The Hands-On Home by Erica Strauss

The Hands-On Home: A Seasonal Guide to Cooking, Preserving & Natural Housekeeping by Erica Strauss http://www.amazon.com/The-Hands-On-Home-Preserving-Homekeeping/dp/1570619913/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8


I give this book 9.5 out of 10 acorns (and yes, Erica would totally make good use of that half of an acorn!)

I’ll start off by saying: I love this book! I got it in the mail a week ago and finished consuming it in four days. Her writing is excellent, very well organized, holds your attention while you read, and breaks things down so that anyone can understand them. I’ve been following Erika Stauss (author of the blog, Northwest Edible Life) for over a year now, and have thoroughly enjoyed her new—and first!—book. There is a lot of wonderful information, exceedingly helpful charts, recipes that look delicious, and some home cleaner recipes that I am excited to start using and experimenting with.

This books starts off covering the basics of cooking, preserving, home care, and personal care year-round. She then leads you through the seasons, giving specific recipes and activities for cooking, preserving, home care and personal care tailored to each season.

My favorite part, by far, was the basics and year-round section. For example, there are simple instructions for cooking techniques like braising and making flat bread. There’s a break down on how to make yummy vinaigrettes and salad dressings, and a very helpful chart on which ingredients meld well and how to make favorites such as ranch dressing and chipotle honey dressing. She also gives a lot of good instruction and explanation about making your own personal care products, such as deodorant, shampoo and lib balm, with charts on which essential oils blend well together scent-wise.

Not only that, she gives an amazing amount of information on how to make cleaning products from window cleaner to a toilet bowl cleaner to making soap. She did a great break down of the ph and uses of various cleaners (such as citric acid, vinegar, castile soap, and washing soda). She even gives techniques and systems to effectively clean and maintain your house. I found this section extremely helpful and motivating!

As for the seasonal sections of her book, I found them a little less helpful, simply because they are a bit above my level. The cooking and preserving recipes look delicious, but a little too complicated for the stage of life and skills I’m at right now. But, I’m sure many others will appreciate them, and they inspire me to plant some foods I had not thought of and to grow even more so I have enough to can. I really loved her instructions on jam making (without pectin!) and which flavors meld well together to make unique fruit preserves.

This is a great resource for anyone wanting to become more self-sufficient, better organized, more in-tune with the seasons, a better cook, or have a less toxic home.

I give this book a 10 out of 10 acorns.  It is exactly what it says - a guide to doing more in your home.  I'll never be able to do all the awesome things that Erica does in her home, at least not until I retire from being a full time pediatrician, but I can aspire!  The recipes and instruction shere are top notch, the writing is just a joy to read.

I have made many of the recipes in this book, now a couple years after buying it, and I still get it out and see what Erica has to say about a particular ingredient or dish.  This is more than a cookbook, there's great advice on cleaning without all the toxic chemicals generally found in the grocery store.  She has great advice on organizing your kitchen so that you can make a great meal at almost any time.

The best thing in this book is Erica's voice.  I've been reading her blog  NW Edible for over five years, and now I'm a sponsor on Patreon.  She is simply a delight.  I recommend checking out her blog, and if you like it, check out the book!