Water for Any Farm: Applying Restoration Agriculture Water Management Methods on Your Farm Paperback – June 24, 2024

This might be the most important book I read in my lifetime. If one is serious about making their land as productive as it can be, water management has to be at the top of that list. And when it isn't, the consequences can be dire, as history has shown.But when it is, the results can be tremendous, with dividends that pay year upon year upon year. I've long know this to be true, but until I read this book, I really didn't understand how to do it. But now, not only do I understand it, I can implement it myself. And when it is said that knowledge is power, this is exactly what they are talking about.

Love the book

If you own or manage land and have any interest in doing a better job managing surface water you really should take the time to read this book.

"This book is intended...to be a description of various farm-and ranch-style water management systems...including the basics of Keyline design. For those interested in learning more about any of the systems we discuss, that information can be sought out in-depth elsewhere" (page 57). Just so you know what this is about and how in depth it goes. It's easy to read/comprehend the basic geometry and reasoning behind the techniques. Has color pictures and illustrations that are useful and a large font."...the simple Keyline cultivation pattern does not work ona complex landscape. It needs adjustments. The adjustments are what this book is all about." The title had led me to believe it was essentially an updated version of Yeoman's book 'Water for Every Farm", but apparently it's more of a sequel. Does not stand alone!Nonetheless, it is great for teaching comprehensive water management systems as a whole and really understand what is going on.

Pretty polarizing is classic Mark Shepherd style(which I love in this subject matter). Extremely informative.

Mark Shepard’s new book Water for Any Farm takes you onto the ground and into the field designing your own land for maximum water absorption. The many pictures make it easy to understand and replicate on any landscape.

The text itself has some good information on water management. But the paperback book has black and white pictures that are near impossible to discern, with reference to "red" lines in the text which obviously can't be discerned. Also the annotations for the pictures has kerning and spacing issues where some annotations look like one unreadable long word. I have never seen anything like it other than maybe some self-published e-book. It is as if no one looked at this thing after formatting it to approve it before printing. It is a bit ironic considering that Permaculture and Restoration Agriculture are all about good design and making sure that you correct your mistakes on paper before investing the big resources to put it out into the world.

I don't agree with everything in this book but I sure feel stupid for not seeing some of the other subjects out in the field before.