Product Description

This is the book for anyone who wants to become more self-reliant, from suburbanites with 1/4 of an acre to country homesteaders with several. The information is easily understood and readily applicable.

More than 150 of Storey's expert authors in gardening, building, animal raising, and homesteading share their specialized knowledge and experience in this ultimate guide to living a more independent, satisfying life.

Readers will find step-by-step, illustrated instructions for every aspect of country living including:

• Finding country land
• Buying, building, and renovating a home
• Developing water sources and systems
• Understanding wiring, plumbing, and heating
• Using alternative heating and energy sources
• Vegetable, flower, and herb gardening
• Traditional cooking skills such as baking bread and making maple syrup
• Preparing and preserving meat, fruits, and vegetables
• Building and maintaining barns, sheds, and outbuildings
• Caring for common farm and ranch animals, and pets

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40835 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.49" h x 8.53" w x 10.87" l, 3.44 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Review
"Basic Country Skills lives up to its billing, although why "country" is chosen might be debated by any delighted city gardener who receives this almost 600-page tome as a gift. Over a third of the book concerns gardening, pure and simple, but the home maintenance and cooking sections are of value, also." -- The Toronto City Gardening Monthly Newsletter, December 1999

"Edited by Deborah Burns, subtitled "A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance," this encyclopedia is big enough for the coffee table but better suited to the tool shed. In addition to providing bushels of advice on gardening, it's a manual for everyday survival in rural America. Come to think of it, "BCS" may be required reading between Christmas and Y2K. Some skills you might pick up: how to build a garden shed, caring for pet llamas, techniques for building a stone wall and making your own preserves. Even if you only use 1 percent of the information in it, BCS is fascinating reading." -- The Boston Herald, Andy Tomolonis 12/19/99

"From Fighting Flu to Cleaning Your House...What Country Folk Know that You Don't." Now your audience can learn all the wisdom and secrets that have been passed down from generation to generation of folks living in the country. Tips on how to use rubbing alcohol, lighter fluid and vinegar when cleaning, and how to plant a cold and flu garden to make your winter healthier and happier." -- Radio-TV Interview Report, Mid-January 2000

"I could easily spend my whole column on this complete, modern encyclopedia to the art and science of country living...I wish I'd had Storey's Basic Country Skills 25 years ago!" -- The Patriot News, November 30, 1999

"Since 1983 the publisher (Storey) has produced more than 500 titles about country living. Now, it has boiled down this vast library of knowledge and placed it in one giant 3 pound, 576 page book. Even if you are a city dweller, without chickens or sheep, you will find a wealth of information about maintaining a home and garden." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer 11/26/99

From the Publisher
A Selection of Country Homes & Garden Book Club

From the Back Cover
REDISCOVER THE BASIC SKILLS OF COUNTRY LIFE!

Whether it's making ice cream or sharpening an ax, cleaning a chimney or growing raspberries, you'll learn how to do it in this treasury of time-honored country wisdom. Illustrated step-by-step instructions will show you how to milk a cow, tap a maple tree, clean a fish, lead a horse, and build the best chicken coop. You'll find out how to heat your house with wood or by the sun and how to de-skunk a country dog. You'll learn the proper way to put in a water system, rewire an old house, stack a cord of wood, and grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Yearning for a more self-reliant life? You'll find the answers in Storey's Basic Country Skills.