This 100-page guide has everything you need to create the garden of your dreams. Everything from natural insect control to tomato cage plans, from fertilizer to growing berries is covered in this colorful, helpful guide.

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.

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!

Become an herb expert with this Mother Earth News Herbs Collection! You’ll learn all about growing herbs as well as utilizing different spices in your next dish.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Growing Sage and Other Useful Herbs

Grow herbs year-round with the help of the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Growing Sage and Other Useful Herbs from the Herb Companion Series. Plant and grow tropical plants (such as ginger and turmeric) throughout the year with aboveground containers. Use horticulture therapy techniques, infuse your soil with beneficial microbes, discover the best seed companies, plant a native garden, and learn all about different plants (such as seven shade-loving herbs). Grow these herbs and put them to good use with the Guide to Growing Sage and Other Useful Herbs!

MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Cooking with Garlic

Garlic not only adds intensity and richness to food, it also has healing and preventative qualities.. Learn about everything garlic with the Guide to Cooking with Garlic and Other Tasty Herbs. Discover the health benefits of garlic, including preventing and treating different types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, liver damage, and more. Get the tastiest and most classic garlic recipes, such as Garlic Aioli and Garlic and Olive Tapenade. Garlic is not all you get with this guide, though. Find recipes starring some of the tastiest and most flavorful herbs, such as Herb Butter and Herb Salt, Basil-Lime Sorbet, Rosemary & Sage Pickles, and recipes for the heartiest soups and freshest breads. Fall in love with cooking with the tastiest herbs with this guide!

MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Turmeric & Super Herbs

Reboost your health with hundreds of tips from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Turmeric & Super Herbs. Inside this 100-page guide you’ll learn more about turmeric, garlic, and other good-for-you herbs. Read the research and eat more garlic; learn to use natural sources to sweeten food; grow a stress-relieving tea garden; learn more about aromatherapy; discover everything to know about essential oils; and more.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Growing Rosemary

Grow herbs year-round with the help of the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Growing Rosemary and Other Herbs from the Herb Companion Series. With helpful tips and step-by-step instruction, this guide provides a great foundation for creating tastier dishes or a better-looking garden! Its pages cover growing seeds indoors, creating colorful window displays, growing herbs overwinter indoors, and growing oregano. You'll gain new skills in all things herbal!

MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Super Herbs, Winter 2017

Reboost your health with hundreds of tips from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Super Herbs. Inside this 96-page guide you’ll learn more about elderberry, turmeric, ginger, thyme, and more herbs for good health. Discover the top six medicinal essential oils; natural dental and allergy remedies; herbs and nutrients for a better night’s rest; gardening for medicinal health, emotional well-being, and improved digestion; growing ginger and turmeric; and more.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Cooking with Herbs

MOTHER EARTH NEWS has put together a beautiful guide to help you boost your health with hundreds of tips for growing and harvesting herbs and spices and then cooking with those homegrown herbs and spices. There are more than 99 tips for culinary greatness inside this 100-page guide that features articles and recipes such as Chocolate Dessert Ravioli, herbal sodas, botanical breads, and much more.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS PREMIUM: MODERN HOMESTEADING SPRING 2016 Create your own self-reliant homestead with the help of the Spring 2016 MOTHER EARTH NEWS Premium: Modern Homesteading issue! There are more than 100 pages in this colorful guide filled with MOTHER EARTH NEWS homesteading articles that cover garden beds, livestock, easy recipes, DIY projects, and more.
br> Read the top ways to get rid of ticks from your yard, home, and body to help prevent Lyme and other diseases. Discover simple, safe, and effective remedies for soothing sunburns, blisters, bug bites, and other minor maladies. Learn how to make easy, no-knead bread and homemade butter. Explore ways to live off the land with these strategies for establishing self-sufficient food production, including advice on crop rotations and raising livestock.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS PREMIUM ISSUE SELF-SUFFICIENT LIVING SPRING 2016 If you are ready to sell your downtown apartment and move to a 20-acre lot to live off the land, then this MOTHER EARTH NEWS new premium issue about self-sufficient living is just for you. Inside this 112-page guide, you’ will find discover articles on how to find the perfect country property, harvest tomatoes earlier, preserve produce, build DIY greenhouses, and more.

Explore 65 self-reliance tips that bring a DIY approach to every facet of life, and start saving big money today. Read how to grow and make your own simple medicines by tending a medicinal herb garden for ready access to a multitude of safe, healing remedies. Learn how to make homemade mayo, sourdough bread, pickles, and more.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS PREMIUM GUIDE TO HOMESTEAD DIY PROJECTS FALL 2017 This special premium issue, The MOTHER EARTH NEWS Premium Guide to Homestead DIY Projects, contains 28 articles to help you achieve your self-reliance dreams. This special issue from our belovedthe “Original Guide to Living Wisely”. Our goal at MOTHER EARTH NEWS is to provides information and inspiration to help you live more simply, more securely, and more sustainsably.

This unique chart presents gardening events in a "time phased" format so that it is possible to see at a glance the entire planting, growing and harvesting period. It shows proper indoor and outdoor planting times relative to spring and fall frost dates for 22 common garden vegetables. Since frost dates vary from region to region, the chart will slide, making it useful in most parts of the northern Hemisphere where frost is a critical gardening factor. The front of the chart shows the spring season, and the other side acts as a guide for fall gardeners. Frost dates are included in the directions. A must for new gardeners. View the video to see how it works!

The MOTHER EARTH NEWS WISER LIVING SERIES SET brings you nearly 600 pages of expert advice, recipes, do-it-yourself projects, and more information on living a self-sufficient life. This set covers everything from organic gardening to easy solar power, from raising chickens for meat to self-reliance and country skills. The do-it-yourself projects include simple solar heater plans as well as instructions on how to paint your house, install your own windows, and easily take advantage of energy from the sun. Follow recipes for making homemade bread and preserving preserve food (including simple ideas for easy canning, freezing, and dehydrating). Discover how to save money with energy-saving tips for your home, and how to cut your food bills in half by growing your own food right in your own backyard.

This set includes:
MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Self-Reliance and Country Skills
Whether you live in the country or simply enjoy putting country skills to use in the city or suburbs, you will find many ideas and projects in this issue that you’ll be excited to tackle. Find empowerment and joy in self-reliant living!

MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Organic Gardening
Many of us have chosen to use natural, nontoxic methods in our gardens. In part, we’re motivated by a desire for healthy food and soil. After all, who wants to eat food that’s been sprayed with toxic chemicals better suited to chemical warfare than gardening? The good news is many of these sustainable, natural methods are surprisingly simple, as well as low-cost. Find many of these tips in this special issue.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Great DIY Projects
Self-efficiency – doing things for yourself – is a great way to save money, utilize local resources, and create durable projects and buildings. If you’re a new DIYer, you’ll be amazed at how many jobs you can manage yourself. This guide includes information on do-it-yourself skills and projects for those just starting out, as well as those with years of experience. You can save money by doing things yourself instead of hiring a builder, mechanic, or repair technician, plus you will build many items better than you can buy them.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Living on Less
Spending less doesn’t have to mean enjoying life less. So slow down, get out of the rat race, and take more time to enjoy the things that are truly important. This special collection of articles is all about spending less on food, housing, and energy, and simplifying your life without living less comfortably.

MOTHER EARTH NEWS Guide to Country Skills
Many people dream of leaving the city for a serene life in the country, where they can grow their own food and become more self-sufficient. This guide will help you make that dream a reality, whether you’re starting from a metropolitan apartment or living in the suburbs. And if you’re already living in the country, this guide offers some great tips to help you become more self-reliant.

This special premium issue contains 29 articles to help you achieve your self-reliance dreams, and 30+ building plans and how-to tips for your property. The 112-page guidebook features articles about building chicken feeders, restoring old wooden furniture, constructing a cozy built-in bed, making shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, and laundry soap, and more. Full of detailed charts and beautiful photographs, this guidebook will have you fixing up your homestead in no time. Our goal at Mother Earth News is to provide information and inspiration to help you live more simply, more securely, and more sustainably.

Mother Earth News is pleased to bring you 100 pages of expert advice for self-sufficient living in the new Premium Issue: Modern Homesteading. More than 25 articles cover off-grid living, easy food gardens, solar heating plans, preserving food, and much more.

Read how to start a quick and easy food garden with a no-dig, easy-care bag garden that features 25 favorite crops. Discover how to make a food self-sufficiency plan by estimating how much to grow or buy, and learn how to achieve food security with these handy charts and guidelines. Learn how to keep bees and produce fresh, delicious honey in your own backyard. Make your own herbal medicine by finding ingredients for many basic herbal remedies.

Other articles include:

• Easy, No-Knead Crusty Bread: Bake crispy, gorgeous loaves from scratch using this simple technique. All you need are a few ingredients and a blazing-hot Dutch oven for miraculous results.
• Five DIY, Low-Cost and Multipurpose Greenhouses: Use recycled materials to create an affordable garden greenhouse so you can enjoy fresh food all year long!
• Emergency Power Options: With the right generator, you’ll be prepared when storms or blackouts leave you without electricity.
• Backyard Chicken Basics: They’re less work than house pets and more fun than a tire swing. Plus, they provide delicious, nutritious eggs.
• How to Make Yogurt, Kefir and Cheese: Tap the health benefits of rich, tangy fermented milk products.

Create your own self-reliant homestead with the help of the Spring 2016 MOTHER EARTH NEWS Premium: Modern Homesteading issue! There are more than 100 pages in this colorful guide filled with MOTHER EARTH NEWS homesteading articles that cover garden beds, livestock, easy recipes, DIY projects, and more.

This premium issue of Mother Earth News will give you all the know-how to grow your own quick and simple organic garden! With over 100 pages of content, this guide will give you everything you need to know start to finish. Starting with a guide for beginners, the guide will take you through thorough instructions for maintaining your garden naturally, and even teach you how to store the end product. Get all the knowledge with articles including:

• Maintain a Weedless Organic Garden
• Build Better Soil with Free Organic Fertilizer
• Poultry: Secret Weapon for Organic Pest Control
• Expert Tips for Growing Early Tomatoes
• How to Store Fresh Vegetables
• Grow Great Salads Year Round
• DIY Greenhouse for Winter Growing
• And more!

Whether you’re looking to begin the process from scratch or you’re an experienced gardener looking for more hacks and tips, this guide will give you all the knowledge to be a successful, natural, organic home gardener!

Become more reliant on yourself and your land with the Mother Earth News Premium Issue: Self-Sufficient Living. Learn how to hatch your own flock of chickens, grow food in less space, find your perfect country property, and get your own no-mortgage natural cottage. Get the best tips for keeping livestock, harnessing natural energy from a DIY wind generator, and making your own medicine. Save money and live healthily with all the best tips for living self-reliantly. Feel the true sense of accomplishment with the help of all the tips from Self-Sufficient Living.

This new revolutionary, one-year subscription software makes vegetable gardening so much easier. The planner helps you do everything from plant placement to pest prevention to plant varieties to planting schedule.

Make the most of the fall season with the help this guide offers! You will find out how to grow your best fall garden, taking advantage of the cooler temperatures that will make your vegetables taste crisp and sweet. If you protect your vegetables, you can continue harvesting fresh, crisp produce through several fall and winter months! Speaking of cooler temperatures, choose the best wood-burning stove for your home with the expert advice contained in this guide, and find the best firewood types for your needs!

Other articles include:

• Eight easy projects for instant energy savings – Implement these inexpensive strategies to reduce your carbon footprint and slash your energy bills.
• Outdoor Root Cellars – Try these five ways to store fresh food for winter right in your garden.
• Brew Your Own Beer – Home brewing is kettles of fun, and it’s the perfect way to make your own uniquely flavored, affordable drinks.
• Emergency Power Options – With the right generator, you’ll be prepared when storms or blackouts leave you without electricity.

This first installment of our new Wiser Living Video Series DVD features some of our most popular workshops, taught by leading experts on do-it-yourself, sustainable projects. From learning the basics of pickling vegetables to making your own all-natural household cleaners to extending your garden season with easy-to-build mini-greenhouses, the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Video Series features a broad spectrum of information. Recorded by professionals, each 10- to 20-minute workshop is brought to life through vivid imagery, crisp audio and step-by-step instructions that will guide you on your path to self-sufficiency.
DVD Menu:

Gardening and Backyard Chickens

• Poultry 101 – Hank Will
• Gardening With Chickens – Cheryl Long
• Cover Crops – Cheryl Long
• Season Extension – Cheryl Long
• Raised Bed Gardening – Cheryl Long
• Herbs for General Wellness, Herbs for Health Pt. 1 – Jessica Kellner

MOTHER’s Kitchen

• No-Knead Bread – Karen Will
• Pickled Beets – Jennifer Kongs
• Chicken Stock From Scratch – Robin Mather
• Bread Made Easy – Karen Will
• Herbs for Skin Wellness, Herbs for Health Pt. 2 – Jessica Kellner
• Rendering Lard – Robin Mather
• Making Bacon – Robin Mather
• Fermentation and Sauerkraut – Jennifer Kongs
• Herbs for Mental Health, Herbs for Health Pt. 3 – Jessica Kellner

Healthy Home

• DIY Household Cleaners – Jessica Kellner
• Medicinal Oils and Salves – Gina DeBacker
• Making Tinctures – Allison Martin
• Herbs for Nausea, Herbs for Health Pt. 4 – Jessica Kellner

About the talent:
As a writer, farmer and the Publisher and Editorial Director of MOTHER EARTH NEWS, Bryan Welch is well known for his optimism, sense of humor and his commitment to empowering people to live their own versions of the good life. His work demonstrates unequivocally that it’s possible to do well in business without destroying natural or human resources.
MOTHER EARTH NEWS Senior Associate Editor Robin Mather grew up in a rural village in Michigan, where her classmates at school were the sons and daughters of farmers. She frequently stayed with friends whose families ran farms, and loved everything about their lives — from bucking bales of straw and hay to bottle-feeding calves.
Cheryl Long is the Editor-in-Chief of MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine and a leading advocate for more sustainable lifestyles. She lives on an 8-acre homestead near Topeka, Kan., that is powered in part by solar panels. There, she manages a large organic garden and a small flock of Welsummer chickens.
Hank Will, Editor-in-Chief of Grit magazine, has been farming and selling farm products for almost 30 years and believes that demand for heritage breeds is poised to explode. His family’s seed company and nursery business inspired his academic career in genetics, while childhood experiences instilled a fascination with animal husbandry.
Mother Earth Living Editor-in-Chief Jessica Kellner is enthusiastic about sharing the simple, commonsense ways we can connect with nature to better our health, homes and lives — including using herbal remedies to prevent or treat common ailments and cleaning our houses with affordable, natural ingredients.
Karen K. Will is editor of The Heirloom Gardener magazine and operates Prairie Turnip Farm in Osage County, Kan., with her husband, Hank Will. She is a freelance writer, photographer and blogger, and the author of Cooking With Heirlooms: Seasonal Recipes With Heritage-Variety Vegetables and Fruits.
Allison Martin is Managing Editor of Mother Earth Living, and previously spent five years on staff at The Herb Companion magazine, where she learned about plant medicine traditions. She lives in Lawrence, Kan., with her family, two bulldogs and cat.