Back To Basics

This month a friend and I were thrift store shopping and she found this book~ Back To Basics for $3. She let me take it home with me for the evening to look through since I was very interested. This book, copy written in 1981, tells you in logical order how to start a homestead. From what to look for when purchasing land, how to do a soil test, plan your property layout, collect firewood in ways to keep your forest yielding constantly, building a home, composting, gardening, preserving, hunting, leather making, beer & wine making, bee keeping and much more!! It even has different designs for building an underground house, which is the type of home I had planned on building. Before the section on wood cutting it tells you how to make your own ax and tools! This book is a must have for a "n00b" like me...
what is even cooler~ in the next few years I will actually be able to use this book from cover to cover.

Last year I got the book "Making Stuff and Doing Things." This book is a collection of articles ranging from making your pet flea collars, soy milk and compost to all natural remedies, cleaners, and feminine products. There are sections on clothes making, sewing, book making, and even an article on making your on strap-on dong! This book taught me about menstrual cramp relieving massages~ something I should have learned about when I was eleven. Some of the articles are very in depth and others just give you a quick look at how to make things on your own~ but may not give measurements.


I heard about a poll that was taken at a friend's school~ one of the questions was, "If you lose a button on a shirt do you sew one back on or throw it out and buy a new one?" And most people chose to throw it away than take 5 minutes to sew a new one back on. Wow people, just WOW.