Feeding Ourselves ebook by Larisa Walk and Bob Dahse

This book came about after many decades of trial and error in the quest for real, homegrown, organic local cuisine throughout the entire year. We've been gardening and preserving food to fuel our off-grid homestead lifestyle since the 1970's, determined to sever our reliance on the petrol-fueled American food system. Some of our explorations led us to rediscover and integrate old methods, like root cellaring, into our routines. Other experiments resulted in the design of our solar food dryer. Our approach to this effort is from a vegan, gluten-free perspective.

Over the years, Larisa taught workshops on food preservation, including many summers at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair. In 1997, she decided to write a small book, “A Pantry Full of Sunshine”, which she self-published to answer the frequently asked questions that couldn’t be covered in an hour-long workshop. Now, over a decade later, this little book's limited scope became evident and we felt that there was much more to reveal about how we put food on our table.

This seasonal guide features down-home advice from Minnesota, an area where food simply doesn't supply itself year-round. There is a focus on energy efficiency, both in cooking and food preservation. Whether you want to grow and eat vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, or sweeteners, we hope our approach will inspire you to explore feeding yourself, from the ground up. We intend this book to be merely a source of ideas and food for thought. While this is what works for us, it may not suit you, and is not meant to be a detailed plan of action. Feel free to creatively adapt our ways to fit your circumstances.

More from the authors can be found at geopathfinder.com

Topics include:

- Managing your food supply
- In the garden
- In the kitchen
- Live storage and root cellaring
- Solar food drying
- Steam canning
- Steam juicing
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Legumes
- Nuts and seeds
- Grains
- Seasonings
- Resources