URBAN HOMESTEAD

Please visit our website www.homegrownevolution.com for live links and our continually evolving collection of homesteading resources.

Bubel, Nancy, The New Seed-Starters Handbook. green-seeds.com/pdf/seed_starters.pdf. An amazingly detailed free 300 page e-book on everything you could ever want to know about starting seeds, including the science of germination, and timetables for starting different types of plants.

Creasy, Rosalind, The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping. Sierra Club Books, 1982.

Flores, Heather C., Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard Into a Garden and Your Neighborhood Into a Community. Chelsea Green, 2006.

Hart, Robert, Forest Gardening: Cultivating an Edible Landscape. Chelsea Green, 1996.

Jeavons, John, How to Grow More Vegetables (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine). Ten Speed Press, 2002.

Presents a program for growing all the calories you need on your own, the problem being that to do this for one person you need 4000 square feet of farming space. Still, it is a useful book in that it actually gives you a plan and timetable on how to plant a garden bed and maintain it throughout the year, which is very useful even if you don’t subscribe to his style of gardening.

Kruger, Ann, Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. Rodale, 2005. Search for it used — this book has been around in several printings.

Reich, Lee, The Pruning Book. Taunton Press, 1999.

Stout, Ruth, Gardening Without Work: for the Aging, the Busy, and the Indolent. Lyons Press, 1998.

Originally published in 1961. Ruth Stout is the godmother of the mulch crowd, and this book is a classic on the subject, but it is not a general guide to gardening.

American Community Gardening Association. communitygarden.org Features a community garden locator.

Plants for a Future — 7000 Useful Plants. pfaf.org Contains a searchable database of 7000 “edible, medicinal and useful plants for a healthier world”. An invaluable resource for researching the best plants for your edible landscape.

To find people in your area who share your gardening interests, go to meetup. com and search under keywords such as “organic gardening,” “urban gardening” or specific methodologies that appeal to you, suck as “permaculture” or “Square Foot Gardening.”

Guerrilla Gardening

Tracey, David, Guerrilla Gardening, a Manualfesto. New Society, 2007.

The Fukuoka Farming Website. fukuokafarmingol.info/fintro.html

Dedicated to Masanobu Fukuoka, the inventor of the seed ball and the “do nothing” method of farming.

“Guerrilla Gardening.” Primal Seeds. primalseeds.org/guerrilla.htm

“Armed with trowels, seeds, and vision, the idea is to garden everywhere. Anywhere.”

The Guerrilla Gardening Website. guerrillagardening.org

A blog dedicated to acts of “illicit cultivation.”

Hemenway, Toby, Gaia’s Garden, a Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. Chelsea Green, 2000.

A basic introduction to Permaculture aimed at the backyard gardener.

Mollison, Bill, Introduction to Permaculture. Tagari Publications, 1991.

The Permaculture Information Web. permaculture.info

Applehof, Mary, Worms Eat My Garbage. Flower Press, 1997.

Marsh, Lori, Composting Your Organic Kitchen Wastes with Worms. Virginia Cooperative Extension.ext.vt.edu/pubs/bse/442-005/442-005.html

How to build your own worm bin and care for the worms.

WormPoop. wormpoop.com

Vermiculture information and supplies.

Worm Suppliers. Urban Agriculture Notes, City Farmer, Canada’s Office of Urban

Agriculture. cityfarmer.org/wormsupl79.html A list of worm suppliers in Canada, the U.S., and around the world.

“Worm Your Way Into Composting.” Digital Seed.

digitalseed.com/composter/vermicomposting.html. How to build your own worm composter out of plastic storage boxes.

Container Gardening

Mandel, Josh, “Homemade Self-Contained Gardening Systems.” 14 May 2007. josho.com/gardening.htm Mandel’s updated guide to making self-watering containers with PVC-free design.

Mandel, Josh, How to Build a Self-Watering Planting Container. 2007. Seattle Peak Oil Awareness. seattleoil.com/Flyers/Earthbox.pdf A downloadable guide of his original designs.

ContainerSeeds containerseeds.com A website that sells seeds selected for container gardens, with tips and resources for container gardens.

Kourik, Robert, Drip Irrigation for Every Landscape and All Climates: Helping Your Garden Flourish, While Conserving Water! Metamorphic Press, 1993.

DripDepot. dripdepot.com A source for drip irrigation kits and parts.

Drip Works USA. dripworksusa.com A source for drip irrigation kits and parts.

Beneficial Insects in Your Backyard. University of Maine Cooperative Extension. www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/7150.htm A guide to beneficial insects and how to attract them.

Manage and Identify Pests in Homes, Gardens, Landscapes, and Turf. University of California Integrated Pest Management Program. ucipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/menu.homegarden.html

Pesticide-Free Gardening…Naturally! The Green Pages of the Montréal Botanical Garden, ville.montreal.qc.ca/jardin/en/info_verte/jardiner_sans_pesticides/jardiner.htm “Twelve rules for an attractive pesticide-free garden.”

Thayer, Sam, The Forager’s Harvest. Forager’s Harvest Press, 2006. Also see foragersharvest.com

Tull, Delena, Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest. University of Austin Press, 1987.

Buchholz, Richard, “Coturnix Quail.” Mother Earth News, Sept.- Oct. 1981. www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1981-09-01/Coturnix-Quail.aspx The author mentions raising quail in NYC.

Damerow, Gail, The Chicken Health Handbook. Storey, 1994. A necessity if you have chickens.

Easterly, Allen, “Raising Quail, a Home-Grown Delicacy.” Backwoods Home Magazine, backwoodshome.com/articles2/easterly101.html

Henderson, John R., “Henderson’s Chicken Breed Chart.” Sage Hen Farm. www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html A great chart showing all the chicken breeds with concise information on their characteristics.

Holderread, David, Storey Guide to Raising Ducks. Storey, 2000.

The authority on duck health, housing and breeds. Useful, but not sentimental.

You get the feeling he looks at ducks with a knife in one hand and a fork in the other.

Luttmann, Gail, and Rick Luttmann, Chickens in Your Backyard. Rodale Press, 1976. A classic.

Mercia, Leonard, Storey’s Guide to Raising Poultry. Storey, 2002.

“Raise Chickens, Build Chicken Coops, Hatch Eggs.” BackYardChickens.

www.backyardchickens.com

Another general resource for chicken owners, with links, bred info, coop info and its own message board.

Rossier, Jay, Living with Chickens. The Lyons Press, 2002.

Ducks. feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/BRKDucks.html

The Feathersite, which is good for chickens too, has a rundown on duck care and duck breeds. A good starting place.

Walbert, David. “Raising Ducks.” The New Agrarian.

newagrarian.com/homestead/ducks/index.html

A well-written and documented account of one family’s flock of Khaki Campbells.

Mad City Chickens. www.madcitychickens.com

For “questions and concerns regarding all aspects of poultry rearing.”

The City Chicken.

home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken “…a web site to encourage city folks to take the plunge into poultry!” This is a good resource for pictures of coops and runs.

The Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities www.feathersite.com/Poultry/SPPA/SPPA.html is a great resource for learning about heritage breeds.

Bennett, Bob, Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits. Storey, 2000. Covers breeds, breeding, accommodations and how to slaughter and dress rabbits.

Gendron, K., The Rabbit Handbook. Barron Educational Series, 2000.

“House Rabbit Society Rabbit Care Guide.” House Rabbit Society, rabbit.org

Backwards Beekeeping beehuman.blogspot.com An invaluable resource (with good links) for those interested in back-to-the basics, organic beekeeping.

“Beekeepers, Beekeeping Meetups, Events, Clubs and Groups in Your Area.” Meetup. Com. beekeeping.meetup.com

Flottum, Kim, and Weeks Ringle, The Backyard Beekeeper: an Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden. Quarry Books, 2005.

Langstroth, L.L., Langstroth’s Hive and the Honey-Bee: the Classic Beekeeper’s Manual. Dover Books, 2002.

“USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning.” National Center for Home Food Preservation. uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html

“Your Complete Source for All Fresh Preserving Needs.” Freshpreserving.Com, Ball, freshpreserving.com/pages/home/1.php Ball makes canning jars. This is their homepage, with tons of resources for the home canner, including step-by-step instructions, canning times, and lots of links.

Solar Cookers and Dehydrators

Delong, Deanna, How to Dry Foods: the Most Complete Guide to Drying Foods At Home. Penguin Group, 2006.

Fodor, Eben, The Solar Food Dryer: How to Make Your Own Low-Cost, High-Performance, Sun-Powered Food Dehydrator. New Society, 2006. Fordor offers detailed plans for building a simple solar dehydrator.

Radabaugh, Joe, “Making and Using a Solar Cooker.” Backwoods Home Magazine. backwoodshome.com/articles/radabaugh30.html A simple solar cooker made out of cardboard boxes, aluminum foil and a piece of glass.

Scanlin, Dennis, “The Design, Construction, and Use of an Indirect, Through-Pass, Solar Food Dryer.” Home Power, Feb.- Mar. 1997: 62 -72. We made our solar dehydrator from these plans found in this issue.

Whipple, J.R. “Solar Food Dehydrator.” The Farm. thefarm.org/charities/i4at/surv/soldehyd.htm Instructions for making a solar dehydrator out of a cardboard box.

The Solar Cooking Archive. Solar Cookers International. solarcooking.org The best website for information on building your own solar cookers and dehydrators.

Ackland, Tony, “Home Distillation of Alcohol.” homedistiller.org An overview of home distillation.

Buhner, Stephen Harrod, Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers. Siris Books, 1998. A heretical guide to home brewing. Buhner explores the use of herbs in beer for flavoring, medicinal and psychotropic purposes.

“Building a World-Class Home Distillation Apparatus.” moonshine-still.com

Fisher, Joe, and Dennis Fisher, The Homebrewer’s Garden: How to Easily Grow, Prepare, and Use Your Own Hops, Malts, Brewing Herbs. Storey, 1998. Information on how to grow your own beer making supplies.

Katz, Sandor Ellix, Wild Fermentation: the Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods. Chelsea Green Company, 2003. Our Bible of fermentation. A must-have.

Palmer, John J., How to Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Beer Right the First Time. Brewers Publications, 2006. This book gets way too technical, in our opinion, but does have excellent step-by-step instructions for both extract and all-grain brewing.

Rowley, Matthew B., Moonshine! Lark Books, 2007. Shows you how to make a couple of different kinds of stills with recipes for distilling your own illegal hooch.

GEM Cultures, Inc. gemcultures.com Mail-order sales of soy and dairy cultures and bread leavens.

Leeners. leeners.com “Kits and supplies for making everything from beer to bubble gum and wine to cheese.”

“Alternative Cleaning Methods.” Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County www.swancc.org/hcw/alternativecleaningmethods.html Many of the best online resources for homemade cleaning supplies come from agencies responsible for waste management.

Hollender, Jeffrey, Naturally Clean. New Society, 2005. Not a how-to book, but rather a “why” book. Reviews the effects of chemicals commonly used in housekeeping products.

Sandbeck, Ellen, Organic Housekeeping. Scribner, 2006. This is the how-to book. In fantastic detail Sandbeck tells you how to safely clean every item in your house.

Salomon, Shay, Little House on a Small Planet. The Lyons Press, 2006. An excellent argument for the small house, lots of profiles of people living radically small.

Susanka, Sarah, The Not So Big House: a Blueprint for the Way We Really Live. Taunton Press, 2001.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. tumbleweedhouses.com. Jay Shafer’s innovative and beautiful tiny houses are available as plans or as complete units.

Find Solar. findsolar.com A website with a solar power cost estimator. A great way to figure out if solar power will work for your living situation.

Floyd, P.B., Slingshot, slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0080018. How to build a simple solar shower out of plastic ABS pipe.

Meloy, Raymond, “A Portable Solar Water Heater.” Mother Earth News, Mar.- Apr. 1980. motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/1980-03-01/A-Portable-Solar-Water-Heater.aspx How to build a simple solar shower out of a truck tire inner tube.

The Solar Living Institute. solarliving.org Located in Hopland, CA, the Solar Living Institute, promotes, “sustainable living through inspirational environmental education.”

Water Conservation/Greywater

Jenkins, Joseph, The Humanure Handbook. Jenkins Publishing, 1999. Available both in book form and as a free download at jenkinspublishing.com

Lancaster, Brad, Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands. Rainsource Press, 2006. Also see his Oasis Design, oasisdesign.net/. Good info. on grey water, rainwater, and water storage.

Litchfield, Michael, Renovation: A Complete Guide. Sterling, 1997.

Bio Pac Inc. Cleaning Systems. bio-pac.com Greywater-safe laundry detergent

Sheldon Brown - Bicycle Technical Information. sheldonbrown.com. Extensive articles on all kinds of mechanical issues and maintenance.

The Bamboo Bicycle Trailer. Carry Freedom. carryfreedom.com/bamboo.html Free plans for building one

Start Your Own Farm and Projects

Urban Foraging

Keeping Livestock

Revolutionary Home Economics

Be Your Own Utility

Transportation

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