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To those who have been following the thread on self-sustainability


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I would like to recommend the magazine Urban Hobby Farm Home from the publishers of Hobby Farm and Hobby Farm Home magazines. I bought it once and thought it was really neat, lots of innovative ways to farm in the city, ideas for community gardens, more sustainable lifestyles, etc. It was quite cool. It just wasn't appropo to our situation.

 

But urban and suburban dwellers might really like this publication.

 

Also, I'm all for you guys fighting against ridiculous HOA's and such.

 

Oh, there are also a couple of books about ornamental vegetable/fruit gardening. These gardens are truly gorgeous...nothing that any HOA or community could ever squawk about and food & herb producing too. There were some neat ideas and when I eventually get the time to tackle my front flower beds that I'd like to have a bit of a whimsical, English cottage garden look, I'm going to read up on it.

 

Faith

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Soror - part of the info is included in the thread about Secretary Geitner's ultimatums to congress on the national debt, currently standing at $126,000 and change per tax payer, and how the system is likely not going to continue to self-perpetuate/times may get tough. So, since we've been trying to get to a more sustainable lifestyle, people began asking questions and I, with dh's help, did my best to answer.

 

It was then continued in a thread, "Auntie M about the economic bad times" or some such wording that I started which does have Auntie M in the title. So, if you do a board search and want to take part in the discussion, you can get up to speed that way.

 

As for other resources, I truly do love Backwoods Home, not always agreeing with the politics but as someone who despises both political parties and tends to think of voting as "choosing between evils", I don't disagree a lot of the time. The info is fantastic. Also, Countryside Magazine and even Hobby Farm Home have been helpful. But, I think that the Urban Farm magazine put out by Hobby Farm is just soooo NEAT and creative for suburban, urban dwellers.

 

We have just about worn out our copy of "Country Wisdom and Knowhow" and the "Backyard Homestead: Produce all the Food You Need on Just a Quarter Acre" is definitely showing the love. My dad owns the Gardener's Bible...excellent resource and I have to admit, that though I actually do not like plants and am not good with them, seriously - plants die in my very presence - so dh likes me steer clear of the garden most of the time, he, dd, and the boys take care of it until harvest, I get kind of GIDDY/HIGH when Baker Creek and Johnny Seed catalogs come in the mail.

 

For those who are thinking smaller scale...container gardening, ornmental veggie gardens and fruits that look like landscaping in order to avoid neighborhood issues, I think the Backyward Homestead is very good. It even has diagrams for organizing herb gardens and such. The other spine will take you into a deeper breadth of homesteading.

 

For the record, we aren't off grid but we are heat independent, water independent, and will be generating a little bit of solar electricity this spring. We are modern people, not Ma and Pa Ingalls, or Amish or anything like that. We like our anemities and would prefer to have them nor do we think of them as bad. We do believe that America is about to be reduced to a very sorry state financially and forget amenities, we'd like to provide the necessities for our family, extended family, elderly relatives, and have a little to share with neighbors. We've got a single mom next door and her scum bag husband ran off with a barely legal age teenage girl and left her with their four year old son and trying to survive. We actually plan on providing food for her and son if necessary.

 

I'll try to think of some more resources and tomorrow, if I get a chance, I'll post a thread on how we built our portable duck and chicken runs with nesting houses. We wanted free range but have too many loose dogs and even coyotes in the area so it wasn't an option. Most chicken tractors are too heavy for the boys to move without an adult's help. So, we came up with our own plan and two boys can move everything (even the 10 and 12 year old) without help.

 

Faith

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As for other resources, I truly do love Backwoods Home, not always agreeing with the politics but as someone who despises both political parties and tends to think of voting as "choosing between evils", I don't disagree a lot of the time. The info is fantastic. Also, Countryside Magazine and even Hobby Farm Home have been helpful. But, I think that the Urban Farm magazine put out by Hobby Farm is just soooo NEAT and creative for suburban, urban dwellers.

 

I visit Backwoods Home and Homesteading Today sometimes. I don't often agree with anyone politically, so that doesn't bother me.

 

We have just about worn out our copy of "Country Wisdom and Knowhow" and the "Backyard Homestead: Produce all the Food You Need on Just a Quarter Acre" is efinitely showing the love. My dad owns the Gardener's Bible...excellent resource and I have to admit, that though I actually do not like plants and am not good with them, seriously - plants die in my very presence - so dh likes me steer clear of the garden most of the time, he, dd, and the boys take care of it until harvest, I get kind of GIDDY/HIGH when Baker Creek and Johnny Seed catalogs come in the mail.

 

For those who are thinking smaller scale...container gardening, ornmental veggie gardens and fruits that look like landscaping in order to avoid neighborhood issues, I think the Backyward Homestead is very good. It even has diagrams for organizing herb gardens and such. The other spine will take you into a deeper breadth of homesteading.

 

For the record, we aren't off grid but we are heat independent, water independent, and will be generating a little bit of solar electricity this spring. We are modern people, not Ma and Pa Ingalls, or Amish or anything like that. We like our anemities and would prefer to have them nor do we think of them as bad. We do believe that America is about to be reduced to a very sorry state financially and forget amenities, we'd like to provide the necessities for our family, extended family, elderly relatives, and have a little to share with neighbors. We've got a single mom next door and her scum bag husband ran off with a barely legal age teenage girl and left her with their four year old son and trying to survive. We actually plan on providing food for her and son if necessary.

 

I'll try to think of some more resources and tomorrow, if I get a chance, I'll post a thread on how we built our portable duck and chicken runs with nesting houses. We wanted free range but have too many loose dogs and even coyotes in the area so it wasn't an option. Most chicken tractors are too heavy for the boys to move without an adult's help. So, we came up with our own plan and two boys can move everything (even the 10 and 12 year old) without help.

 

Faith

I am really, really interested in your nesting boxes. We were just looking into building some tractors but dh is concerned about the predators in our area. We really don't want to build a full coop and he doesn't want something that he will have to spend a lot of time with either- as even if I can move a tractor with more babies coming there will be plenty of times it will be impractical- like the end of pregnancy- with a new babe etc. My son is only 6 as well so cannot move much either, but I really really want some chickens.

 

We have done some raised bed gardening but bought a tiller this last year and plan(hope) to build bigger this year. We planted an orchard last year as well. Dh bow and rifle hunts also, although has been working so much as of late and doesn't have much time. We have our own well also. I would like some wood heat but dh is vehemently opposed(had wood heat as a kid and he still recalls all the work with it). As a compromise we bought a gas heater for backup and a large propane tank.

 

We have also looked into solar but the prices haven't been in the range we have been able to afford yet, hoping when the house is paid off(in a bit less than 6 yrs) we can put money to some more things like that.

 

I would like us to be able to supply most of what we need but it is a slow going process and we have to do things as we can afford and without adding too much to either of our work loads.

Edited by soror
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Thanks, Faith, I was just going to start a s/o thread to ask about exactly such resources!

 

Any others along the same lines would be greatly appreciated, board friends!

 

Here is what is currently on my bookshelf:

 

Livestock Books

 

Keeping a Family Cow

Treating Dairy Cows Naturally

Small Scale Pig Raising

Home Butchering and Meat Preservation

Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens

The Chicken Health Handbook

 

Gardening Books

 

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for the Vegetable Garden

The Vegetable Gardeners Bible

The Complete Book of Herbs

The Organic Gardeners Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control

Companion Planting for Successful Gardening

botanica's Organic Gardening

How to Make a Forest Garden

The Grape Grower

From Vines to Wines

I also have some region specifics books

 

Preservation Books

 

The Ball Book

Preserving Summer's Bounty

Root Cellaring

Home Cheese Making

I have a book on dehydrating food, but I can't find it!

 

Other Books

 

Basic Country Skills

The Crisis Preparedness Handbook

The Foxfire Book

 

My dh has a TON of books on solar and wind power (we do have solar panels, and at the ranch he built a wind turbine, which he used to power his entire workshop and office (he worked from home), as well as books on building barns, sheds, and shelters. If anyone is interested in specific titles, let me know, and I will see if I can locate them. He's not good about putting books back on the sheves!

 

Krista

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