This large paperback book is a collection of articles published over time by Storey Publishing in their 'Country Wisdom Bulletins'. It covers a broad range of information relevant to the homesteaders' life from animal husbandry to plant care to construction and tools.
This book is kind of like a primer on homesteading. It has a lot of great ideas but not a lot of in-depth information. I liked thumbing through it using it as a source for ideas that I would then go on to research a little more thoroughly to get a real understanding of those ideas.
This would be a good gift for someone who's expressed a passing interest in self-sufficiency but has a hard time coming up with ideas of things that they can start doing right now.
This is a book of ideas. None of those ideas are well developed. Having said that, this book really needs to be rated on a sliding scale. While it never reaches a 10, its value does increase as the reader’s experience decreases. For someone new to homesteading, this volume is worth the purchase price as a resource. It addresses a wide range of topics and claims to have close to 2000 illustrations. It has numerous designs for bird houses and bird feeders, a section on cat care, dogs, etc. After that it enters into homestead livestock such as rabbits, horses, fowl, etc. Of course, it also goes into gardening and food perserving as well as other topics. There are some designs for equipment and buildings, but there is not much detail. As I commented, this volume is much more about ideas. If any of the topics do interest you, you would probably want to invest in a book that goes into more depth.
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