Today's Homestead: Volume I |  | Author: Dona Grant
Publisher: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $13.44
as of 11/21/2009 16:00 MST details
You Save: $1.51 (10%)
New (16) Used (7) from $13.44
Seller: njg2262
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 212900
Media: Paperback
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 1602642249
EAN: 9781602642249
ASIN: 1602642249
Publication Date: August 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
With skyrocketing food prices, lower product availability, and an increasing amount of food-born illnesses associated with mass produced foods, wouldn't it be great to produce your own safe, wholesome foods for your family? Would you like to offset rising fuel prices by safely and securely burning wood to heat your home and cook your meals? "Today's Homestead" will teach you how! Within these volumes you'll learn how to raise your own beef, extract your own honey, and manage your own orchard. If you've ever wanted to know how to braid your own rugs, or make your own yeast, how to pick a healthy calf at the sale barn, or incubate your own turkey eggs, it's all included in these books. Whether you have one acre or one hundred acres, "Today's Homestead" can help you be more self-sufficient. Volume 1 of "Today's Homestead" has all the basics, from home food preservation to proper food storage, as well as basic cheese making, soap making, and candle making, including how to make a cheese press, or candle dipping frame. "Today's Homestead" is the complete guide to homesteading for a more secure future in these increasingly insecure times.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
 Unprofessional, and not terribly helpful November 15, 2009
Leha Carpenter (California Coastal Redwoods)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was excited when I read the nine five-star reviews for this book. I ordered both volumes, hoping to find lots of useful information on how to do things from scratch, and totally by hand, but I was sorely disappointed when I received the books and began to look them over. I will let you decide, if you go ahead and buy these books, whether they are useful to you, but I felt the treatment of each subject was both superficial and subjective, beyond usefulness. Some other things you should know about these books:
They appear to be self-published. No professional editor was apparently hired, as the books are riddled with errors on both the developmental and copy levels. The author continually uses "then" instead of "than" in comparative statements, and subtitles are left hanging on the page before the content to which they belong.
If you are looking for a book that tells you how to do things yourself on your homestead, without the use of products purchased from stores, look elsewhere, because the author of these books does include shopping for starter items in the supply chain. For example, in the how to make yeast section, you will be told to start with some store-bought active dry yeast. Obviously, if you did not bring any with you and are nowhere near a store you will be out of luck on that one. Don't expect to learn how to make real cheese, either.
This book is a family affair. The photos and cover design were done by a member of the author's family, and apparently the author tried to do her own editing, and while I would not go so far as to say that the author was uneducated (she seems to have a natural ability to "journal," about the things she does), she is not a professional editor or writer, so you will be paying top dollar for the poor editing and somewhat rambling style of the writing. Okay for some, but not for me.
Finally, a note to the author: You could be writing some truly useful books, here, but you need to dig deeper into your subject matter, consider the needs of your audience (not just your own style of doing things), and hire a professional editor before you go to print. Also, when making comparisons, use "than." Thanks.
 good overview October 13, 2009
S. Wollman (South Dakota, USA)
good overview of homesteading. Very broad overview, goes into the details of soap making, curing ham/bacon, and many more....
If you're considering homesteading this is the book for you, her 2nd book goes into extensive detailing on gardening. So, if you're looking for more gardening stuff, by book #2.
I liked the book and am going to try to make my own soap this winter.
Awesome for beginners who are afraid of the idea of homesteading! June 19, 2009
Sol and Kat
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book manages to take the idea of homesteading, simplify it, and package it in a way that makes sense, makes it accessible and doesn't overwhelm the reader. At the same time, it's full of information!
My family is fairly techno-centric, so the first time my wife and I ate food that we had canned ourselves from our own garden using ideas and methods from these books, it was an amazing feeling. Self-sufficiency is a goal that anyone can aim for, regardless of your lifestyle... and it can be surprisingly rewarding and fun (take it from me - my normal habitat is sitting in front of a PC playing World of Warcraft or reading forums).
If you're interested in homesteading or becoming more self-sufficient, or if you've tried and been overwhelmed or lost, try these books and you won't regret it. I know I don't!
Today's Homestead is a must have book in your library April 11, 2009
Laurie Mahoney (USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Homesteading has been a lost skill and this book compiles it into a nicely organized format and is very informative. You'll learn how to make your own soap, candles, rugs, yeasts and breads, dairy, freezing and canning, dehydrating foods, meat preservation, and great cleaning solutions using natural ingredients. The cleaning solutions work great!!
This also goes over natural remedies and kithcen herbs.
This is such a great resource to have in your library for whatever reasons you need to go back to homesteading.
a good source of information for the layman March 25, 2009
Richard Vanhorn (north Dakota)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Full of lots of good information. without all of the technical hows and do's. It's well worth getting.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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