The organic homestead means something deeper than either the nobility of work or the pleasantness of leisure. What it must provide -- if the homestead is to have true success -- is a shrine to tranquility, an island of calm sanity to which you can retreat each day from the hectic outside world. "

Gene Logsdon is uniquely qualified to write about homesteading -- his heart has never been far from the land. He was born and raised on his family s farm, and as an adult he established a two-acre homestead before moving on to operate a 32-acre farm of his own.

A prolific writer on a range...