I started sewing when I was 12 or 13 and I loved that I could make my own clothes, alter clothes, make little zippered bags, and so forth. It supported younger me’s need to have semi immediate results. I could buy the fabric today, wash and dry it, make a dress and wear it tomorrow. I did fix and alter clothing but mostly by machine. Fixing big ole holes clothes meant grabbing one of those iron-on doodads. So, I started my current mending journey with iron-on doodads. In the winter of 2022, I decided I need to address the massive pile of clothing to be mended.

During presentations or workshops I mention books or articles that don’t fit into one of the other tidy resource pages—so I put them here. Let me know if there is something that I mentioned that you are looking for but alas have not found.

There are tons of gardening books—some more useful than others. These are some of the evergreen titles that I refer to regularly and recommend often. I recommend borrowing or checking out from the library to determine if you find a particular book helpful.

Hampshire Gardeners Society, this list is for y’all. Shhhh…

Cheesemaking was my gateway into fermentation. My first cheesemaking book was a slim volume that was quite rudimentary. Along the way I embraced home cheesemaking that followed in the footsteps of commercial cheesemaking in the United States which relies heavily on denaturing milk, commercial cultures and ingredients. Natural cheesemaking has since taken a hold of me.

If you are new to cheesemaking, I recommend a solid foundation and successes with pasteurized milk, commercial cultures and molds, coagulants, and so forth. Work with various commercially produced mesophilic, thermophilic, blended cultures (even try your own blends), molds and so forth. Then move onto cheeses that rely on wild cultures such as ripe milk kefir and yogurt, homemade coagulants, and home harvested molds. I’ve found it helpful to recognize the outcomes with some controls before heading down the road of raw milk cheeses, culturing with milk kefir (or raw milk’s endemic cultures and other natural cultures) months long aging with natural rinds, and so forth.

Of the many books on home canning, these are my go-to references with solid, reliable information and good recipes. I favor recipes that preserve the bounty in a way that maximizes flexibility with the end product. For example, I prefer a plain peach jam or peach butter that I can modify it to suit when I pop open the jar.

I encourage folks to not quickly dismiss the classic Ball canning books and USDA recipes as the recipes can have reliable and tasty results.

Keeping chickens ain’t exactly cheap if all you want and need is a dozen eggs a week. If you want a creature that is a vital part of your garden or homestead, chickens can be a good addition.

In addition to eggs, a well managed laying flock also provides meat, gelatin, fat, broth, and manure for the garden.

Tidiness is about items and cleanliness is about dust, dirt, and grime.

A tidy homestead is unencumbered with excess items that are not used, it is smooth and efficient, and over time easily sheds the unneeded/unwanted so others can put those items to use.

The world of fermentation is diverse and vast. I love that the world of books on fermentation has exploded!

Here is a just a sampling of my favorite books. Cheesemaking has its own list as I am an avid cheesemaker.