The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It Author: Visit Amazon's John Seymour Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0756654505 | Format: PDF
The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It Description
Review
"John Seymour, self-sufficiency guru, offers a wealth of ideas to get you started." --
Sentinel<br /><br />"This book ... will appeal to those seeking simpler and environmentally responsible ways of living ..." --
Library JournalAbout the Author
John Seymour is remembered as the "Father of Self-Sufficiency." Educated in England and Switzerland, his worldwide experience of husbandry and the benefits of rural life is unparalleled. After studying at an agricultural college, he worked on farms in England, and then spent some 10 years in Africa, where he managed a sheep and cattle farm and acted as a livestock officer for a veterinary department.
His most influential contribution was to live, teach, and promote self-sufficiency, first on five acres, and then on 62 acres, and then in Ireland, where the School of Self-Sufficiency that he established with Angela Ashe attracts new recruits in increasing numbers.
- Hardcover: 408 pages
- Publisher: DK Publishing (August 17, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0756654505
- ISBN-13: 978-0756654504
- Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.8 x 1.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This book is an excellent one for dreaming. The volume looks like a coffee table book; it's large and filled with color pictures. And while John Seymour was able to live a pretty self-sufficient life on a farm, I know it's unlikely I'll ever do so. Nevertheless, reading about all Seymour learned and how he suggests others follow in his footsteps is inspiring.
Seymour is quick to note that self-sufficiency isn't about going back in time and living what is probably an idealized version of the old homesteading days. But he does realize the more self sufficient we are, the more free we are. And so his book explains how to raise and grow food, produce your own energy, and build a variety of things (from compost toilets to brick walls). While there are a couple of pages with ideas for the urban garden, this book is really for those who have (or dream of having) real acreage. Seymour explains what he'd do with one acre, five acres, and more. Those of us without the means to buy that much property can only drool.
The gardening section of the book provides solid, organic gardening advice, with good information about keeping the soil working and healthy with crop rotation, growing grains, the basics of extending the season by "growing under cover," how to grow a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, and fruits, and building and using a greenhouse. The next largest section focuses on raising cows, goats, pigs, sheep, poultry, and bees.
If you have trouble with British English and/or don't want to take the time to look up a few words here and there, this book is not for you. Which is unfortunate, because this is the best organized, well written book on this subject. Specialized topic books may be more in depth, but other general homesteading books aren't. And I've read them all from my library.
A great thing about this book it the season by season planning guides. The vegetable growing charts are a lot more useful as well because the focuses on the work to be done a different times in the season rather than seed depths and spacing. That info it on most seed packets anyway.
Another thing I like is that it does not repeatedly tell you to spend money and/or use chemicals. Many methods are described with options such as The Old Way, The European Way, the Conventional Way and the "I Don't Want To Spend and Money" Way. Many things are presented in a very "laissez faire" manner, which I appreciate.
Unlike books such as The Backyard Homestead, this book is all always on topic. New, sometimes foreign, concepts are explained well. There is no filler and fluff. For example, this book give instructions for making ice cream and provides a basic recipe. Fine. More time is spent explaining more relevant topics. The other book I mention has a few pages of "different" ice cream recipes - which are not really needed as it just involves adding different flavorings - but the gardening info is explained on a VERY basic level.
BTW, the book is text heavy. I consider this a good thing because it really explains topics in much more detail.
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