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Order your copy, signed by authors Oscar H. Will III and Karen K. Will, today! Fueled by a failing economy and a passionate desire for a return to simpler times, a new wave of homesteaders is seeking the good life, and the kind of true satisfaction that can only be built, not bought. Many of these modern pioneers are cash poor, but rich in energy and creativity. Plowing with Pigs and Other Creative, Low-Budget Homesteading Solutions offers them a set of fresh ideas for achieving independence through sweat equity and the use of unconventional resources.

This highly readable and entertaining guide brings together answers to common problems faced by homesteaders young and old, urban, suburban, and rural. Traditional knowledge is combined with MacGyver-style ingenuity to create projects that maximize available resources, including:

• Animal management strategies for the yard, garden, and field
• Pole building and construction techniques from woodlot materials
• Replacing farm machinery with homemade hand tools and implements
• Leveraging increased self-sufficiency into a home-based business

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This beginner's guide clearly explains everything you need to know to keep bees successfully, from getting your first bees to harvesting your first crop of honey. Spectacular macro photography by Mars Vilaubi brings the inner workings of the hive to life, while the playful text by Alethea Morrison gives you the information you need to make it through your first year. Everything is addressed here, from hive structure, colony hierarchy and bee behavior to allergies, permits and restrictions, and how to deal with the neighbors.

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Sepp Holzer is known around the world for bringing deserted landscapes back to life using his unique methods of creating water-retention basins. In Desert or Paradise, he applies his core philosophy - for increasing food production, promoting the earth's health and reconnecting mankind with nature - to reforestation and water conservation across the world. He urges us to look beyond failed solutions to drought by learning from his lengthy catalog of successes in arid, rainfall-dependent regions such as Greece, Turkey, Spain and Portugal.

You'll find here a wealth of information for the gardener, homesteader, permaculture designer and sustainable farmer. Yet the book's greatest value lies in the attitudes it teaches - and in its demonstration that the simple principles found in nature and used to create Holzer's productive systems can be applied anywhere.

Holzer also outlines his 10 points of sustainable self-reliance and how these methods can help feed the world. They include recognizing the need to:

• Regulate water usage
• Eliminate factory livestock farming
• Bring more fallow or unused land into production
• Enlarge crop areas by using terracing and Holzer-style raised beds
• Engage in community building
• … And much more

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This practical guide contains all of the information you need to have before purchasing farmland, covering everything from the characteristics of the land and the surrounding area to government regulations, land use considerations, and financing. Checklists and questionnaires are included to help you decide exactly what you need and how to find it.

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Beekeeping equipment is expensive, but it's easy to make your own! Tony Pisano's step-by-step illustrated instructions show you how to build everything you need, including hive bodies, supers, covers, hive stands, frames, swarm catchers, feeders, and more. You can choose among different hive styles, and many of the 35 projects can be made using hand tools.

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The essential resource for modern homesteading, raising chickens, and growing and preserving foods, The Encyclopedia of Country Living covers how to cultivate a garden, buy land, bake bread, raise farm animals, make sausage, can peaches, milk a goat, grow herbs, churn butter, build a chicken coop, catch a pig, cook on a wood stove, and much, much more. This comprehensive resource is the most authoritative guide available to leading a sustainable lifestyle and living off of the land.

Carla Emery started writing The Encyclopedia of Country Living in 1969, during the back-to-the-land movement. She continued to add content and refine the information over the years, and the book went from a self-published mimeographed document to a book of 928 pages.

This 40th Anniversary Edition reflects the most up-to-date resource information and is the most personal version of the book that became Carla Emery's lifework. It remains the original manual of basic country skills that have proved essential and necessary for people living in the country, the city, and everywhere in between.

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Live simply: save money, smile more. This theme runs through the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Living on Less special edition. In its 100 pages, you'll find expert advice, tips, instructions and more to help you live a more self-sufficient life. Its guidance covers everything from building better soil with free organic fertilizers to constructing tiny homes that are cozy, affordable and inspiring. The fourth edition of this handy guide will have you living on less and loving it!

Read reliable information about building a compact cabin or simple shelter that's enjoyable and affordable. Grow your own healing garden and find good health just outside your front door. Discover simple tips for creating nutrient-rich, root-welcoming soil, and grow your most abundant garden yet. Learn where to find healthy, farm-fresh eggs. Follow delicious recipes for making your own homemade root beer, ginger ale, grape soda and more.

Other articles include:

• Adding Insulation Can Save You Money: Figure out whether you should add insulation to your home, and which pieces of the job you can do yourself.
• Easy Ways to Preserve Fresh Food: Your guide to canning, freezing, dehydrating and other simple, seasonal storage methods.
• Instant, No-Dig Garden Beds: Create or expand your food garden with this time-saving technique.
• Want Milk? Get Goats: Dairy goats can supply your family with delicious milk, yogurt and cheese. The fun of raising these gregarious animals is just a bonus.
• Disease Prevention Basics: These techniques can prevent many of the diseases that plague your vegetables. They include wide spacing, trellising and careful use of organic pesticides.

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Want the best-looking yard in your neighborhood? Or a sprawling green lawn that welcomes visitors as they make their way up your driveway? With the help of the GRIT Guide to Field and Lawn Care you'll discover how to grow and maintain the sharpest lawn, as well as tips for safe mowing, advice for rejuvenating your lawn, and so much more.

Packed from cover to cover with expertise on field and lawn care, this helpful guide can assist you as you decide which mower will work best for your yard. And whether you need an economical pushmower or a time-saving zero turn machine, you'll find advice on routine maintenance that will keep your mower or garden tractor on track all summer long. Read 10 ways to sustainably manage the unwanted weeds that sprout up every year. Master the ins and outs of lawn maintenance and keep your yard looking its best all summer. Plus, learn how to lawn stripe your yard: Not only will it look professionally mowed, but fertilizing and overseeding will be that much easier!

Other articles include:

• Rules of Engagement: Before operating any mower, it's imperative to wrap your mind around basic mowing safety.
• (Electric) Wave of the Future: Mowers and bots that will cut your grass, without gas.
• Mowing the Old-Fashioned Way: Use a scythe to make hay and trim your lawn.
• Mowing and More with your ATV: Save money by turning your all-terrain vehicle into a top hand.
• All the Trimmings: From string trimmers and edgers to the old reliable ax, here are all the tools you'll need to keep your landscape neat and tidy.