Best Homesteading Articles and Books of 2016
We did this last year and it was a big hit. Here is our yearly review of the 40 top homesteading articles and a look at the best homesteading books published in 2016. We scoured the web to find the best information shared by some of the best homestead bloggers and authors in the world. A great supply of free winter reading here!
The Best Homesteading Articles of 2016
The Nitty Gritty Basics on Raising Quail
The One Reason Why We Aren’t Turning Our Homestead into a Small Farm
American Elderberry, it’s Uses and Culture
30 Things You Can Do On Your Winter Homestead
My Top 5 Homesteading Lessons
Adding Homeschool to the Homestead
The Beginner’s Guide to Cast Iron Cookware
How to Grow Potatoes in Clay Soil
How to Prevent and Naturally Treat Mastitis in the Family Milk Cow
What I Wish I Had Known Before Owning Goats
Using Wood Chips in a Vegetable Garden
How to Make Soap For Beginners
Homemade Noodles From Scratch
Where should I start with a new property?
41 Ways to Become more Self-Sufficient
Make Your Own Wood Ash Lye Soap
How to Make Homemade Mozzarella Cheese
PVC Drip Irrigation System for your garden
52 Ways to Make Money on a SMALL Homestead
How to Trim Your Goats Hooves
How To Braid Onions
Transitioning to Rural Life, The Perspective Of 3 Homeschool Moms
Three Things Chickens Don’t Need For Winter (and three that they do!)
55 Best Chicken Coops for Practical People
6 Financial Tips for Buying Land for Your Homestead
8 Things to Know Before Owning a Buck Goat
The BIG List of Things you Should Know About Raising Pigs
12 Ways to Feed Chickens for Free!
Goats – How Much Cold Can They Take?
Five Things All New Chicken Keepers Should Know
Building Hugelkultur Garden Beds
Helping Your Chickens Through Fall Molting
4 Great Uses for Free Trampolines – Updated to 5 !
Intensive Gardening: 6 Tips for Healthy Produce
Gardening in a Crisis: Over 30 Veggies You Can Grow in 52 Days or Less!
DIY Chicken Dust Bath
How we Afford to Homestead
Crop Rotation Made Easy
How to Homestead – (Not Quite) Like Grandma Used to Do
When To Breed and Dry Off Your Family Cow
The Best Homesteading Books of 2016
Would you like to have your own smallholding? Do you long to live a more independent and fulfilling life? Would you like to raise 90% of your food from a small scale grass based system? If you answered yes to any of these questions, The The Independent Farmstead by Shawn and Beth Dougherty is definitely worth your consideration. You can read my review here.
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Permaculture For The Rest Of Us
If you’ve read books on permaculture only to be overwhelmed, confused, and discouraged, then Permaculture For The Rest of Us is just what the doctor ordered!
Jenni Blackmore practices permaculture with her husband on a homestead that is located on a windswept, rocky, island off the coast of Nova Scotia. Jenni is a certified permaculture designer who has spent 20 years developing a homestead in what could be called “less than ideal” conditions. This is one of the things I enjoyed most about the book. Its nice to read a permaculture book that is geared more toward my climate. No mention of banana or palm trees in this one! Jenni has real gift for making the complex understandable, she demystifies permaculture and teaches it in a way that makes the average person say, “Hey, I can do this!”. Her writing style is very down to earth and easy to understand.
You can listen to my interview with the author here.
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The Book of Pears: The Definitive History and Guide to Over 500 Varieties
I love pears. In a more civilized age the pear was known as the queen of fruits. Because the virtuous pear does not lend herself to the industrial age, she has fallen out of favor with farmers and consumers alike. A scholarly book on the history and virtues of this timeless fruit was something that lit a spark in me and filled my heart with anticipation. I remember the day that the package arrived. I remember opening the envelope and sliding it out into my hands, flipping through the pages and seeing the breathtaking watercolor plates. This book would be a treasured possession, that I knew right away.
If you love pears, love horticultural history, love gorgeous artwork, or just have a lust for learning something new, this book belongs on your bookshelf. I cannot sing its praises loud enough. This one is destined to become a horticultural classic!
You can read my full review here.