Download or read book Adventures of an Urban Homesteader written by Brooke L. Davis and published by Gallatin River Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After three years under the thumb of a cretinous boss who’s sucked all the joy out of working a 9-to-5 job, twenty-eight-year-old Kendall Whitney has had enough. She flees San Francisco, her annoying roommates, and her overbearing mother, and takes refuge in Bozeman, Montana, where it feels like the big sky’s the limit. Safely ensconced in her best friend’s guest room, she promptly launches a three-pronged plan: to live alone for the first time in her life, develop a successful graphic design career, and figure out what she wants in a relationship. She embarks upon Operation Kendall Independence, only to realize that she doesn’t know the first thing about adulting. Hangovers, homemaking, freelancing, friendships, and modern cowboys bent on monogamy . . . it’s enough to send a single girl running for the gin & tonics. With self-deprecating charm and endearing humor, Adventures of an Urban Homesteader is the raucous and heartwarming diary of a young woman who’s determined to seek stability and security on her own terms, and to make her own safety net in case she fails.
Download or read book Locally Laid written by Lucie B. Amundsen and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How a Midwestern family with no agriculture experience went from a few backyard chickens to a full-fledged farm—and discovered why local chicks are better. When Lucie Amundsen had a rare night out with her husband, she never imagined what he’d tell her over dinner—that his dream was to quit his office job (with benefits!) and start a commercial-scale pasture-raised egg farm. His entire agricultural experience consisted of raising five backyard hens, none of whom had yet laid a single egg. To create this pastured poultry ranch, the couple scrambles to acquire nearly two thousand chickens—all named Lola. These hens, purchased commercially, arrive bereft of basic chicken-y instincts, such as the evening urge to roost. The newbie farmers also deal with their own shortcomings, making for a failed inspection and intense struggles to keep livestock alive (much less laying) during a brutal winter. But with a heavy dose of humor, they learn to negotiate the highly stressed no-man’s-land known as Middle Agriculture. Amundsen sees firsthand how these midsized farms, situated between small-scale operations and mammoth factory farms, are vital to rebuilding America’s local food system. With an unexpected passion for this dubious enterprise, Amundsen shares a messy, wry, and entirely educational story of the unforeseen payoffs (and frequent pitfalls) of one couple’s ag adventure—and many, many hours spent wrangling chickens.
Download or read book The Prairie Homestead Cookbook written by Jill Winger and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Up Tunket Road written by Philip Ackerman-Leist and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2010-05-14 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since Thoreau's Walden, the image of the American homesteader has been of someone getting away from civilization, of forging an independent life in the country. Yet if this were ever true, what is the nature and reality of homesteading in the media-saturated, hyper-connected 21st century? For seven years Philip Ackerman-Leist and his wife, Erin, lived without electricity or running water in an old cabin in the beautiful but remote hills of western New England. Slowly forging their own farm and homestead, they took inspiration from their experiences among the mountain farmers of the Tirolean Alps and were guided by their Vermont neighbors, who taught them about what it truly means to live sustainably in the postmodern homestead--not only to survive, but to thrive in a fragmented landscape and a fractured economy. Up Tunket Road is the inspiring true story of a young couple who embraced the joys of simple living while also acknowledging its frustrations and complexities. Ackerman-Leist writes with humor about the inevitable foibles of setting up life off the grid--from hauling frozen laundry uphill to getting locked in the henhouse by their ox. But he also weaves an instructive narrative that contemplates the future of simple living. His is not a how-to guide, but something much richer and more important--a tale of discovery that will resonate with readers who yearn for a better, more meaningful life, whether they live in the city, country, or somewhere in between.
Download or read book Farm City written by Novella Carpenter and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicles the adventures of a woman who turned a vacant lot in downtown Oakland into a thriving urban farm, complete with chickens, turkey, bees, and pigs.
Download or read book North of Familiar written by Terry Milos and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In 1974, Terry Milos moved to rural northern Canada, to pursue her dream of homesteading. Following the seventies trend of the back-to-landers, she and her partner left the city life for what they imagined would be a simpler existence. Sometimes humorous and often insightful, North of Familiar is the story of a woman who learned to hunt, fish, and live off the land in what most would consider an utterly hostile and unbelievably cold environment. After a few months of cobbling together a living, Terry reluctantly leaves the north to further her education but with a dream of returning as a teacher. A year later Terry accepts a job in the small town of Atlin where she grows to expect the unexpected. Terry's adventures in the north push her beyond the familiar as she tries to apply her street savvy skills to negotiate a desolate mountain trail, or mush her dogs to school when the deep cold renders her car useless. North of Familiar is about coming to grips with life in the bush far away from the luxuries of the city. In Carcross, Carmacks, Dawson City and Old Crow, Terry navigates the cultural differences between her urban upbringing and the communities of Canada's Indigenous north. In spite of the harsh country, Terry survives and thrives, while raising a family and becoming a part of a strong and unique community. This story is not only entertaining and inspiring, it is also a story of joy, friendship, and change."--
Download or read book The Suburban Micro farm written by Amy Stross and published by . This book was released on 2018-03-19 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reduce your lawn and your grocery budget. Take gardening to the next level! Would you like to grow healthy food for your table? Do you want to learn the secrets of farming even though you live in a neighborhood? Author Amy Stross talks straight about why the suburbs might be the ideal place for a small farm. In these pages you'll learn: How to make your landscape as productive as it is beautiful Why the suburbs are primed with food-growing potential How to choose the best crops for success Why you don't need the perfect yard to have a micro-farm How to use easy permaculture techniques for abundant harvests If you're ready to create a beautiful, edible yard, this book is for you. The Suburban Micro-Farm will show you how to grow your own fruits, herbs, and vegetables even on a limited schedule. From seed to harvest, this book will keep you on track so you feel a sense of accomplishment for your efforts. You'll learn gardening tricks that are essential to success, like how to deal with a 'brown thumb', how to develop and nurture healthy soil, and how to manage garden pests. Although this book has everything a new gardener needs to get started, experienced gardeners will not be disappointed. With helpful tips throughout, you will love the in-depth chapters about permaculture and making money on the micro-farm.
Download or read book The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home written by Ken Albala and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-10-02 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home is not about extreme, off-the-grid living. It’s for city and suburban dwellers with day jobs: people who love to cook, love fresh natural ingredients, and old techniques for preservation; people who like doing things themselves with a needle and thread, garden hoe, or manual saw. Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger Henderson spread the spirit of antiquated self-sufficiency throughout the household. They offer projects that are decidedly unplugged and a little daring, including: * Home building projects like rooftop food dehydrators and wood-burning ovens * Homemaking essentials, from sewing and quilting to rug braiding and soap making * The wonders of grain: making croissants by hand, sprouting grains, and baking bread * Adventures with meat: pickled pig’s feet, homemade liverwurst, and celery-cured salami Intended for industrious cooks and crafters who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves, The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home will teach you the history and how-to on projects for every facet of your home, all without the electric toys that take away from the experience of making things by hand.
Download or read book Paradise Lot written by Eric Toensmeier and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2013-02-08 with total page 1 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates moved into a duplex in a run-down part of Holyoke, Massachusetts, the tenth-of-an-acre lot was barren ground and bad soil, peppered with broken pieces of concrete, asphalt, and brick. The two friends got to work designing what would become not just another urban farm, but a "permaculture paradise" replete with perennial broccoli, paw paws, bananas, and moringa—all told, more than two hundred low-maintenance edible plants in an innovative food forest on a small city lot. The garden—intended to function like a natural ecosystem with the plants themselves providing most of the garden's needs for fertility, pest control, and weed suppression—also features an edible water garden, a year-round unheated greenhouse, tropical crops, urban poultry, and even silkworms. In telling the story of Paradise Lot, Toensmeier explains the principles and practices of permaculture, the choice of exotic and unusual food plants, the techniques of design and cultivation, and, of course, the adventures, mistakes, and do-overs in the process. Packed full of detailed, useful information about designing a highly productive permaculture garden, Paradise Lot is also a funny and charming story of two single guys, both plant nerds, with a wild plan: to realize the garden of their dreams and meet women to share it with. Amazingly, on both counts, they succeed.
Download or read book Dandelion Hunter written by Rebecca Lerner and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-03-21 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this engaging and eye-opening read, forager-journalist Becky Lerner sets out on a quest to find her inner hunter-gatherer in the city of Portland, Oregon. After a disheartening week trying to live off wild plants from the streets and parks near her home, she learns the ways of the first people who lived there and, along with a quirky cast of characters, discovers an array of useful wild plants hiding in plain sight. As she harvests them for food, medicine, and just-in-case apocalypse insurance, Lerner delves into anthropology, urban ecology and sustainability, and finds herself looking at Nature in a very different way. Humorous, philosophical, and informative, Dandelion Hunter has something for everyone, from the curious neophyte to the seasoned forager.
Download or read book Gaining Ground written by Forrest Pritchard and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-05-21 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With humor and pathos, Forrest Pritchard recounts his ambitious and often hilarious endeavors to save his family’s seventh-generation farm in the Shenandoah Valley. Through many a trial and error, he not only saves Smith Meadows from insolvency but turns it into a leading light in the sustainable, grass-fed, organic farm-to-market community. There is nothing young Farmer Pritchard won’t try. Whether he’s selling firewood and straw, raising free-range chickens and hogs, or acquiring a flock of Barbados Blackbelly sheep, his learning curve is steep and always entertaining. Pritchard’s world crackles with colorful local characters—farm hands, butchers, market managers, customers, fellow vendors, pet goats, policemen—bringing the story to warm, communal life. His most important ally, however, is his renegade father, who initially questions his son's career choice and eschews organic foods for the generic kinds that wreak havoc on his health. Soon after his father’s death, the farm becomes a recognized success and Pritchard must make a vital decision: to continue serving the local community or answer the exploding demand for his wares with lucrative Internet sales and shipping deals. More than a charming story of honest food cultivation and farmers’ markets, Gaining Ground tugs on the heartstrings, reconnecting us to the land and the many lives that feed us.
Download or read book Just a Couple of Chickens written by Corinne Tippett and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Just A Couple of Chickens" is a genuinely enjoyable read. Laugh out loud funny, informative and utterly timely. It is a poignant and very real story of one family's poultry raising adventure during a five-year crucible of economic and identity crisis that took on national relevance when their contracting business collapsed under the first wave of the economic crash in 2008. Their story hits home with heart-breaking reality. While getting a couple of chickens may have been Andrew's idea, Corinne was the one who took it over the top with thirty fluffy pheasant, five and twenty chickens, over forty Chukar, and fifteen ducklings. There were also twelve smelly quail, nine girl geese, two roosters, and a partridge in a pine tree. They were farming by Internet on a two-acre parcel near Santa Fe, New Mexico, scrabbling through the canyon that separates knowledge and experience when it comes to raising poultry. Corinne created www.TheFeatheredEgg.com a web-based business that arose like a phoenix from the eggs and feathers from the flock. She approaches her role as mother, wife, and businessman with a unique perspective that she captures with droll clarity and good humor. Chicken farming was only the most recent use of her BA in Industrial/Scientific Photography from the Brooks Institute of Photography. This book is yet another, featuring her portraits of the family's feathered friends.
Download or read book Home Apothecary written by Ashley English and published by Union Square + ORM. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of the Homemade Living series offers a primer to creating all-natural body-care and wellness products—complete with forty easy recipes! Ready to ditch store-bought health- and body-care products full of synthetic ingredients? Now you can create your own natural versions with this accessible guide from Ashley English. It features simple, tried-and-true recipes that she and her family turn to again and again, including: A rosemary and apple-cider vinegar hair rinse for dry scalp A moisturizing hand salve of beeswax, olive oil, and coconut oil A gentle and refreshing rosewater toner An aloe vera-based sunburn soother A stress-relieving tincture of fresh lemon balm and roses. English also provides information on where to source high-quality ingredients, their healing benefits, and safety tips. From skin-care classics to first-aid essentials, you’ll soon fill your cabinets with products that you’ll feel good about making and using.
Download or read book The Urban Homesteader written by Raleigh Briggs and published by Microcosm Publishing. This book was released on 2015-02-23 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Want to learn to make your own soap? Mend your torn clothes? Grow your own cucumbers? Carry your groceries and children on a bicycle? This four book box set teaches you the basics and beyond. Authors Raleigh Briggs, Robyn Jasko, and Elly Blue are your friendly guides to a new, cozy, sustainable life at home and in the world. Live your own revolution! Books included in this set: Make Your Place by Raleigh Briggs Make It Last by Raleigh Briggs Homesweet Homegrown by Robyn Jasko Everyday Bicycling by Elly Blue
Download or read book The Urban Homesteading Cookbook written by Michelle Nelson and published by D & M Publishers. This book was released on 2015-04-18 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With food culture in the midst of a do-it-yourself renaissance, urbanites everywhere are relishing craft beers, foraged ingredients, sustainable seafoods, ethically raised meats and homemade condiments and charcuterie. Inspired by the delicious creativity of local artisans, chefs, brewmasters and mixologists, Michelle Nelson began urban homesteading in her downtown apartment. Armed with a passion for food and farming, and a PhD in conservation biology and sustainable agriculture, she shares her hard-won knowledge and recipes with readers interested in collecting, growing and preserving sustainable food—even when living in an apartment or condo. In The Urban Homesteading Cookbook, Nelson explores the worlds of foraging wild urban edibles, eating invasive species, keeping micro-livestock, bees and crickets, growing perennial vegetables in pots, small-space aquaponics, preserving meats and produce, making cheese and slow-fermenting sourdough, beer, vinegar, kombucha, kefir and pickles. Nelson fervently believes that by taking more control of our own food we will become better empowered to understand our relationships with the environment, and embrace sustainable lifestyles and communities. With 70 fabulous recipes, including sesame panko-crusted invasive bullfrog legs, seaweed kimchi, rabbit pate with wild chanterelles, roasted Japanese knotweed panna cotta and dark and stormy chocolate cupcakes with cricket flour— this exciting new book is sure to inspire readers to embark on their own urban homesteading adventures. Generously illustrated with gorgeous colour photography and complete with useful how-to chapters, The Urban Homesteading Cookbook is an invaluable guide for all those seeking ethical and sustainable urban food sources and strategies.
Download or read book Urban Farms written by Sarah.C Rich and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2014-11-26 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Profiles of sixteen innovative farms in major cities across America, plus basic how-to tips for composting, canning, beekeeping, growing vegetables, and more. Urban Farms takes readers on a journey across the country to sixteen established and emerging urban farm leaders, from Edible Schoolyard NYC in New York to Novella Carpenter’s Ghost Town Farm in California. Sarah C. Rich’s profiles about each farm, as well as her basic how-to tips on such activities as kitchen composting and beekeeping, offer insight and inspiration. Matthew Benson’s photographs, meanwhile, reveal the quirky individuality that is innate in these green spaces tucked among city buildings and empty lots. In addition, five essays by experts in the field examine a variety of roles that urban farms can play in our lives today. Praise for Urban Farms “These snapshots of urban farms reinforce the truth about farming in a city is one of the surest ways to build community, feed our children real food, become fiscally responsible, and support a sustainable future.” —Alice Walters, chef, author, and founder of the Edible Schoolyard “Rich’s handsome, intelligent Urban Farms . . . chronicles a movement to bring kale to the people, an effort that stretches across the country, from Brooklyn to Oakland. . . . Benson’s spirited photographs capture the joy and beauty of urban farming’s bounty.” —New York Times Book Review
Download or read book Introduction to Permaculture written by Bill Mollison and published by Permaculture Resources. This book was released on 1991 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Topics in this book include: Energy-efficient site analysis, planning & design methods. House placement & design for temperate, dryland & tropical regions. Urban permaculture: garden layouts, land access & community funding systems. Using fences, trellis, greenhouse & shadehouse to best effect. Chicken & pig forage systems; tree crops & pasture integration for stock. Orchards & home woodlots for temperate, arid & tropical climates. How to influence microclimate around the house & garden. Large section on selected plant species lists, with climatic tolerances, heights & uses.
