The The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers

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I’m just covering lacto-fermentation books here, I’ll cover home brew beer and wine making books separately later on.) The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Civilization in the Aftermath of a Cataclysm by Lewis Dartnell ~ No, this book does not contain everything you need to know to rebuild society, far from it. You’d need several hundred (if not thousand) volumes this size to do that. That said, it does have a lot of really insightful tutorials, and comes up with a lot of things you just wouldn’t think of. It’s not a “manual” but it is a fun read that will make you think about how the world is put together. If living off-grid in a self-built cabin, growing 90% of your own food, and living 100% off of rainwater is your thing (a la Doug and Stacy vibes), then great; you’re your own version of self-sufficient. If all you have room for is a tomato plant on the windowsill of your 6th-floor city flat, congratulations! You’re what’s known as ‘self-sufficientish’! How Do You Measure Self-sufficiency?

At the same tie, having access to a supportive network of friends, family members, or even professionals can provide additional strength and resources for individuals striving for self-sufficiency. The Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian ~ The most popular beginner homebrewing book, this one covers the basic steps of homebrewing beer, and has a lot of beginner recipes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell you a lot of the “why” different steps are important. Good to get started, but you’ll need the next book if you really want to understand what’s happening. (If you don’t care why it works, and you just want to follow a recipe to make beer, then you’re good with just this one.) If you’re a beginning bread maker looking for the simplest possible process, you can always get a bread maker and try your hand at bread machine recipes.Fiftieth Anniversary Edition. Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the book’s beginning, all resource information has been brought up to date. We’ve raised a lot of animals over the years, but by far my favorite creature to tend was always the bees. This aim can also be seen in modern trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or the European Trade Agreements, which seek to create a more self-sufficient economy among its members by eliminating certain tariffs and increasing trade between signatories. Managing Money: Saving and Budgeting

Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking: The Ultimate Guide for Home-Scale and Market Producers by Gianaclis Caldwell ~ An incredible guide that really dives deep into the “why” of cheesemaking. It’s less a recipe book, and more a technical book that will allow you to understand what’s happening in the cheesemaking process start to finish for just about every style of cheese. Beyond these specific fermentation guide books, I’d also recommend any of the cookbooks by Olia Hercules. She’s a Ukrainian author and though she writes about Ukrainian cooking, that’s something you just can’t do without covering a lot of home fermentation recipes (and other food preservation topics). Whole Grain Breads by Peter Reinhart ~ The best guide on making 100% whole wheat bread taste amazing. Again, as with the Breadbakers Apprentice, most of the recipes involve multi day ferments, but that’s really essential to high quality whole grain breads. Of course, along with growing food, these two single male paradise lot makers also find “sweeties” (as in ladies to spend their lives gardening with) which makes for a bit of a dilemma. I don’t want to give anything away, but this is a great story about growing food in unconventional ways and building community by going bananas. (You’ll understand the going bananas reference once you read the book). Farming The Woodsby Kevin Mudge and Steve Gabriel ~ Though it’s not technically a “permaculture” book in the strict sense, this book was by far the most helpful for turning our 30 acres of woodland homestead into productive use. It covers mushrooms, shade tolerant berries and vegetables, woodland medicinal like ginseng. This is where we learned how to grow ramps (wild leeks).

Scratch Cooking Books

If you think you don’t have enough room to grow sufficient food on your postage stamp property, this book is for you. Two single guys buy a duplex on a run-down lot in town and turn it into a garden of eating. How can that not be an interesting read? Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier ~ Covering more than 100 types of perennial vegetable, this will really open your eyes to unique food crops that you can plant once and harvest for a lifetime. We grow more than 30 Perennial Vegetables on our homestead, even though we’re in a cold zone 4, and it’s thanks to this book. When it comes to health, people who have dreams of being self-sufficient might consider looking into natural medicines and alternative treatments for their health problems and ailments. If medical attention is needed, there is no shame in accepting a conventional route and treatment. What Does Self-Sufficiency Mean in Economics? I know I’ve covered a lot of great Self Reliance Manuals, but I’ve definitely missed some good ones. Even if you’ve never cooked before in your life, these books really cover just about everything you could want to know about making meals from scratch.