Joseph Shirk applied his exceptional mechanical and inventive skills to agricultural and domestic life in the nineteenth century. His knowledge of astronomy, surveying, and botany was acquired with little formal education. He was a farmer, carpenter, surveyor, printer, and manufacturer of various agricultural and domestic tools. This book provides a detailed account of his life and images of all available artifacts. (74pp. illus. index. hardcover. Muddy Creek Farm Lib., 2008.)