Author Topic: What books do you have / want? (Read 1752 times)

Nutz · « **on:** November 11, 2011, 01:57:20 AM »

Hello all!

I am trying to build my library of books on Homesteading, Self-sufficiency & off the grid. I would like your suggestions on what books I need for this life style.

Many thanks!
Nutz

blind ear · « **Reply #1 on:** November 11, 2011, 04:13:13 AM »

"mushrooming without fear" Alexander Schwab

bilmac · « **Reply #2 on:** November 11, 2011, 04:19:26 AM »

I think the name is Gardening When it Counts. Very helpful.

keith44 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 11, 2011, 05:32:07 AM »

My library includes: numbers in parenthases is how I rate the usefulness of the books.
The higher the number the more useful information I found

"Starting and running your own Small Farm business" by Sarah Beth Aubrey (1)
"Backyard Market gardening" by Andy Lee and Patricia Foreman (2)
"Making your small farm Profitable" by Ron Macher (3.5)
"Hobby Farming for dummies" (2)
Rodale's "Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening" (5)
"Five Acres and Independence" by M.G. Kains (4)
"Successful Small Scale Farming" by Karl Schwenke (4)
"Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery (4)
Storey Books "Country Wisdom & Know-how" (4)

Waiting for the delivery of:
"Total Money Make over" by Dave Ramsey
"Living on an Acre" a practical guide to the self reliant life by Christine Woodside (USDA)
"Mini Farming: Self sufficiency on 1/4 acre" by Brett Markham

I also recommend your favorite version of The Bible, cause there will be times when you just need help.

Search for books on the subject you are most interested in, building cabins, barns, root cellars, raising chickens, keeping bees etc.

Winters can be a challenge, plenty of reading material will help pass the time also.

Nutz · « **Reply #4 on:** November 11, 2011, 11:38:29 AM »

thanks........... i just want non fiction.

somewhere i once saw someone's library titles, about 300!!!! sure wish I would have saved it!

tacklebury · « **Reply #5 on:** November 11, 2011, 04:24:45 PM »

John Brown's Guide to Wilderness Survival
John Brown's Guide to Living with the Earth
John Brown's Guide to Edible & Medicinal Plants
Brad Angier : Wilderness Wife
Excellent data in these. I keep a copy of each in my Survival pack.

teamnelson · « **Reply #6 on:** November 13, 2011, 02:59:50 PM »

Foxfire book set. I found 2 at a thrift store for 50 cents each, still working on the rest. Thumbed thorough a buddy's set, and they're chock full of goodness.

keith44 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 13, 2011, 06:56:49 PM »

I had forgotten the Foxfire series, 13 or so books as I remember. Number 7 was a favorite of mine.

reliquary · « **Reply #8 on:** November 14, 2011, 09:54:57 AM »

Hey nutz:

Check out the thread on Survival Skills Discussion, "What's in your survival library?", for some good stuff. It's on page 2, dated Aug 2011.

+1 on the Foxfire series. I have volumes 1-6; they have a lot of good things in there, told by folks who actually lived "the old days". Someone told me that a couple of the larger bookstore chains carry or can order reprints.

Mother Earth News has issued DVDs and CDs that contain YEARS of articles from the magazines. Those are getters and keepers, as well.

Welcome aboard.

Bugflipper · « **Reply #9 on:** November 16, 2011, 07:40:35 AM »

http://www.homesteadersupply.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=47
I didn't put this link down to promote their website. Just to give fellows a place to look at a lot of books on the subject where they can go buy the ones they like where they like.

A few that I like that I didn't see listed,
Handy Farm Devices And How To Make Them
Storey's Basic Country Skills
Root Cellaring; Natural Cold Storage For Fruits And Vegetables
Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning
Encyclopedia of Country Living

The one Bilmac put on Gardening When it Counts is the best sustainable garden book I have seen. I would also suggest an herbal medicine book where you could use things that grow in your area to treat wounds and illness on people and livestock.
Also Storey's has a bunch of titles on raising different animals if you intend to go that route.

guzzijohn · « **Reply #10 on:** November 17, 2011, 09:23:16 AM »

The problem that I have found with Mother Earth is that many of the articles on "how to" are way to simplistic or made to sound much easier to do than what it turns out to be in reality. +1 on the Foxfire series.
GuzziJohn

bilmac · « **Reply #11 on:** November 17, 2011, 11:45:16 AM »

Or their projects lack necessary details. I was thinking of building one of their multipurpose outdoor stove grills. No way.

Rex in OTZ · « **Reply #12 on:** December 23, 2011, 10:13:25 AM »

looking for Agricultral College text book from late teens early 1920's, Agriculture. its fundamental principles. by Andrew M. Soule

Approx 2.5-3" thick hard cover and measure 11" tall x 9" wide
one example I'd seen not for sale was from the Agricultral university of Wisconsin
the college text: 107 courses in agriculture, Agriculture. its fundamental principles. by Andrew M. Soule
this text is more complete and detailed than the highschool handbook pictured.
The photographed hand book is very slim in info, you should be looking for anything over 320+ pages
this text covers everything, farming, animal husbandry& nutrition, diseases, slective breeding, sustainable farming practices, soil testing and soil treatment, surveying, ground preparation, carpentry, mansory, bee keeping from a age when there was no ready made place to get stuff, you made it
not bought from Costco, Walmart, Sears, or Lowes/Home Depot.

Gaz-52 · « **Reply #13 on:** December 23, 2011, 03:46:12 PM »

I would recommend "Permaculture Designers Manual" by Bill Mollison. It covers the whole range of climate conditions and explains the selection process for suitable plants , animals , housing ,water storage etc. Also "Water for every farm" by P.A. Yeomans .

keith44 · « **Reply #14 on:** December 23, 2011, 07:55:36 PM »

Quote from: Rex in OTZ on December 23, 2011, 10:13:25 AM

looking for Agricultral College text book from late teens early 1920's, Agriculture. its fundamental principles. by Andrew M. Soule

Approx 2.5-3" thick hard cover and measure 11" tall x 9" wide
one example I'd seen not for sale was from the Agricultral university of Wisconsin
the college text: 107 courses in agriculture, Agriculture. its fundamental principles. by Andrew M. Soule
this text is more complete and detailed than the highschool handbook pictured.
this text covers everything, farming, animal husbandry& nutrition, diseases, slective breeding, sustainable farming practices, soil testing and soil treatment, surveying, ground preparation, carpentry, mansory, bee keeping from a age when there was no ready made place to get stuff, you made it
not bought from Costco, Walmart, Sears, or Lowes/Home Depot.

If you just want it for the information, Amazon.com shows 5 reprints in stock, $37

I must warn you though since you made it sound so complete they will be selling me one after the first of the year.

Rex in OTZ · « **Reply #15 on:** January 03, 2012, 09:02:09 AM »

I contacted (e-mail) the amazon seller (reprinter) BLTM books to find out if this is the same thing I want or a reprint of a simpler/earlier edition thats less through or a latter edition thats flushed out with all the info, Im after the whole enchalada, the one hundered and some odd courses of agriculture college text.

The edition I'd seen 25 years ago in Nebraska contained over 320 pages and B&W illiustrated, the key diffrence was the detailed information, the one I'd seen had internal combustion engine mainenance in it, and some the days early self propelled traction units in it (early tractors) they also coverd the layout of the small farm light plant and its maintenance.

keith44 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 03, 2012, 08:22:41 PM »

sorry then, I thought that was too easy.

My only other thought is to write to the colleges in the area you saw the book in and ask if they have any of the old books left, or even the alumni assoc. to see if any of their members have one they'd part with.

Best of luck with your search

Keith

Rex in OTZ · « **Reply #17 on:** January 05, 2012, 10:07:49 AM »

I talked to Ma a couple days back, I e-mailed her a picture of the cover and a discription of the book she remembers it and will look, I left home over 30 years ago, parents did some cleaning out my stuff, Had 80% of the 1962-1965 American Rifleman mags, 2 crossbows and a whole footlocker of WWI stuff (newspapers gasmask,uniform, medals, 3" stack of photo's mainly old air recon photo's, trench art) WWII german navy flag (original) whole stack of 1944 stars and stripes, 150# of old books from late 1800's and early 1900's.
Stuff I'd bought at old Farmsales in SD,NE,KS.

Folks cleaned some my stuff out and had a yard sale. I hope she'd hung on to the old book it was kinda neat It never came from a farm sale it was in a old farm House My family bought in the 1960's, In 1979, I glommed on it after finding it in the Attic.

keith44 · « **Reply #18 on:** January 05, 2012, 04:50:32 PM »

A shame that the treasures of our youth are just not appreciated by everyone

Best of luck with your search

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #19 on:** January 05, 2012, 11:13:04 PM »

I need to get something like. Where the is no doctor and where there is no dentist. You may laugh at me but i had to have a tooth pulled yesterday and the doctor had a tv and camera there and i asked him if he could do his best to get it on the screen. He was more then happy to do it and i got my first dental lesson. Im sure it wouldnt go smoothly doing it to someone without novacain but in a pinch i think i could do it properly with the right tools.

tacklebury · « **Reply #20 on:** January 08, 2012, 01:11:03 PM »

One of the famous missionarys of South America has created a neat unit that is used to carry throughout the jungles to do dental work for the various natives and has been used in India also. Kind of neat as it's a solar powered dental chair. Might be something to look into. There's a video about it and a few others on where they were in india at one point.

If you are interested anyway:

http://www.itecusa.org/i-dent.html

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #21 on:** January 09, 2012, 01:03:29 AM »

thats cool but i sure dont have the skills to do dental work. More looking for basic stuff like how to pull a tooth properly. shtf and i doubt id be doing root canals or fillings. IF you have a bad tooth at my house it will be yanked

tacklebury · « **Reply #22 on:** January 09, 2012, 12:54:03 PM »

In one of the video's he had one of the indians who'd gone with him for a few trips, but never used the machine, just step in and take over from the dentist. They were working on a lady's mouth that was really bad and the trained Dentist just couldn't figure out what to do. So this man from 1/2 way around the world who'd never been in a school took the drill and used sign language mainly to tell what he wanted her to do. It was really cool. I couldn't find the exact video on the website though. Think it's on one of the DVD's we have at church about it. 8(

reliquary · « **Reply #23 on:** January 09, 2012, 04:16:02 PM »

On Amazon.com, go to Books, then to the topical index of Survival. There are several about basic/primitive/home medical skills. I've ordered one with the title (something like) "What to do when there's no doctor available".

Several of the survival stores (Emergency Essentials is my usual supplier) have dental cement/filling material for sale. A small diamond drill in a Dremel should do cavity repair. Maybe adapt some designs of pliers for tooth-pulling? No, other than alcohol or a wooden mallet, I don't know what to use as anaesthetic.

I've picked up a dozen or so home remedy/homeopathic medicine books at used-book stores, Goodwill, and the local library sale room. Also a few texts used in the local JuCo nursing program.

A book or pamphlet written by a former SF medic should have lots of good information, but I haven't found one.

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #24 on:** January 10, 2012, 02:10:12 AM »

ive got a couple of the emegency dental filling kits a cheap set of dental tools to pull teeth and having cronic back pain have access to at least some narcotics to dull the pain. Ive been told by my father and some other old timers that went to the dentist before novacain was used that when a typical person has a tooth so bad that it requires pulling that the tooth pain well overrides any pain the pulling inflicks. I think the pain killing would be needed much more for fillings because of grinding hitting nerves but i really doubt in a survival situation a guy is going to do more then just pulling the tooth.

reliquary · « **Reply #25 on:** January 10, 2012, 06:31:19 AM »

Oil of cloves works for temporarily deadening teeth. Not sure if it works to the extent of helping with fillings.

Some community colleges offer "continuing ed" classes in first aid which would be helpful, but almost anyone who's raised kids and grandkids, as we've done, should know the basics by now.

We have several nurses and first responders in the family and I've put together a pretty comprehensive "aid bag", comparable to what my field medics carried in RVN. Exclusive of the narcotics and uppers, of course. The wife and I are both on Tramadol for back and knee pain; I have a few Hydrocodone left from surgery in the fall; they're kept in the safe. Guess that'll do in a pinch.

One of the last-minute purchases if I have enough time before TSHTF is all the alcohol I can put on a credit card, or whatever cash on hand is left...for anaesthetic, of course.

reliquary · « **Reply #26 on:** January 12, 2012, 06:15:31 AM »

The book came today and I've previewed it; I recommend it for any "prepper's" library.

"When There Is No Doctor", by Gerald S. Doyle, MD

reliquary · « **Reply #27 on:** January 13, 2012, 12:19:03 PM »

A friend just sent me this link, as a good book on field medicine.

Message body http://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Wilderness-Medicine-Adventure-Medical/product-reviews/0965976807/ref=sr_1_85_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Rock Home Isle · « **Reply #28 on:** January 13, 2012, 01:57:41 PM »

Quote from: keith44 on November 11, 2011, 05:32:07 AM

My library includes: numbers in parenthases is how I rate the usefulness of the books.
The higher the number the more useful information I found

"Starting and running your own Small Farm business" by Sarah Beth Aubrey (1)
"Backyard Market gardening" by Andy Lee and Patricia Foreman (2)
"Making your small farm Profitable" by Ron Macher (3.5)
"Hobby Farming for dummies" (2)
Rodale's "Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening" (5)
"Five Acres and Independence" by M.G. Kains (4)
"Successful Small Scale Farming" by Karl Schwenke (4)
"Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery (4)
Storey Books "Country Wisdom & Know-how" (4)

Waiting for the delivery of:
"Total Money Make over" by Dave Ramsey
"Living on an Acre" a practical guide to the self reliant life by Christine Woodside (USDA)
"Mini Farming: Self sufficiency on 1/4 acre" by Brett Markham

I also recommend your favorite version of The Bible, cause there will be times when you just need help.

Search for books on the subject you are most interested in, building cabins, barns, root cellars, raising chickens, keeping bees etc.

Winters can be a challenge, plenty of reading material will help pass the time also.

Very nice selection of books here.

keith44 · « **Reply #29 on:** January 13, 2012, 08:44:30 PM »

thanks RHI, there have been a couple of additions since I posted that list,

Beekeeping by Dominique Devito, I rate this one as a three,

Mini farming self-sufficiency on 1/4 acre, I put this one as a four (out of five) but only on the condition that you want to practice intensive raised bed gardening, otherwise a three (about average for the subject)