homesteader's library

[kentuckyhippie]

what books do you think are absolutely necessary for a homesteader to have in their personal library for everyday reference? I have
Five Acres and Independance
The Encyclopedia of Country LIving
Mindel's Herb Bible
Ball Canning book
How to Fix Almost Everything
The SAS Survival Handbook

[Spinner]

I have so many that it's almost impossible to pick any that are more necessary than the others. They all have good info.

I guess my favorite book would have to be one from the first 1/2 of the last century. It tells how to build things for the homestead. I think my dad used it in a class he took back in the 40's.

Another one of my favorites isn't a published book. It's a 3 ring binder of information I've gathered online and printed out. It's about 3" thick and keeps growing as I find more information that I think I might need some day.

[CJ]

As many as you can get your hands on. Reference books are a terrific to have on hand, the more you have the more answers available. I've been building a reference library since my 20's and have amassed quite a collection. Ranks right up there in value to me, with land, food and other basic necessities.

The Wandering Quilter's Life in a Box!

[paintlady]

STocking Up is a good one to have.

[Jenn]

I think Suzanne Ashworth Seedsaver's manual Seed to Seed although I rarely use/follow it directly; hope never to need to but value having that information available hard copy on hand.

Gardening books but no specific ones- Rodales OLD organic encyclopedia was oft opened but lately it's just Jeavons How to Grow More Veg...and Square Foot Gardening for plant spacing. When I was newer to gardening Creasy Edible Landscaping all Eliot Coleman's books esp Four Season Harvest for that epiphany of don't give up the garden in winter (or for me in TX and AL in midsummer) and Barbara Damrosch's Garden Primer.

Also regional gardening books- I'd've been lost if not for Scott Ogden's Gardening Success with Difficult Soils (saved my butt from drowning all my TX trees in caliche) and now that I'm gentrifying, his Flower Bulbs for the South (IIRC). Similarly all Don Hasting's books and now the various (but while I have the luxury of most of them I have a lot of overlap) books on Alabama and surrounds. Finally I only read Steve Solomon's Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades in prep for moving to England to garden but the epiphany he gave me about organic fertilizer (It's NOT just the soil) by explaining how backwoods marijuana growers backpack in gals of miracle Gro, and if they wanted organic pot would need much larger quantities of manure etc but not just to leave the forest soil which is perfect at start for its needs alone.... and complaining about org growers who say "We didn't do so well this year but we're improving the soil" (guilty) has changed my lazy ways. (Growing organicly is NOT just being too lazy to spray, ya gotta be industrious enough to compost and move it from your lovely compost heap to your garden!)

[pixelphotograph]

Anything by Rodales for gardening questions and answers.

[DianeWV]

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live it by John Seymour

[minnikin1]

Practical Skills by Gene Logsdon.

[RedTartan]

I have found "Barnyard in Your Backyard" to be very, very helpful. It's a basic care guide for all the usual barnyard animals.

RedTartan

[linn]

1,001 Old-Time Garden Tips, Clean +Green and Storey's Guide to Basic Country Skills. I believe Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living is hands-down, the best, all-around source for the homesteader.

[dk_40207]

I would add Build It Better Yourself by Rodale Press