The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Living: Beekeeping, Canning and Preserving, Cheese Making, Disaster Preparedness, Fermenting, Growing ... Raising Livestock, Soap Making, and more!

Bought this book thinking it wouldn’t be all that. This book is so thick. It has many details about every skill that you can think of. You Definitely need to add this to your home library. I would say it’s the handbook of homestead skills of Pinterest in a book.

It's got everything you need to know to thrive

This book is written by my close friend, so I'm a bit biased. But I honestly believe there's an incredible amount of important and interesting information in this book and, importantly, it can be the beginning of a life long journey to a healthier life and a life connected to the earth, to using healthy products, eating healthy food and immersing ourselves in the natural beauty that is available all around us. Please give it a try. I can also promise you that the author is an amazing person--genuine, honest, hardworking and loving. If you take this journey with her, I'm confident you won't be disappointed.

I think this book is excellent as a sort of jump start into homesteading and self-sufficiency. As with just about any encyclopedia, it does not cover subjects in great detail, but it does cover quite a few of them. In fact, its contents range from the animals one might consider having on a small homestead, information on certain foods (a section on beer making, making butter, and maple syrup, for example), ideas on how to make birdhouses, gates and fences, and poultry houses, to making baskets and much more. There is even a little snippet on knitting, making rag rugs, and what to do in the event of a wildfire. There is a section on energy (solar and wind), and, of course, a gardening section. Rest assured, I've left many topics out.I do think it's important to note, since I know from experience that not everyone immediately recognizes this, that one book cannot even begin to do justice to such a myriad of subjects. This book is for getting your feet wet, for putting ideas in your head (for example, I had not even considered my energy source for the homestead I'm planning, until I flipped through this book and ended up in that section.)It's got great photographs, and would be a pretty and informational coffee table book. Where I happened to know a thing or two about a subject, the book seemed mostly accurate. There is only one point right now that I would like to make clear is wrong. The photo on page 33 of some person milking a goat is HORRIBLE. That is *not*, I repeat, *not* the way one milks a goat. What's the big deal, you might say? People do things differently, right? Not in this case. If you go around yanking and pulling on the teats of an milking mammal, you are not only going to hurt the poor creature, you are also going to damage the udder, causing disease (called mastitis) or causing the animal to give less milk because of pain and stress. I can't even look at the picture, it's so clearly wrong and so clearly injuring the poor goat. It is a picture of what *not* to do. Please, please do *not* take your cue on milking goats from this book.There are many, many wonderful books on the subject. Raising Milk Goats Successfully by Gail Luttman, Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats, 4th Edition by Jerome Belanger and Sara Thomson Bredesen (if you ignore the section telling you to drown unwanted kids), and Sue Weaver's The Backyard Goat: An Introductory Guide to Keeping and Enjoying Pet Goats, from Feeding and Housing to Making Your Own Cheese are all far, far better references on how to milk. Please do more research on milking besides this book. The photo here is cringe-worthy. Again I stress that this book is the sort that would tell you what kind of information you want to know. This book might, for example, pique your interest in making your own candles, or in raising sheep for milk (yes, milk), or making your own jelly. Once you know what you want to do with your country home, you can get the appropriate books.Overall, I think it a good purchase, especially if you just have a vague idea about somehow producing your own food or doing useful crafts.I've noted that some people are wondering about the relationship between this book and Carla Emery's The Encyclopedia of Country Living. Since I own both and pursue both on a regular basis, I thought I'd give my thoughts. First of all, despite similarity in name and information, they are not the same. This book, I am sure, is not meant to be a continuation or supplement to Ms. Emery's. They simply have similar names. The most obvious difference is that while this book totes many, many photographs, Ms. Emery's has a few black and white sketches. This book has less actual information (it does give many of its pages to illustrations, after all) but is far better organised. Ms. Emery's book is older, and fantastic, as well as inclined to ramble--I enjoy the rambling, but those who prefer simple information to biographical snippets, would probably prefer Ms. Gehring's book.This book is much more matter-of-fact than Ms. Emery's. For example, in this (Gehring) book, the section on turkeys is very matter-of-fact. It talks about some of the breeds, housing, food, slaughtering, the hatching of chicks and raising of poults (young turkeys), and diseases. These subjects are treated lightly and succiently. It's enough to know whether you would be interested in more information about the bird or not (for me, no, I don't want to raise turkeys). In Carla Emery's book, these subjects are also treated---and includes things like how turkeys make babies and recipes for turkey meat. On top of that, it adds anecdotes on turkey behavior, how some are like pets and how some terrify adult men. It's just a different feel; this book is no where near as personal. Carla Emery's book talks about her faith on occasion. It's not preachy, holier-than-thou talk, but just woven into her narrative, which is completely understandable, considering she was a Christian. Personally, I'm glad to have both. It's much easier to find information in Gehring's book, and it is very sound as far as I know. Carla Emery's book is far more emotional and personal. Both have a lot of value.

Great book but amazon sent me damaged copy, i asked for a replacement and that was damaged. then i returned it and tried one more time. That book was damaged too. 3 times I try to get nice copy of this book and I never got my money back for returning the replacement. So wonderful book with alot great info but be warned that you most likely get damaged book.

Nice pictures and a lot of useful information. If you are living off the land or a prepper this book is a must have.

So grateful for taking your precious time to write such a wonderful book. I have just skimmed through it, but so far the information is worth every penny spent. Loving it!

LOVE this book! It gives a great introduction/overview to probably most or all aspects of country living. If any aspect is of interest, the reader can dig deeper for more information. Very well thought out and organized!

This book has evvvvvverything you could ever hope to know about country living. Even things you didn’t think you should know. Some of the chapters are somewhat brief, but they open the door to knowledge you didn’t now you needed and also provides resources on furthering your education with supplementary books. This is by far the best purchase I’ve made in a long, long time. Do not hesitate to buy this book!

Good product

carla emery would be very happyif she was alive , this seems to me to be the perfect companion for her books as well as abigails

The media could not be loaded.  J'étais très impatiente de recevoir ce livre qui connaît un grand succès auprès des homesteaders américains. Ici on cherche à retrouver un peu d'auto-suffisance et ce livre me semblait être une référence ce qui est confirmé. On possède déjà un très bon complément plus touffu qui s'appelle Back to Basics (bien plus étoffé mais aussi bien plus indigeste) édité par l'auteur de celui-ci.Je ne suis pas du tout déçue, bien au contraire. Je savais d'emblée que c'est un ouvrage de démarrage et que chaque sujet mérite d'être plus développé mais comme point de départ qui rassemble tout c'est parfait. Voici pour le contenu:(ce dernier est classé par thèmes rangés par ordre alphabétique puis à l'intérieur des thèmes également ordre alphabétique)_animals_baking, preserving and more (très chouette passage sur les conserves et tout ce qui est fermenté)_carpentry, woodworking (inutile sans complément mais permet de se faire une idée des besoins ou possibilités)_crafts (très varié, parfois suffisant à lui-même, parfois pas, quelques projets sympas à faire en famille)_disaster preparedness (infos sur les premiers soins, les phénomènes naturels dangereux et comment s'en prémunir ou bien réagir)_gardening (pas mal du tout, montre plusieurs techniques dont le très pratique mulching)_well being (tout ce qui a trait au bien être dont les soins par les plantes_les parties qui suivent sont vraiment adaptées aux Américains et pas pour nous mais c'est une toute petite partie_un référencement des sites ou livres pour aller plus loin dans ce qui nous intéresseBref, il est magnifique, très bien illustré (seul reproche la partie sur les plantes comestibles est inutile du fait de ses illustrations mais pour les autres parties nickel). On a plaisir à le feuilleter même en dehors de tout besoin. Un excellent point de départ donc qui justifie parfaitement son prix car c'est un gros pépère bien complet tout en gardant à l'esprit que c'est succinct sur chaque sujet.attention je précise: d'accès facile en anglais pour une personne qui maîtrise bien à cause du lexique spécifique.

This is coffee table book that is not only a great reference book, but the reason we keep it on our coffee table is that you always want to keep reading it and plunge into it pages. New chapters, new subjects and new expansions of the way we think about certain projects and plans. A great gift for a new homeowner in the country side.