But in the midst of an economic crisis, it’s just as important to save money as it is to go green. As Gehring shows in this thorough but concise guide, being kind to Mother Earth can also mean being kind to your bank account! It doesn’t matter where your homestead is located—farm, suburb, or even city. Wherever you live, The Homesteading Handbook can help you:     • Plan, plant, and harvest your own organic home garden.      • Enjoy fruits and vegetables year-round by canning, drying, and freezing.      • Build alternate energy devices by hand, such as solar panels or geothermal heat pumps.      • Differentiate between an edible puffball mushroom and a poisonous amanita.      • Prepare butternut squash soup using ingredients from your own garden.      • Conserve water by making a rain barrel or installing an irrigation system.      • Have fun and save cash by handcrafting items such as soap, potpourri, and paper. Experience the satisfaction that comes with self-sufficiency, as well as the assurance that you have done your part to help keep our planet green. The Homesteading Handbook is your roadmap to living in harmony with the land.

    Whether you’re a writer, a scrapbooker, a political activist, or a postcard collector, let book artist Esther K. Smith be your guide as you discover your inner bookbinder. Using foolproof illustrations and step-by-step instructions, Smith reveals her time-tested techniques in a fun, easy-to-understand way.

    Susan shows the hostess how to make it look easy--whether the occasion is an informal brunch, a sit-down dinner, a buffet for a crowd, or an impromptu birthday celebration. It's all arranged in 313 easy-to-digest entries that take readers through every aspect of entertaining. The tips are time-saving ("Ten Great Assembled Dessets"), money-saving ("In Praise of Cheap Wine"), energy-saving ("Ten Jobs to Delegate"), and face-saving ("How to Handle Uninvited Guests"), plus there are 121 recipes to make entertaining easier than ever berfore. With helpful illustrations and full-color photographs, What's a Hostess to Do? is a stylish and instructive guide filled with expert advice from a party-throwing pro.

    Glitterville's Handmade Halloween is full of bright, colorful photos, step-by-step holiday how-tos, and over-the-harvest-moon decorating ideas to make your home sparkle and shine this spooktacular season.A great book for intermediate to experienced crafters, Glitterville's Handmade Halloween will delight readers as they make their way through the playfully photographed pages of the book, which include full, never-before-published instructions for making some of Glitterville's most sought-after items, including Halloween candy garland and the studio collection of folk figures.

    . . If you call the countryside home but have no time to step outside . . .If you are confined to an office fifty hours a week . . . If your home needs the soothing touch of the natural world . . . In The New Terrarium, Tovah Martin, one of America’s favorite gardeners, introduces you to the whimsical yet practical world of gardens under glass—a no-fuss way to bring snippets of nature indoors. Wherever you are, in whatever little time you have, terrariums are the perfect tool for nature lovers and gardeners everywhere.With gorgeous photography, The New Terrarium reveals how this classic garden tool has been reimagined in a modern way. When encased in glass, plants thrive with almost no help from outside their little enclosed world, so you can host a plant almost anywhere—in your apartment where the air is dry or in your cubicle where there’s little natural light. Tucked inside something crystal and contained, the bounty of the forest or treasures from the beach or the meadow can merge seamlessly into your home or office environment. It’s amazing how some frothy fern fronds or colorful blossoms can transform a room by giving it a burst of vibrant green life.With clear, simple step-by-step instructions and photographs to inspire and guide you along the way, Martin shares her years of experience growing and tending terrariums and shows how terrariums can enrich your life, including: • different venues for cultivating your terrarium• plants that flourish in these gardens under glass• ideas and designs for creating your first terrarium • how to care for and maintain the environment you’ve made Martin has designed a unique range of imaginative terrarium projects, including ones that are suitable for children, enliven the seasons, incorporate plant propagation, and show off a nature collection. Whether you are a gardener or city-dwelling nature lover, The New Terrarium is the perfect way to spark your creativity, while helping you to bring your favorite plants into your home and giving them a place to thrive.When nature is out of arm’s reach and you crave a little greenery, The New Terrarium can show you how to bring all the benefits of the outdoors close to you.

    After a brief introduction to the various tools and materials, artists and lettering enthusiasts will learn how to master the art of hand lettering and typography through easy-to-follow step-by-step projects, prompts, and exercises. From the basic shape and form of letters to cursive script, spacing, and alignment, artists will discover how to transform simple words, phrases, and quotes into beautiful works of hand-lettered art. The interactive format and step-by-step process offers inspirational instruction for a wide variety of fun projects and gift ideas, including hand-rendered phrases on paper and digitally enhanced note cards. Artists will also discover how to apply lettering to linen, coffee mugs, calendars, and more. Numerous practice pages and interactive prompts throughout the book invite readers to put their newfound lettering skills to use, as well as work out their artistic ideas. Covering a variety of styles and types of lettered art, including calligraphy, illustration, chalk lettering, and more, artists will find a plethora of exercises and tips to help them develop their own unique lettering style.

    Also included are a Kitchen Basics chapter and an abundance of enticing photographs.

    Make anise hyssop into a refreshing iced tea and turn apricots into a facial mask. Crabapple branches can be used to create stunning floral arrangements, oregano flowers to infuse vinegar, and edible chrysanthemum to liven up a salad. With the remarkable, multi-purpose plants in Harvest, there is always something for gardeners to harvest from one growing season to the next.

    Their life had hit rock bottom, and it was only after a touching act of charity that they were able to get on their feet again.Inspired by this gesture of kindness as well as the beloved Little House on the Prairie books, Merissa found that a life of self-sufficiency and simplicity could be charming and blissful. She set out to live an entirely made-from-scratch life, the “Little House” way, and as a result, she slashed her household budget by nearly half—saving thousands of dollars a year. She started to write about homesteading, homemaking, and cooking from scratch, and over the next few years developed the recipes and DIY projects that would one day become part of her now beloved website, LittleHouseLiving.com.As whole foods became staples of the family diet, Merissa realized the dangers of putting overly processed ingredients not only into our bodies, but on or near them as well. In addition to countless delicious, home-cooked meals, she developed natural, easy-to-make recipes for everything from sunscreen to taco seasoning mix, lemon poppy hand scrub to furniture polish. With their simple ingredients, these recipes are allergen friendly and many are gluten-free.With over 130 practical, simple DIY recipes, gorgeous full-color photographs, and Merissa's trademark charm in personal stories and tips, Little House Living is the epitome of heartland warmth and prairie inspiration.

    No chocolate lover can refuse a slice of rich chocolate torte, and a mound of homey blackberry cobbler captures the mood of summer. And what better way to end an elegant dinner party than with a scoop of refreshing mango sorbet or a serving of poached pears drizzled with raspberry sauce?Williams-Sonoma Collection Dessert offers more than 40 recipes, including favorite classics and fresh new ideas. Inside, you'll find simple desserts perfect for a quick afternoon snack as well as seasonal recipes designed for events throughout the year—from the ideal ending to a July picnic to the last course of a hearty autumn meal. For an impressive presentation, offer your guests a selection of elegant desserts on special occasions. And finally, a chapter devoted entirely to chocolate gives you good reason to indulge in everybody's favorite temptation.Full-color photographs of each dessert help make it easy to decide which to prepare, and each recipe is accompanied by a photographic side note that highlights a baking technique or key ingredient, making Dessert much more than just a fine collection of recipes. An informative basics section and extensive glossary fill in all you need to know to create an unforgettable dessert that everyone will enjoy.Whether it's a plate of warm double chocolate chip cookies, a chilled dish of richly caramelized crème brûlée, or a thick wedge of old-fashioned apple pie, no one can resist the sweet allure of a homemade dessert.Williams-Sonoma Collection Dessert offers more than 40 easy-to-follow recipes, including both time-honored classics and irresistible new ideas. In these pages, you'll find delicious desserts, both simple and extraordinary, designed to fit any occasion at any time of year, from an elegant holiday celebration to a quick mid-afternoon treat. This beautifully photographed, full-color recipe collection is certain to become an essential addition to your kitchen bookshelf.

    Armed with only a saucepan, a cake pan, and a sharp knife (and ingredients!), readers can be well on their way to a gorgeous batch of Jelly Shots.

    Erica Shea and Stephen Valand show that with a little space, a few tools, and the same ingredients breweries use, you too can make delicious craft beer right on your stovetop. Greenmarket-inspired and seasonally brewed, these 52 recipes include Everyday IPA and Rose Cheeked & Blonde for spring; Grapefruit Honey Ale and S’More Beer for summer; Apple Crisp Ale and Peanut Butter Porter for fall; Chestnut Brown ale and Gingerbread Ale for winter; and even four gluten-free brews. You’ll also find tips for growing hops, suggestions for food pairings, and recipes for cooking with beer. Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Book offers a new approach to artisanal brewing and is a must-own for beer lovers, seasonally minded cooks, and anyone who gets a kick out of saying “I made this!”

    There are garden projects, both for the outdoors—grow a container snacking garden, a pumpkin patch in a pot—and the indoors, i.e., how to use something called "indoor garbage gardens" to grow pineapple tops, sweet potato vines, peanuts, and more. Cooking projects, both in the sunshine—baking in a solar oven—and in the kitchen—what child will ever forget the time the two of you made Potato Volcanoes with Lava? And lots of rainy-day activities for times when nature's in a cranky mood. Created by Sharon Lovejoy—a grandmother of four and the author of two classic books of garden activities for grown-ups and kids, Sunflower Houses and Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots—Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars is an ecologically inspired guide that combines more than 130 green activities with timeless grandparenting advice. Illustrated with Lovejoy's distinctive, delicate watercolors, it's an inventive resource for grandmother and grandchild to connect with each other through nature. It is the book to make sure an afternoon, a day, or a weekend turns into a memory that lasts forever.

    This is the original book compilation of Foxfire material which introduces Aunt Arie and her contemporaries and includes log cabin building, hog dressing, snake lore, mountain crafts and food, and "other affairs of plain living."

    With this cookbook, a third option is now on the table—er, countertop: good-for-you slow cooker meals that save hours and are portioned precisely for duos.Think slow cookers are only for soups and stews? Let Linda Larsen, master of the slow cooker, introduce you to the best of the best slow cooker recipes for all kinds of meals, from tender meats to seasoned vegetables to breakfasts, and more. In addition, you’ll find:• 10 must-know do’s and don’ts of slow cooking• A guide to the meats that are best for slow cooking • Tips for converting a stove-top recipe to the slow cooker• The reasons why heavy-duty aluminum foil is a slow cooker’s best friend• Recipes for 3- or 3½-quart slow cookers that include prep and cook times; nutritional information; and labels that highlight gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, vegetarian or vegan mealsNow go ride that tandem bike and let your slow cooker take care of dinner.Recipes include:Bone Broth, Chicken Stew with Gnocchi, Cuban Pork and Black Beans, Mussels with Tomato Curry, Mexican Lasagna, Chocolate-Cherry Lava Cake, and more!