Self-Sufficient Living

Learn how to manage a homestead, survive off the grid, grow and preserve your own food, and more!

Updated March 13, 2025
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50 projects for building your backyard homestead : a hands-on, step-by-step sustainable-living guide
Toht, David
Paper Book
Ready for new 10 new practical ideas for creating yourbackyard homestead? 50 Projects for Building Your Backyard Homestead: AHands-On, Step-By-Step Sustainable-Living Guide updates one of the most popularbooks on the subject with the addition of 10 new projects to help yourhomestead thrive....
50 do-it-yourself projects for keeping chickens : chicken coops, brooders, runs, swings, dust baths, and more!
Garman, Janet
Paper Book
Owning and raising chickens doesn't have to be an expensive hobby. With imagination, simple tools, and salvaged or bargain materials, you can make everything your flock needs for their health and safety. Buying a chicken coop can be a major expense. Follow the steps provided in...
The modern homestead garden : growing self-sufficiency in any size backyard
Pilarchik, Gary
Paper Book
With this accessible and indispensable gardening reference, discover how little land and effort it takes to start growing and preserving your own healthy organic food. Modern homesteading is a lifestyle focused on living lightly on the land and increasing self...
Epic homesteading : your guide to self-sufficiency on a modern, high-tech, backyard homestead
Espiritu, Kevin
Paper Book
Followed by millions @epicgardening, Author Kevin Espiritu has built a modern, high-tech homestead on a modest urban lot. In Epic Homesteading, he teaches you how to do the same, wherever you live. As Kevin has proven--thanks to his enthusiasm and willingness...
The rugged life : the modern guide to self-reliance
Emerson, Clint
Paper Book
In an era of escalating crises, what would you do after disaster struck? Are you prepared to keep yourself and your family alive for a month? A year? What about a lifetime? "Add The Rugged Life by former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson to your library today and get on...
Essential home skills handbook : everything you need to know as a new homeowner
Peterson, Chris
Paper Book
BLACK+DECKER Essential Home Skills Handbookoffers 100+ beginner-friendly solutions for common household headaches, with achievable DIY projects and full-color step photos and illustrations. Whether you're moving from an apartment to yourfirst homeor...
Breaking the Grid : How to Buy Nothing, Make Everything, and Live Sustainably
Martin, Dan
Paper Book
When a crisis hits, we all wish we could be a little more self-sufficient. With Breaking the Grid, you can learn to live completely off the grid or just be a little more environmentally conscious. In this comprehensive guide, you can find step-by-step photographed instructions for everything...
Home ec for everyone : practical life skills in 118 projects
Bowers, Sharon
Paper Book
Did you remember your scissors? Discover the tremendous pleasure of learning how to do it yourself how to cook, sew, clean, and more, the way it used to be taught in Home Ec class. With illustrated step by step instructions, plus relevant charts, lists, and handy graphics, Home Ec...
Modern mending : how to minimize waste and maximize style
Lewis-Fitzgerald, Erin
Paper Book
Creatively mend and customize your old clothes to revitalize your outfits and save the planet Bring new life to your old clothes and fabrics with this fun, easy-to-follow guide to modern mending. Across the globe, we send tonnes of clothing to landfill each year. In...
Shop class for everyone : practical life skills in 83 projects
Bowers, Sharon
Paper Book
Did you remember your goggles? There used to be a time when pretty much every high school offered Shop class, where students learned to use a circular saw or rewire a busted lamp- all while discovering the satisfaction of being self-reliant and doing it yourself. Shop Class for...
Emergency home preparedness : the ultimate guide for bugging in during natural disasters, pandemics, civil unrest, and more
Snyder, EJ
Paper Book
Are you prepared for the uncertainties that may lie ahead? In a world filled with pandemics, natural disasters, civil unrest, and the constant specter of war, the need for readiness has never been more crucial. Enter EJ Snyder--an extreme survivalist and 25-year Army combat...
The healing garden : herbs for health and wellness : a guide to gardening, gathering, drying, and preparing teas, tinctures, and remedies
Soule, Deb
Paper Book
An informative and instructional illustrated guide to herb gardening and crafting herbal remedies that promote wellness of spirit and body, from Avena Botanicals founder Deb Soule. In The Healing Garden, Avena Botanicals founder Deb Soul combines her...
The layered edible garden : a beginner's guide to creating a productive food garden layer by layer
Chung, Christina (Horticulturist)
Paper Book
Design, plant, and tend a self-sustaining, high-yielding food garden that saves space by growing plants the way nature intended--in layers.  Say goodbye to long, straight rows of vegetable plants lined up and waiting for attacks from pests and diseases, and say hello to...
276 edible wild plants of the United States & Canada : berries, roots, nuts, greens, flowers, and seeds
Warnock, Caleb
Paper Book
Self-sufficiency expert Caleb Warnock shares his expertise on living off the land in 276 Edible Wild Plants of the United States and Canada. Packed with over 800 photographs of over 250 wild berries, roots, nuts, greens, and flowers, this valuable reference will show you which plants...
All new square foot gardening : the world's most popular growing method to harvest more food from less space
Paper Book
Over 3 million copies sold! This revolutionary gardening book gets a revolutionary update for its 4th edition--new plans, options, and advice herald a modern approach to this tried-and-true method. No digging, no tilling, no fertilizing, no machinery or heavy tools--less watering,...
The climate change garden : down to earth advice for growing a resilient garden
Morgan, Sally
Paper Book
In this global gardener's guide to creating a resilient, climate-wise garden, learn how to adapt your garden to cope with volatile weather extremes and other effects of a rapidly changing climate. It's no longer gardening as usual. Heat waves, droughts, flooding, violent...
To boldly grow : finding joy, adventure, and dinner in your own backyard
Haspel, Tamar
Paper Book
When Journalist and self-proclaimed 'crappy gardener' Tamar Haspel and her husband move from Manhattan to two acres on Cape Cod, they decide to adopt a more active approach to their diet: raising chickens, growing tomatoes, even foraging for mushrooms and hunting their own meat. Filled with...
Attainable sustainable : the lost art of self-reliant living
Bordessa, Kris
Paper Book
Packed with delicious recipes, natural remedies, gardening tips, crafts, and more, this indispensable lifestyle reference from the popular blogger makes earth-friendly living fun. Whether you live in a city, suburb, or the country, this essential guide for the backyard...
The healing garden : cultivating & handcrafting herbal remedies
Blankespoor, Juliet
Paper Book
A comprehensive and lushly photographed guide to growing and using healing plants, including recipes, from the founder of the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine This is the ultimate reference for anyone looking to bring the beauty and therapeutic properties...
Growing plants and flowers : all the know-how you need to plant and tend outdoor areas using eco-friendly methods
McManus, Sean
Paper Book
There are no stupid questions here. Everyone has to start somewhere, after all. In The First-Time Gardener: Growing Plants and Flowers, Sean and Allison McManus, the gardening pros behind the popular website and podcast Spoken Garden, answer all of your questions and...
Field Guide to Urban Gardening How to Grow Plants, No Matter Where You Live: Raised Beds ; Vertical Gardening ; Indoor Edibles ; Balconies and Rooftops ; Hydroponics
Espiritu, Kevin.
Paper Book
Join Kevin Espiritu of Epic Gardening to learn the basics of growing plants, choose the right urban gardening method for you, and troubleshoot any problems you might encounter. If you think it's impossible to grow your own food because you don't have a large yard or you live...
Growing under cover : techniques for a more productive, weather-resistant, pest-free vegetable garden
Jabbour, Niki
Paper Book
Increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and pest infestations are challenging today's vegetable gardeners. But best-selling author Niki Jabbour has a solution: Growing Under Cover. In this in-depth guide, Jabbour shows how to use small solutions like cloches, row covers, shade cloth, cold...
Plant partners : science-based companion planting strategies for the vegetable garden
Walliser, Jessica
Paper Book
Discover the benefits of companion planting with this comprehensive guidebook. Plant Partners delivers a research-based rationale for the ever-popular growing technique of companion planting, offering dozens of ways you can use scientifically tested plant...
Hand made : the modern woman's guide to made-from-scratch living
Norris, Melissa K.
Paper Book
Homemade Shouldn't Be Hectic Do you wish you could slow down and create a home you and your family love and enjoy spending time in? Melissa K. Norris, author of The Made-from-Scratch Life and voice of the Pioneering Today podcast, offers down-to-earth tips and guidance...
DIY hydroponic gardens
Baras, Tyler
Paper Book
With practical information aimed at home DIYers, author Tyler Baras (Farmer Tyler to his fans) shows exactly how to build, plant, and maintain over a dozen unique hydroponic systems, some costing just a few dollars to make. No soil? No sunlight? No problem. A...
Beekeeping For Dummies
Blackiston, Howland.
Paper Book
The single best and most comprehensive guide for prospective, new and experienced hobbyist beekeepers Beekeeping For Dummies, 5th Edition, is one of the most popular titles in the For Dummies series available today. Including the latest information regarding every...

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