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Homesteading Books
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Self-Sufficient Living
"How to be green, save green, grow greens-even turn a thumb green." Self-sufficient living can mean a healthier life, a way to protect the earth, or a way to save money. This guide helps readers find their perfect degree of self reliance in the areas of food, shelter, energy, clothing, and more. For both the urban and rural dweller, it covers gardening, cooking from scratch, preserving food, raising livestock, keeping chickens, generating or supplementing energy, essential tools and equipment, foraging for wild foods, hunting, fishing, and trapping. a Saving money in today's economy and self-sufficiency go hand-in-hand a For the growing number of eco-friends considering self-sufficiency a Existing books focus on either rural or urban self-sufficiency, but this covers both
Letters of a Woman Homesteader
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Frontier and pioneer life; Pioneers; Wyoming; Women pioneers; Biography
Backyard Structures and How to Build Them
Does your backyard or garden look bleak and boring? Has your spouse ever told you that you need your own work building? Are your children's toys overflowing into the neighbor's yard because you have nowhere to put them? Have you ever thought about investing in a two-car garage or a small barn? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this is the book for you. We all know that hiring a contractor or builder to take care of backyard projects can be costly and aggravating. In Monte Burch's BACKYARD STRUCTURES AND HOW TO BUILD THEM, you will be shown how to undertake these projects yourself, saving time and money, and still end up with beautiful new outbuildings. More than two dozen attractive and practical building plans to improve your yard, farm, or homestead are fully presented in this book. Many of the structures are known as pole buildings, which require no foundation excavation, only limited grading, and fewer materials. They also allow for the use of sites not suitable for other types of construction, and offer excellent structural integrity and wind resistance. Monte Burch's backyard structures include: OSmall and Big Hay Bale Barns ORecreational Vehicle Shelter OMobile Home Cover OWoodshed OTwo-Car Garage OWorkshop OPlayhouses OTreestands OGrape Arbors OAnd many more From storage shed to swimming-pool deck surround, Burch's fresh ideas offer something for everyone. Better still, the simplicity and ease of construction make them ideal for the first-time builder.
The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It
"The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It" is the only book that teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more. Our 2003 edition included 150 new full-color illustrations and a special section in which John Seymour, the father of the back to basics movement, explains the philosophy of self-sufficiency and its power to transform lives and create communities. More relevant than ever in our high-tech world, "The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It" is the ultimate practical guide for realists and dreamers alike.
Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills
Anyone who wants to learn basic living skills-the kind employed by our forefathers-and adapt them for a better life in the twenty-first century need look no further than this eminently useful, full-color guide. Countless readers have turned to "Back to Basics" for inspiration and instruction, escaping to an era before power saws and fast food restaurants and rediscovering the pleasures and challenges of a healthier, greener, and more self-sufficient lifestyle. Now newly updated, the hundreds of projects, step-by-step sequences, photographs, charts, and illustrations in "Back to Basics" will help you dye your own wool with plant pigments, graft trees, raise chickens, craft a hutch table with hand tools, and make treats such as blueberry peach jam and cheddar cheese. The truly ambitious will find instructions on how to build a log cabin or an adobe brick homestead. More than just practical advice, this is also a book for dreamers-even if you live in a city apartment you will find your imagination sparked, and there's no reason why you can't, for example, make a loom and weave a rag rug. Complete with tips for old-fashioned fun (square dancing calls, homemade toys, and kayaking tips), this may be the most thorough book on voluntary simplicity available.
Cabins & Cottages: The Basics of Building a Getaway Retreat for Hunting, Camping, and Rustic Living
Whether building a summer cottage in the woods or homesteading off the grid, this book gives readers a logical and sensible approach to building permanent shelter in out-of-the-way places. Including everything from choosing and clearing a site and creating an electrical power source, to clearing the land and creating a foundation, this book offers instruction on building an A-frame cabin or a rustic log cabin with a framed roof. Also included is a special section on designing small buildings to cope with Mother Nature, inlcuding earthquakes, heavy snow, high wind, and flooding.
Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life
Starting off as a young, single woman with a desk job and a city apartment, Jenna Woginrich set out to build a more self-sufficient lifestyle by learning homesteading skills. She didn't own land or have much practical experience beyond a few forays into knitting and soap making, but she did have a strong desire to opt out of what she saw as a consumer-driven culture. After moving across the country to a rented farmhouse in northern Idaho, she learned to raise chickens, keep bees, and grow her own food. This is the story of her joyful, dramatic, and sometimes sorrowful journey toward self-reliance. Along the way, she learned that an abundance of enthusiasm and a willingness to experiment could make up for a lack of knowledge, and that reaching out to others for mentoring and guidance could help her reconnect with her community. From the satisfying work of starting a new garden and installing honeybees, to the bliss of gathering fresh eggs to be baked into a quiche served with warm-from-the-oven bread and hand-churned butter, "Made from Scratch" shares the deep satisfaction that comes with providing for oneself. In an encouraging and entertaining voice, Woginrich weaves into her narrative easy-to-follow instructions for making your own clothes, teaching yourself to play a musical instrument, and much more. In any setting - urban, suburban, or rural - with any level of experience, it's possible to take small steps toward self-reliance. Windowbox vegetable gardens, a batch of homemade strawberry jam, a handknit sweater, or a small flock of backyard chickens all satisfy the craving to homestead. It's not about having a rustic cabin on five acres, complete with a pickup truck and a barn full of livestock. For Woginrich, it's about being more receptive to learning the simple skills most of us have forgotten, and finding joy in the process. Praise for "Made from Scratch" - "The book...is simultaneously a lighthearted fish-out-of-water, city-girl-turns-homesteader memoir, and a more serious primer on making a lifestyle change. Perfect for environmentally conscious, do-it-yourself readers." -"Booklist" "This fine, simple book is the real deal - and it will come as a great relief to people feeling some silent dread in a time of rising gas prices, food shortages, and the like. Much can be done -- in your home " -Bill McKibbon, author of "Deep Economy" "A delightful introduction to the simple (and not so simple) life." -William Alexander, author of "The $64 Tomato"
The Human-Powered Home: Choosing Muscles Over Motors
"The Human-Powered Home is a level-headed book which focuses on informing and entertaining. There is no utopian hyperbole, just useful facts and anecdotes that provide the foundation necessary to take appropriate action. Dean has produced an accessible primer for novices in the area of people power as well as a book that is thorough enough to benefit even experienced tinkerers. - Joel Gillespie, Momentum Magazine "Tamara Dean, author of The Human Powered Home, doesn't want anyone to get the wrong idea. Creating one's own power is not an easy undertaking. But it can be very energizing. The bicycle is the real hero in the book. There are photos and descriptions of dozens of jury-rigged devices, built to do everything from wash clothes to make soap to power laptops. While it's a thorough guide for confident do-it-yourselfers, the book also details how pedal and treadle power can make life-changing differences globally." - Marsha Walton, Mother Nature Network What if I could harness this energy? An unusual question for anyone putting in a long stint on a treadmill perhaps, yet human power is a very old, practical, and empowering alternative to fossil fuels. Replacing motors with muscles can be considered a political act--an act of self-sufficiency that gains you independence. The Human-Powered Home is a one-of-a-kind compendium of human- powered devices gathered from a unique collection of experts. Enthusiasts point to the advantages of human power: Portable and available on-demand Close connection to the process or product offers more control Improved health and fitness The satisfaction of being able to make do with what is available This book discusses the science and history of human power and examines the common elements of human-powered devices. It offers plans for making specific devices, grouped by area of use, and features dozens of individuals who share technical details and photos of their inventions. For those who want to apply their own ingenuity, or for those who have never heard of human-powered machines, this book is an excellent reference. For those who are beginning to understand the importance of a life of reduced dependency on fossil fuels, this book could be a catalyst for change. Tamara Dean is a technical and environmental writer who lives in Wisconsin, where she and her partner David human-power their grain mill, blender, coffee grinder, and assorted electrical gadgets.
The Natural Kitchen: Your Guide to the Sustainable Food Revolution
This quietly revolutionary guidebook picks up where the bestselling Process Self-Reliance Series' "The Urban Homestead" left off and brings us into the kitchen, where the daily choices we make involving food have a profound impact both on our lives and the world at large. Deborah Eden Tull draws upon seven years of experience as a monk, organic farmer, and chef to introduce simple but life-changing ways for urbanites to adopt a more mindful relationship with food, including shopping, menu planning, cooking, growing and preserving food, and maintaining the kitchen. Beautifully illustrated, practical, and fun, this book is filled with anecdotes and step-by-step instructions to inspire neophytes and experienced homesteaders alike. "The Natural Kitchen"'s introspective and educational journey will inspire action and change forever the way readers relate to food, the environment, and their daily lives.
The Backyard Homestead: Produce All the Food You Need on Just a Quarter Acre!
Put your backyard to work Enjoy fresher, organic, better-tasting food all the time. The solution is as close as your own backyard. Grow the vegetables and fruits your family loves; keep bees; raise chickens, goats, or even a cow. "The Backyard Homestead" shows you how it's done. And when the harvest is in, you'll learn how to cook, preserve, cure, brew, or pickle the fruits of your labor. From a quarter of an acre, you can harvest 1,400 eggs, 50 pounds of wheat, 60 pounds of fruit, 2,000 pounds of vegetables, 280 pounds of pork, 75 pounds of nuts. Praise for "The Backyard Homestead: "Bottom line is, even if you're not ready for complete self-sufficiency, in today's economic climate, it just makes sense to try to produce some of your own food. And this book is a great way to get your feet wet." - "Epicurious.com"
The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City
"A delightfully readable and very useful guide to front- and back-yard vegetable gardening, food foraging, food preserving, chicken keeping, and other useful skills for anyone interested in taking a more active role in growing and preparing the food they eat."--BoingBoing.net This celebrated, essential handbook for the urban homesteading movement shows how to grow and preserve your own food, clean your house without toxins, raise chickens, gain energy independence, and more. Step-by-step projects, tips, and anecdotes will help get you started homesteading immediately. "The Urban Homestead" is also a guidebook to the larger movement and will point you to the best books and Internet resources on self-sufficiency topics. Written by city dwellers for city dwellers, this copiously illustrated, two-color instruction book proposes a paradigm shift that will improve our lives, our community, and our planet. By growing our own food and harnessing natural energy, we are planting seeds for the future of our cities. New projects include: How to sterilize jars and bottles How to make infused oil Six ways to preserve a tomato How to make soda bread How to store grain with dry ice How to make a tomato can stove How to make a Viet Nam light How to make a Euell Gibbon's crock How to make L'hamd markad, or preserved, salted lemons How to make a bike light
Homesteading: A Backyard Guide To: Growing Your Own Food, Canning, Keeping Chickens, Generating Your Own Energy, Crafting, Herbal
Who doesn't want to shrink their carbon footprint, save money, and eat homegrown food whenever possible? Even readers who are very much on the grid will embrace this large, fully-illustrated guide on the basics of living the good, clean life. It's written with country lovers in mind-even those who currently live in the city. Whether you live in the city, the suburbs, or even the wilderness, there is plenty you can do to improve your life from a green perspective. Got sunlight? Start container gardening. With a few plants, fresh tomatoes, which then become canned tomato sauce, are a real option. Reduce electricity use by eating dinner by candlelight (using homemade candles, of course). Learn to use rainwater to augment water supplies. Make your own soap and hand lotion. Consider keeping chickens for the eggs. From what to eat to supporting sustainable restaurants to avoiding dry cleaning, this book offers information on anything a homesteader needs-and more.
The Homesteading Handbook: A Back to Basics Guide to Growing Your Own Food, Canning, Keeping Chickens, Generating Your Own Energy,
Who doesn't want to shrink their carbon footprint, save money, and eat homegrown food whenever possible? Even readers who are very much on the grid will embrace this large, fully-illustrated guide on the basics of living the good, clean life. It's written with country lovers in mind-even those who currently live in the city. Whether you live in the city, the suburbs, or even the wilderness, there is plenty you can do to improve your life from a green perspective. Got sunlight? Start container gardening. With a few plants, fresh tomatoes, which then become canned tomato sauce, are a real option. Reduce electricity use by eating dinner by candlelight (using homemade candles, of course). Learn to use rainwater to augment water supplies. Make your own soap and hand lotion. Consider keeping chickens for the eggs. From what to eat to supporting sustainable restaurants to avoiding dry cleaning, this book offers information on anything a homesteader needs-and more.
Wise Words for the Good Life: A Homesteader's Personal Collection
This book puts a contemporary trend into historical perspective, proving that there is, indeed, a connection between the homesteaders living off-the-grid in Mendocino County, California, and the ancient Greek philosophers. Thank you to Helen Nearing for making the connection so apparent. Wise Words for the Good Life is produced in collaboration with The Good Life Center in Harborside, Maine, which exists to provide education and inspiration based upon the example set by Scott and Helen Nearing.
A New Vision for Iowa Food and Agriculture
Francis Thicke, PhD, is a scientist, an expert on sustainable agriculture, and a practicing dairy farmer. He is widely consulted for his clear explanations of the economic and ecological forces that are changing the way we produce food in the modern world. This book draws from his background as an organic dairy farmer, and as a soil scientist who has served at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. as National Program Leader for Soil Science. This introductory book addresses topics from industrial farming (including CAFOs - Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) to the ongoing conflicts between factory farms and family farms, to how family farms can be profitable after peak oil. He also examines industrial agriculture and nature's own ecological methods, and shows how, in his own dairy operation, new sustainable approaches can be less costly, more productive, and return more profits to farmers. Dr. Thicke is an advocate for the systematic improvement of agricultural technology and farming methods, and for the effective use of sustainable, renewable sources of energy to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. His insights have proven increasingly relevant in the development of new public policy for Iowa, with profound implications for the United States as a whole.
The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading: An Encyclopedia of Independent Living
Can you make your own bread (sans bread machine)? Grow a garden all winter? What can you use instead of toilet paper? What if the power went out for a month? What if the grocery store closed? Can you make a solar oven? Store food without electricity? Raise a water buffalo? Make fine linen from stinging nettle? Make your own shampoo? Deliver a baby? Is it possible to be totally self-sufficient? This massive, full-color book answers all these questions and thousands more and includes checklists, diagrams, and instructions on how to buy a sheep. All of the information included meets these criteria: It is something that anyone can do, without special training. It can be done with relatively few supplies or with stuff you can make yourself. It has been tried and tested--either by the author, the military, doctors, or other homesteaders. The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading is not a storybook or a cookbook. It is a practical guide with nitty-gritty details on everything a homesteader can do, step-by-step with hundreds of color illustrations and pen and ink sketches. You can do it This book can help.
Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre
Mini Farming describes a holistic approach to small-area farming that will show you how to produce 85 percent of an average family's food on just a quarter acre-and earn $10,000 in cash annually while spending less than half the time that an ordinary job would require. Even if you have never been a farmer or a gardener, this book covers everything you need to know to get started: buying and saving seeds, starting seedlings, establishing raised beds, soil fertility practices, composting, dealing with pest and disease problems, crop rotation, farm planning, and much more. Because self-suf?ciency is the objective, subjects such as raising backyard chickens and home canning are also covered along with numerous methods for keeping costs down and production high. Materials, tools, and techniques are detailed with photographs, tables, diagrams, and illustrations.
ECOpreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits
Ivanko and Kivirist - innkeepers, authors, and wearers of many other hats - truly walk the green talk, detailing the nitty-gritty of running a green business. - Library Journal I'm not even sure I'd call this a "business book." ECOpreneuring contains plenty of advice on starting a small, eco-conscious business, but the authors focus primarliy on how entrepreneurial efforts can incorporate values and priorities beyond the bottom line. Lifestyle choices trump profit motives, but neither have to be sacrificed in order to create meaning and income. This kind of positive thinking is repeated again and again throughout the book. In addition to sharing their own success, and the stories of others, ECOpreneuring is filled with practical information about starting and running a small green business. A potential ecopreneur will discover ideas on everything from bookkeeping to marketing, and the authors point to numerous other resources that will help you set up your company, and run your business without running afoul of tax codes, licensing agencies, or litigious competitors. I really enjoyed this thoughtful, well-written book - a business book that's inspiring and practical is hard to come by. ECOpreneuring lays out a blueprint for making health, happiness and abundance an integral part of the work we do.Reviewed by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, Sustainablog Powerful social trends toward green living, relocalization, and self-sufficiency have fanned the fires of would-be ecopreneurs in North America, driving a shift toward prioritizing purpose over profits, and building community over building market share. A nation of nine-to-fivers is giving way to a spirited bunch of innovators, searching for ways to make a life instead of simply making a living. This accessible and inspiring guide includes profiles of successful ecopreneurs and provides an in-depth exploration of: Eco-business basics Purposeful management Marketing in the green economy Running a lifestyle business Ecopreneuring shows how we can earn our daily bread on a local or regional level while saving money, strengthening the economy, and helping restore the planet to ecological health and social stability. Part small business manifesto, part personal finance primer, Ecopreneuring is essential reading for small business owners, prospective entrepreneurs, and anyone who dreams of a livelihood based on independence, creativity, passion, and a commitment to green practices and sustainability. John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist are innkeepers of the award-winning Inn Serendipity Bed & Breakfast, which is powered by renewable energy. This husband-and-wife duo are national speakers, organic growers, marketing consultants, and authors, whose books include Rural Renaissance and Edible Earth and a number of Global Fund for Children multicultural books.