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Book Review: Foundations and Concrete Work

We decided to tackle our own foundation. The estimates we are receiving for much of the work on the house are in most cases double the cost of doing doing it myself. The cost for labor is very high, and sub contractors are adding a percentage on top of the cost of materials. As a result I have decided to manage my own monolithic foundation pour. I will do everything except the actual pouring of concrete. I have a sub who will inspect the pre-work, make recommendations for improvements, if any, and bring a crew to mash the mud into […]

June 5th, 2012 | Tags: , , | Category: Book Reviews, Construction, Foundation | Comments are closed

Book Review – Gaia’s Garden

Gaia’s Garden, by Toby Hemenway

This book is a sort of gateway book into the world of permaculture. With a brief description of the core principles of permaculture, you can get an idea of how to begin thinking the way a permaculturist would in the design of your garden/food forest. Hemenway lays out the basic ideas of permaculture without going into great detail… enough information to be useful, but not so much that you become bogged down in minutiae. Once he lays out the general ideas of the underlying theory, he proceeds to give real-life examples of how the […]

January 30th, 2012 | Tags: , , | Category: Book Reviews, Design, Gardening, Homestead | Comments are closed

Book Review – The Self-Sufficient Home

The Self Sufficient Home, by Christopher Nyerges

The Self-Sufficient Home: Going Green and Saving Money, by Christopher Nyerges is a very interesting book in our homesteading library. I bought this book after hearing Nyerges interviewed by Jack Spirko on The Survival Podcast awhile back.

His book is a collection of information about tackling the various systems of support we all depend upon and becoming self-sufficient. He talks about heating and cooling, covering such topics as insulation, the color of your roof, attic fans powered by refurbished solar panels…

There is a very interesting story about a family’s experiences […]

January 10th, 2012 | Tags: | Category: Book Reviews | Comments are closed

Book Review: Kitchen Garden: What to Grow and How to Grow It

Kitchen Garden, by Lucy Peel

Kitchen Garden: What to Grow and How to Grow It, by Lucy Peel.

This little gardening book is one that I have found to be very helpful. One of the first books I purchased upon my decision to may a foray into the gardening world, I continue to return to it for ideas on crop rotation, tips on tree pruning, etc.

I particularly like the way the book is laid out, giving the […]

January 3rd, 2012 | Tags: , | Category: Book Reviews, Gardening | Comments are closed

Book Review: The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan

For the would-be homesteader, The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan, is one book I can highly recommend. Just leafing through the chapters, you’ll be astounded at the sheer quantity of information you can find in this book. I found it to be a huge inspiration to try things and learn new skills.

The author, Carleen Madigan, who is listed on the book as a gardening editor at Storey Publishing, gives an amazing breadth of information in this fairly compact book.

At 339 pages, not including the appendices, this book is packed with ideas on how to make your property produce […]

December 15th, 2011 | Tags: | Category: Book Reviews | Comments are closed