Cut down on your food and energy bills with the Guide to Living on Less and Loving it! from the Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series. Create a sustainable farm by growing your own food and raising your own chickens for meat or eggs. Heat water with the sun, make old-fashioned homemade soap, and raise goats for milk. Live self-reliantly with 65 tips for a DIY lifestyle, and make the best syrup straight from a tree. Save (and possibly earn!) money with tips to cutting your food bills in half, building your own home, and earning a living from a rural setting or from your own home. Get wise and save money with the Guide to Living Less and Loving It!

Plan for food self-sufficiency this year with the help of Mother Earth News' Guide to Organic Gardening. This fourth edition comes to you loaded with expert advice, do-it-yourself instructions and much more for making your organic garden thrive all year long.

This glossy-paged guide is perfect for beginners or expert gardeners. It covers everything from perennial vegetables to choosing a greenhouse, from organic pest control to making compost. Read how poultry is the secret weapon for organic pest control. Learn how to make the best homemade tomato cages. Or plan out your kitchen garden with four delightful herb gardens plans.

With more than 20 articles, all focused on making your garden the best it can be, this guide will have you harvesting bountifuls of fresh vegetables, herbs and fruit. The articles include:

• Maintain a Weedless Organic Garden - The keys are limited tilling, organic mulch, drip irrigation, and permanent beds and paths.
• The No-Spray Way to Protect Plants - Lightweight fabric row covers are an easy way to protect your crops from insects and critters, and extend the growing season.
• Worms! Soil Building Workhorses - Use the free services of resident earthworms to make one of nature's finest fertilizers.
• Grow Your Own Seeds - Experience the ultimate in self-reliance, and even create new plant varieties that will perform better in your region.
• All About Growing Summer Squash - Discover which varieties of summer squash are best for your climate and soil, including tips on growing, harvesting and storing.

There's no time like the present to start planning and plotting your garden! With the help of the 5th edition of Mother Earth News Guide to Organic Garden you can plan for food self-sufficiency year-round. Written for both beginners and seasoned gardeners, this 100-page guide is filled with articles that will make your garden healthy and bountiful for growing vegetables, fruits and herbs.

An information-packed beginner's guide article will help you discover the joys of gardening, including everything from instructions on building the soil to a list of beginner-friendly crops to grow and harvest. Other articles cover how to make your own compost, improve your soil, build your own mini greenhouses, and keep chickens in your garden.

Read the hows and whys to creating permanent garden beds and paths, and why framed or raised beds may be optional. Discover the key factors in maintaining a weedless organic garden. Learn how to grow strawberries, peppers, potatoes and more.

More articles include:

• Make Cheap Garden Beds: Here's how - and why - to create permanent garden beds and paths, and why framed or raised beds may be optional.
• Best Tips to Start Seeds Indoors: Save money and grow superior varieties by starting your own seeds.
• Choosing a Greenhouse: Grow food for the table - and the spirit - any time of the year.
• 4 Garden Plans for Kitchen Herbs: Supplement your food garden with a patch of delightful herbs.
• Homesteader's Guide to Little Tractors: Miniature machines are available in a wide range of capability and price.

It’s never too early to start planning this year’s garden. Where to plant your herbs? Where should your row of cabbage grow? How many tomato plants should you have? The sixth edition of the Guide to Organic Gardening from Mother Earth News is a great reference to help you plan your bountiful garden this year. Starting with soil, fertilizer, seed starting, what plants you should grow and so much more, this guide is 100 pages of helpful articles to help you grow your best garden yet!

Read how to build better soil with free organic fertilizer. Learn how beneficial chickens in the garden can be! Discover the best summer cover crops to help suppress those pesky weeds. Follow instructions on how to grow great lettuce, strawberries, potatoes, carrots, beans, peas and more!

More articles include:

• Grow More Food in a Movable Greenhouse: Boost productivity in spring, summer, fall and winter with a do-it-yourself greenhouse you can transport around your plot.
• Plant Pollination Primer: Learn the facts on how insects and wind pollinate your crops so you can plant smarter and haul in heftier harvests.
• How to Make Compost: Choose from many easy ways to make compost for increased garden productivity – low-cost homemade bins, piles sans bins, chicken power, pest-proof tumblers … even indoor worm bins!
• 4 Garden Plans for Kitchen Herbs: Supplement your food garden with a patch of delightful herbs.
• Expert Tips for Growing Early Tomatoes: Add a whole month to your fresh-tomato season with these proven techniques.

Looking for a way to make delicious, homemade bread? How about advice on how to grow your best fall garden this year? Need tips for picking out chickens that produce the best eggs ever? Look no farther than this 100-page guide from Mother Earth News. Full of articles that instruct, help and point readers in the right direction for eating fresh food all year long, Guide to Real Food All Year has nearly 20 articles that cover everything from drying tomatoes to making your own cider, from growing great salads to saving time and energy with pressure cookers.

With beautiful pictures, this guide explains how to eat better and save money. Readers will learn how to choose inexpensive cuts of grass-fed beef, free-range chicken and pastured pork for better nutrition and great flavor. Gardeners will read how to grow colorful heirloom corns for improved nutrition and great taste. Farmers market goers will learn how to dry the harvest they buy to stock up on homegrown snacks and convenience foods for year-round eating.

Articles include:

• Homemade Butter: The Best You'll Ever Have
• Why Whole Wheat Is Way Better
• Simple Tips for Better Garden Soil
• Use Cold Frames to Grow More Food
• Learn to Can for Homegrown Flavor

The editors at MOTHER EARTH NEWS have compiled the best money-saving articles into one invaluable guide. Guide to Saving Money on Food will help you cut your food bills in half with simple bread recipes, instructions how to preserve your own food, gardening techniques, tips on grocery shopping, and so much more.

Turn your dreams of country living into a reality! The Mother Earth News Guide to Self-Reliance and Country Skills, 4th Edition is 100 pages of beneficial articles that will assist anyone wanting to live a more self-sufficient life. Nothing compares to the feeling of enjoying a meal that was raised and grown on your own land … no matter if it’s just the delicious preserves from your garden or the entire feast. There are also great articles on solar heating and other energy savings tips that will save you hundreds on your energy bills.

Several articles in this special issue provide useful and helpful tips on how to plan and maintain a successful self-sufficient homestead, from picking the perfect property to caring for the garden and livestock.

More articles included:
• Homesteading Lessons Learned: From planning your home to laying out garden beds, a longtime homesteading expert shares his advice 20 years in the making.
• Start a Self-Sufficient, 1-Acre Homestead: Live off the land with these strategies for establishing self-sufficient food production, including advice on crop rotations and raising livestock.
• Cut Your Food Bills in Half: You can enjoy better and healthier food while spending much less to feed your family.
• How to Make Cheap Garden Beds: Here’s how (and why) to create permanent garden beds and paths, and why framed or raised beds may be optional.
• Want Milk? Get Goats: Dairy goats can supply your family with milk inexpensively.
• Make Your Own Herbal Medicine: To find ingredients for many basic herbal remedies, you often need to look no further than your own backyard.

The Guide to Self-Reliance and Country Skills features more than 50 ways to enjoy a more sustainable lifestyle. Inside, you’ll discover the most important skills for self-reliance. More than 15 invaluable articles fill the pages of this special issue. Read lessons of off-grid living from a 20-year veteran homesteader and shift to a low-carbon lifestyle. Install the best garden fence to protect your garden from critters. Discover a solar heating plan for your home with an exciting solar project. Follow simple instructions for making your own shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste.

This incredible resource as all the information you need to make your own herbal medicine, rodent-proof your house, bake easy homemade bread, find the best backyard chicken breeds, and more!

Learning to live off the land can be one of the most rewarding experiences. Preparing meals with ingredients that you cultivated yourself provides a feeling of self-accomplishment and the satisfaction of knowing where your food comes from. Being able to successfully run a self-sufficient homestead, no matter whether you live on 1 acre or 10, provides you with benefits such as money saved on bills, healthy and nutritious food, homemade remedies, and so much more.

Growing and raising your own food, completing energy-saving projects and choosing renewable energy, and more are all covered in this 100-page guide. It's jam-packed with articles that will help you start your journey toward making life more self-sufficient.

Read how to plan the perfect homestead and design your homestead on only 1 acre of land. Learn to build the best greenhouses and garden fences. Discover how to plan for food self-sufficiency and maximize your harvest.

More articles include:
Find Your Country Property - Follow this advice to locate the property that's just right for you.

Space-Saving Home Design - Has clutter taken over your life? Make your house feel bigger by tapping into five strategies that makes your homework far more efficiently.

Make Your Own Herbal Medicine - To find ingredients for many basic herbal remedies, you often need to look no further than your own backyard.

Raising Chickens for Meat - Want to ensure that the chicken on your plate was raised and processed humanely? Do it yourself!

Keeping Bees in Top-Bar Hives - Use this less-expensive method to raise bees that will pollinate your crops and provide tasty honey fresh from the comb.