Many people dream of becoming self-reliant during these times of fluctuating prices and uncertain job security. Using truly simple techniques, you can cultivate the pioneer's independence to provide safety against lost wages, harsh weather, economic recession, and commercial contamination and shortages. Strengthen your family's self-reliance as you discover a new the joy of homegrown food, thrift, and self-sufficient living.

Can you make your own bread? Homeschool your kids? Grow a garden all winter? What can you use instead of toilet paper? What if the power was out for a month? What if the grocery store closed? Can you make a solar oven? A food storage? Raise a water buffalo? Make fine linen from stinging nettle? Is it possible to be totally self-sufficient?

Looking for a way to reduce your environmental impact? Find your route to a more sustainable lifestyle with Dick Strawbridge and his son James. We can all take steps to reduce our carbon footprint and be more self-sufficient. For some, that might mean heading to the countryside to live off the land. For the rest of us, the reality might involve smaller, but no less important, lifestyle changes: cutting back on plastic or food waste, growing vegetables, preserving meat and fish, preparing jams and chutneys, baking sourdough bread, making your own plant-based milks, or keeping a chicken or two. Dick and James Strawbridge know what it's like to make these changes. Between them, they've lived on a smallholding, in a terraced house, and even a chateau. In this updated book, they share everything they've learned and give you the tools you need for a more rewarding and environmentally-conscious life. Whether you want to completely revamp your lifestyle or just make everyday changes that will make an impact, Self-Sufficiency for the 21st Century is the perfect place to start.

Gene Logsdon has long served as a voice of grounded agricultural wisdom. His wry humor and keen insights have made him a favorite among homesteaders, gardeners, orchardists, and farmers. In Gene Logsdon's Practical Skills, he turns his attention to traditional crafts and practices, reviving and documenting the homemaking, culinary, and agricultural skills handed down through generations of American farmers.This wide-ranging volume of practical instruction is divided into 5 parts, each focused on a different aspect of country life, including:Home maintenance and comfortFood preparation and domestic choresLandscaping and gardeningBarn construction and livestock managementAgricultural and woodlot land managementDevelop the skills your grandparents knew by heart. Gene Logsdon's Practical Skills is a book you can learn from for years to come. Gene Logsdon and his wife Carol have a small-scale experimental farm in Wyandot County, Ohio. Gene is the author of numerous books and magazine articles on farm-related issues, and believes sustainable pastoral farming is the solution for our stressed agricultural system.

More than 370 edible wild plants, plus 37 poisonous lookalikes, are described here, with 400 drawings and 78 color photographs showing precisely how to recognize each species. Also included are habitat descriptions, lists of plants by season, and preparation instructions for 22 different food uses.