Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional SkillsAbigail Gehring Anyone who wants to learn basic living skills—the kind employed by our forefathers—and adapt them for a better life in the twenty-first century need look no further than this eminently useful, full-color guide. Countless readers have turned to Back to Basics for inspiration and instruction, escaping to an era before power saws and fast food restaurants and rediscovering the pleasures and challenges of a healthier, greener, and more self-sufficient lifestyle. Now newly updated, the hundreds of projects, step-by-step sequences, photographs, charts, and illustrations in Back to Basics will help you dye your own wool with plant pigments, graft trees, raise chickens, craft a hutch table with hand tools, and make treats such as blueberry peach jam and cheddar cheese. The truly ambitious will find instructions on how to build a log cabin or an adobe brick homestead. More than just practical advice, this is also a book for dreamers—even if you live in a city apartment you will find your imagination sparked, and there's no reason why you can't, for example, make a loom and weave a rag rug. Complete with tips for old-fashioned fun (square dancing calls, homemade toys, and kayaking tips), this may be the most thorough book on voluntary simplicity available. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 26
Page 5
... Cabins, Inc. Haddon Tool Independent Power Developers, Inc. R.A.J. Jungreis Sharon Kahkonen L. T. Kreutzig Klaus Kroner Rev. Henry Lewis Michael Linn, Ph.D. L. H. MacDaniels, Ph.D. Randolph Martin Miccio Laboratory, Inc. Museum of New ...
... Cabins, Inc. Haddon Tool Independent Power Developers, Inc. R.A.J. Jungreis Sharon Kahkonen L. T. Kreutzig Klaus Kroner Rev. Henry Lewis Michael Linn, Ph.D. L. H. MacDaniels, Ph.D. Randolph Martin Miccio Laboratory, Inc. Museum of New ...
Page 6
... Cabin 36 Building With Adobe 42 Building a Stone House 48 Raising a Barn 54 Developing a Water Supply 58 Saunas and Hot Tubs 60 Sanitation 62 Fireplace Construction and Design 66 Stone Walls and Brick Pavements 70 Fences Part Two Energy ...
... Cabin 36 Building With Adobe 42 Building a Stone House 48 Raising a Barn 54 Developing a Water Supply 58 Saunas and Hot Tubs 60 Sanitation 62 Fireplace Construction and Design 66 Stone Walls and Brick Pavements 70 Fences Part Two Energy ...
Page 7
... cabin or installing a solar water heating system are tasks for someone with experience, skill, and a strong back. But most of the jobs are well within the capabilities of the average person, and many are suited for family participation ...
... cabin or installing a solar water heating system are tasks for someone with experience, skill, and a strong back. But most of the jobs are well within the capabilities of the average person, and many are suited for family participation ...
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Page 17
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Contents
Buying It Building on | 9 |
Buying Country Property | 10 |
Planning Your Home | 14 |
Preparing the Site | 18 |
Converting Trees Into Lumber | 22 |
Building a Log Cabin | 26 |
Building With Adobe | 36 |
Building a Stone House | 42 |
Maple Sugaring | 242 |
Homemade Beverages | 244 |
Baking Bread | 252 |
Regional Cooking | 256 |
Cooking With Wood | 264 |
Part Five Skills and Crafts for House and Homestead | 269 |
Natural Dyes | 270 |
Spinning | 274 |
Raising a Barn | 48 |
Developing a Water Supply | 54 |
Saunas and Hot Tubs | 58 |
Sanitation | 60 |
Fireplace Construction and Design | 62 |
Stone Walls and Brick Pavements | 66 |
Fences | 70 |
Part Two Energy From Wood Water Wind and | 75 |
Making Your House Energy Efficient | 76 |
Wood as a Fuel | 82 |
Heating With Wood | 86 |
Waterpower | 94 |
Wind Power | 104 |
Solar Energy | 110 |
Other Energy Sources | 122 |
Part Three Raising Your Own Vegetables Fruit And Livestock | 125 |
The Kitchen Garden | 126 |
Gardening in Limited Space | 148 |
Herb Gardens | 151 |
Fruits and Nuts | 154 |
Pest Control | 168 |
Grains and Grasses | 172 |
Beekeeping | 176 |
Fish Farming | 180 |
Raising Livestock | 182 |
Part Four Enjoying Your Harvest The Year Round | 201 |
Preserving Produce | 202 |
Preserving Meat and Fish | 222 |
Making Your Own Dairy Products | 232 |
Weaving | 278 |
Hooked Rugs | 284 |
Braided Rugs | 286 |
Patchwork Quilting | 288 |
Rope and Twine | 294 |
Tanning and Leatherwork | 296 |
Woodworking | 302 |
Broommaking | 332 |
Scrimshaw | 334 |
Household Recipes | 336 |
Metalworking | 344 |
Stenciling | 362 |
Flower Drying and Pressed Flowers | 366 |
Gourd Craft | 367 |
Soapmaking | 368 |
Candlemaking | 372 |
Basketry | 374 |
Part Six Recreation at Home And in the Wild | 383 |
Oldtime Good Times | 384 |
Crafting a Mountain Dulcimer | 390 |
Celebrating Holidays | 392 |
Canoeing and Kayaking | 398 |
Wilderness Camping | 406 |
Outdoors in Winter | 430 |
Fishing | 436 |
Living With Nature | 442 |
The Extension Service and Other Groups Index | 446 |
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