While I'm a big fan of the internet, there is just something wonderful about holding a physical book in your hands, diving deep into a topic or looking for that one tidbit you need for your project. This post is part of my Tiny Homestead Projects series, a chronicle of our projects that I hope will inspire you to homestead anywhere.
It All Began With One Book
Our homestead library began taking form when my husband and I travelled to London, England back in 2009. In a huge Waterstones, I found The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour. It was a book we had heard about many times on a favourite TV-show, Bonderøven.
We bought the book and even got a discount because the paper cover was ripped (the book inside it was not harmed in any way).
That book pushed us over the edge and from then on we've slowly invested in homesteading books, asking for them at Christmas and birthdays and looked for them at thrift stores.
Dividing our Library into Categories
Over the years we've added a number of books, although our library is still much smaller than we would like it.
As I was preparing to write this post it hit me that we have books in different categories:
Crafts
We have books on knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving and woodworking.General Self-sufficiency books
This includes books by Seymour, such as The Fat of the Land and books dealing more with the philosophical aspect such as Born Again Dirt - Farming to the glory of God by Noah Sanders as well as Homespun Mom Comes Unraveled and Radical Homemakers both by Shannon Hayes.Edibles
We currently have two books on wild edibles and a book on herbs.Preservation and Cooking
We have a number of preservation books in Danish about everything from canning to fermentation, baking as well as general cooking books. Among our favourites in English are The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and even The Original River Cottage Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-WittingstallParenting
Our final category, thus far, seems to be parenting. To us being parents is an inseparable part of our homesteading. Not that you need children to be a true homesteader, but once you've got them, you can't and shouldn't exclude them from your homesteading.
In this category, we have books such as Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne and Clutterfree with Kids by Joshua Becker.
Categories We Want to Add
The categories above are not set in stone. Actually, I had trouble deciding where a couple of the books I mentioned should go. Besides these categories, we want to add books on livestock and gardening. I have an interest in beekeeping, chickens, rabbits, permaculture, greenhouses and fungi, all subjects we don't have any books on yet.
Do you have any recommendations for books to include in our homestead library?
You might also be interested in:
Feel free to join the conversation at
