When there's no SS website or library to go to....

[urban dreamer]

What books MUST you have? I have decided to buy a book a month and start up a DIY library. I already have the "Ball canning book" and the "Backyard Homestead". I would like to get "Storey's guide to rasing sheep/goats/chickens" and "Nourshing Traditions". What are some other books that you could not live without when the SHTF?


And I mean everything! Knitting books, metal work (I start welding Monday!), foraging, first aid... you get the idea!

Thanks all!

 

[TanksHill]

Do you have Readers Digest Back to Basics on your list? It covers lots of different things.


g

 

[urban dreamer]

Do you have Readers Digest Back to Basics on your list? It covers lots of different things.


g

Never heard of it! I'll check it out. Thanks!

 

[freemotion]

Something to consider....if there are no websites and no libraries, will there be stores from which to buy the ingredients needed for the Ball canning book? Salt, pectin? Jar lids? Will there be a TSC from which to buy the supplies needed in the typical backyard stockraising books?

Better to get books and to make notebooks from stuff printed off the internet now that detail how things were done in the days before electricity, if that is your worry. And to aquire some of the skills you might need. I'm not really a huge SHTF person, but it has become a hobby of mine, exploring how things were done way back when.

Lately, I'm not so sure....I just might become a "When the Soap Hits the Fan" kinda gal!

I just found, in a $5 sale bin at TSC, Homemade Contrivances and How to Make Them, originally published in 1897. A VERY cool book. This book is available for free online, but for $5, I thought it was well worth the price.

I really like The Encyclopedia of Country Living for some good ideas on how to do without purchasing stuff. It is a great book!

 

[urban dreamer]

Good point. I know pectin can be made from apples. How would I get water? What about animal food? What about chocolate!?! I have been totally and completely in awe with this stuff since I was little.

 

[Wifezilla]

The Joy Of Pickling
Nourishing Traditions

 

[lorihadams]

The encyclopedia of country living

I need to find a good herbal book with good identification and medicinal info....been thinking of expanding my herb knowledge over the winter

The Foxfire books

 

[Farmfresh]

"Stocking Up" and some good wild plant field journals to identify edibles from your area.

 

[pioneergirl]

The encyclopedia of country living

I need to find a good herbal book with good identification and medicinal info....been thinking of expanding my herb knowledge over the winter

The Foxfire books

Agree, The FoxFire books are great, and I second the Back To Basics...as a side note, I have both the 1980-something copy of it (yellow hard back) and the new version (green hard back). Page for page they are virtually identical, to include the pictures of the couple who built a cabin in Alaska. It is called Back To Basics, but not produced by Reader's Digest. I say all this because the older version can get cashy on eBay and it might be easier to get the "new" version. I found mine at Barnes & Noble.

I also like Backyard Homesteader, and have found the old American Red Cross First Aid manuals (I find them at flea markets for next to nothing) to be helpful.

I also have several "how to survive in the woods" type books.

 

[Farmfresh]

Another very useful item is old Ag or FFA text books.

I have several old textbooks from different college agriculture or agri business classes. Some of the info has changed (DDT is no longer recommended for example), but other info is quite useful - like what to look for in a good beef cow or how crop rotation works.