The Weekend Homesteader

A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency

By: Anna Hess

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Paperback | 13 November 2012

At a Glance

Paperback
432 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
25.4 x 17.9 x 1.8

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The Weekend Homesteader is organized by month—so whether it’s January or June you’ll find exciting, short projects that you can use to dip your toes into the vast ocean of homesteading without getting overwhelmed. If you need to fit homesteading into a few hours each weekend and would like to have fun while doing it, these projects will be right up your alley, whether you live on a forty-acre farm, a postage-stamp lawn in suburbia, or a high rise.

You'll learn about backyard chicken care, how to choose the best mushroom and berry species, and why and how to plant a no-till garden that heals the soil while providing nutritious food. Permaculture techniques will turn your homestead into a vibrant ecosystem and attract native pollinators while converting our society's waste into high-quality compost and mulch. Meanwhile, enjoy the fruits of your labor right away as you learn the basics of cooking and eating seasonally, then preserve homegrown produce for later by drying, canning, freezing, or simply filling your kitchen cabinets with storage vegetables. As you become more self-sufficient, you'll save seeds, prepare for power outages, and tear yourself away from a full-time job, while building a supportive and like-minded community. You won't be completely eliminating your reliance on the grocery store, but you will be plucking low-hanging (and delicious!) fruits out of your own garden by the time all forty-eight projects are complete.

Industry Reviews

As food self-sufficiency awareness grows, books appear to support such efforts. Hess is unique in her recognition of the practicality of weekend-only attention to these pursuits. A 12-month structure helps a variety of readers, from multiacre farm dwellers to suburbanites and high-rise residents, start with short projects. Springtime planning includes acreage, backyard and urban container plantings, rooftop and community gardens via mapping, record-keeping, and planting tips (okra, squash). Hess segues to summer and fall plantings (leaf lettuce, turnips, carrots), advising on seed and food preservation and season-extension using hoop-supported protection. Colder weather means planning crop rotation, soil testing, and planting fruit trees and berries, and March allows the planting of cold-tolerant veggies (beets, onions). Hess provides a list of goals, costs, times, levels of difficulty, and kid-friendliness for each project, and illustrations, photos, charts, and diagrams throughout. --Booklist

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Acknowledgments	p. VII
Introduction	p. IX
April: Find room to homestead	p. 2
Survey your site	p. 7
Plan your summer garden	p. 15
Kill mulch	p. 23
May: Plant your summer garden	p. 32
Nutrition	p. 36
Mulch	p. 40
Teamwork	p. 51
June: Compost	p. 58
Worm bin	p. 67
Seasonings	p. 74
Your real hourly wage	p. 81
July: Fall planting	p. 86
Freezing food	p. 96
Hanging your clothes out to dry	p. 103
Budget	p. 112
August: Seed saving	p. 116
Drying food	p. 130
Building a chicken coop or tractor	p. 139
Rain barrel	p. 154
September: Eating seasonally	p. 166
Canning	p. 171
Bringing your chickens home	p. 187
Voluntary simplicity	p. 195
October: Quick hoops	p. 202
Storing vegetables on the shelf	p. 216
Scavenging biomass	p. 227
Apprenticeships	p. 237
November: Garden rotation	p. 242
Roast a chicken	p. 249
Storing drinking water	p. 257
Diversify your income	p. 265
December: Plant a fruit tree	p. 270
Soup	p. 287
Essential tools	p. 292
Stay warm without electricity	p. 303
January: Soil test	p. 310
Baking bread	p. 321
Media consciousness	p. 329
Turning trash into treasures	p. 333
February: Planting berries	p. 338
Stocking up on dried goods	p. 354
Backup lighting	p. 359
Setting homestead goals	p. 364
March: Spring planting	p. 370
Growing edible mushrooms	p. 379
Bees	p. 395
Learn to enjoy what you've got	p. 404
Index	p. 407
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

The Weekend Homesteader

A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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