Country Wisdom & Know-How
Intended for the new wave of back-to-the-landers and DIY city-dwellers, Country Wisdom is thick with possibilities for anyone looking to live, do and think more independently. Sure the content and format resembles the Whole Earth Catalog, but if anyone can -- and should -- carry that torch, it's the folks at Storey Books. Like the previously-reviewed Storey's Guide To Raising Chickens, the copy is clear and concise, accompanied by simple line drawings that are fun to ogle, even if you have no intention of mulling wine, weaving baskets, building a smokehouse, raising ducks or rabbits, composting, candle making, creating a bat house, constructing an underground root cellar or butchering livestock. I didn't grow up on a commune, but I recall a tattered copy of the WEC lurking around the house. It was only years later I realized what it was. Here's to another life-altering book for the next generation of kids to discover.
Available from Amazon
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Favorite (15)
Z
This is a fantastic book for even the remotely curious. It is *filled* with "lost" knowledge of country life and makes an absolutely great coffee table book, one that you'll pick up, open to a random page, and spend two hours reading. And by reading, I mean follow a completely random path from chicken raising -> growing grain -> livestock illiness -> local edible roots -> trapping -> forestry skills -> basket weaving, etc. etc.
I've given away several of my copies as people just become so enraptured with it, I send them home with it. I've seen it on the shelves at b&n, so if you want to browse it, you can try there.
Noah Ramon
Looks good - gotta grab myself a copy. Seems like a good companion to "Back to Basics".
Tetsubo
I just ordered a copy off of Amazon. Along with the a copy of "Survival Wisdom & Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Thrive in the Wilderness". Gotta love the Amazon bundle deals.
burnsie
Son of a buck! I came to this site to find out the cool book I saw about infrastructure a few months ago so I could put it on my wish list and now I see this book and I'm like "I have to have this book now" And with Amazon prime I could have it Monday or Tuesday. Of course I don't have the money for either book but I have plastic.
Oregonwmn
You should also check out The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery. It has great advice as well. I often find older copies in used book stores etc. and always buy them up and give them as gifts. They are a big hit. They are so simple, but provide a wealth of info - even for a city girl like me. Costco recently had the updated version on their shelves for sale.