I have been building my Journey to Simplicity bookshelf and thought I’d list the books here for others who might wonder what I’m using for reference. I utilize my library quite a bit, but when I find a book that I think I’d need again, it goes on my wish list. Then, as I find a bargain or a few extra dollars, I pick another title and add it to my shelf.
Magazines
- Mother Earth News
General Knowledge for Self-Sufficient Living
- The Encyclopedia of Country Living
- Country Wisdom & Know-How
- Dare to Prepare
- A Slice of Organic Life
- Mini Farming for Self-Sufficiency
- Just in Case: How to Be Self-Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens
- Depletion and Abundance – Life on the New Home Front
Gardening
- Square Foot Gardening
- The Compost Gardening Guide
- Worms Eat My Garbage
- The Backyard Berry Book
- Backyard Market Gardening
- Four Season Harvest
- Seed to Seed
- How to Store Your Garden Produce
Herbal and Natural Healing
- Gaia’s Garden
- Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine
- Common Herbs for Natural Health
- The Whole Herb
Recipes – cooking what you grow and store
- Pantry Cooking
- Food Storage 101
Livestock
- Backyard Livestock
- Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits
- Chicken Tractor
- Keeping Chickens
Soap Making
- Smart Soap Making
- Everything Soap Making
Solar
- Cooking with Sunshine
Simplicity
- A Small Farm
- Better Off – Flipping the Switch on Technology
- Radical Simplicity
Inspiration
- Your Money or Your Life
- Getting a Life
My children and I, too, have been developing a desire to make do with less (A book called “It’s All Too Much” reflects my sentiment about how much stuff I have in my house) and growing more of our own food. My sister in Virginia was sharing a book that we have found interesting and have just now started trying to impliment called “Gaia’s Garden.” It has a wealth of information, but the one I am finding so helful as I get started is placing your herb and salad garden right outside your back door where you will see it often and therefore water and weed and harvest frequently because it is “on the way” to anything in your backyard and will be noticed…and therefore these “chores” don’t build up into big jobs. The other new idea is instead of composting and then hauling the soil around, compost in the ground, cover with dirt and then plant over it and don’t bother sifting and turning and hauling, rahter let the worms and roots do the work for you where it is needed. It is completely secular in its world view, but at this point of my life I have become quite good at extracting the usualbe ideas and filtering out the rest.
Anyway, I just wanted to encorage you as reading your blog has encouraged me, and to pass on these great time-saving ideas
Thanks, Laura!
I’m going to look up “Gaia’s Garden” – sounds like a worthy addition to my bookshelf!