Just in Case: How to Be Self-Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens


Kathy Harrison - 2008
    Learn how to inventory and rotate your food supply, pack an evacuation kit, maintain communication with loved ones, and much more. You’ll soon gain the ingenuity and resourcefulness to get your family through even the most unfortunate circumstances.

Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook


David Werner - 1977
    Useful for health workers, clinicians, and others involved in primary health care delivery and health promotion programs, with millions of copies in print in more than 75 languages, the manual provides practical, easily understood information on how to diagnose, treat, and prevent common diseases. Special attention is focused on mutrition, infection and disease prevention, and diagnostic techniques as primary ways to prevent and treat health problems. This 2010 reprint features updated medicines, plus information on tuberculosis and HIV, including guidelines for anti-retroviral therapy and preventing HIV in babies.

Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance


M. John Storey - 1999
    The information is easily understood and readily applicable. More than 150 of Storey's expert authors in gardening, building, animal raising, and homesteading share their specialized knowledge and experience in this ultimate guide to living a more independent, satisfying life.Readers will find step-by-step, illustrated instructions for every aspect of country living including:Finding country landBuying, building, and renovating a homeDeveloping water sources and systemsUnderstanding wiring, plumbing, and heatingUsing alternative heating and energy sourcesVegetable, flower, and herb gardeningTraditional cooking skills such as baking bread and making maple syrupPreparing and preserving meat, fruits, and vegetablesBuilding and maintaining barns, sheds, and outbuildingsCaring for common farm and ranch animals, and pets

Gray Man: Camouflage for Crowds, Cities, and Civil Crisis


Matthew Dermody - 2017
    He hides in the corners of conformity. He only flaunts a quotidian nature. He meanders through the mundane and occupies the ordinary. Individual expression and exceptionalism are his enemies. The Gray Man is the forgettable face, the ghost guy, the hidden human. Implementing the concepts is more than looking less tactical, less hostile, or less threatening. It is the willful abandonment of anything and everything that defines oneself as different. Using his unique "S" word conceptual approach featured in Appear to Vanish, camouflage and concealment expert Matthew Dermody discusses the concepts, tactics and mindset necessary to assimilate into any urban environment. From the safety-conscious international traveler to the SERE contingencies of the deep cover foreign operative, GRAY MAN is the definitive urban concealment resource.

Survival Wisdom & Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Thrive in the Wilderness


Amy Rost - 2007
    Culled from dozens of respected books from Stackpole, the industry's leader in outdoor adventure, this massive collection of wilderness know-how leaves absolutely nothing to chance when it comes to surviving and thriving in the wilderness—and appreciating every minute of it. Topics include Building Outdoor Shelter, Tracking Animals, Winter Camping, Tying Knots, Orienteering, Reading the Weather, Identifying Edible Plants and Berries, Surviving in the Desert, Bird Watching, Fishing and Ice Fishing, Hunting and Trapping, Canoeing, Kayaking, and White Water Rafting, First Aid, Wild Animals, Cookery, and much more. Useful illustrations and photos throughout make it easy to browse and use. With contributions by the experts at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) as well as the editors of Stackpole's Discover Nature series, Survival Wisdom & Know-How is the definitive, must-have reference for the great outdoors.

Where There Is No Dentist


Murray Dickson - 1983
    This approach to health care implies respect for the dignity of all persons, as well as confidence in their resourcefulness.Village health workers can use this book to help people care for their teeth and gums. Health workers begin with the felt needs of the people--treating the dental problems they have now. Then they work to prevent the same problems from returning.Thus, Where There Is No Dentist shows how to diagnose and treat dental problems and also suggests new ways to work for better dental health in the community.

Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning


Deborah Madison - 1999
    Yet here is a book that goes back to the future--celebrating traditional but little-known French techniques for storing and preserving edibles in ways that maximize flavor and nutrition.Translated into English, and with a new foreword by Deborah Madison, this book deliberately ignores freezing and high-temperature canning in favor of methods that are superior because they are less costly and more energy-efficient.As Eliot Coleman says in his foreword to the first edition, "Food preservation techniques can be divided into two categories: the modern scientific methods that remove the life from food, and the natural 'poetic' methods that maintain or enhance the life in food. The poetic techniques produce... foods that have been celebrated for centuries and are considered gourmet delights today.""Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning" offers more than 250 easy and enjoyable recipes featuring locally grown and minimally refined ingredients. It is an essential guide for those who seek healthy food for a healthy world.

Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture


Toby Hemenway - 2001
    Key features include:- use of compatible perennials;- non-invasive planting techniques;- emphasis on biodiversity;- specifically adaptable to local climate, landscape, and soil conditions;- highly productive output of edibles.Now, picture your backyard as one incredibly lush garden, filled with edible flowers, bursting with fruit and berries, and carpeted with scented herbs and tangy salad greens. The visual impact is of Monet's palette, a wash of color, texture, and hue. But this is no still life. The flowers nurture endangered pollinators. Bright-featured songbirds feed on abundant berries and gather twigs for their nests.The plants themselves are grouped in natural communities, where each species plays a role in building soil, deterring pests, storing nutrients, and luring beneficial insects. And finally, you—good ol' homo sapiens—are an integral part of the scene. Your garden tools are resting against a nearby tree, and have a slight patina of rust, because this garden requires so little maintenance. You recline into a hammock to admire your work. You have created a garden paradise.This is no dream, but rather an ecological garden, which takes the principles of permaculture and applies them on a home-scale. There is nothing technical, intrusive, secretive, or expensive about this form of gardening. All that is required is some botanical knowledge (which is in this book) and a mindset that defines a backyard paradise as something other than a carpet of grass fed by MiracleGro.

Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life


Jenna Woginrich - 2008
    Learn a few basic country skills, she reasoned, and she would be able to produce at least some of the food and resources she used every day.Goodbye, fast food and Wonder Bread; hello, homesteading. With enthusiasm and joy for the tasks at hand, Woginrich embarked on a journey that has been sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking and always soul satisfying.From the fulfilling work of planting a garden and installing honeybees, to the bliss of gathering fresh eggs for an omelet or playing an old-time ballad on the fiddle, Made from Scratch shares the honest satisfaction of doing for oneself, and brings the reader to a deep appreciation for the value of simple skills performed well.

Hunkering Down: Prepping to Survive in Your Home During a Natural Disaster (The NEW Survival Prepper Guides)


Jason Ryder Adams - 2012
    

Rocket Mass Heaters: Superefficient Woodstoves You Can Build


Ianto Evans - 2004
    This book explains in detail exactly how to build one, then how to use it in a range of applications. We discuss materials: where to find them, what to pay and how to make use of found and recycled parts. The section on fire and fuels is thorough but simple; we tried to keep away from numbers wherever possible. There are success stories, case studies, references and where to find further information, all heavily illustrated. Home heating can be expensive both in capital equipment and in running costs. If we heat by gas, oil or electricity we are supporting a big corporation and impoverishing ourselves. By building an extra efficient heating system you will be one more big step off the treadmill and your move to self-sufficiency and true wealth. Good luck with your stove! From the Introduction by Ianto Evans

More Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency


Caleb Warnock - 2013
    Learn how to -Grow self-seeding vegetables -Build raised garden beds using step-by-step instructions -Collect water from rain and snow -Make your own laundry detergent -Find wild vegetables for everyday eating Discover these tricks and more from the author of The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency and Backyard Winter Gardening. You can be a living example of independence for the rising generation, and avoid grocery store prices while you’re at it. Whether you’re growing an organic family garden or running a no-nonsense household, More Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency is a must-have guide to becoming truly self-reliant for you and your family.

The Solar House: Passive Solar Heating and Cooling


Daniel D. Chiras - 1990
    Yet while heat from sunlight and ventilation from breezes is free for the taking, few modern architects or builders really understand the principles involved.Now Dan Chiras, author of the popular book The Natural House, brings those principles up to date for a new generation of solar enthusiasts.The techniques required to heat and cool a building passively have been used for thousands of years. Early societies such as the Native American Anasazis and the ancient Greeks perfected designs that effectively exploited these natural processes. The Greeks considered anyone who didn't use passive solar to heat a home to be a barbarian!In the United States, passive solar architecture experienced a major resurgence of interest in the 1970s in response to crippling oil embargoes. With grand enthusiasm but with scant knowledge (and sometimes little common sense), architects and builders created a wide variety of solar homes. Some worked pretty well, but looked more like laboratories than houses. Others performed poorly, overheating in the summer because of excessive or misplaced windows and skylights, and growing chilly in the colder months because of insufficient thermal mass and insulation and poor siting.In The Solar House, Dan Chiras sets the record straight on the vast potential for passive heating and cooling. Acknowledging the good intentions of misguided solar designers in the past, he highlights certain egregious--and entirely avoidable--errors. More importantly, Chiras explains in methodical detail how today's home builders can succeed with solar designs.Now that energy efficiency measures including higher levels of insulation and multi-layered glazing have become standard, it is easier than ever before to create a comfortable and affordable passive solar house that will provide year-round comfort in any climate.Moreover, since modern building materials and airtight construction methods sometimes result in air-quality and even toxicity problems, Chiras explains state-of-the-art ventilation and filtering techniques that complement the ancient solar strategies of thermal mass and daylighting. Chiras also explains the new diagnostic aids available in printed worksheet or software formats, allowing readers to generate their own design schemes.

Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter


Lloyd Kahn - 2012
    The real estate collapse, the economic downturn, burning out on 12-hour workdays – many people are rethinking their ideas about shelter – seeking an alternative to high rents, or a lifelong mortgage debt to a bank on an overpriced home. Homes on land, homes on wheels, homes on the road, homes on water, even homes in the trees. There are also studios, saunas, garden sheds, and greenhouses.There are 1,300 photos, showing a rich variety of small homemade shelters, and there are stories (and thoughts and inspirations) of the owner-builders who are on the forefront of this new trend in downsizing and self-sufficiency. You can buy a ready-made tiny home, build your own, get a kit or pre-fab, or live in a bus, houseboat, or other movable shelter. Some cities have special ordinances for building "in-law" or "granny flats" in the back yard. There are innovative solutions in cities, such as the "capsules" in Tokyo.If you're thinking of scaling back, you'll find plenty of inspiration shown by builders, designers, architects, dreamers, artists, road gypsies, and water dwellers who've achieved a measure of freedom and independence by taking shelter into their own hands.

Build a Smokehouse


Ed Epstein - 1981
    There are now more than 170 titles in this series, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life.