Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Library

A while back on one of the (too) many email lists I'm on, there was a thread about what kinds of reference books we had on our shelves. Bookhound that I am, mine were too numerous to even consider listing off the top of my head, but I promised to pull together a blog post with a comprehensive list. I think this pretty much covers it, but considering that I have books stashed in multiple corners of my home, there may be some left out. I'll add them as I find them.

Animal Husbandry:

Raising Chickens
Raising Dairy Goats
Raising Pigs
Raising Sheep
Raising Turkeys
Your Goats
Pastured Poultry Profits
Raising Poultry Successfully
Raising Milk Goats Successfully
Keeping a Family Cow
The Family Cow
Small Scale Livestock Farming
All Flesh is Grass
The Backyard Beekeeper
Natural Beekeeping


Gardening:

The Four Season Garden
The New Organic Grower
Seed to Seed
The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control
Gardening with Heirloom Seeds
Great Garden Companions
How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits


General:

The Encyclopedia of Country Living
Country Wisdom and Know-How
Handy Devices and How to Make Them
You Can Farm
Making Your Small Farm Profitable


Herbal:

A Handbook of Native American Herbs
Making Plant Medicine
Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook
Herbal Remedies
The Backyard Medicine Chest
Holistic Herbal
Peterson's Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs
The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable
Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs


Kitchen:

Basic Butchering
Putting Food By
Ball Blue Book of Preserving
Preserving the Harvest
Preserving Summer's Bounty
Root Cellaring
The River Cottage Meat Book
Charcuterie
Nourishing Traditions
Wild Fermentation
Home Cheese Making


Skills:

Spinning in the Old Way
Foxfire v.1-3
Home Brewing
Modern Reloading

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see you finally got the Foxfire books (or at least the first 3). I was gifted them last winter from a hippie relation who was back-to-the-land for a while, that, and some Whole Earth catalogs. I have a kitchen book you might like, especially with your access to whey: it's called Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning, and it's filled with all kinds of interesting old-school ways of putting things by.

Great list Danielle! Isn't it fun. I *love* the RC Meat book.

Angie said...

With the exception of the 'Skills' section, I own every single book you listed - how weird is that?

We run the book sales at the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference every year, so I have great access (at wholesale prices!) to all sorts of farming books.

Great list & great minds think/ read alike, right?

Have a great day.

Danielle said...

El, these are actually the originals that I grew up with, and they're so delicate that I hate to thumb through them. I used to love looking through them as a kid, and I remember, in particular, being fascinated by the section on carding and spinning wool.

Thanks for the recommendations—I'll definitely check them out.

Ahhhh, but Angie, the question isn't what you have that's the same, but what do you have that I *don't*. ;) I love, love, love getting new books! I feed my habit through the Discover card cash back bonus. We put our gas and other purchases on the Discover card, pay it off every month and get free books. Yay!

Ren Allen said...

I think The Encyclopedia of Country Living is one of the best books EVER. I think there's a cookbook that goes with it too....

I had the entire Foxfire set at one time and passed it on years ago. (kicking self)

Country Girl said...

That is quite a list. I am going to print it of and put it in my farm notebook to refer to in the future when I am looking for some good books on farming etc.
Thanks for sharing, Kim

Anonymous said...

WOW! What a fantastic library you have. We are just in the begining stages of getting our garden going. Next year will be so much fun out there. We live in town so we are limited in what we can do, but with every trip to the grocery store we make more plans for gardening. Love your blog!

Hannah said...

What a great list. I'd love to hear about which ones are your favorites and why sometime when you have lots of time. Now: off to the library to try to find some of the ones I have not read!

Christy said...

What a great list! I'll be referring back to it as I build my library. Mine is coming along but not nearly as extensive.