: 1) Microclimate descriptions with her home illustration. This was a fave because I'm a visual learner and appreciated the opportunity to see how you have implemented microclimates on her homestead. I've heard Melissa talk about it on her podcast multiple times but it was helpful to "see it in person". 2) "No matter how many times I've grown the same crop or raised a garden, I learn something new every year and season. A garden will teach you many lessons and some of them are about food." Sometimes I get so hard on myself for failure or I get upset when something doesn't go as planned. *recovering perfectionist* so hearing about the constant learning even by an experienced gardener is super comforting and something I have to remind myself of over and over. 3) I'm going to just group ALL of the charts as my other favorite part of this book. I can't tell you how invaluable this is. I've tried to come up with my own system the last time I had my little garden and I was just completely overwhelmed and it flopped. Having everything I need to track already done up for me is a huge blessing and something that will give me more "brain space" and not have to reinvent the wheel. If you want to start a garden, no matter how big or small. You need to get your hands on this book. Not only is the book incredible, but the charts and bonuses themselves make this book worth it! I will be referring to this book often in the yeas to come!

The book seems to have a lot of good info, though I haven't been all the way through it yet. It was also peppered with bible verses and various religious thoughts from the author. I'm not at all a religious person, so I wish I had known that before purchasing. I don't recall seeing any of that info listed anywhere in the description of the book or I wouldn't have purchased. I decided not to return it as the gardening info is very thorough.

The Family Garden Plan is going to become one of my staple gardening books; I already know this. It is general enough for a beginner, yet provides a bunch of detail for gardeners who are more advanced. This book is meant to be more than just an informative read. Ms. Norris includes many, many charts and worksheets, covering a wide range of activities: how to calculate your family’s food needs for a year; crop rotation planning; seed starting chart; pest & disease chart; that’s to name just a few of them. Her writing flows wells, with a friendly, personal tone. It almost feels like she IS a friend, providing you some good gardening information. I appreciated that she included sections on edible perennials, fruit trees, herbs, and edible flowers, along with the standard veggies that many of already grow and are well-acquainted with. Specifically helpful to me was the extensive chart on how we know the crop is ready for harvest. Sometimes, it seems like a guessing game, especially with something new I’m growing. She provides logical, visual tips to help know when to harvest, not just the number of days that the plant theoretically needs. Also in this chart, she goes into best preserving methods for each crop, and how much quantity a particular volume of fresh produce equates to when it is canned or frozen. So helpful!

I have been gardening my entire life, it truly is my passion. I have a bookshelf full of gardening books and I must admit that The Family Garden Plan is one of the most well thought out, detailed, straight forward gardening books that I have ever had the pleasure to read. It is one that I will reference again and again. The photos and illustrations that are sprinkled throughout the book are a visual buffet for any gardener who is dreaming about spring greens and dirt under their fingernails. This book has it all! It is loaded with helpful charts regarding companion planting, crop rotation, soil amendment, berry growing and harvest and preserving charts. There are numerous worksheets as well; Fruit and Berry Planning, Preserving Supplies Checklist and a Pest and Disease Record. The author walks you through every step of growing your own garden; from the dreaming and planning to soil preparation, planting and finally harvest. As you peruse the pages of this book you will feel like you are visiting with an old friend. Melissa has a way of connecting with you through the pages by sharing her success and failures, joys and disappointments.

Tons of helpful info! A fun read going into garden season.

Soooo much useful information and sheets for determining how much to plant, when to plant and so much more

Had to dig DEEP just to find this treasure. I’m working through the pages to create a garden for my family and it’s taking shape and form thanks to this book. The pages read beautifully as though you are in conversation, so it’s not just another boring irrelevant glossy gardening book, it’s a family , living life, teaching other families to do the same… priceless!

Very insightful. It was great at breaking down the steps for a successful garden.

Great book. Look forward to making a nice garden this year.

This book is a must have. It's the first book I see that gives you the method to calculate how much you need to grow for your needs and your family. It's very well-written and understanding. I recommend it to every one.