Hide 

Keeping chickens is a trend that just keeps on growing, even for city dwellers. With this book, today's modern farmer will find plans and construction techniques for making seven different coops, along with fun chicken facts and great recipes for all those eggs!

Farm-raised author Chris Gleason's hip eye for design, combined with sound woodworking techniques, make the coops both attractive and sturdy. Practical information such as how to properly size a coop and how to source reclaimed materials is included. Don't miss the authors "tour de coop," in which he visits coops from other backyard farmers to find out why they keep chickens and what lessons they have to share with others interested in doing so.

Hide 

CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $26.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Everything you ever wanted to know about homesteading, all with a cool, modern style. From windowsills to backyards, cities hold more potential for growth than just urban sprawl. We can grow vegetables, raise small livestock, and fill our cupboards with canned decadence. Renee Wilkinson offers something for everyone, regardless of space or green thumb know-how.

Wonder what it takes to raise clucking chickens? Wilkinson walks you through every step. Musing about what will grow best on your balcony or fire escape? She gives you garden designs and choices. Pondering what to do with your honey harvest? Try out a homemade lip balm recipe. Unsure what to make with your bounty of herbs and veggies? A rustic yet elegant goat cheese and zucchini panina might just do it.

While Wilkinson may use her grandmother’s old canning tricks or her aunt’s favorite recipes, this young, thoughtful gardener still manages to make her spread her own and delivers the best information on growing, raising, harvesting, and making from your own plot.

About the author: Renee Wilkinson is the creator of Hip Chick Digs, a popular blog dedicated to urban homesteading, edible landscape design and sustainable living. Garden spade in hand, Wilkinson is completing a graduate degree in landscape architecture and continues to inspire urbanites everywhere to get their hands dirty in their own city homesteads. She lives on a tenth-of-an-acre city lot in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and three chickens.

Hide 

Whether building a summer cottage in the woods, planning the hunting cabin of your dreams or homesteading off the grid, this handy reference provides a logical and sensible approach to building permanent shelter in out-of-the-way places. Including everything from choosing and clearing a site and creating an electrical power source, to clearing the land and creating a foundation, this book offers instruction on building an A-frame cabin and a rustic log cabin with a framed roof. There is also a special section on designing small buildings to cope with Mother Nature, including earthquakes, heavy snow, high wind and flooding.

Hide 

From the stirrings of spring and summer swarms to autumn honey harvest and winter protection, this essential resource guides both the aspiring and experienced beekeeper through every season of the beekeeping year. Learn how to rear a queen, control a swarm, protect a hive, and keep bees healthy. The book is also packed with practical tips on using beeswax and, of course, making honey.

About the author: Ron Brown has more than 50 years' experience of keeping bees, both in Britain and central Africa. A former editor of the monthly journal Beekeeping, he has travelled all over the world to give lectures on specialist beekeeping topics.

Hide 

A compregensive introduction to the "nectar of the gods."

With increasing numbers of people ditching drugs for natural healing, Honey: Nature's Golden Healer is a timely look at how the beehive can help us look and feel better. Highlighted with hundreds of vivid color photographs, the book explains how honey is made and describes the complex lives of honeybees, beehive architecture and the sophisticated social structure of beehives. Novice beekeepers will find enough reliable information to get started on a small scale.

Honey examines the beneficial properties of honey and other bee products, such as propolis, pollen, royal jelly and beeswax, and explains how to collect and use them. The book includes recipes for homemade remedies, luxurious beauty formulas and delicious treats.

• The critical role of honeybees in agriculture
• The many types and colors of honey
• Raw Honey
• How honey compare to sugar
• Preserving with honey
• Honey's antibacterial properties and how they work
• Honey as a neutraceutical (a foodstuff with medicinal properties)
• Bee sting therapy
• Super-honeys
• The benefits of propolis, bee pollen and royal jelly
• Honey in cooking and baking

Hide 

CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $18.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

How to save money, time, and the environment-on the urban frontier.

With The Complete Idiot's Guide to Urban Homesteading anyone can learn how to live sustainably and responsibly-and save money and time-in any urban environment. Expert urban homesteader Sundari Elizabeth Kraft shares her hands-on knowledge of: growing organic foods and preserving them; composting; raising small livestock and chickens; generating electricity and biofuels; and other ways to cut costs and live green. This book has all the information required to become a successful urban homesteader in any city.

• Practical advice on everything from composting to clean energy.
• Sundari Elizabeth Kraft is an expert in urban homesteading.

Hide 

CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $39.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

A striking how-to guide and four-color visual tour presenting design possibilities using a range of salvaged materials.

Sustainability and conservation are buzzwords in the construction and renovation of homes today. It's therefore no surprise that "salvage design"-reusing old building materials and other types of recycled goods- is becoming a popular technique, both for its environmentally friendly functionality and for its unique design aesthetic.

Here is an inspiring, practical guide that is also a striking visual tour of the full range of interior design possibilities incorporating salvaged materials. From using recycled wood as vintage flooring or accent beams to reclaiming stone as a kitchen island or fitting salvaged tiles into a bathroom backsplash, the book covers a range of materials and design concepts for different rooms and supplies technical information about what to keep in mind (size, shape, color, structural needs, etc.), how to use the salvaged materials most effectively, and where to go to find them.

For more information check out the Salvage Secrets blog to explore the online world of all things salvaged, recycled, upcycled, vintage and reclaimed.

Hide 

CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $19.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

You can cut energy costs – really! Everyone is talking about saving energy, but now The Energy-Smart House actually shows you how to make it happen with the collective experience of the professionals at Fine Homebuilding.

See the big picture like the pros do. It takes more than a Band-Aid approach to achieve true energy efficiency. And, you’ll get a complete overview from our experts, starting with how to do an audit through evaluating heating and cooling systems to choosing new thermostats.

Upgrading an older home? Our pros will show you how to beef up old insulation without tearing into walls, install weather stripping, and choose replacement windows. Or remodeling? Learn all you need to know about house wraps, options for solar hot water, how to design an energy-smart kitchen, select the most efficient appliances, and much more.

With so many advances in technology and product choices, you’ll want The Energy-Smart House to help you make effective changes that go beyond lip service. It’s your answer to workable strategies for reducing waste and making your home as energy efficient as possible.

Hide 

CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $24.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

You’ve spent countless hours building a project and all that’s left to do is apply the finish. This step is daunting for even the most seasoned woodworkers, and with good reason—a bad finish can ruin the most well-built, sophisticated piece of furniture in a matter of minutes. In this invaluable collection of articles from the editors of Fine Woodworking, readers will find foolproof finishes and application methods that guarantee the perfect finishing touch for any project. The first part of the book covers surface preparation, including sanding and scraping—a step that is critical to a successful finish. Other sections address specific challenges: choosing the best finish for your furniture; coloring wood with dyes and stains; bringing out the best in wood; and, finally, troubleshooting mistakes. This required reading will ensure that you never fear finishing again.

Hide 

This third collection of Mother Earth News' most popular DIY articles provides enough fun, rewarding projects to keep you and your family busy all year long. Made available to you in an easy-to-use CD-ROM format, just like our popular Mother Earth News Archive on CD-ROM.

Selected from more than 40 years of material, this collection provides 101 articles for enough fun, rewarding projects to keep you busy every single weekend for a full year!

You can learn how to:

• Build your own add-on greenhouse
• Make a bamboo flute
• Make a handmade braided rug
• Make homemade paper
• Build sawhorses
• Build a grain bin house
• Build your own earth Oven
• And more!

• With an IBM-compatible computer: Microsoft® Windows 98 SE (Second Edition) or newer; with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 or newer. You also will need Java Virtual Machine (VM) version 1.3 (free download from www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp) or newer browser plug-in with Java enabled on your browser and computer.
• With an Apple Computer: Mac OS X with Safari 3.2.525.27.1 or newer and Java. Use the Software Update feature (available on the Apple menu) to check that you have the most up-to-date version of Java for your Mac.
• For Mac OS 9.2.2, this CD must be run in Netscape 7.0.2 with Apple MRJ 2.2.5. (Both available free from www.versiontracker.com.)
• A CD-ROM drive (auto-start should be enabled).