Homesteading for Health: One Farm Family’s Guide to Food, Land, and Self-Sufficiency

A compelling blend of memoir, practical wisdom, and eye-opening food science. This is the homesteading book that tells you not just how to build a self-sufficient life, but why it matters more today than ever.

Written by Drs. Robert and Jill Malone, Homesteading for Health is rooted in four decades of lived experience across six working farms in Maryland, Georgia, and Virginia. From hauling water in buckets on a derelict property with no heat or plumbing to breeding Percheron draft horses, rebuilding depleted soil from red clay, and raising their family on food they grew themselves, the Malones have done the hard work, and they share it all with honesty, humor, and hard-won authority.

Inside, you'll find practical, experience-tested guidance on:

Finding and financing a homestead without taking on crushing debt Raising chickens, goats, sheep, cattle, pigs, turkeys, and exotic poultry, including breed-specific advice and frank warnings about what goes wrong Rebuilding living soil through composting, cover crops, and rotational grazing Preserving food and organizing a household that actually functions Gardening for nutrient density using raised beds, heirloom varieties, and organic methods But Homesteading for Health goes further than any typical how-to guide. In a frank, well-sourced investigation of modern food and agriculture, the Malones trace how industrial policy, corporate influence, and flawed nutritional science reshaped the American diet, and what families can do to take back control. From the hidden history of breakfast cereal and seed oils to the real evidence on raw milk, eggs, and regenerative farming, this book challenges what you think you know about what's on your plate.

Whether you have forty acres or a suburban backyard, this book will show you how small, deliberate steps (a garden bed, a few laying hens, a loaf of bread baked from freshly milled grain) can transform your health, your household, and your sense of purpose.