Packed with step-by-step instructions, useful tips, time-honored wisdom, and both illustrations and photographs, this might just be the most comprehensive guide to back to basics living ever published. Fans of Back to Basics, Homesteading, and Self-Sufficiency have been asking for a one-stop resource for all the subjects covered in that successful series. In response, Gehring has compiled a massive, beautifully presented, single volume that covers canning and preserving, keeping chickens, fermenting, soap-making, how to generate your own energy, how to build a log cabin, natural medicine, cheese-making, maple sugaring, farm mechanics, and much, much more. Whether you own one hundred acres or rent a studio apartment in the city, this book has plenty of ideas to inspire you. Learn how to build a log cabin or how to craft handmade paper; find out how to install a solar panel on your roof or brew your own tea from dried herbs; Cure a ham, bake a loaf of bread, or brew your own beer. This book has something for everyone.

More than 100 Remedies and Recipes for Vibrant Health! Packed with step-by-step instructions to make your own herbal remedies, simple recipes for cooking with herbs and spices, and beautiful photographs, this might be the most comprehensive guide to natural remedies ever published. Here readers can learn about alternative medicine and homeopathic approaches, aromatherapy and essential oils, and much, much more. Natural Healing for Common Ailments Cooking with Superfoods Juices & Cleanses Edible Wild Plants Planning an Herb Garden Everyday Treatments for Women & Children Natural Cleansers for the Home Homemade Non-Toxic Cosmetics Revitalizing Tinctures & Shots Anti-Inflammatory Foods Take charge of your family's health and well-being with this comprehensive guide.

Being a homesteader today may seem difficult; the world is full of so many gadgets and conveniences, many of which most of us consider necessary to live a full and happy life. In this collection, edited and arranged by Jay Cassell, you’ll see that going off the grid, adapting to your surroundings, and depending on yourself and your land is really not as challenging as one may think. With the information and tips you learn in this book, you’ll easily find success as a modern-day homesteader. The essays featured in The Ultimate Guide to Self-Reliant Living were written by some of today’s most respected outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen, nature enthusiasts, agricultural professionals, and successful homesteaders. Through the information on these pages, you will learn the best techniques and approaches concerning: Hunting, fishing, and trapping Foraging Growing and preparing your own food Animal husbandry Living off the grid Building barns and outbuildings Green living Country skills Alternative energy, such as solar panels and windmills Primitive survival skills, such as making fires and finding shelter

As food prices continue to rise, more and more people have discovered that they can create their own food supply, right on their own property, and at a fraction of the price of conventional farm food that's been shipped to their local grocery from locations unknown. By raising and harvesting their own fruits, vegetables, chickens, bees, milk-bearing animals, and more, people are growing locally, sustainably, and at a fraction of the cost. However, poor planning for needs, proper use of available space, and a lack of preparedness for preserving or selling the harvest can quickly lead to wasted time and sweat. Backyard Farming on an Acre (More or Less) is written by people who have planned and run a successful small-scale backyard farm. The authors guide readers through the essentials of planning a small-scale farm from a 1/4 acre all the way up to an acre and beyond. Readers will learn how to decide how large (or small) their farm should be, what they should plant or raise based on their invidual wants and needs (and available space), and how they can prevent their efforts from being wasted. Proven, sustainabile techniques will be presented to readers so they can yield the maximum benefit of their harvest through proven best practices. Readers will also learn how to raise small animals such as chickens and goats for milk, eggs, and meat, and will learn the crticial practices for successfully parenting bees, growing fruit tress, and much more.

"Some of the material in this book appeared first in Good living guide to country skills"--Title page verso.

A Complete Guide to Baking, Carpentry, Crafts, Organic Gardening, Preserving Your Harvest, Raising Animals, and More! The inspiring guide to back to basics living, now fully updated! Now, more than ever, people across the country are turning toward simpler, greener, and quieter ways of living—whether they’re urbanites or country folk. Following in the footsteps of Back to Basics and Homesteading, this large, fully-illustrated book provides the entire family with the information they need to make the shift toward self-sufficient living. Self-Sufficiency provides tips, advice, and detailed instructions on how to improve everyday life from an environmentally and organic perspective while keeping the focus on the family. Readers will learn how to plant a family garden and harvest the produce; can fruits and vegetables; bake bread and cookies; design interactive and engaging “green” projects; harness natural wind and solar energy to cook food and warm their homes; boil sap to make maple syrup; and build treehouses, furniture, and more. Also included are natural crafts readers can do with their kids, such as scrapbooking, making potato prints, dipping candles, and constructing seasonal decorations. Whether the goal is to live entirely off the grid or just to shrink their carbon footprints, families will find this book a thorough resource and a great inspiration.

“The 80 recipes are important, but really, this is a food-studies book written for those who feel some nostalgia for, or connection to, Appalachia.” —Lexington Herald-Leader Mark F. Sohn’s classic book, Mountain Country Cooking, was a James Beard Award nominee in 1997. In Appalachian Home Cooking, Sohn expands and improves upon his earlier work by using his extensive knowledge of cooking to uncover the romantic secrets of Appalachian food, both within and beyond the kitchen. Shedding new light on Appalachia’s food, history, and culture, Sohn offers over eighty classic recipes, as well as photographs, poetry, mail-order sources, information on Appalachian food festivals, a glossary of Appalachian and cooking terms, menus for holidays and seasons, and lists of the top Appalachian foods. Appalachian Home Cooking celebrates mountain food at its best. “When you read these recipes for chicken and dumplings, country ham, fried trout, crackling bread, shuck beans, cheese grits casseroles, bean patties, and sweet potato pie your mouth will begin to water whether or not you have a connection to Appalachia.” —Loyal Jones, author of Appalachian Values “Offers everything you ever wanted to know about culinary mysteries like shucky beans, pawpaws, cushaw squash, and how to season cast-iron cookware.” —Our State “Tells how mountain people have taken what they had to work with, from livestock to produce, and provides more than recipes, but the stories behind the preparing of the food . . . The reading is almost as much fun as the eating, with fewer calories.” —Modern Mountain Magazine

A comprehensive guide to using essential oils in health, beauty, and well-being. Aromatherapy offers countless uses for balancing body, mind, and spirit. Drawing on 75 combined years of experience in botanical therapies, Keville and Green provide a complete resource for students and practitioners. This encyclopedic guide, with more than 90 formulas, details cosmetics, perfumes, and botanical therapies that will help you harness the healing power of plants to enhance your beauty, health, and overall well-being.