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Apr 17, 2009

Gwen the Librarian rated it:

I've been reading and playing around with this book for the last month and I really love it. The tone is totally accessible for those interested in gardening, raising grains, or animal husbandry. The author shows how to make the most of small spaces from 1/10 acre up to 1/2 acre. I used her raised bed diagrams to plan my own and suggestions about what things to plant next to each other. I'm thinking about getting a couple of chickens on my city property and she has great advice about that to More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Millicent rated it:

I have skimmed this numerous times at my best friend's house after she and the babies have been put to bed and I'm cozying up on the couch, raiding the bookshelf to pass time given our different sleep schedules. The other night on a visit I got to give it the closest read yet, and it's so good, but not quite good enough to merit a loan request from my library back home. The garden planning sections were the most useful for me (or perhaps just most pertinent). The book gives wonderful suggesti More...

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Aug 15, 2010

Elisabeth rated it:

I just finished flicking through this one again, and I'm dreaming of a slightly bigger piece of land, no hoa, and miniature dairy goats...

I love this book. It really gets you excited about the potential of your backyard. It works as a quick primer for growing vegetables, making your own wine, cheese, and all sorts of great things, but the information on each of these topics doesn't get too deep. If you really want to know how to make wine, for example, you can read the section in More...

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Apr 23, 2010

Experience Life rated it:

Find yourself enticed by the prospect of a food garden but have no clue where to start? Think you probably don’t have enough space or enough time? Think again. Whether you’re an urban apartment dweller or a suburban homeowner with acreage to spare, this jam-packed resource will provide nearly all the information and inspiration you might need to begin producing and preserving your own food.

The first chapter covers backyard gardening: watering, composting, seed-spacing and the like, a More...

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Feb 22, 2010

Carlie rated it:

You know a book is good if its written by a woman named Carleen. Heh. But, really to be serious, this book was great! Totally inspiring information about the details of setting up a backyard hobby farm that is just large enough to sustain or supplement a single family. She gives layouts for a "homestead" on as little land as one-tenth of an acre. I am shooting for a home with an acre of land but because of her ideas I've become slightly more open to a smaller parcel...turns out, if the More...

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Aug 24, 2009

Alison rated it:

Every now and then I wish there were a 4.5 star option, or perhaps separate ratings for writing and editing. The information in this book is fantastic - 5 stars definitely - but there are editorial gaffes that really annoy me. In particular, one chart is supposed to give you an idea of how much of a given plant you need to feed someone for a year. This is an excellent idea, but the execution is weak. For one thing, it falls into the (not uncommon) pitfall of conflating plant spacing and row spac More...

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Jul 15, 2009

Karen rated it:

What a wonderful reference for living as sustainably as possible on your own land - even if you only have a quarter acre! Although I cannot have livestock or even chickens in my city, this book provided a wealth of information about gardening, preserving, making cheese, growing and processing grains, baking bread, even brewing beer. I purchased this book to learn about gardening, and I was not disappointed. It has a handy reference for planting and caring for many kinds of veggies, fruits, nuts, More...

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Jul 22, 2010

Russell rated it:

The breadth of this book is amazing. From growing vegetables, canning, raising livestock from chicken to cows, making hard and soft cheeses, to how to prune trees and bushes, the books covers a lot of ground. The editor, Carleen Madigan, pulls information out of dozens of books from the Storey publishing house and compiles it all into a very easy to read format. In short, the book gives you an overview on how to grow or raise your own food and what to do with it after harvest.

I’m a n More...

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Dec 03, 2009

BarkLessWagMore rated it:

This book contains a really nice overview of many topics for anyone starting out on the path of self-sufficiency. It doesn't go into great detail about any of them but gives a newbie a starting point to begin a more self-sufficient lifestyle and has a decent source of website and book recommendations for further research. It is inspirational for those thinking self-sufficiency is a nice little dream and nothing more.

The author includes diagrams in the very beginning which clearly More...

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Sep 02, 2009

Jimmy rated it:

This is a good book for helping you to understand the potential of the lanscape that's available to you. There are some good tips on which vegetables, fruits, and herbs grow best in which climate regions, information on how to utilize space, and other helpful information.

There are also pieces on making your own ice cream, apple cider, beer, wine, maple syrup, and other seasonal treats. However, I felt as though the author didn't go into enough detail or offer alternatives for folks More...

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Jul 17, 2009

jen rated it:

The audience for this book is someone who is interested in learning more about homesteading and self-sufficiency skills, such as gardening, food preservation, and raising animals. The book provides good overviews of each topic accompanied by clear and understandable drawings. The content is reliable and well-written, coming from a longtime publisher of homesteading books (much of the content is pulled from other Storey titles, and this book is partly a chance for them to capitalize on the homest More...

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Jul 25, 2009

Neligh rated it:

Every once in a great, great while I come across a book I want to give to everyone. This is one of them. I am in an apartment, but I am still using this book (and my standard-size balcony/kitchen counter) to grow limes, thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, mint, pennyroyal, and aloe. I want to add lemons, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic and amazingly it just might all fit (and that's with a table and two chairs out here). I could easily see getting carried away enough to remove the door to the bal More...

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Jul 01, 2009

Sonja rated it:

I really enjoy the ideas presented in this book, but I think that it would take a ton more work to implement than the author describes. The voice of the author is great. Parts of it made me laugh out loud and look for someone to share the passage I had just read. Wonderful ideas, but I really don't know if it really is in our best interest to pull up the lawn and replant it in wheat, oats and barley. I like the ideas of the vegetable and fruit gardens, but I don't think I am really up to the More...

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Mar 30, 2009

Amber rated it:

I picked this up at the library, but it's definitely one I'm going to have to buy to keep ‎around the house.‎
Excellent instructions on how to do basically everything, from picking the right plants ‎for your zone to making your own beer. ‎

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Apr 08, 2011

Jeph rated it:

This book covers a lot of interesting topics. Unfortunately, it covers A LOT of interesting topics, but BARELY covers any of them. It's definitely a great starter book for someone interested in all sorts of backyard gardening, food preserving, livestock raising, bee keeping, maple tree tapping/syrup making, etc topics, but think of it more as a book to sort of make you aware of the basic ideas/issues, and then from there you can decide if you want to read more by getting other resources.
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Jan 04, 2012

Carly rated it:

Sometimes I think I should have gone into farming because I'm totally obsessed with where food comes from and would love to raise everything that goes on our table. While our neighborhood covenants prevent us from raising our own chickens and cattle and I probably don't have the time or inclination to make our own cheese, I completely loved the idea of this book and did find a lot of useful information. Since we do a lot of gardening and are starting a new yard from scratch, the info about rai More...

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Apr 29, 2009

Sally rated it:

I'm ashamed to admit it, but graphic design, pretty colors, attention to fonts (type and size), nice line drawings, and boxed quotes in the margins made me eat this book right up.

Funny thing is, the content is not much better than that of Deliberate Life, but I gave it 2 more stars....

Things I learned in this book:

I can get my Brussels sprouts to get bigger by picking the leaves off the plant once the sprouts have developed. *THAT'S* how they do it....
More...

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Jul 01, 2010

Beth rated it:

This is a book I am sure I will reference again and again. It covers many topics such as keeping chickens, other livestock such as goats, gardening, canning, and even making maple syrup. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to make more of an effort to live off their land and learn some useful skills. One reviewer online pointed out that some of the web urls are already out of date in the resources, but overall it is a great beginner's guide to making the most out of a small plot of land. I More...

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Jun 08, 2010

Christa rated it:

I randomly picked this book up at the library after seeing it in a Cracker Barrel store on a road trip. I was curious about how much food one really could produce in a backyard and I have to say, I was quite impressed by the author's thorough plans. I've been attempting to garden for the last two years and I learned a ton from the gardening chapters that I wish I would've known before I started. I can't say I'll ever own a cow or grow wheat to make my own beer, but I am now considering a larger More...

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Jan 14, 2010

Linda rated it:

great gardening info, including rotation guidelines and ideas for growing vertically (will definitely be trying out the melon a-frame type trellis). nice recipes (will also attempt to make peach wine). while i won't be getting any animals for my yard, there is a lot of good general info on that (chickens, turkeys, ducks/geese, goats, sheep, cows, pigs).

while i think one would want more detail on each section (say on animals, or beekeeping), overall, a very good general book. i pl More...

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Mar 30, 2010

Mary rated it:

Tons of great information- the editor has taken snippets from the most popular "urban homesteading" books this publisher has put out, and compiled them all into one handy reference book. Beekeeping, gardening, container gardening, composting, animal husbandry, cheese making, beer and wine production...if there's a book you've been meaning to check out, chances are there's an excerpt in here :) I only wish the references were clearer- I wouldn't have known I was looking at a compilati More...

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Mar 13, 2011

Carrie rated it:

This book doesn't satisfy my desire for homesteading knowledge, which the author states plainly in the beginning wasn't her goal. The gardening section of this book is definitely the main focus. I loved the diagrams of gardening plans but I wish there were more in this book on the planning and designing of the small homestead. The section of edible ornamentals was really interesting and helpful. I think she could have improved this book drastically by concentrating on SMALL, as in what you can d More...

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Mar 24, 2011

Bird rated it:

This book didn't work for me for a number of reasons...

1. This book tries to do the old "everything for everyone" feat, and fails. Too many topics are (attempted to be) covered in the single volume, so that each is dealt with only superficially.

2. Related to the first issue, topics are given uneven consideration. Container gardening was given 1.5 pages. Choosing the right breed for laying/meat chickens was given 5. I'd bet good money that the number of peo More...

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May 07, 2009

Clare rated it:

Well, my seldom done visit to the bookstore proved to be too tempting when I saw this book. It is great! It covers just about everything in very informative ways with lots of drawings and descriptions and how-tos. Definately worth it for anyone who really wants sustain themselves on 1/4 acre. It's amazing how much you can really accomplish. And this book makes it seem more methodical and not so overwhelming if you're just a beginner to this process of sustainable living on the scale of many do More...

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Mar 14, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

Fun gift from a fellow homesteader-wanna-be! Wonderful back-porch read on a sunny March day! Makes me really wish we did not build in a neighborhood! Cow, goat, chickens, and a garden big enough to feed a family on half and acre!?! Wow! Also love the idea of phenology.....planting based on other bio-indicators in nature....potatoes go in when the daffodils bloom, not just by the calendar. Also will plant more chard and stop fighting so hard with finicky spinach. LOVE IT!! Thank you, Beck More...

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May 20, 2009

Anna rated it:

Nice overview of how to grow or make just about any food or enough to feed a family on a 1/2 an acre. Clear and concise with plenty of graphics for daydreaming about leaving the city. Begins with relatively simple things like starting a vegetable garden and planning and planting an orchard. Next, why not grow your own wheat? Finally progresses to instructions for raising chickens for eggs, goats/cows for milk, and bees for honey. Recipes for beer and wine, bread and cheese are also included. More...

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May 14, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

This seems like a pretty decent introduction to a variety of topics relating to growing your own food. I moved it to my reference shelf though since i don't think i can sit down and read it cover to cover.

I got a little bored during the gardening chapter since I've done a little reading and a little gardening already. I know what we need to do next and reading past that point isn't necessary yet.

I skipped to the Poultry chapter as we are planning to get 3 laying hen More...

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Mar 30, 2010

Lynne rated it:

I skimmed this book because I am also reading "The Urban Homestead". The two books are in sync-step, but I recommend the other instead. The scope of this one is a bit too broad, and shallow on the essentials. There are also a few recommendation that, as a Master Gardener, I would have to say are dubious from the standpoint of sustainable gardening (like recommending plastic mulches.) If you only choose one book of this genre, I suggest reading "Urban Homestead" instead.

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Mar 17, 2010

Todd rated it:

This is a best primer on what to do if you really want to start a Hobby Farm or become involved in the Back-to-the-Land movement. This covers a lot of material without a lot of BS towards the reader. Its straight to the point no-nonsense writing and while their is a bit of humor laced here and there, mainly do to the author's own mistakes while learning. This book should be on the shelf of every city person wishing to become a farmer and change their lifestyle.

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Sep 28, 2011

Amy rated it:

This is a very nice beginner's guide to backyard homesteading. Author provides charts at the beginning of the book to creatively use space on a 1/4 acre property in order to maximize growing veggies and raising animals. I think the drawings are deceptive, though, cuz in order to use space as she does your house would have to be a tiny 800 square feet, I'm guessing...Overall, I enjoyed my time skimming through this book but quickly realized I'm not interested in all topics covered....ie raising More...

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