- Take control of your food supply from seed to plate
- Raise small and medium livestock for fun, food, and fiber
- Rediscover traditional skills to meet more of your family's needs than you ever thought possible
Praise for Homegrown & Handmade
"This is my new favorite book for so many reasons. Not only does the author offer quaint recipes like caramel apple butter, castile soap and homemade cheese, but she thoughtfully outlines how and why she lives the homesteading lifestyle. Her encouraging words don’t intimidate the reader; rather, she kindly reminds us that mistakes will be made on the path towards more sustainable and self-reliant living. In many ways, it is a user’s manual for living a simpler, healthier and more thoughtful life."
---Maureen
"Deborah and her family were a great inspiration on my own journey from urbanite to homesteader, and over the years I've turned to her often for guidance. Homegrown and Handmade is a wonderful collection of her wisdom, and when it's not propped next to the stove or the milk stand, this approachable reference belongs on the shelf with the homesteading classics."
---Margaret Hathaway,
author of The Year of the Goat
and Living with Goats
"Deborah Niemann has written a straight-forward, down-to-earth book to get us back to our nation’s independent, self-reliant roots. It covers all the bases – from the soil to the supper table, and from birth (or hatch) to butchering. This is the perfect book for the conscientious omnivore, or for anyone seeking a practical map to a sustainable, delicious future."
---Terra Brockman,
Founder and Board President of The Land Connection,
author of The Seasons on Henry's Farm, speaker, food and farm advocate.
"There's never been a more practical guide written for making the 'simple' life simple."
---Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell,
founders of Beekman1802.com
"Homegrown & Handmade a smart book for today's modern homesteader. In this book, Deborah Niemann promises practical guidance for a more sustainable and inspirational lifestyle. From growing and using your own vegetable and fruit crops to creating and managing your own dairy, raising backyard poultry, and harvesting your own fiber, Homegrown &Handmade more than delivers! "Niemann offers compelling reasons for becoming active in understanding the foods (and chemicals) that families are consuming unchecked everyday. Homegrown & Handmade puts you in the control seat of what is considered fresh and healthy food by offering detailed explanations on providing food and fiber their purest form for yourself.
"Homegrown & Handmade is simply the right book at the right time -- a book after my own heart."
---Chris McLaughlin,
author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Heirloom Vegtables
and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Small-Space Gardening
"Deborah Niemann has penned the book that will turn homesteading dreamers into doers. From sustainable gardening to animal husbandry, she's got the farm covered. Homegrown & Handmade explores, illuminates, excites, and inspires. "
---Ashley English,
author of the Homemade Living book series
and the voice behind small-measure.blogspot.com
Table of Contents
- Health
- Safety
- Quality
- Ethics
- Sustainability
- Frugality
- Entertainment
- Personal pride
- Getting started
Chapter 1: Planning the Sustainable Garden
- What do you need
- What will you grow
- How much will you grow
- Composting
- Vermicomposting
- Vertical gardening
- Organic solutions
- Seed saving
- Growing herbs indoors
- Growing sprouts
- Extending the tomato harvest
- Winter gardening
- Tomatoes
- Recipe: Creamy Heirloom Tomato Soup
- Recipe: Gazpacho
- Step-by-step canning
- Recipe: Pizza Sauce
- Recipe: Canned Salsa
- Peppers
- Recipe: Pickled Peppers
- Green beans
- Recipe: Pickled Green Beans
- Herbs
- Recipe: Iced Lemon Spearmint Tea
- Root cellar vegetables
- Recipe: Homemade Ginger Ale
Chapter 4: Planning the backyard orchard
- What do you need
- What will you grow
- Planting
- Watering
- Mulching
- Pruning
- Freezing berries
- Canning fruit
- Recipe: Caramel Apple Butter
- Recipe: Canned Pears
Chapter 7: Planning the backyard poultry flock
- What do you need
- What will you raise
- Brooding
- Coop management
- Laying
- Feeding
- Injury prevention and treatment
- Chickens
- Turkeys
- Ducks and geese
- Eggs
- Recipe: Quick Quiche
- Recipe: Crème Brulee Pie
- Recipe: Mayonnaise
- Recipe: Brioche
- Recipe: Noodles
- Meat
- Recipe: Chicken soup
- Recipe: Turkey stroganoff
Chapter 11: Planning the home dairy
- Cows
- Goats
- Sheep
- Herd animals
- Pasture or dry lot
- Bedding
- Feeding
- Minerals and supplements
- Breeding males
- Babies
- Veterinary care
- Milking equipment
- Breeds
- Buying dairy animals
- Natural dairy management
- Training a milker
- Milking by hand
- Milking by machine
- Health basics
- Natural parasite control
- Birthing
- Pasteurization
- Butter
- Buttermilk
- Yogurt
- Cheese
- Recipe: Chevre
- Recipe: Queso Blanco
- Recipe: Ricotta
- Recipe: Easy Mozzarella
- Recipe: Feta
- Soap
- Recipe: Castile soap
- Recipe: Gardener’s scrub bar
- Recipe: Facial soap
Chapter 14: Planning and managing the home fiber flock
- Choosing fiber animals
- Rabbits
- Goats and sheep
- Llamas and alpacas
- Bedding
- Shearing
- Breeding
- Veterinary care
- Feeding and supplements
- Processing fiber
- Felting
- Project: Felted soap
- Spinning
- Knitting
- Project: Scarf
