A small reference library of my own seems the logical choice. Having grown up in a house with over 2,000 books in it, I am accustomed to having plenty of reference and reading material at my fingertips. Books are heavy and take up considerable space, but the information is valuable and as Greenpa once pointed out, they make great thermal mass.
The hard part is deciding what books are worth owning. When bloggers mention a book they've found handy, I add it to a growing list of books to watch for at yard sales, thrift stores, library book sales, and used bookstores. I also keep my eyes open for any other book that might be worth perusing, such as Liquid Gold.
Here are a few of the books I’ve picked up recently:
- Acupressure Techniques: Well-being and pain relief at your fingertips by Julian Kenyon, M.D.
- Alternative Cures: The Most Effective Natural Home Remedies for 160 Health Problems by Bill Gottlieb
- Country Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land from the Editors of Storey Books
- Efficient Vegetable Gardening by Paul Doscher, Timothy Fisher, and Kathleen Kolb
- The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing’s Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living
- Great Possessions: An Amish Farmer’s Journal by David Kline
- Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Healing Herbs & Spices by John Heinerman
- The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich
- Root Cellaring: The Simple No-Processing Way to Store Fruits and Vegetables by Mie & Nancy Bubel
- Skills for Simple Living, edited by Betty Tillotson
- Stocking Up III: The All-New Edition of America’s Classic Preserving Guide by Carol Hupping
What books on your shelf would you recommend? What books are you still looking for?
Two points to anyone who noticed my list was alphabetized. I'm a bit compulsive that way...
9 comments:
"The Four-Season Harvest" by Eliot Coleman
"How to Grow More Vegetables" by John Jeavons
"The Big Book of Handspinning" by Aldon Amos
"Food Not Lawns" by H.C. Flores (not a great gardening book, but an *excellent* activism book if you take it with a grain of salt)
I'm not sure what my #1-must-have would be, but my essential reference library would definitely include a good how-to (as opposed to strictly recipe) cookbook.
I also need to aquire some book on knitting. I crochet, but I should know how to make my own socks, and crocheted socks are sad.
Thanks for the recommendations, LimeSarah! I'm seriously lacking skills in the fabric arts area and not sure when I'll be able to work on that. No more cookbooks really needed; in fact, I keep threatening to write my own - a good how-to lowfat vegan cookbook. :)
I just had a bunch of books recommended on my blog because I too am building a reference library. Most I've been able to check out from the library so I can decide if they work for me before I buy them. I figure I'm going to get a lot of books for Christmas. So, check out the recs on my blog for some more ideas.
I second the How to Grow More Vegetables recommendation.
I'd also go with John Seymour's "The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It." It is an absolutely incredible book. Loos to brews!
Kim
Christy, I'd already perused your list and copied down the ones that sounded applicable to me. :)
It sounds like I need to keep an eye out for John Jeavons veggie book. Seymour's sounds interesting, too. They look at me funny in the used bookstore when I walk in with 3 pages of book list...
I'm also into growing a reference library. Have several off your list. I was humming and harring over The Good Life one you have listed the other night actually, but wasn't sure if it was a recommended one? Have you heard good things about it? I have natural health, herbal, homeopathy, accupressure, organic gardening, self sufficiency (have the Readers Digest one often mentioned places), looking out for my own copy of John Seymours books (have read the library ones), propogating and seed collection etc. I LOVE books!
I haven't read the Nearings' book yet, but my sweetie has. He tells me that it is not so much a "how to" book as a journal of their experiences. Read it for the philosophical journey rather than to learn self-sufficiency tips. He does point out that they were vegetarian and were perfectly successful without raising livestock of any kind.
It probably falls into the category of borrowing from the library rather than a must-have for the home library.
Oh dear - the books I read over and over again are not how to's but usually auto biographies of crazy people living in far flung places. Or first time farmers and gardeners recounting their stories. Most of them are up on my side bar at my blog.
I enjoy those kinds of books, Rechelle, but usually opt to check them out of the library rather than own them. Your list looks full of readable options!
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