Back to Basics: a Complete Guide to Traditional Skills

Description

The classic guide to self-sufficiency, with more than 200,000 copies sold-now fully updated!Anyone who wants to learn basic living skills-the kind employed by our forefathers-and adapt them for a better life in the twenty-first century need look no further than this eminently useful, full-color guide. Countless readers have turned to Back to Basics for inspiration and instruction, escaping to an era before power saws and fast-food restaurants and rediscovering the pleasures and challenges of a healthier, greener, and more self-sufficient lifestyle. Now newly updated, the hundreds of projects, step-by-step sequences, photographs, charts, and illustrations in Back to Basics will help you dye your own wool with plant pigments, graft trees, raise chickens, craft a hutch table with hand tools, and make treats such as blueberry peach jam and cheddar cheese. The truly ambitious will find instructions on how to build a log cabin or an adobe brick homestead. More than just practical advice, this is also a book for dreamers-even if you live in a city apartment, you will find your imagination sparked, and there's no reason why you can't, for example, make a loom and weave a rag rug. Complete with tips for old-fashioned fun (square dancing calls, homemade toys, and kayaking tips), this may be the most thorough book on voluntary simplicity available.;Cover; Title Page; Copyright; Contents; About This Book; Part One Land: Buying It-Building on It; Buying Country Property; Planning Your Home; Preparing the Site; Converting Trees Into Lumber; Building a Log Cabin; Building With Adobe; Building a Stone House; Raising a Barn; Developing a Water Supply; Saunas and Hot Tubs; Sanitation; Fireplace Construction and Design; Stone Walls and Brick Pavements; Fences; Part Two Energy From Wood, Water, Wind, and Sun; Making Your House Energy Efficient; Wood as a Fuel; Heating With Wood; Waterpower; Wind Power; Solar Energy; Other Energy Sources. Cover Title Page Copyright Contents About This Book Part One Land: Buying It-Building on It Buying Country Property Planning Your Home Preparing the Site Converting Trees Into Lumber Building a Log Cabin Building With Adobe Building a Stone House Raising a Barn Developing a Water Supply Saunas and Hot Tubs Sanitation Fireplace Construction and Design Stone Walls and Brick Pavements Fences Part Two Energy From Wood, Water, Wind, and Sun Making Your House Energy Efficient Wood as a Fuel Heating With Wood Waterpower Wind Power Solar Energy Other Energy Sources. Part Three Raising Your Own Vegetables, Fruit, And LivestockThe Kitchen Garden Gardening in Limited Space Herb Gardens Fruits and Nuts Pest Control Grains and Grasses Beekeeping Fish Farming Raising Livestock Part Four Enjoying Your Harvest The Year Round Preserving Produce Preserving Meat and Fish Making Your Own Dairy Products Maple Sugaring Homemade Beverages Baking Bread Regional Cooking Cooking With Wood Part Five Skills And Crafts For House and Homestead Natural Dyes Spinning Weaving Hooked Rugs Braided Rugs Patchwork Quilting Rope and Twine. Tanning and LeatherworkWoodworking Broommaking Scrimshaw Household Recipes Metalworking Stenciling Flower Drying and Pressed Flowers Gourd Craft Soapmaking Candlemaking Basketry Part Six Recreation at Home And in the Wild Old-time Good Times Crafting a Dulcimer Celebrating Holidays Canoeing and Kayaking Wilderness Camping Outdoors in Winter Fishing Living With Nature Appendix Organized Assistance : The Extension Service and Other Groups Index.