The Self-Reliant Homestead

September 15, 2003
This handbook offers practical advice to those who aspire to own a small farm but have a tight budget. A homesteader of 40 acres in Indiana, Sanders begins with the basics, namely, how to find suitable land and how to survive financially once the move is made. "An important part of homesteading," he writes, "is to make do with what you have-to use and reuse tools and items around the homestead to get the most out of them." For instance, filling an old tire with homemade compost and covering it with old storm windows is a thrifty way to germinate seeds. Like John Seymour's The Self-Sufficient Life and How To Live It, this book covers a wide variety of activities, from gardening to beekeeping to winemaking. While Seymour's work is more encyclopedic and focuses more on growing food, Sanders's provides many more practical tips about other essential topics, such as the selection and care of tools, guns, livestock, and poultry, and the construction of fences, outbuildings, wells, and ponds. His abundant personal examples, along with his enthusiastic prose style, makes this worthwhile. Recommended for public libraries, especially rural libraries serving homesteading communities.-Ilse Heidmann, Washington State Lib., Olympia

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