Anna's Idea

Back when a page on the internet could take 5 minutes or more (!) to load I figured out that I could still read faster than that, and bought a book.

This is the book that gave me the courage to purchase my first batch of chicks.

This is the book I had next to me, on the ground, propped open with a rock when we finally butchered those fryers.

This is the book that taught me how to make fried cornmeal mush and polenta back when corn was cheap and my grain mill was manual.

I know the internet moves at lightning speed now and you can get any tidbit of info that you want or need in literally seconds.  

But that is not what you need.  

Trust me.

You need to read The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery 

You need to read it cover to cover.  Even the part about how to give a haircut and all the recipes in the margins.  Read about bleeding out large game and what is not safe to feed to rabbits.  Read about Pigeon Peas and Yeast Breads and probably a few things that you never heard of before in your life. 

You need to meet Earthchild Marie.

The internet has a terrible time presenting the big picture.  It is convenient but not very holistic.  If you read The Encyclopedia you will know what homesteading is.  You will feel it.  You will not ever do everything in this book – probably. (Though, ironically, it might make for an interesting blog project.) But you will have a picture of a way of life that will inspire you.  And you will have learned something more important than how to decorate a shabby chic lamp (or what my kids built and drug up from the basement this week). 

I guarantee it.