The Self-Fed Farm and Garden presents the organic method as a self-sustaining system rooted in soil health care and shows readers how they can shift to a self-fed model that continually recharges the soil with organic matter, thus allowing the soil food web to provide all the nutrients crops need for healthy growth and excellent yields. Based on his long study of his library of classic farming and gardening books, Eliot Coleman re-engineered the way he managed soils and crops at Four Season Farm over the past decade so that he would never need to purchase off-farm inputs of compost or fertilizer.

The self-fed approach combines classic techniques practiced by the pioneers of organic farming, including:

• Growing green manure crops year-round and shallowly tilling them into the soil
• Growing leguminous plants to add nitrogen
• Devising effective crop rotation systems for disease and weed control