Homesteading Books

Forgive me if this is the wrong place to post this, I just discovered the site.

I am looking for some fiction or deeply narrative memoir that has the focus of Homesteading life to it. It doesn't have to be the whole shabang of the plot, I am open, but I want some entertainment that connects with the journey I am seeking as I go through a change in my life. I want to read stories of slow living in action, it can even by dystopian. It can your book or someone elses.

Thank you in advance.

Walden, by Henry David Thoreau is the classic that got a lot of people moving out of the urban areas.

Ten Acres Enough by Morris has recently been discussed here. It is more of a "how to" but it does have some interesting family dynamics.

A lot of people might have forgotten, but the  Swiss Family Robinson books are a homesteading story. They just have an unexpected stop and homestead there. Excellent movie, btw. In the same genera, you have the Little House books, but there's no pirates.

For full adventure homesteading, with great characters seeking space, true love, sword fighting, and the importance of community,  Louis L'amour's first two Sackett books "Sackett's Land" and "To The Far Blue Mountains" cannot be beat.  Louis L'amour gets typecast as a cheap western writer by those who haven't read him. He's a  Hemmingway level talent and those books are all about homesteading the American frontier.

Enjoy

If you're ok with dystopian, Octavia Butler's Parables novels have a major theme of survival in troubled times. The main character has a wide range of abilities to forage, scrounge, hunt, grow food, and build community while a series of disasters is playing out.

Take a peek at this thread. lots of stuff in there.

I have read a lot of books on homesteading.  

My favorites are the ones written by Janet Chadwick.  I am afraid those might be out of print and expensive.

The forum has a Book Review Grid where folks can find books on homesteading and other subjects:

https://permies.com/w/book-reviews

Here are a couple of threads that might be of interest to you or others:

https://permies.com/t/97199/Books-Permaculture-Homesteading

https://permies.com/w/the-perfect-homestead

I suggest the Foxfire series.   It is generally shared memories.. therefore I suspect there is an element of fiction mixed in.

It sounds like Leigh Tate's Five acres and a dream might fit the bill. I was also going to suggest Laura Ingall's too, but Jeff beat me to it. I enjoyed 'a hovel in the hills' by Elizabeth West if you don't mind a UK 'back to the land' story....

Thank you all so much for the ideas! I will start here and get reading!

Wendell Berry's novels are set in a farming community and are very beautiful. Kinda homesteading. And very inspiring in depicting the unique benefits of small, rural close-knit community.

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the books by Willa Cather are the first fictions that I thought of.

Not exactly what you asked for, but British novels set in small towns tend to have the stuff woven in... someone clamping up the potatoes, wooding in the fall, picking fruit from the forest in the summer and making jam, etc.

Although I don't have a specific author, etc. for you, I will say as a city kid, those glimpses of people just automatically incorporating self-sufficiency into their day to day lives fascinated me.

John F Dean wrote:I suggest the Foxfire series.   It is generally shared memories.. therefore I suspect there is an element of fiction mixed in.

I have Firefox 11 on it's way and can't wait!! This is the ultimate bathroom library series in my opinion

By the way Swiss Family Robinson was my favorite novel growing up

Jeff Lindsey wrote:Walden, by Henry David Thoreau is the classic that got a lot of people moving out of the urban areas.

Ten Acres Enough by Morris has recently been discussed here. It is more of a "how to" but it does have some interesting family dynamics.
Enjoy

I read Walden every year since 1976 (high school) wonderful book. I have to limit how much I read at anyone time. Over the years it has changed, or is it me? I suspect the latter.

I finished Ten Acres Enough last month. While not always permies-friendly i live it. I was going to pass it on, but decided to keep it and read if again. His life tracked mine in so many ways.

Anne LaBastille wrote about buying a lakeside plot in the Adirondack Mountains area. I have read the first book "Woodswoman." I think she wrote 3 books in this series.

She wanted to escape the dangers of city life and a bad breakup and she built her log cabin herself.

Had to move it when the council said it couldn't be where she chose.

This was before snow skis and tech to navigate winter conditions and her story also goes on to describe the changes when these came in to use.

If they were there in winter, they stayed there which made any medical emergencies arising of great consequence. Good neighbours who were mostly dim lights across the water were important.

She also had companion dogs which were part of her decision to leave the city. Muggers were shooting their victim's dogs to get their way, which made her trying to save her beloved dog as well by leaving touching.

I enjoyed her journey, but she was a scientist funding her life by working as an ecology consultant so she wasn't growing things and generating her food sources like most homesteaders. Some fishing if I recall and a lyrically beautiful looking up at the night sky out when camping/exploring on the day of the moon landing which I found profound.

She describes her days and preparation for winter.

The crushing fear when unplanned accidents threw her at the mercy of whatever came upon her next.

The sense of freedom and amazement at the utter beauty all around her remains memorable.

We don't have snow and winters like this in Australia so I found that aspect engrossing.

Edited to add............. not fiction per se, but a scientist making home base in a snowbound cabin and making it work.

Thank you for the recommendations. Some interesting looking reads there.

A used copy of Fermentation on Wheels arrived at my door and being rainy outdoors, I've read most of it already! Although I would consider this homesteading on the run, I think it counts! I highly recommend this book as an entertaining and informative book for homesteaders, and perfect for the bathroom library!