The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading: An Encyclopedia of Independent Living (Ultimate Guides) Paperback – March 10, 2011

I just received this book yesterday aftering waiting for a couple of months for it to come from the publishers. Worth the wait! At first glance what you will notice is how beautiful it is, with hundreds of full color photos throughout, and wonderdul hand drawn illustrations. When you turn to the table of contents you will find seven chapters:1. What is Homesteading? (history, intentional community, equipment needed, food storage, evaluating and buying your land, designing your homestead, cycles of work, and chemicals & toxins)2. The Basics (math & money, tractors & trucks, auto maintenance, water, waste, primitive heat & light, modern convenience & electricity)3. Building Shelter for Man & Animal (temporary & nomadic shelter, construction skills & making lumber, builing a house from available materials, building a safe barn & fence)4. Horses and Other Animals (animal basics & health, buthering & animal burial, draft horse care, horse training & handling, oxen, cattle, & water buffalo, bees, chickens, ducks, & geese, dogs, goats, sheep, rabbits, raising worms)5. The Comforts of Home (making tools & farm equipment, simple home foraging, making things from wood, making home necessities, fiber arts & clothing, doing odd jobs at home)6. Health and Family (beauty & health, herbal remedies, illness & 3rd world diseases, first aid, babies & children on the homestead, home education)7. Food, Field, and Garden (garden planning, cultivation, soil care, growing environments, basic plant care, cultivating wild edible foods, growing & harvesting grain, food preservation)Then we find a helpful Homestead Dictionary, Bibliography, Index, and About the Author.What I enjoyed most about this book is that it is written straight to the point. For instance, if you wanted to read about bees, you will find the subheadings of Bee clothing, Tools, Bee skep, Bee hive, Making foundation, The best bee situation, Bee stings, Types of bees, Buying bees, How to move bees, Handling bees, Maintenance, Artificial Pollen to be fed to bees in the spring, Beekeeping calendar, How to prevent disease, Types of diseases & pests, Removing honey and making wax. Each category gives you just the right amount of imformation and step-by-step instructions.Very well worth the price! Should be one the first books that anyone interested in homesteading or living off the land should purchase. It has everything in it that is going to help you make all your plans of homesteading and self-sufficiency come true. Everything you don't even think you'd need to know is in here.

This book has it all, it does not matter if you are a beginner prepper or a skilled homesteader, you will find new information. It is one of my "go - to books, when I have want to try something new. I have had this book for almost 2 years and when I am ready to take another step I come back to this book first.This week I have decided to try making lye so I can make homemade soap, this book has a few options on making lye and a few recipes on making the soap. Once I try a few times and I like it I might get a book that is all about soap making but this book is the first stop.There are full color photos which help a lot when trying to understand a new technique. In my opinion this book should be in all Bug Out Bags/Boxes, and on the shelf in every homestead. It really is quite amazing, my dad has been a prepper since before it was cool in the 70's, and he found some new and useful information.

I love this book and wish I'd had it 30 years ago when I began trying to learn all this stuff! If you are considering homesteading, wondering how to create community, or just want to reduce your impact in the world, you will find this book very helpful. It will not make you an expert on any subject. It will give you an idea of what you can do, and what you need to do, and what you will need to learn to make your dreams happen. These days the internet can help you access any information you need, but what information do you need? This book will help you. How much food do you need to put away for a year per person? How can you preserve your own food? How do you take care of chickens, geese, rabbits, goats, sheep, cows, or horses? How to sew, knit. How to homeschool. Basic first aid. basic health care. first aid supplies. work with wood, work with iron. etc., etc., etc. This is your starting point, where you take it is up to you.

I really loved this book, as someone who liked the idea of homesteading but really didn't understand what it all meant. I understand some of the reviews have given it 2 or less stars, and I understand their reasoning, however for me and my family (who live in suburbia, in Australia, with all the mod-cons and some chickens) this was a BRILLIANT introduction to Homesteading. Although there was a fair chunk of the book that wasn't relevant to me (in Australia), Chapter 6 - Health - is fantastic. Faires talks about slaughtering animals which I was very excited about. The whole book is very easy to read and understand for the complete beginner. I absolutely love this book, and do not regret my purchase. If you are a TOTAL newbie when it comes to Homesteading (i.e think you like the idea, maybe romanticised it a bit, are curious to what it really means) then I think this is a great introduction.

This book mentions a lot of subjects on homesteading but does not go into enough detail. I was disappointed that I bought it. I feel that it is a waste of money.

I have several books of this type in my personal library, as I frequently dream of living a self-sustaining life. The Ultimate Guide To Homesteading is, by far, the best! When it arrived, I thought I'd flip through it right quick- a few hours later, I had read it cover to cover. From almost the first page, Ms. Faires pulled me in with interesting information I had not found anywhere else. I couldn't put it down- I began dogearing pages, devouring her insights and enjoying her style of writing. There were several typos and nothing was real in depth- but how could it be? Ms Faires answered a lot of questions I had and overall I am very pleased!

Books like these are incredibly useful to learn and have handy at home or on the go.