Lisa Kivirist - Soil Sisters: A Toolkit for Women Farmers

Praise for

Soil Sisters

I wish all my neighbors were SOIL SISTERS better farmers, better food, better fellowship whats not to love? Appreciating and leveraging womens distinctives, Soil Sisters empowers and guides feminine farmers to full expression. A truly wonderful guidebook.

Joel Salatin, Polyface Farm

Reading these pages feels more like sitting across from Lisa and friends at a kitchen table, where you quickly come to realize that every female farmer was once an apprehensive beginner and that youre not alone you are among sisters.

MaryJane Butters, MaryJanes Farm, from the Foreword

Lisa Kivirists Soil Sisters is a book with perfect timing. The past seven hundred years of settler colonialism have worked to crush womens knowledge of farming and agriculture. But knowledge is hard to kill. It lives in first nations, in urban gardens and, nurtured by the soil of her farm, on the pages of Lisas book. With more and more young women looking for a future on the farm, this book couldnt be more timely or useful. Buy it along with your first shovel and hat.

Raj Patel, author, Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System

This isnt a how-to-farm book; there are plenty of books out there on raising sheep or growing garlic. Instead, Soil Sisters provides something much more valuable support and encouragement and concrete tips for those women courageous enough to step into a new life as a farmer. Kivirist brings together a chorus of voices so powerful that its like being surrounded by women neighbors willing to lend a hand. Their voices and what theyve learned get me excited about farming all over again.

Catherine Friend, author, Hit by a Farm and Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet

This isnt your grandmas view of farming anymore. Soil Sisters sheds light on the new wave of women farmers. From growers to entrepreneurs, from the fields and inside kitchens; this must-have book has anecdotes, advice, tips and stories for women who want to start a business, learn a craft, or dare to dream big. If thats you, this book is for you.

Karen Washington, Founder, Black Urban Growers; and farmer & co-owner, Rise&Root Farm

All over the globe, women farmers and gardeners are leading the way to healthier lives and landscapes. Soil Sisters celebrates the critical role they play in putting good food on the worlds table while offering a hearty serving of information and inspiration for the next generation of female growers.

Roger Doiron, Founding Director, Kitchen Gardeners International

This book is just whats needed to inspire women new to farming, and its a great read for those who have been farming for years. The book is full of real life stories, and Lisa writes from the heart about what she knows best: the inspiring spirit of the women farming movement. With authenticity and seasoned experience, Soil Sisters provides the much-needed road map for women with organic farming dreams today.

Faye Jones, Executive Director, Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES)

This toolkit for women farmers is a must-read for any woman currently involved in or looking to get involved in agriculture. Women have always played an imperative role in agriculture, nurturing the land and the livestock, but have had minimal resources built to fit their needs and their specific roles. With Soil Sisters, women farmers and ranchers can learn from each other in a practical and unique way.

Marji Guyler-Alaniz, Founder & President, FarmHer Inc.

A long overdue tribute to and toolkit for women farmers, Soil Sisters is a priceless slice of strength and power for women of the land. I have never felt more like a woman than the day I first dug my hands into the soil, and digging into this book is a joyful and much-needed affirmation of that day.

Natasha Bowens, author, The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming

As the title suggests, Lisa Kivirist puts two critically important topics together women and soil to express the change we are all working so hard for in agriculture today. In the past year, it has been confirmed, the dominant agricultural input, glyphosate, known as Round up, indeed does cause cancer, is building up in our environment and in our bodies. Soil Sisters, through stories and reflections, shows solutions: Women in agriculture are instrumental in leading the much needed change. I am inspired as I read the creative approaches, thoughtful management, tireless work ethics. Yes, women are nurturers and much more. Women who are struggling with leadership in all categories you are not alone! This book represents the can do attitude of extraordinary women who are modeling courage and determination. We will make a difference!

Theresa Marquez, Mission Executive (ME), Organic Valley Family of Farms

At last we have a roadmap for women that want to launch or improve their farm business. Soil Sisters uniquely compiles the rich wisdom of successful female farmers and serves it up in an accessible and inspiring way. Its like having a cup of coffee with 100 seasoned women farmers at once and being able to pick their brains about what works and what doesnt.

Temra Costa, author, Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat

As Lisa Kivirist reminds us in Soil Sisters, husbandry aint just a job for husbands. Women farmers are at the forefront of creating a more just, sustainable and profitable relationship with the land, and Soil Sisters is here to speed the plow.

Curt Ellis, co-creator, King Corn and co-founder, FoodCorps

Women are getting into farming in unprecedented numbers and they are changing the face of American agriculture. The current food scene artisanal, direct-to-consumer, local food is flourishing with the energy and creativity of women farmers. As the publisher of Growing for Market magazine for the past 25 years, I have met thousands of amazing women who are either full farming partners with their spouses or running their farms single-handedly. They manage to juggle the hard physical work of farming with raising children, running a household, and maintaining social connections. They lead lives of intensity and fulfillment. In Soil Sisters, Lisa Kivirist has brought many of these women to life for her readers. She shares their insights and success stories and, in the process, provides inspiration for women everywhere to consider farming as a career and a lifelong passion.

Lynn Byczynski, editor and publisher, Growing for Market

Lisa Kivirist learned to succeed in farming and now she wants you to as well. Youre not just another woman dreaming of the rural life, youre a Soil Sister to her. Lisa offers a unique voice to the perspective of women in the agricultural movement while encouraging, inspiring and instructing in a way only she can do.

Maria Miller, Women in Ag Advocate and former Executive Director, NFU Foundation

Inspiring, practical and powerful, Soil Sisters provides the needed catalyst to keep our women in sustainable agriculture movement growing strong. Ive known Lisa for years and she exemplifies from the heart what women farmers are all about heartfelt collaboration and Soil Sisters captures that spirit with every page.

Denise OBrian, founder of Women, Food & Agriculture Network (WFAN)

This practical, accessibly-written, and well-researched treasure will teach you everything from how to choose tools and equipment to how to connect with other women farmers. Through stories of other women farmers as well as her own experiences, Kivirist will guide you on how to get access to land, host farm dinners, take care of your body, and take the lead in cultivating new approaches to farm-based livelihoods. This book should be on the nightstand of every woman farmer, farmer wannbe, and friends of women farmers.