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Our family was recently honored in Mother Earth News (Aug/Sept 2012) as
Homesteaders of the Year. Being avid readers, this occasion has us reflecting
on some of the books that have most influenced our values and lifestyles over
the years. We’ve borrowed library books and amassed a family reference library
on a variety of topics including gardening, frugality and simplicity, crafts,
plant and animal identification books as well as ones filled with naturalists
musings.
We believe that connecting with a community of people working on similar goals
and projects is important but that good books can often fill the role of a
friend or mentor when a real one isn’t around. Books have taught us new things,
challenged us to go beyond what we already knew, inspired us, and sometimes
purely entertained us.
As I, Barbara, wrote in my Mother Earth News nomination, my husband Alan’s
first gift to me was Helen and Scott Nearing’s Living the Good Life. This
classic, subtitled How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World, was the
first book that popularized a back-to-the-land lifestyle.
The books we turn to regularly have changed, although some we go back to again
and again, year after year. It was difficult to trim our list and so we are
leaving out many favorites. We decided to include both some oldies and some
newer books, especially ones that influenced Rebecca in her urban homesteading.
Many books on this short list you may recognize as classics, while others
hopefully are new to you.
We hope we can inspire you to pick up a new book or revisit an old standby for
education or entertainment. And we’d like to hear about your favorites and
suggestions.
Our Top 10
- The
Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing – As mentioned, the original
back-to-the-land manifesto. - The Whole Earth Catalog edited by Stewart Brand – Originally
published annually in the late 1960s through the early 1970s; a helpful and
almost-overwhelming compendium of counterculture resources. - Four
Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman – Coleman is both respectful of tradition
(where respect is truly due) and not afraid to challenge conventional farming
and gardening techniques, making this season extension book one you’ll turn to
again and again for gardening techniques and solutions, new and old. (His Winter
Harvest Handbook builds upon and adds to the information presented in this
book, with more of a focus on production for market). - Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with
Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin –
The authors created an inspirational 9-step program focusing on the difference
between ‘making a living’ and making a life and computing how much life energy
we use to consume products and services. - The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chodron – The go-to
spiritual reference book in our family,
with short, easily digestible chapters, simple meditation instructions,
and a down-to-earth approach to Buddhist philosophy that makes it accessible to
people from all walks of life. - The
Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe – This is probably the gardening book
that I, Rebecca, currently go back to most often, with lots of brand new to me,
useful information, much of which I haven’t found in other sources. - The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukouka – While this
book from a Japanese farmer doesn’t contain much hands-on advice, it presents a
unique philosophy of farming in a more natural way, honed over decades of
trial, error, and observation of the natural world. - Farm
City: The Education of an
Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter – Well-written, humorous, and hopeful but
realistic about the challenges of urban farming, this excellent book was one of
the first to expose us to the concept of farming in the city. - Toolbox for Sustainable City Living by Scott Kellogg and
Stacy Pettigrew – An excellent inspiration and reference for city dwellers
interested in building a more sustainable life, including info on DIY
aquaponics and greywater systems. - Wild
Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz – Part cultural history, part cookbook,
this amazing book is the next best thing to having a friend or relative in the
kitchen guiding you through the steps of fermentation, gently encouraging you,
and giving you the courage to experiment.
Barbara Heller and Rebecca Heller-Steinberg presented a workshop at the 2012 Pennsylvania MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR.
Please visit the FAIR website
for more information about future FAIRs: June 1-2 in Puyallup, Wash.,
Sept. 20-22 in Seven Springs, Pa., and Oct. 12-13 in Lawrence, Kan. Tickets are on sale now.
You can also get FAIR updates on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
