CRITTER TALES BOOK REVIEW

I had the pleasure of reading another book from a fellow blogger.  Many of you know Leigh Tate from her blog 5 Acres and a Dream where she is chronicling their journey.  If you don't know her, well then get on over there and check it out!  In 2014, she released her first book, which I reviewed HERE.

Now she is back (not that she ever went anywhere, ha) with a new book that is just as wonderfully informative as the first one.  It's called "Critter Tales".  A book that covers everything you might want to know (or were afraid to ask) about having animals/livestock on your homestead.  From dogs and cats, to chickens and guineas, to llamas and goats, even honeybees!  The book is well over 300 hundred pages long and chock full of photos and resources.

This covers it all.  In fact you might say the good, the bad and the ugly.  We all know in our hearts that we want animals and livestock on our homesteads and farms but we also know, somewhere in the back of our heads, that it's not going to be as easy as it looks or sounds.  But she and her husband have been through it all, from first getting them and figuring out where to put them, to what to feed them, to what happens during illness and yes, even the end of life...and in this book, she covers all of that.  Since each section (covering different animals) ends with a description from Leigh about how the particular animal you just read about fits into their self sufficiency goals for their homestead, it really helps us to piece together the puzzle of how we are all, animals included, connected.

Will we make mistakes when any of us get animals for our farms/homes?  Sure.  Does this book mean we won't have to experience what she has?  Of course not.  There will be loss, there will be trials, and there will be tribulations.  But as you learn from Leigh, there will be many more moments of joy and hope and satisfaction.  Animals, as she so eloquently reminds us in each section, have minds and personalities of their own.  They don't follow what every book says, what the vet says, what the 'expert' says, but with Leigh's shared experience, you just might at least be prepared for the inevitable missing animal, sick animal, predator, surprise birth, etc that can happen.  You'll also fall in love with many of her animals, especially the dogs and cats.

Click here to visit her blog

So grab a copy of the book, it's both a reference manual and a personal story in one engaging book.  It would make a great gift for your own reading list or for someone on your gift list.  It's both hopeful and realistic, both uplifting and informative.

Here is the Amazon link:

Critter Tales: What my homestead critters have taught me about themselves, their world, and how to be a part of it

This link to the publishing company has all the online places where the book is available:

http://kikobian.com

Just like her last book, we will use this one as a very valuable addition to our permanent collection of homesteading books.  It's a must have for sure.  We still hope that someday, when our farm grows up, it will be as awesome as hers.

Thanks, once again, for sharing your journey and knowledge with us Leigh!

FRESH EGGS DAILY BOOK REVIEW

I have another great book to review:

Fresh Eggs Daily: Raising Happy, Healthy Chickens...Naturally by author and blogger Lisa Steele.

While we don't have chickens yet, because we aren't there full time of course, that doesn't preclude planning.  Heck, we read books about beekeeping for a few years before we had bees, so it never hurts to increase our knowledge.

This is a smaller sized book but trust me when I say it is packed with lots of info and personally, I like smaller books, they don't seem so overwhelming.  This one is filled with beautiful photos, many from the author's own chicken yard (and she's got a beauty).  Flowers, greenery and chickens galore.  The pictures are great because they show, visually, exactly what she's talking about in the writing.  Lisa has a talented way of describing in great detail exactly what she shows in the pictures. 

Her philosophy is natural or holistic chicken keeping. This one stands apart from other chicken books.  And that's the part of the book we love most, the herbal recipes.  Wow, this is one of the best books I've ever read for really hard to find information about herbs for your hens, how to treat for various ailments using herbs, what they like to eat.  It's a great book to start your chickens out right.  It covers a lot of the basics of chicken care, and I think it works well for a first timer.

Fresh Eggs Daily....CLICK HERE TO VIEW HER BLOG

Please visit her website linked above.  Her blog is a wealth of information on hens and egg laying.  Lots of great information.  One thing for sure after reading this book...WE WANT CHICKENS!!!!  Alas we still have to wait but we'll definitely know how to start the ladies out right from the very beginning. 

You can also purchase the book here via Amazon: 
Fresh Eggs Daily: Raising Happy, Healthy Chickens...Naturally

This book is published by a new favorite publishing company called St. Lynn's Press.  They have a wide variety of books in the gardening, self sufficiency, and slow and local lifestyles topics.  In my interaction with them, I found them to be kind, easy to work with and just all around wonderful.  A great, small publishing company worthy of supporting.

Thank you of course to St. Lynn's Press for providing this book to review, and thank you Lisa Steele for getting us even more prepared for the day when laying hens will rule the roost at Seda Bolsa Farm!

TAMING WILDFLOWERS BOOK REVIEW

Recently, I received a wonderful book for review.  

Taming Wildflowers: Bringing the Beauty and Splendor of Nature's Blooms into Your Own Backyard by author Miriam Goldberger.  

Living in Texas, wildflowers are a way of life here.  In fact, as I read this book, the wildflowers are in bloom all around us, a riot of color and texture.  We also have some newly cleared areas on the property and the thought of a wildflower garden is high on our list.  Needless to say, this book was perfect timing.

The book is smallish in size (dimensions) but the author somehow packs a LOT of information into that footprint.  It is over 200 pages long and is divided up into 8 chapters.  Miriam takes the reader through all aspects of wildflowers, their relationship to us, how to care for them, propagation, and so on.

As many as 60 different wildflower species are referenced in the book.  Is this the definitive book on all wildflowers?  No, but with hundreds of species, it needs to be pared down to the essentials and she has done that very well.  Details on each include soil, height, water, light, bloom time, native to, etc.  It's a wealth of information.

As if that wasn't enough, she has even added a section devoted to using wildflowers in decorations, complete with DIY instructions for various items, including this wildflower wreath that we SO want to do next year.  An interesting surprise at the very end of the book are a few pages devoted to weddings featuring wildflowers, again complete with DIY steps to create the items.  Miriam Goldberger and her husband own a business called "Wildflower Farm" where wildflowers and native grasses are their passion.  It's a passion born out in the pages of this book and it's always nice to see someone whose love for a topic is so evident in the book that they create.  The photography is beautiful and this could even be a great bedside book in a guest room to dazzle your guests with some gorgeous flowers.  I consider it part reference book and part coffee table book.  A great gift for anyone who loves flowers and/or wants to create their own wildflower meadow in their yard.

Please visit their website linked above.  While I was perusing it, I found a section on creating a wildflower meadow in clay soil which is what we have here at the farm!  We will definitely be going back to the site to see what we can learn about creating something like that on our property.

You can purchase the book here via Amazon: Taming Wildflowers

As a side note, this book is published by an amazing company called St. Lynn's Press.  They have a wide variety of books in the gardening, self sufficiency, and slow and local lifestyles topics.  In my interaction with them, I found them to be kind, easy to work with and just all around wonderful.  A great, small publishing company worthy of supporting.

Thank you St. Lynn's and especially thank you Miriam Goldberger for bringing wildflowers to life, in more ways than one!

5 ACRES AND A DREAM THE BOOK, REVIEW

Click here to find the book on Amazon

I had the pleasure of reading a book from a fellow blogger.  Many of you know Leigh Tate from her blog 5 Acres and a Dream where she is chronicling their journey.  If you don't know her, get on over there and check it out. 

She has recently written a book that documents that journey.  Even though I received the book in the Summer, I hadn’t blogged about it yet because I was actually saving it for those cold Winter evenings when I could lay in bed and read.  It has been on my nightstand and for the last week I’ve done just that, reading a chapter or two each evening.  While our own adventure, that I blog about here, bears a few similarities, we are nowhere NEAR being ready to do what she and her husband have done.  Because the book is divided up into different accounts of events and plans, it’s kind of nice to read about it and the next day,  when I find myself daydreaming about something they have done, I Google to find out more info on the topic.  In fact, one of the early things we’re going to do is use their rainwater harvesting technique almost exactly as they have done it on their farmstead.

Click here to visit her blog

The book is chock full of tips and techniques.  In 5 Acres and a Dream, she takes us all on the journey toward creating a homestead, pretty much from scratch, and documents all the highs and, yes, even the occasional lows.  It’s hard work, and she readily mentions that, but still, I swear she makes it look so easy.  Heck, she even has some recipes in it!  This is a book that anyone, novice homesteader wannabe or someone experienced and living off the grid for years, would enjoy and be able to find both knowledge and kinship within its pages.  It’s not always an easy journey but in the end, it’s a worthwhile journey and she has done it all with a grace and fighting spirit that would make those that have come before us (and done it) proud.

So grab a copy of the book, it's both reference manual and personal story in one engaging story and would make a great gift for your own reading list or for someone on your gift list.

Here is the Amazon link:

5 Acres & A Dream The Book: The Challenges of Establishing a Self-Sufficient Homestead

This link to the publishing company has all the online places that it's available:

http://kikobian.com/5acres.html

I know one thing for sure, with this book's help, and our own "Master Plan", I want our farm to be like theirs when it grows up, ha.  

Thanks for sharing your journey with us Leigh!

THE BOOK OF BARKLEY REVIEW

Recently, I've been immersed in gardening books and bee books and flower books...to be honest I was getting homestead overload and it was time for something different.  So I had the pleasure of getting a book that has been a very moving read.  

The Book of Barkley: Love and Life Through the Eyes of a Labrador Retriever

This is the book (click link below to be taken to the book purchasing options).  

It's called The Book of Barkley: Love and Life Through the Eyes of a Labrador Retriever.  The author is L. B. Johnson and I believe this is her first published book.  And wow, what a read it is.

One thing I was immediately struck by is her beautiful writing style.  I love reading authors that have such a way of using words to so vividly describe moments in life.  Her style takes my mind to a different place when I'm reading.  As a lover of the written word, this book made me very happy and I often found myself rereading a paragraph, not to understand, but to just see again the lyrical way with words.  If I ever ventured into writing a book, I'd love to have just half of that ability.

Here is a sample I transcribed for you: 
______________________________________

"It is a bond between him and me.  For me, it is not a substitute for something lacking in my life, but an outlet for the warmth I harbor in my soul, seeking a place for the waters of my emotion to go when all else is damned up.  He's my confidante; he's my fashion critic (jeans and t-shirt again? Well, if you insist), he's a soft-hearted Kleenex if I cry.  

Now, he was getting older, grey abundantly showing up in that black hair.  Yet still, when woken by my soft snore from the office bed he'll move away from the heater, to my side as swift, as strong as ever, even as he slows.  He looks at me with brown eyes more humorous and honest than anyone I know, soft paw on my arm, content simply to be by my side because I'm there.  Like the rest of my friends, his needs are simple, his demands of me only warmth, faithfulness and time to go out and play."
______________________________________

It is truly the rare author that can write, in just a few short paragraphs, words that will have you laughing, crying, laughing again and then thinking to yourself "wow, that was profound".  L.B. is that kind of author.  The book chronicles the life of her beloved black lab, Barkley.  From rambunctious puppy to wise and gentle old man, L.B. writes through the eyes of Barkley and along the way, teaches us the meaning of living...indeed the meaning of loving.

Barkley...star of The Book of Barkley

They always say the love of a pet is unconditional and this book follows that in every colorful, wonderful and yes, sometimes painful, detail.  You don't have to be a dog person to enjoy this read though.  When we lost our cat Sydney at the end of last year, after almost 20 years, we struggled to put into words what he meant to us.  Dog...cat...the love of a pet is universal.  Thank you L.B. for helping us hear the words we longed to put down in print.

Barkley

Get this book for yourself, or with the holidays coming, it would truly make a great gift for that animal lover in your life.  

Click the links below to pick up a copy via Amazon.

The Book of Barkley, print edition   or  The Book of Barkley, digital edition

THE BEEKEEPERS BIBLE

I first picked up this book at the store because of the cover.  It was gorgeous.  Simple yet detailed, modern yet classic.

I guess you could say that yes, I did judge a book by it's cover!

The Beekeepers Bible

Here is the Amazon link to the book.  I originally saw it in a bookstore but when I went back, it was sold out.  I searched Amazon and of course, found it online.

The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses

Anyway, I purchased it and wow, do I love it.  It's on the nightstand beside the bed so that I can read a bit each night.  It's very comprehensive, covering the history of bees and beekeeping and then delves a bit into the 'how to' of beekeeping.  It has recipes using honey and even shows you how to make candles from the wax and soap using honey.  In a way, it's like a history book, an encyclopedia, an almanac and a cookbook were all rolled up into one.

The illustrations and photographs are beautifully detailed and rendered.  It's also written to be very easy to read.  Nothing is complicated or uses hard to understand terminology, it's written for both the layman and the experienced beekeeper.  Would this be the only book you'd ever need to learn beekeeping? No, there are others out there (including Beekeeping for Dummies) that go into far more detail about how to start.  I'm not sure why much of that was left out of book, possibly because of what I mentioned, that there are so many very detailed books already out there.  The real value of this book, in my opinion, are the bits of lore and wisdom scattered throughout that help a beekeeper (or anyone interested in bees for that matter) to have a better understanding of how the history of bees from thousands of years ago has led us to this moment now in our history.  I'm all for learning more about the lovely ladies that we'll soon be sharing the property with.

Side note, our local library has a copy of this (I checked online) so you might check yours if you'd like to get a copy of it that way.  I'd recommend it for anyone that wants to learn a bit more about bees and their history in our world.

Now it's on to my next book to review!

FREE RANGE CHICKEN GARDENS BOOK REVIEW

Got this AWESOME new book recently and I've been loving it from cover to cover.

It is called Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard (a long title for a great subject), by author Jessi Bloom, who is herself an award winning garden designer.  She's combined her skills at garden design and love of chickens into what I think is a great resource of information with information for the novice and maybe some new tidbits for the long time chicken keeper.

The inside is filled with great chapters and has lots of diagrams, lists of do's and dont's, good and bad, and best of all, suggested layouts for a chicken yard.

It also has beautiful photography (by Kate Baldwin) that shows happy chickens and close up details of plants and coops and chicken yards that others have created.

It's divided up into sections such as Free Range Chickens, Natural Fertilizer, Organic Pest Control, Soil Aeration, Fresh Eggs, and Thriving Gardens.  There are also lists of dangerous plants for chickens, and even plants that make for great shade and healthy snacks for the egg laying ladies.  She also goes into chicken keeping basics, including coops and the best way to lay them out, fencing, safety, feed, care, egg laying, etc.  

This is what our future plans are for this area.  I've been slowly clearing this spot and keeping it mowed so that it just sort of stays clean and not overrun with weeds and brush and sprouting trees.

The barn will come next Spring (we are planning it now), and while we still won't have chickens right away, I can now use this book, and all the great online resources I've found, to start getting it all prepped ahead of time.  I've got a list of plants I'd like to find for next Spring to put in the future chicken yard so they can get established ahead of future residents.

2014 FARMERS ALMANAC PACKAGE HAS ARRIVED

2014 Old Farmers Almanac with Calendar and historic reprints

OH HAPPY DAYS!

I always forget about this until it arrives unexpectedly.  And yesterday, it arrived.  I subscribe to the package that sends me a hardcover version of the venerable gardening standby, The Old Farmer's Almanac.  Included are free gifts too (well, part of the purchase price I would presume, ha).  First, an awesome gardening calendar (that goes in the mudroom) and then reprint copies of their issues from one hundred years ago, 1914, and two hundred years ago, 1814.  Those are always a fascinating read.

I save them all though, hard as it may be, until later in the Fall when the weather is cool and thoughts turn to next Spring.

They sell it above at the Almanac website, and they sell the less expensive softcover on Amazon below by clicking this link The Old Farmer's Almanac 2014. 

Anyone else read this?  They claim an 80% accuracy.

FARM / SURVIVAL BOOK RECOMMENDATION LIST

I recently asked for some recommendations of farm/survival/self sufficiency books.  We have a ton of just regular gardening books and of course cookbooks and all sorts of 'how to' books, but I thought it would be fun to have some fiction, or maybe first person account non fiction or historical type books about farming, or homesteading or even survival.  I got a lot!  THANK YOU!  In some of the comments,  several of you asked if I'd create a list.  Here it is, compiled from your suggestions:

Growing a Farmer - Kirk Timmermeister

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral - Barbara Kingsolver

Tender at the Bone - Ruth Reichl

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, & a Raucous Year of Eating Locally - Alisa Smith
This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader - Joan Gussow
Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer - Novella Carpenter

 The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
The Dirty Life - Kritsen Kimball

Wisdom of the Last Farmer: Legacies from the Land - David Mas Masumoto

Little House on the Prairie (series) - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Mill Farm - Elizabeth Castonier
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven
Cider with Rosie - Laurie Lee
The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
The Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
*most any book by Gene Logsdon
The Wild Life - John Lewis-Stempel
Dune (series) - Frank Herbert
Adventures in Contentment - David Grayson
First Person Rural - Noel Perrin
Planting Dreams (series) - Linda Hubalek
Bad Land: An American Romance - Jonathan Raban
Aquarius Rising - Fred Zengel
Daemon Trilogy (series) - Daniel Suarez
The Hunger Games (series) - Suzanne Collins
Last Night / Night Light / True Light / Dawn's Light (series) - Terri Blackstock

PHEW!!!  What a list!!  Thank you all for leaving suggestions.  It looks like I have lots of decisions and lots of reading material to last for a long time.  If anyone wants to add even more to the list, feel free to do so in the comments and I'll edit the above post to add them.

FARM THEMED AND / OR SELF SUFFICIENCY FICTION BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Recently, I received a couple of book recommendations in the comments of other posts and it got me to thinking; we have a lot of gardening books and cook books and decorating books.  Without a TV at the farm, when we go out there and relax a bit, it's nice to just sit and read.  But these are all pretty much "how to" books.  We love them of course but...

...one of you suggested Charlotte's Web (great suggestion to read a classic that I might look at differently now) and another suggested a book on WWII that featured someone working on a chicken farm (sounds fun). 

So now I'm wondering, what fiction and/or historical books would you all recommend for the farm "library"?  I'd like to keep them farm related, maybe about someone building a garden, or raising livestock or maybe a book about a beekeeper?  Heck, maybe life on a farm now (Amish?) or even a hundred years ago (Little House on the Prairie-ish perhaps?)

Speaking of fiction, I recently read a book called "One Second After", and while it was depressing at times, it also reminded me of the importance of self sufficiency and yet another reason we want to create this farm.  We've got some "how to" books on self sufficiency but any fiction book on that topic would be great as well (something like "The Road" which I read a few years back).  As I said, I'd like something I can get wrapped up in a continuing story and maybe learn a little something about life on a farm or self survival along the way, even if it is a work of fiction.  I need some escapist reading.

Feel free to suggest away in the comments below.  I might just have to start a new bookcase full of books ready for this Winter.

GREAT WILDFLOWERS BOOK FOR OUR PROPERTY

Wildflowers of Houston and SE Texas by: John and Gloria Tveten

Many of our regular readers know that I've often posted pictures of random flowers I find around the property.  More often than not, I don't have a clue what they are.  Well I'm clueless no more because I found this book! It's called Wildflowers of Houston and Southeast Texas.  It's a visual guide to over 200 wildflowers found in this part of the state.

The flowers in the book are divided by color, which is a pretty cool way to find them.  Next Spring, it will be an invaluable tool as I try to identify all the wonderful colors that magically appear.  Actually, I'm still seeing flowers coming up now, so I'll be trying it out soon.  Maybe now I won't have to post about some random yellow/pink/white flowers that I find in the yard, LOL.

It's really neat that there is a book that is so specific to our area and our part of the state and I have a feeling that it will prove to be a great resource.  It even has medicinal and/or culinary uses of flowers that might be attached to something wild and edible.


I dare say this book is going to be farmhouse coffee table worthy!


Off to the farm today to get some mowing time in.  Heat indexes over 100, ugh, but it is what it is I suppose.  Updates over the weekend!

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COUNTRY LIVING BOOK REVIEW

REPOST:  I posted this a few weeks ago but it was accidental (I used the wrong date) and was in between two other automatic posts that went up an hour or on each side.  I think it might have gotten lost in the shuffle.


Since today is a holiday and I'm traveling, I figured I'd repost it and see if anyone has some more book suggestions.  I can always use more books, LOL!


I am so excited!  I got this book yesterday a couple of weeks ago on the recommendation of several bloggers, and I have to say, I LOVE it.  I've never seen so much great information in one place.  This is a classic book I'm sure many of your have seen.  It's been around since the early 70's but it's periodically updated with the most current information and is the newest 10th edition.

It's almost a thousand pages of valuable information.  Recipes, cleaning tips, how to home repairs, gardening, beekeeping, canning, butchering, orchards, flowers, fence building, how to milk a goat, making soap, building a chicken coop, and literally dozens (hundreds?) of other topics.  Right now, I'm enjoying just flipping through it randomly and reading whatever section I land on.  With this newest edition, they have even added web pages, email addresses and mail order resources for all sorts of topics.

While we have TONS of books (see HERE), cookbooks and gardening books galore, I am always on the lookout for the "must have" books for eventual life in the country.

Are there any books you have that you feel are essential?
Any others similar to this one?

ANIMAL VEGETABLE MIRACLE - BOOK REVIEW

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Just got finished reading this book and wow, what a wonderful journey it was.  And talk about inspiring!

The book is by famed author Barbara Kingsolver, and instead of fiction, it's a work of non fiction, chronicling her family's journey as they move from the life they've known in Arizona, to a self sufficient existence in rural Appalachia.  Once they are there, they decide to live for one year on just the food available locally to them, and only grown at the time of year they are eating it.  More often, they end up doing this themselves, starting with seeds and going through trial and error.  They raise meat birds as well, and the sections on that are hysterically funny.

The part I was most fascinated with was how she came up with a growing/eating plan called the "vegetannual".  It's a fictional plant that bears something in just about every month of the year over the course of one growing season.  It's sort of a 'visual' growing guide of what you should grow/eat at different times of the year.

CLICK HERE for a wonderful interactive growing guide: http://vegetannual.org/

The book is scattered with lots of useful information and facts written by her husband, and even recipes, written by her daughter, making it a sort of collaboration with her husband and children. One thing I love is that she doesn't sugarcoat their lives.  It's tough, it's hard to stay focused, it's hard work, and there is unpleasantness to deal with (processing the birds).  But in the end, it's a inspirational journey that shows one family, one person even, can begin to make a difference in the world.  Even if that world is their own local world of food.  Eating healthier and using more sustainable resources is something we can all benefit from.

The book is available just about anywhere, online or in bookstores or the library.  If you'd like to visit her website, you can do that by CLICKING HERE.  She actually updates their journey and how things are going on a regular basis (the book was written in 2007).  If we hadn't already embarked on our own journey toward self sustainability, this would have definitely been a trigger.

Enjoy!