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Edible Forest Gardens (Volume 1 & 2) ~ The original handbooks for permaculture, these are a dense read but cover everything you need to know. Don’t worry, they’re all related to self reliant living, and I’ll skip my extensive collection of Icelandic Cookbooks…)
Self-reliant living starts with re-skilling, and unless you have a mentor handy, there’s no better way than hitting the books. These are my favorite books for self reliant living, and they’re taught me more than I can even begin to express. Not everyone’s going to move to land out in the country, and many people are just looking for a way to incorporate small DIY projects into their routine.
Metalworking & Blacksmithing
Food dehydration is one of the oldest methods of preservation, and while the principles have remained unchanged for millennia, the tools available these days make the process much easier.
King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion ~ Nearly as long as they Joy of Cooking, but focusing on just foods made from scratch with flour. Literally any type of bread, baked good, tortillas, whatever you can think of. Flour keeps almost forever, and learning to craft diverse meals from your long term storage food is a great way to rely on your pantry (rather than always running to the grocery store). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Eighth Edition. Chapters called “Poultry,” “Meats,” “Definitions and Measures,” “Home Industries,” “Vegetables,” “Sweets,” and “Oddments” were revised. Starting March 1990, about 3,000 copies were made by copy machine. Gradually upgraded through various printings; another 1,000 done by offset. Again 3-hole-punched, bound with 2-inch metal binder rings. Artisanal Small-Batch Brewing: Easy Homemade Wines, Beers, Meads and Cidersby Amber Shehan ~ A great general purpose guide that will get you brewing right away with minimal equipment and ingredients that are already waiting in your pantry. She focuses on natural winemaking, without winemaking additives, so the recipes are simple and cost effective. I made a truly spectacular lemon balm mead using her recipe. Mastering Fermentation by Mary Karlin ~ Perhaps the most accessible beginners fermenting recipe book, this book contains detailed recipes (and beautiful pictures) of nearly every type of common home ferment, from vegetables to vinegars and cheeses. It’s a great place to start if you’re looking for a recipe book, rather than general theory.
Charcuterie Books
But asking a personal trainer to teach you how to live off grid isn’t really an option for most people. Well, that’s just where the best self reliance books come in. What do you get when you cross a New York City journalist with a purist organic farmer? Disaster in the most delicious ways!
The Herbal Apothecary: 100 Medicinal Herbs and How to Use Themby JJ Pursell ~ A large herbal apothecary book, covering the preparation and uses of, as the name says, 100 different herbs. Comprehensive, but perhaps overwhelming for a beginner. I’m just covering lacto-fermentation books here, I’ll cover home brew beer and wine making books separately later on.) With growing concerns about climate change and the need for sustainable development, many countries strive for greater energy self-sufficiency. Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies by Maria Noel Groves ~ The perfect guide for the home gardener looking to add herbal remedies to their garden plot. I’m often asked how I learned to live as we do, foraging food, canning everything in sight, and maintaining a solar-powered homestead.
The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications ~ A six volume set, these cover everything you could possibly want to know about HAM radio. It’s not a HAM radio test manual (like below), but it’s all the information that you’d need to pass the test anyway. Just about every “prepper” book has at best a 2 paragraph summary of each of the topics discussed here, along with some incredibly bad advice about treating gun wounds with tampons. Energy self-sufficiency is a term used to describe the ability of an individual or community to sustain itself with energy resources. It refers to the capacity to produce enough energy from renewable sources, such as solar, wind and water power, to meet all its needs without relying on external sources. As the cold sets in and some parts of homesteading slow down for the season, I like to take mental vacations to other homesteads and farms through reading. Here are a few of my favorite inspirational reads for cold-weather that I hope will inspire you too!
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