It seems that books and homesteading naturally go together. I was wondering if you have lots of books too, My friend thinks I'm nuts because I seldom read a novel and they're mostly Christian pioneer stories. How to books are more fun- gardening, canning, herbs, cookbooks, etc. Carla Emery's "Encyclopeia of Country Living is one of the most helpful and also the Foxfire Books. What are you favotie homestead books?

-- Cindy(IN) (atilrthehony@yahoo.com), April 23, 2000

Answers

What a question to ask!! One of our most-used books is the OLD edition of the Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. (The new ed. left out all the livestock info.). Other much-used books have been Raising Your Own Livestock by Claudia Weisburd; Trees For the Yard, Orchard, and Woodlot, from Rodale; The Sheep Raiser's Manual by William K. Kruesi; Raising (Sheep, Goats, Poultry, Rabbits) the Modern Way; Backyard Livestock by Steven Thomas; Tree Crops, A Permanent Agriculture by J. Russell Smith; Wildwood Wisdom (which I can't find right now, but I think the author is Ellsworth Jaeger -- I should know, I've only had the book in frequent use for about twenty- seven years!!). My husband has at least one copy of probably every book ever published about beekeeping -- and has read all of them at least once. Also, Five Acres and Independence by M.G. Cains; Square- Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew; Harrowshith's Northern Gardener; shall I go on?!? Of course, a lot of good information and inspiration has been gotten from library books. The library will also order books for you on interlibrary loan if they don't have what you are looking for -- it's a really valuable resource. Also, Countryside Mag. and the OLD Mother Earth News have had tons of good info. -- my husband picked up a huge stack of old TMEN's at a yard sale a few years back; we used to have most of them, but got rid of them when we moved.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 23, 2000.

What about The Have More Plan? I bought this one years ago, and it's so wonderful I go back to it regularly! Carla Emery's Encyclopedia and Amy Dacyczyn's The Complete Tightwad Gazette has gotten us through many a lean week, and Reader's Digest Back to Basics is a wonderful all-round reference. The Storey books are good too.

My "dreaming" book (the one I get out when I'm really wanting to increase our acreage, get some livestock, etc., etc.,) is a really nice book called Country Life by Paul Heiney. It's got some useful information, but I like it because it makes me feel good.

I've read Five Acres and Independence, but I don't think of it as a "reading" book -- more of a reference on a certain subject when I have a question. Good info here.

And, of course, my cookbooks. I think I have about 100 at last count. I love cooking, and I love learning how to cook new things and, of course, how to cook great meals with few ingredients!!

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), April 23, 2000.

Readers' Digest, Back to Basics - the older version

-- Pat (pmikul@pcpros.net), April 23, 2000.

Readers digest back to basics got me into this life style and know i have a librery that takes up a full closet and spiling out.

-- shaun cornish (shaun-terri@juno.com), April 23, 2000.

I ment now

-- shaun cornish (shaun-terri@juno.com), April 23, 2000.

Reader's Digest Back to Basics; Practical Homesteading, by John Vivian; Carla Emery's Old Fashioned Cookbook; Producing Your Own Power; The Mother Earth News Handbook of Homemade Power; Living on a Few Acres; Root Cellaring, by Mike and Nancy Bubel; Country Life, by Paul Heiney; Build It Better Yourself; Have More Plan; Square Foot Gardening; Successful Small Scale Farming, An Organic Approach, by Karl Schwenke; just about anything by Gene Logsdon; Farming, A Handbook, by Wendell Berry; Raising (Whatever) the Modern Way, by Storey Books; to name a few. Can't begin to tell you how many of these classics that I've been able to pick up at used book sales for as little as 10 cents a piece.

-- Polly (oakridge@netcommander.com), April 23, 2000.

I got Five Acre and Independence and Ten Acres Enough for a nickel each at a garage sale.

-- Cindy(IN) (atilrthehony@yahoo.com), April 23, 2000.

One exceptional book that I find real good is the "Home Comfort Cookbook" that came with my folks new wood cookstove back in the late 30's. Not only the infomation on how to cook but even includes how to cut up hogs, beef etc. I don't know if it's still copyrighted or not. This isn't the one that I've seen in Lehmans-this one is newer by a few years. Anyway, a body might legally copy one----. Matt. 24:44

-- hoot gibson (hoot@otbnet.com), April 23, 2000.

I think we talked about this subject on another thread not too long ago, so check the archives for anything that got missed....probably not anything judging by the comprehensiveness of this one!

I can't remember the authors, Jerry P somebody? Help! But reading the book: Lucifer's Hammer actually got me thinking a lot about why I believe in the concept of homesteading. That was a long time ago, but if you need a jump start, put it on your summer reading list!!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), April 24, 2000.

Sheepish -- that's Jerry Pournelle. He and Steven Barnes and Larry Niven collaborated on the book. I've read it about thirty times. It made me start thinking when I was only nineteen about "what if?" Some people think I'm silly that I take the time to learn the things I have, but I like to think that if anything did happen (lets face it, the dinosaurs would probably still be around if it weren't for that meteor!) that if I lived through it, I wouldn't end up dying of starvation. Would anyone believe the irony if the only people to survive a meteor hitting the earth were those who feel that their "power lunches" are more important than knowing how to plant a potato???

An interesting aside here, Jerry Pournelle's career doesn't consist of just fiction. He's actually an extremely respected journalist who writes about computers and technology.

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), April 24, 2000.

Sheepish, Jerry Pournelle & Larry Niven also wrote a book called, "Footfall" that was pretty good. If you liked Lucifer's Hammer you would probably like Footfall.

-- diane (di_wtch@yahoo.com), April 25, 2000.

Has anyone written a book? Bettie

-- Bettie Ferguson (jobett@dixie-net.com), August 22, 2001.

Has anyone written a book? Bettie

-- Bettie Ferguson (jobett@dixie-net.com), August 22, 2001.