Have you ever dreamed of someday living a self-sufficient, self-reliant, sustainable lifestyle when you are finally able to purchase that dream property? Good news, you don't have to wait. You can start homesteading right now, right where you are!" From Home To Small Town Homestead," tells the story of how one family turned their home on a tenth-acre city lot into a well-functioning, beautiful homestead. In these pages, you will discover the steps that can help you to transform your home on any size property into a dream homestead.
Jill Winger, creator of the award-winning blog The Prairie Homestead, introduces her debut The Prairie Homestead Cookbook, including 100+ delicious, wholesome recipes made with fresh ingredients to bring the flavors and spirit of homestead cooking to any kitchen table. With a foreword by bestselling author Joel Salatin The Pioneer Woman Cooks meets 100 Days of Real Food, on the Wyoming prairie. While Jill produces much of her own food on her Wyoming ranch, you don’t have to grow all—or even any—of your own food to cook and eat like a homesteader. Jill teaches people how to make delicious traditional American comfort food recipes with whole ingredients and shows that you don’t have to use obscure items to enjoy this lifestyle. And as a busy mother of three, Jill knows how to make recipes easy and delicious for all ages. "Jill takes you on an insightful and delicious journey of becoming a homesteader. This book is packed with so much easy to follow, practical, hands-on information about steps you can take towards integrating homesteading into your life. It is packed full of exciting and mouth-watering recipes and heartwarming stories of her unique adventure into homesteading. These recipes are ones I know I will be using regularly in my kitchen." - Eve Kilcher These 109 recipes include her family’s favorites, with maple-glazed pork chops, butternut Alfredo pasta, and browned butter skillet corn. Jill also shares 17 bonus recipes for homemade sauces, salt rubs, sour cream, and the like—staples that many people are surprised to learn you can make yourself. Beyond these recipes, The Prairie Homestead Cookbook shares the tools and tips Jill has learned from life on the homestead, like how to churn your own butter, feed a family on a budget, and experience all the fulfilling satisfaction of a DIY lifestyle.
A simple guide to growing fruits, vegetables, nuts & berries, raising chickens, goats, & bees, and making beer, wine, & cider from your backyard. If you want to take control of the food you eat and the products you use, Backyard Homesteading will help you learn how to do it—even if you live in an urban or suburban house on a typical-size lot. Inside, you’ll discover how to turn a yard into a productive and wholesome “homestead” that allows you to grow your own fruits and vegetables and raise farm animals, including chickens and goats. You’ll also find the laws and regulations of raising livestock in populated areas, as well as ways to use and preserve the bounty your land produces. GETTING STARTED Benefits of pure food Family recreation Local regulations Potential yields and savings RAISING VEGETABLES AND HERBS Garden planning/layout Structures/irrigation Vegetable profiles Planting techniques Composting/healthy soil Seasonal gardening GROWING FRUITS, BERRIES, AND NUTS Planting fruit trees and bushes Fruit profiles Organic pest control Grafting and pruning Harvesting methods RAISING CHICKENS The joy of chickens Collecting eggs Care and feeding tips Other small animals RAISING GOATS Benefits of goat milk Structures/fencing Care and feeding tips Other large animals BEEKEEPING Benefits of beekeeping Care and harvesting Building hives Collecting honey HARVEST HOME Canning/drying/freezing Making beer, wine, cider Making jerky, sausage Making jams, jellies Pickling/salting/smoking Building root cellars
The immensely popular blogger behind Little House Living provides a timeless and “heartwarming guide to modern homesteading” (BookPage) that will inspire you to live your life simply and frugally—perfect for fans of The Pioneer Woman and The Hands-On Home. Shortly after getting married, Merissa Alink and her husband found themselves with nothing in their pantry but a package of spaghetti and some breadcrumbs. Their life had seemingly hit rock bottom, and it was only after a touching act of charity that they were able to get back on their feet again. Inspired by this gesture of kindness as well as the beloved Little House on the Prairie books, Merissa was determined to live an entirely made-from-scratch life, and as a result, she rescued her household budget—saving thousands of dollars a year. Now, she reveals the powerful and moving lessons she’s learned after years of homesteading, homemaking, and cooking from scratch. Filled with charm, practical advice, and gorgeous full-color photographs, Merissa shares everything from tips on budgeting to natural, easy-to-make recipes for taco seasoning mix, sunscreen, lemon poppy hand scrub, furniture polish, and much more. Inviting and charming, Little House Living is the epitome of heartland warmth and prairie inspiration.
Homemade Shouldn't Be Hectic Do you wish you could slow down and create a home you and your family love and enjoy spending time in? Melissa K. Norris, author of The Made-from-Scratch Life and voice of the Pioneering Today podcast, offers down-to-earth tips and guidance to help you learn how to... bake old-fashioned recipes (everything from biscuits to shepherd's pie) with quick, stress-free steps grow, harvest, and preserve culinary and medicinal herbs (with DIY tutorials for soaps, salves, and balms) make your own cultured and fermented foods at home following simple instructions for buttermilk, sour cream, sourdough, and more simplify your routine and declutter your home with room-by-room guides and Depression-era wisdom Open your heart to God-given rest and discover practical and tangible ways you can craft your home into a refuge for yourself and the ones you love.
DIY enthusiasts, tiny house-lovers, and van-lifers will find inspiration and step-by-step instructions in Tin Can Homestead, the ultimate resource for living small in your own Airstream paradise. The Airstream trailer is the ultimate symbol of vintage wanderlust-and the classic touring vehicle's resurgent popularity has dovetailed with the tiny house movement, resonating with design-minded individuals looking to live small. Tin Can Homestead, based on the popular Instagram of the same name, is the ultimate resource for these would-be DIY-ers, and the perfect coffee-table addition for anyone looking for streamlined, modern lifestyle inspiration. Part practical how-to, part lushly illustrated design inspiration, Tin Can Homestead follows the story of one couple as they build themselves a new life in an old Airstream. Through personal stories and down-and-dirty checklists, this book guides readers through all stages of creating their own Airstream homes-from buying a trailer to plumbing and electrical work. With a hip, bohemian aesthetic and a fresh authorial voice, the authors pair their DIY knowledge with lifestyle advice-including dér, design, and entertaining-and abundant illustrations, from in-process photographs to hand-drawn illustrations.
The Little Way of Ruthie Leming follows Rod Dreher, a Philadelphia journalist, back to his hometown of St. Francisville, Louisiana (pop. 1,700) in the wake of his younger sister Ruthie's death. When she was diagnosed at age 40 with a virulent form of cancer in 2010, Dreher was moved by the way the community he had left behind rallied around his dying sister, a schoolteacher. He was also struck by the grace and courage with which his sister dealt with the disease that eventually took her life. In Louisiana for Ruthie's funeral in the fall of 2011, Dreher began to wonder whether the ordinary life Ruthie led in their country town was in fact a path of hidden grandeur, even spiritual greatness, concealed within the modest life of a mother and teacher. In order to explore this revelation, Dreher and his wife decided to leave Philadelphia, move home to help with family responsibilities and have their three children grow up amidst the rituals that had defined his family for five generations-Mardi Gras, L.S.U. football games, and deer hunting. As David Brooks poignantly described Dreher's journey homeward in a recent New York Times column, Dreher and his wife Julie "decided to accept the limitations of small-town life in exchange for the privilege of being part of a community."
Sixth-generation gardener Renee Wilkinson embraces the old school while adding a bit of funk in this saavy-smart guide to homesteading. From a windowsill to a sprawling backyard, these are all places we can grow vegetables, make homes for animals, and fill our cupboards with canned decadence, all the while flashing our personal style and taste.