The Weekend Homesteader- Review

The Walden Effect is one of the very first homesteading blogs that i began to read regularly.     i've been following along on their homesteading journey for a few years now and have always been impressed and inspired by many of their projects. They are constantly finding new and better ways to help themselves become self sufficient and sharing the progress on their blog.

So i was really excited to see that Anna was putting all of these great ideas into a book.  When the book first came out, Dec. of 2012 i volunteered to do a review of the book on my blog. However, our house burned down in January of 2013 and i lost the book and had not yet finished putting the review together. Yesterday, i was cleaning uip all the unpublished drafts and found this review. i'm only 3 years late, but still wanted to post the review that i had committed to back in 2012.

The Weekend Homesteader is organized by month—so whether it’s January or June you’ll find exciting, short projects that you can use to dip your toes into the vast ocean of homesteading without getting overwhelmed. If you need to fit homesteading into a few hours each weekend and would like to have fun while doing it, these projects will be right up your alley, whether you live on a forty-acre farm, a postage-stamp lawn in suburbia, or a high rise.

You'll learn about backyard chicken care, how to choose the best mushroom and berry species, and why and how to plant a no-till garden that heals the soil while providing nutritious food. Permaculture techniques will turn your homestead into a vibrant ecosystem and attract native pollinators while converting our society's waste into high-quality compost and mulch. Meanwhile, enjoy the fruits of your labor right away as you learn the basics of cooking and eating seasonally, then preserve homegrown produce for later by drying, canning, freezing, or simply filling your kitchen cabinets with storage vegetables. As you become more self-sufficient, you'll save seeds, prepare for power outages, and tear yourself away from a full-time job, while building a supportive and like-minded community. You won't be completely eliminating your reliance on the grocery store, but you will be plucking low-hanging (and delicious!) fruits out of your own garden by the time all forty-eight projects are complete.

The best thing about the book for me, is that the weekend projects that are arranged by month.  i personally have a tough time with organization, and it's really nice to find a guide with everything already  laid out for you. The book is broken into months, with four projects per month.  It can be read cover to cover, or used as a simple guide to flip through and complete projects that you have time for or are most  relevant to you. . It's really a wonderful beginners guide to get you started, but also offers some really good information for seasoned homesteaders.  i highly recommend it and also suggest that take a peek at The Walden Effect blog.


Visit her  blog at Walden Effect
 You can follow along on their facebook page.
 here's a link to book http://www.amazon.com/The-Weekend-Homesteader-Twelve-Month-Self-Sufficiency/dp/1616088826