What are the best book to start homesteading ?

[Frank23]

Hi, I'd like to know what are the best known books to read to get a good idea of how to start my own project, from buying land to building, and growing ideas. I live in Eastern Canada so it would be good to get something that relates to my climate. Thanks a lot .

[safronsue]

welcome to the site. the site owners have books out, 'Grow you own food for free' which comes highly recommended by one and all and will cover the growing ideas part of your book. there's a similar one on booze. What kind of place are you thinking of building and are you thinking of keeping livestock?

[Biscombe]

Can't go wrong with John Seymour
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Sel ... 0751364428

[Frank23]

thank you!, yes I'd like a place where I can grow my own food and raise a couple goats, chickens, bees, maybe pig and turkey. I also need good advices on winter organisation .

[Maykal]

Seymour's book is a delight, but perhaps too broad. Certainly worth buying as a general intro into homesteading, to give you an idea of the (enormous amount of) work involved, but I think you'd need to buy other books depending on what you wanted to specifically do.

[Mustardseedmama]

I love John Seymours book---also I would reccommend The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery. I cannot tell you how many times I have referred to these two books.

[diggernotdreamer]

How much practical experience do you have, when we moved here to our larger plot, we had spent 10 years together with me training the wizard about raised beds, animal husbandry and housing etc ( on our 1/4 acre garden) and he taught me how to live a life of poverty and grind (joking), he is a precision engineer who can basically make, build, mend nearly everything, the only thing he doesn't do is plastering. If you don't have much knowledge and experience, you may be as well to do a bit of hands on somewhere, there is WWOOF (weekend or willing workers on organic farms), I think it is worldwide (?), we get people coming to UK and Ireland from the states, canada, the rest of Europe and get experience in all aspects of husbandry. Books are very handy for reference, but nothing beats doing it for real. Next year I hope to be able to get some WWOOFER's or similar in, they can help out round the place and in return I will teach them hopefully something useful.

Good luck
Lyn

[boboff]

Seymour's books are ace, a how to, what they leave you with though is a "why"

My feeling is that you are writing your own book if you undertake this project.

It's hard work...really, expensive to set up properly, and things always go wrong, planning, regulations, weather, illness etc etc.

You have so much resorce nowadays on line, that really you need to write your chapter headings and then google and You Tube your research to write it, plus back it up with reading as many books from the Library as you can.

You need Barns, Glasshouses, PolyTunnels, fences, electric fences, petrol strimmers / chain saws, soil, mulsh, manure, raised beds, paths, and this is what costs

You need at least a part time cash paying job.

If you are a family you need to be in it 100% together, expect you all to put in 100% and be happy with poor returns for many years.

If not you end up Juicing Lettuce.

[Mustardseedmama]

If you are a family you need to be in it 100% together, expect you all to put in 100% and be happy with poor returns for many years.

If not you end up Juicing Lettuce.

...and potatoes

[diggernotdreamer]

That's a point, why don't you look up the legend that is Durgan, he lives in Canada and what he can't suck through a straw ain't worth knowing

[oldjerry]

Well,sorry,but I'd avoid Seymour(except for ' The Fat of The Land' ,a truly lovely little book) especially the coffee table stuff, he really was a bit of a fraud (I'm already heading for the underground bunker).To be honest,you'd be as well off buying several books, one on pigs,one on goats,one on growing veg,another on fruit,one on poultry etc......Best of all have spend a little bit on a really inspiring little book,'Timeless Simplicity' by John Lane,there's loads of stuff about 'How To' in print and on line,but that's about 'Why?'

Best Wishes,hope it works well for you.

[oldfella]

I agree with you OJ, I bought Seymour's book back in the 70s, and that really set me on the path thinking about the Good Life. I use it as a general guide but I prefer to use books that deal with the subject matter that I am dealing with at that time. To me, its rather like buying a book on Complete House building when all you want to do, is to stick ten bricks together.


Having said that, I would not be without my Hamilton books, after all, there I can say.
Ah yes, I know the Authors,

[Mustardseedmama]

That's a point, why don't you look up the legend that is Durgan, he lives in Canada and what he can't suck through a straw ain't worth knowing

He doesn't seem to have been around much lately.

[diggernotdreamer]

probably spilt a pea, lentil and hessian smoothy on his keyboard

[boboff]

One of the Mods had a go at one of his "Doctors in Cananda reveal Cats can cause Cancer" posts, so he chucked his dummy out the pram.