Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Win a Complete Homesteader’s Library

Holy cow! Enter to win a complete library of traditional skills — $475 worth of books, magazines, and preserving products to get you started!


We all know Mother Earth News, right? Well, Mother Earth News has declared September International Homesteading Education Month, and we think that sounds like the perfect time to give away a doozy of a homesteader’s library: almost $500 worth of books, magazines, and preserving supplies!

Maybe this’ll give you a leg up in the Mother Earth News Holy Cow! Homesteading Sweepstakes. It can’t hurt!

The Prize Package

How to Enter 

Comment below, and tell us how this prize package could help you build your dream homestead!

Entry Rules

  • A panel of Storey judges will select their favorite entry. 
  • Entries must be received by Monday, September 17, 2012. 
  • The winner will be announced on InsideStoreyStorey’s Facebook Pageand Storey’s Twitter Feed on Friday, September 21. 
  • No purchase necessary. 
  • A mailing address will be required for delivery. We will not save, sell, or use this address for any other purpose.

289 comments:

«Oldest   ‹Older   201 – 289 of 289
Susie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Susie said...

How would this package help us in our homesteading life? Enormously! My husband and I made a decision years ago to have me at home caring for the home and small farm. It is not an easy thing to do in this day and age. It's very hard to do financially. But we have a firm commitment to live a better life, and to show our children and grandchildren a better way. Because of what we do our grandchildren know where an egg comes from, and how the chicken on their plate came to be. They know that pizza doesn't grow on a plant, that you have to gather home grown ingredients to make it. That's worth all the sacrifice. This package would help me in that effort.

Susie said...

How would this package help us in our homesteading life? Enormously! My husband and I made a decision years ago to have me at home caring for the home and small farm. It is not an easy thing to do in this day and age. It's very hard to do financially. But we have a firm commitment to live a better life, and to show our children and grandchildren a better way. Because of what we do our grandchildren know where an egg comes from, and how the chicken on their plate came to be. They know that pizza doesn't grow on a plant, that you have to gather home grown ingredients to make it. That's worth all the sacrifice. This package would help me in that effort.

Julie said...

My husband and I started our farmette 2 years ago. We are interested in becoming more self-sufficient and I think this collection would greatly help us on that journey. Although I donate moeny to the local food bank every year, I am interested in learning how to preserve foods so that we can share our harvest with the community we live in. We currently garden and have horses. We are getting geese and ducks in the near future. We also have plans for dairy goats and possibly rabbits. I think that winning this collection would not only benefit us as new homesteaders but our community as well.

Kathy said...

There was a moment, when my firstborn was a few months old, when I realized that everything she was made from, I made myself. That feeling was amazing. I looked at where I was getting my own food from and realized that something needed to change. Since then I've been learning more and more and working towards a more sustainable diet. I have come a long way, but still have so far to go. This package is exactly what I need to help get me there.

Unknown said...

As hokey as it sounds, this package would help make me more of a beacon of Love. Love is a value that gets infused into everything that I do holistically, and managing a mindful homestead is one of the best ways that I know how to do it. And yet, there is so much that I do not know how to do, why to do, or with whom to do it. This package would be an asset to manifest more Love into the world, and for the world as well. Thank you, even if I do not win.

Laughingstock Farm BC said...

In May 2008, my husband and I moved from the desert in the southwest US to the rainforest of coastal British Columbia. We took our entire farm with us: goats, sheep, chickens, cat, dogs, tractor, fencing, and of course our extensive farming/gardening/homesteading library. We moved everything ourselves with the help of a couple of friends. We left Utah because we were getting pretty concerned about the continuing lack of water in our irrigation ditch. We yearned and wished for a place to farm where water would be clean and plentiful! We were very fortunate to find a lovely little farm in remote coastal BC primarily because of the abundant, clean water. Our wish came true! And boy did we prove the old adage of "be careful what you wish for". In September of 2010, one and a half years after we moved, we experienced unprecedented catastrophic flooding and lost nearly everything we moved with: most of our livestock, all our fencing, vehicles, tools, appliances, furniture, all important papers, and yes our entire library. We are huge fans of Storey books, and thus many of the titles on your list were in our library, and we have not yet been able to afford to replace them. It would be a wonderful gift to win this contest. We are committed to our life of sustainable farming and raising our two BC-born boys on our own meat, produce, and dairy products. We miss our library so much - it took us years to build, we used it every day, and it was taken from us overnight. Thank you for this opportunity. - Alison

Kitty Sharkey said...

How could I use these books? I honestly can't count the ways because there are so many! And there are so many other homesteaders in my area that would benefit from the prize as well.

I'm an urban homesteader living in Oakland California. I currently raise goats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, and honeybees. I also have a small garden and orchard. Although this makes it sound like I might be the last person to need these books, the exact opposite is true.

I am always looking for resources to expand my knowledge. Although I currently own a few of these books, I have numerous others on my wish list. But due to disability issues on and off over the past 3 years, I have a severely reduced income and an extremely tight budget. Every spare dollar goes to feed and care for my livestock and garden. After all, that's how I feed myself.

We have a thriving and growing homesteading community here in the SF bay area. We are in constant contact with each other, sharing knowledge, resources, and lending a helping hand. I couldn't have maintained my homestead over the past 3 years without the generosity of this community.

if I were to win this contest, it would be wondrous. Although the collection might reside on my bookshelf, they would be made available to the entire local urban homesteading community. I am a member of the East Bay Urban Agricultural Alliance. These books would become a resource library that could be listed on the website for all to access.

Please help our community thrive by choosing this entry as the contest winner. THANK YOU,

Daniel L Bryner said...

I am planning on retiring from the military in a few years and I hope to buy some land and build a homestead. Obviously there is alot to learn and alot of choices and decisions to make when it comes to homesteading. What to build, what to grow, energy sources, etc.
Then of course there is the never ending task of maintaining a homestead.
Of course, I am still in the planning, research and learning stages, but this library would be a great help in fulfilling my dream retirement homestead.

girlfromeverywhere said...

My husband and I have transformed our rented corner sandlot in Tampa to the beginnings of a mini farm in the last 9 months, but we have a long way to go. Preserving the harvest from the bugs is a challenge so that ee can get to the actual preserving of fruits and veggies. My husband installed a small pond on the property and we have chickens, egg-layer ducks, and rabbits for meat. We are still touch and go with animal breeding, but as we learn skills we try to share them with our community through the Tampa Free Skool I helped kickstart in 2011. We have held a small class on slaughtering rabbits and basic gardening skills and are trying to share our sideyard with anyone who wants to garden but lacks tools or yard space.

We would like to be more self sufficient and raise enough to actually cut our food budget down to items impractical to raise on our small lot and luxury items. In the far out future we would like to raise larger animals like pigs, sheep, and dairy goats, but we require more knowledge and land before that can become a reality.

I'm looking into starting up beekeeping in conjunction with my neighbor who has also expressed interest in having extra local honey, as soon as I can raise the capital from my second job. I work 2 day jobs and my husband also works, even though he recently list a finger while helping a friend butcher a duck. We called our Nate and Charlei farming operation Gnarly because of our names, but now it is indeed, down to the list appendage. Extra money to buy books is sparse so we normally check them out from the library as they are available since we need what spare cash we have for good seed stock, paying down old debt, and keeping our critters well cared for. Having this library on hand would make our skill-obtaining and sharing easier and when we have utilized the books to our fullest extent, it would be awesome to make them accessible with our community garden so anyone interested could access them.

Anonymous said...

Wow!! After having moved to the country late last summer, I spent the Fall and Winter planning my garden. I had some success this year (my first time EVER growing anything) but I still have a lot to learn. This package would really help me fulfill my dreams of being able to feed my family entirely from our land.

Gabrielle said...

Post a comment on how this package would help? It pretty much covers everything you need...outside of experience. And here you have written experience from some great authors!

Unknown said...

This month we are moving to an amazing homestead with an older farmhouse and 30 acres. We are starting a garden from scratch, getting chickens and embarking upon all of the Homesteader Projects. This library would most certainly come in handy!

Unknown said...

My husband and I, along with our 10 year old son have a goal of moving to our 80 acres in the mountains of West Virginia. We recognize that we are caught up in the hectic rat race of society and we want to be able to educate our son on a bette,r simplier way of life. We have taken small steps, through gardening, canning and saving seeds but we have so much more to learn. The opportunity to win the Homesteaders Library could give us that push we need to make our dream a reality. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Oh, how I would love to win these! Most of these books are actually on my wish list right now. I live on our family farm, although our livestock are limited to alpacas and chickens. I grow a pretty big garden and try to can all that I can get my hands on. I spend a lot of time on the Internet trying to find out how to do things. I'm 25 and apart from my grandpa and dad, I don't have many resources where I live. I wish everybody luck winning this awesome package!

Ben said...

There are very few books I consider worth owning - I'm more of a borrower anymore. THESE books however are the ones I would reference all the time (though you could borrow them from me).

Anonymous said...

Oh, how I would love to win these! Most of these books are actually on my wish list right now. I live on our family farm, although our livestock are limited to alpacas and chickens. I grow a pretty big garden and try to can all that I can get my hands on. I spend a lot of time on the Internet trying to find out how to do things. I'm 25 and apart from my grandpa and dad, I don't have many resources where I live. I wish everybody luck winning this awesome package!

Sarah said...

My partner and I recently bought a small home on 1/8th of an acre in a small city. While the land is small, the potential is large. We have a great south facing exposure and wonderful neighbors. Already my front yard is a functional vegetable garden. Our practice is to learn, do, learn, share, and a city is the best place to do it. Our neighbors' children come by to look at the tomatoes and garlic and chickens, and as we learn (hopefully from some of these wonderful books) we hope to show all of our lawn-mowing neighbors what it would be like to have rabbits, a goat, a true orchard, and so much more. This library wouldn't just be for us- it would be for our whole community of people trying to reclaim a sense of control while living in a busy place. Thank you for offering a wonderful opportunity for everyone!

Anonymous said...

I am a varacious reader of how to books. I want to take this to the next level and start sharing knowledge with others. Winning this would mean not only being able to start my homestead, but also helping other folks start theirs.

I would be greatly humbled to be chosen.
Thank you for this opportunity.

Unknown said...

I've got gardening and chicken keeping down, but I'm just beginning to dip my toes into canning. This would be such a wonderful gift of learning for my homestead!

Allie said...

Hey, you just met me; this might be crazy, but here’s some numbers, so call me maybe!
1-the number of barns we must build to replace the one on the land sold to keep the rest of the farm in the family;
7- the number of friends and family wanting to learn more about food preserving;
10- the number of chickens in my backyard;
2- the number of compact cabins I want to build on our property for guests to find their muse in;
3- the number of siblings composting or wanting to compost, but needing to learn more;
200- the number of gallons of wine per adult one can legally brew in Pennsylvania;
4- The number of grass-fed cattle we need to raise to provide a year’s supply of healthy, organic beef, milk and cheese for ourselves and our families;
3- the number of people in our families who need to learn how best to preserve all that beef;
150- the number of pounds of cheese these families could go through in a year, once those people learn how to make it!
2- the number of cooks interested in learning more about using dried foods;
4- the number of people in our families with sensitivities to harsh chemicals;
1- the number of relatives nicknamed “Picklepuss,” for her love of pickles;
1- the root cellars I’d like to build;
8- the number of would-be herbalists in our families;
2- the number of people convinced chickens are a gateway drug, leading to goats;
5- the kinds of critters I hope to raise as part of our homesteading adventure;
8- the number of people in our families that each copy of Mother Earth News is read by;
157- the number of recipes in my file that could use those supplies;
3- the number of food banks in range of our homestead;
18- the number of people who would be directly blessed by this library;
X- the number of people who would indirectly blessed by this library;
Y- the number of friends in the local C.S.A. to whom I lend books (as in, Y not??)
589+X+Y - the sum of all the number of reasons I hope to win this awesome prize!
(Yes, yes, I ~was~ a math teacher in a previous career. Why? Does it show? ;)

Mimi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mimi said...

After going on an urban farm tour my husband and I have been working on expanding our garden and plan to add chickens this year (coop is in construction!). Along the way we have been enticing our friends and family to try just some of the things we are doing, such as making jams, sausage, and pickles. We still have so many projects we want to complete; including cheese making, adding a small orchard, and doubling our garden size. This library would help us grow our small urban farm and provide amazing resources to help our friends who are interested in getting started or trying new projects as well (functioning as a real library).

Sandy said...

Winning this wealth of knowledge would b a dream come true! I've been telling my husband that I desperately want to emasse a collection of "real" books on homesteading skills! There's just something about real books that you can hold in your hands and reference over and over again. Digital and electronic media will never be able to show that they're loved in a way a real book can- no weathered pages, no crinkles and stains on well referenced chapters.......
I grew up on a small farm with horses, cows, goats, chickens, and ducks (amongst other critters). I've been away for so long that I fear I've lost the life skills I'd like to be able to pass on to my 3 small children. We are taking our time looking at land and in the meantime do what we can in the city. My children enjoy gardening, making household cleaners/detergents, lotions, composting, and any other sustainable activity I can find. Please choose us to bestow this fantastic gift upon, knowledge is a legacy you can pass down for generations!

ivory harlow said...

Help me help myself.

I have 100 free range chickens, too many tomatoes and intermittent internet service. The complete library of traditional skills prize package offers valuable information that ensures my homesteading success, no internet service provider (ISP) required!

Neva Kay said...

We would love to win this!! We are trying to give our children foods that are better for them, that we have raised. They would also learn to do this for themselves. We have laying hens for fresh eggs unfortunately no eggs. We have meat chickens. My children showed meat chickens at the fair, unfortunately, they were not as nice as the other chickens. Our garden does not do well. We would very much like to learn how to do these things properly, for our childrens health and their knowledge for life. This package would greatly help our family to learn how to be successful. Thank you so much for offering it!! Whoever wins will certainly be blessed!

Sara said...

My mom denies that she was a hippie, instead she says, "I was the original earth mother. I wore calico." I grew up in rural Minnesota mostly, eating carrots with dirt on them from our big garden on the side of the house and picking raspberries off the bushes out back. We had solar panels propped on the side of our house. Everything was whole wheat and covered in veggies. We canned every year. My mom made homemade bread with cottage cheese and sunflower seeds. We only watched Mister Rogers and Sesame Street. There were no sugared cereals. This is how I started. Until my dad died when I was seven. Then a lot of things fell through the cracks. My mom couldn't keep up. I was the oldest and I remember though, both lives: before and after leukemia took my dad at age 34. As adults, my two younger sisters and I have all been drawn back to the simple lifestyle my parents first created for us.

It took me thirty-six years to meet my dirt-soul-mate, Justin- longer than my dad’s whole life. He’s the first person I dated who found suspicion in microwaves too. After some long-distance heartache, I decided to move permanently without a job to his home on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a house which was built by his grandfather in 1937 from a kit out of the Sears & Roebuck catalog. We’re returning the backyard to the garden that his grandfather once had. It’s been hard work and expensive. People had dumped couches and refrigerators and old bicycles back there. Slowly we clean it off. We have time, and watch our money. We hope to get everything organized and maybe have a baby if it comes.

We are homesteading the house and our relationship. We are mostly kindred souls with strong work ethic and the propensity to eat vegetables and wear old clothes forever. We're kinda cheap and kinda childish. We like projects and art. We can't stop loving each other. It is so easy. Even with all this island chaos surrounding us and the threat of high seas and hurricanes, we are solid footing together and we'll weather the tests of time.

If we won this library, we’d pour over all the books and then share them with our community at the Hatteras Island library. Our neighbors are people much like us, on limited incomes with big hearts. Some have the drive to live sustainably, others are your average American. Hopefully we can lead by example. We already are.

Thank you for your inspiring generosity in offering this contest.

pao pao said...

OMG!!! This is incredible!!
My honey and I are working on getting pregnant and starting our family -- which will hopefully include goats, chickens, a luscious organic veggie garden, and bees. We have been urban gardeners from a few years but we want to expand and learn, to provide our kids a healthy, fun life based on our connection with nature.

Michelle Grove said...

This collection would help us so much!

We are a family of five and just built a wonderful passive solar house! We ran a CSA for a couple years while living in tents, and now that we have a home we can start storing our surplus food. We have a great greenhouse as well as a root cellar and big basement and we are ready to fill it all up with delicious food! This collection would help us immensely!

Bonafide Farmer said...

I recently quit my office job to transition to full-time freelance work from the comfort of my beautiful farm. I will use all my newly gained time and freedom to live the best farm life I can, with help from your library!

Dogs or Dollars said...

This is the entire library I've been slowly, slowly wanting to build for ever so long. Homestead at your finger tips!

Anaed Martin said...

Wow thank you for holding this great contest. This set of homesteading books would definatly be a huge help in our urban homesteading. We have a small lot in town that we are slowly working on setting up, starting with demolishing the crumbling house on the property and rebuilding a new one. We currently homestead from our apartment and look forward to homsteading on our property and these books would go a long way in helping us do so.

Melissa said...

I love learning and sharing information on self sufficiency and growing food organically. Sharing information with our family, grandchildren and friends about how to grow and preserve food, reduce their footprint on the earth, and live as sustainably as possible is my dream come true of passing on a legacy. I want to be 'that' grandma! Please help me pass on the gift of long-ago and current knowledge with your wonderful library! Thank you!

Betsy said...

So awesome! I would definitely like to learn more about food preservation, especially with meat. What a great giveaway!

Jocy said...

This would help us, (my community). I've just been given a chunk of land, that use to be a saw mill site to try to use, to create food sustainability for a community of 21 families. We are remote, (an hour and a half through a mountain pass on a logging road. Currently we can, dry, freeze and smoke food we gather. We started a community garden two years ago and started with chickens this spring, We need to grow. These resource books would be much used!

Unknown said...

WOW!! What a wonderful package of prizes!
We are building our first home on 30 acres in the Spring. We plan on having a large garden and learning other ways to be more self sustainable. Winning this would help us in acheiving our dreams and giving us the direction of how best to get there.
Thank you for this opportunity. ~ Yvette

Anonymous said...

We live on just over an acre. We have always had a summer garden and a few chickens. I understand the basics of canning and preserving. What eludes me is how to take it to the next level and become truly self sufficient. How do I break free of the status quo? How do I figure out what will work for our family? We are ready to break free and leave the super consumer life behind us and to share what we learn with others who want to learn to get back to what is real and live lives that are fulfilling and meaningful.

Chicken Scratch By Cliffside Chicken Ranch said...

We live on just over an acre. We have always had a summer garden and a few chickens. I understand the basics of canning and preserving. What eludes me is how to take it to the next level and become truly self sufficient. How do I break free of the status quo? How do I figure out what will work for our family? We are ready to break free and leave the super consumer life behind us and to share what we learn with others who want to learn to get back to what is real and live lives that are fulfilling and meaningful.

Rhonda D. said...

My hhusband & I are finally retired. We live in an apartment
now, but are looking for a place
in the country to call home.
These books would be greatly
appreciated, and help us get
started.

wigglypup2(at)yahoo(dot)com

bless their hearts mom said...

with the cost of everything increasing, we really want to increase our garden, and make use of all the veggies and fruits we get. we're also considering raising chickens, so these books would be a huge help!
THANKS

Robin said...

I would love to win such a great library!

Robin said...

I would love to win this great library of books!

Carol said...

We have less than 1/2 an acre, with a few chickens and a veg garden. We also have an allotment at a local community garden. The prize would enable us to learn more about sustainability and allow us to do more things to become more self-sufficient. Thank you.

pak said...

I would love to win this for my kids. So they will realize that to be as self-sufficient as possible is the road to true freedom.

Anonymous said...

My husband and I are at just the beginning stage of being homesteaders - composting, gardening, home-brewing & making our own soap.
Just 2 months ago we moved to a home on a larger lot, and this winter we look to build a coop and start raising chickens.
These books would be great in helping us along to become even better homesteaders, maybe even raising sheep!

Jake Olson said...

I’ve lived the last 8 years in Adana Turkey. In those years, I’ve lived in big concrete boxes (apartment flats) in a large city. The last year, I was in a townhome on a US Air Force Base and had a little bit of a yard to work with, but mainly the story of my life over the last 8 years has been a slowly growing longing to have a place of my own where I could do micro-homesteading. My son has grown to be four and my daughter 2. We finally decided to move to my home town of Mora MN and live in a place we could feel rooted. Finally, we’re closing on our first home in a week. It has an acre of land and a lot of privacy, despite being in town. I dream of doing so many things with our property – a huge garden, fruit trees and vines, rabbits, chicken tractors, green house, passive solar heated addition, etc. Having a library of Storey books to read through over the long cold winter would really help me to decide which projects to delve into first. I love your products, and your books and the country bulletins have really helped inspire me to move to a place where we can start to provide our own food for our little kids.

Anonymous said...

I am a student in the New urban agriculture and sustainability program at Owens community college. I am currently taking the Harvest Post-harvest technology course at the Oneida Educational Center, which is the hub for Toledo Grows- a non-profit that serves over 160 community gardens. This wonderful would serve as an amazing learning tool for not only myself and classmates but the entire garden community! We have often used Mother Earth as a resource in classes such as Urban Livestock and animal Husbandry and Organic Gardening and crop production. The prize collection would establish a resource library for future generations of Urban Homesteaders!

Unknown said...

Plain & simple...it would help me to complete my dream!!!

Unknown said...

I've lost a gift from my grandmother, and I'd like to find it again. I remember helping Grandma make strawberry jam and quince jelly. We would put up peaches, string beans, tomatoes and more. Her basement pantry was like our own private grocery store. Going down there after the canning was done always made me feel so safe. I would stand and touch the jars and know that was Grandma's way of loving us.

But I was so young, and I no longer recall how she did it. As I grow older, this seems like more and more of a loss, that I have forgotten such important skills. Every day I feel it more keenly, that my grandmother was trying to pass on something so important, and I let it slip through my fingers. And the children who come after us won't even have those memories! In one generation, I have lost the wisdom of centuries.

I wouldn't know where to start now, to put up peaches or tomatoes or anything else. And now, with so many worries about what's in the food we buy at the store, and concerns about living a sustainable life, I very much want to reclaim the gift that Grandma tried to give me: the gift of independence, of feeling secure, healthy and in charge of my own life in a way that grocery store dependency can never give.

I am working every day to learn the skills to live independently, and it is so gratifying, each little thing learned along the way. These books would give me the knowledge and confidence to forge ahead with a vengeance, and hopefully pass along my grandmother's gift to the next generation. I am sure it would make my grandmother smile.

tyannaf14 said...

Several of these books are already on my wish list! They would give me even more info to expand my gardens, and home to be more self sustainable!
tyannaf14

raven92562 said...

We are trying so hard to get a real homestead going. I've been successful with Lasagna Gardening, after learning it from MEN. One of our goals is to use the Chicken Moat, from an article in MEN, which has been a 'go-to' since I was a kid and my grandparents gave me my 1st subscription to MEN. We have an older set of CD-ROMs, but are about to order the newest archive... This library would also be accessible by our friends and neighbors, whom we share our limited resources with. Even the lady at the bank and a number of teachers have borrowed our copy of Lasagna Gardening.

Unknown said...

I was born and raised on a farm. I have actually lived on two farms. My earliest childhood memories are selling fresh home grown fruits, vegetables and flowers from a large greenhouse that my mom and dad built. Our fruit stand was a popular family owned and operated business. I was transplanting plants before I was talking and was a good at selling pumpkins, generating cute pictures for the town’s newspaper. I inherited my green thumb and have a passion for gardening and farming. My parents passed down their love for farming and nature that stemmed from generations of farmers before us.

My family and I moved from the big city of Seattle to my grandparents’ farm in the country last summer. We now have four generations living on the same five acres I grew up on since I was four years old. In Seattle, I had nearly 80 potted plants outside our little apartment and spent a lot of time reading and dreaming about having a large garden. Moving to the country was my chance to make my garden a reality.

I spent most of last winter designing my cottage style edible garden. First I had to build a fence to keep out my mom’s three horses. I needed fence posts so I dug up a dozen metal posts that were no longer being used around the property. I try to use what we have and in most cases can find a new purpose with items around the barn. Quickly I learned how much work is required to start a large scale garden from scratch. But anything worthwhile takes a lot of work.

My gardening ideology circles around not using any chemicals, even ‘organic’ fertilizers. I feel strongly about this and my garden thrives. I focus my attention on building soil. I do this all naturally. I compost horse manure which actually creates very nice dirt for gardening. I also compost kitchen scraps. My grandpa had a pile of old bathtubs and steel horse troughs that were rusted out. I used the horse troughs as raised beds to grow peas and strawberries. One trough is a compost bin for the horse manure. Works great. The soil reduces down after a few months and I can use the remains as top dressing for my plants. It even looks pretty when all said and done!
I love gardening and hope to take my garden to the next level. My goal is to create a self sustainable system growing mostly perennials and hope to have fruits and vegetables to enjoy year around. So far, my edible garden includes raspberries, rhubarb, blueberries, currants, grapes, strawberries, peas, carrots, and a dozen rows of corn. In front of our property is a mass of black berries and the majority of our property is covered in salmon berries in the forest understory. We are also blessed with dozens of huckleberry plants.
Last spring, my two year old daughter Emily planted heirloom watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin, and squash seeds at my early childhood farm. A few weeks ago, we harvested the best tasting fresh home grown produce a person could enjoy. In one week, we ate three cantaloupes and one watermelon. The watermelon weighed in at a back breaking 49.5 pounds. The girls also have pumpkins with their names carved in them and we grew heirloom Cinderella pumpkins. So special! When I was little my grandfather carved my name into pumpkins and I love passing down family traditions.
My goal is to pass down my family farming heritage and strong ties to nature. I want my daughters to know how to grow their own food. I am well experienced in the gardening/farming side but I would greatly benefit from reading books with invaluable material on preserving and canning so we can enjoy our harvest year around. Would love to add some goats, chickens and ducks to our farm too! Homesteading books would help me take our four generation farm to the next level and give us something to enjoy for years to come!

Mrs. H said...

My husband is in the military and we squirrel away every spare penny - yes, even the ones we find on the sidewalk! - towards buying our homestead when he completes his tour! We live in Virginia Beach but we have made our apartment our current homestead, with plants flourishing on the back porch and spending our spare hours at the local organic CSA, grubbing in the dirt and learning as much as we can from the farmer who owns the land. Deployments and moves across the country aren't really a lot of fun and a lot of life is out of our control, but we've made it our determination to turn this time into a serious learning opportunity - so that when we do purchase our homestead, we'll have tools in our back pocket to make dreams come to life! Our newborn son is happy to come along with us and stick his fat baby toes in the dirt at the farm, and our dream is to see him run free on open land with his future brothers and sisters :) Since the military pays very small, we have a tight budget in order to be able to set aside - but that doesn't keep us from stretching our imagination to keep our diets local, real, and organic! We workshare at our CSA, coordinate pickups for local raw milk and meat, and attend farmer-hosted food auctions to find produce to store for the winter! We are desperate to learn more, and desperate to be able to save more - this rich collection of books would be a serious boon to us and our children, a blessing beyond words! Thank you for hosting this Storey and Mother Earth, we love all of your publications!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful chance to add to my collection of information for my small homestead thank you.

Unknown said...

My husband and I have four small children and our trying to become self sufficient and support local farmers. With the recession it's hard for us to save to buy our own property, so having these books and gifts would help build our library and save us money. Our goal is to leave behind a heritage for our children, of the importance to be self sufficient and to support our local farmers/growers. We have a few chickens and raise a small garden, so your books and gifts would help with my hunger for knowledge. Plus if we had to give up the internet to save money your books will be there to help along the way. Thanks for the opportunity and God Bless.

ruadhaine said...

At almost 50 years of 'modern' living, we have determined that for the next 50 years, we want to be free. Free from a massive amount of bills, worrying about where our food is coming from, free to choose a healthier way of living, free to step back and to be us. We want to be able to teach our children by living simply that being 'modern' and 'high tech' is not necessarily the way to go. By having a good, solid library that can is 'go-to' for information, plans, etc., we can move forward and achieve our dream of simple living.

Unknown said...

This package would help my family and I to turn out little spot of land into the homestead we have always dreamed of! I have also recently been perfecting my canning, fermenting, and preserving skills, and would LOVE to learn more techniques and recipes. I would use the pectin to make jam from the wild blackberries i froze this year and the pickling spice for some fermented green beans. The book on raising goats would be extremely helpful, as we hope to have goats within the next few years, and don't want to dive in without some knowledge. Thanks for holding this contest, your publications are always insightful and through.

Brett Davis said...

My wife and I recently moved onto my family farm and are looking to begin a hobby farm. Our hope is to make small scale farming our primary source of income.This would allow us to pursue a passion we both enjoy while giving us more time with our family.The Homesteader's Library would certainly give us the knowledge and information to start our farm off on the right foot. Thanks!

Unknown said...

We are so loving homesteading here. So far we have been making our own laundry soap and dish detergent. We hang our laundry and have gardened in the past. In the spring we hope to get some dual purpose chickens, start seeds indoors and set up some rain collectors. These books would be of great use to us as well as to our LARGE circle of friends whom we would share these books with. We also would be able to train up our teens to value and care for themselves and the world around them with these books.

Jo Abrahams said...

I have just over an acre of land in Tasmania, Australia. It's steep & really hard work. The local wildlife love everything I try to grow which is a major challenge in its own right. Gourmet Wallabies (like mini Kangaroos)! I have chickens (& baby chicks) & I want to raise my daughter in a sustainable way using the permaculture principles. I want her to respect, understand & appreciate the land & grow as a person from the example I show her. This set of prizes would help so much in my achieving that goal.

Jo Abrahams said...

I have just over an acre of land in Tasmania, Australia. It's steep & really hard work. The local wildlife love everything I try to grow which is a major challenge in its own right. Gourmet Wallabies (like mini Kangaroos)! I have chickens (& baby chicks) & I want to raise my daughter in a sustainable way using the permaculture principles. I want her to respect, understand & appreciate the land & grow as a person from the example I show her. This set of prizes would help so much in my achieving that goal.

Nika said...

Since buying my first house a year ago, my husband and I have been bitten by the homesteading bug. Hard. On our suburban 7,000 square foot lot we now have rabbits, chickens, a vegetable garden, a compost pile, the beginnings of a dwarf-apple orchard, and are always thinking of new ways to re-purpose our yard into a more self-sustaining plot of land. We're doing great with the animals, but could use a lot more learning about vegetable gardening, since I have the opposite of a green thumb and somehow managed to stunt most of our veggies' growth (we have 24 green beans and a head of lettuce though...success!).

The eventual goal (5 years down the road) is to have our own 5+ acre homestead where we can explore more ways to provide for ourselves: honeybees and goats are definitely in the line-up! Another reason I'd love to win this collection of books and have a successful homestead? So that my family and I can survive and live off our homestead after the zombie apocalypse.

Marilize said...

Is this international? If not, I would love to enter on behalf of a pal of mine in the States :)

In this modern world of getting a quick fix for most things, I feel that I lose the ability of patience. My father in law recently helped us get our garden sorted out with veg and herbs and tending it really makes you appreciate the whole circle of events that goes into a simple plate of food.

Above and beyond just getting back to basics and expanding my knowledge base, I would love to challenge myself to see how much I can really do as a homemaker. Sweeping is just not cutting it any more ;)

Marilize

Maria Zannini said...

When I was in high school, we went to an Amish Farm for our school trip. Me, a kid from Chicago who only knew concrete and subways felt like my eyes had been opened to a whole new world.

Since then, hubby and I have scrimped and saved every spare penny to buy our homestead in Texas. It’s not a big place, but it’s home.

Experience is a great teacher, but it sure would save on mistakes if I had a few more books for reference—especially when it comes to canning and goats. I need all the help I can get!

Great giveaway. Thanks for the opportunity.

The Contemplative Runner said...

wow, what a gift to anyone this would be. Were I to be chosen as the recipient, these educational resources would enhance my life, my family's life and many within the community. I post regularly about making jams, jellies, pickles, salsa, keeping the chickens, growing organically, getting my niece's involved, etc. Time and time again people ask me if I would teach a class on canning, preserving, putting up. I've always been nervous because I am mostly self-taught, using the base knowledge my now deceased grandma imparted to me.

I believe we are at a pivotal juncture in society where, with knowledge, people will want to be closer to their food source(s). I believe many people simply lack the confidence to do so. With this new knowledge I would be able to gain would also come the responsibility to share that. Therefore, I'd open my home on a regular basis so we could all learn to homestead, put up, keep, can and grow on a small basis in our backyards.

Whether I'm "chosen" or not, thank you for this great opportunity for someone out there. I hope they truly receive it and dispense with it as the gift it truly is.

Donald Taylor, Jr.

Merin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Erica N Davis said...

First, BIG thanks to everyone at Storey Publishing for the job you do everyday. Without your ingenuity and imagination, people like my husband and I would trip all over ourselves in our attempts to learn and implement ideas such as Starting right with Bees and Growing Better Blackberries.
Currently, we are in the "planning" stages of designing a pole barn complete with loft apartment. Our hope is to have it habitable by next fall. Our dream of a profitable hobby farm is well on its way also. We will be building bee hives this winter and purchasing the bees next Spring (Can't wait!). Next year we will plant a small-scale test-run of blackberries, pumpkins and mums that we eventually hope to design as a large-scale "pick your own" complete with a pumpkin patch and orchard someday very soon.
This library would help us start out on the right foot with our dreams. My grandmother gifted me a copy of Country Wisdom and Know-How a while back. That specific publication has provided much needed instruction, helped to craft new dreams, and has ultimately offered me a good read on a rainy day. Please help us help ourselves as only you at Storey Publishing can.

Much Thanks,

Erica N. Davis

Unknown said...

Hiya, I would love these items to resource and to help organic"ize" my life. Two years ago I moved to Tulsa, OK from Maui, HI to help care for my 92 year old grammy. I gave away most of my extensive collection of books and have been trying to live a healthy lifestyle in a completely new place!!! I ended up finishing Nursing school while taking care of grammy and living in her old house (carpets are over 40 yrs old)!!! Slowly ripping out old carpets and so on, trying to maintain some of my previous lifestyle!!! I unfortunately got away from my gardening and self sufficiency. I had a beautiful little cabin in a community setting in the jungle with a garden, chickens and tons of yummy adventures. I have not been able to get a good garden going here nor do I have my chickens... just trying to survive in the concrete jungle!!! My Grandmother passed one month ago today. I am entering this contest for both she and I because she is my muse, if you will. She took care of her farm and family for years and I would like to do the same. I want to have my garden, chickens and grow delicious food and moreso TEACH others how to have this lifestyle as well!!! I am still in Oklahoma and will remain here. We have organic farm land and I would love to utilize the land for some progression into an organic, sustainable future!!! These amazing books would be perfect to help me roll my sleeves up and get back into a more natural lifestyle!!! Thank you for taking the time to read this~ Mahalo, Erin M.

stacyd said...

I've been dabbling but with these books could really set up a plan for everything!

Merin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Merin said...

This library would help my husband and I make our Kentucky homesteading vision a reality, and help us teach others about resilience and self sufficiency. We purchased 16 acres last year and sold our downtown home. We now live in a rundown trailer while we are creating a garden large enough to feed ourselves and our friends, have started a chicken flock, and are working to reestablish native plants on the land.

I am also an environmental educator at the Kentucky Environmental Education Council (the smallest government agency in our state), where I run a program that helps students and teachers at 260 schools implement sustainability projects that include gardens and other agricultural/community resilience focused projects. 

These books would help both my husband and I, but also the students and adults that I work with. I would use these materials as a resource library to inform our personal efforts, to help schools across the state start projects, and to offer professional development and workshops to adults in my community and across the state (I just got back from a conference where I presented about the importance of beekeeping to sustainability and local resilience).

We are just getting started in our homesteading adventure, and these books would help us a great deal since we are literally "learning as we do", and we hope to use the knowledge and skills we gain to help others make positive changes in their lives!



Thank you so much for this opportunity!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Dear Storey Publishing Folks,
H is for Homesteading, Hip, Hip Hooray !
O is for Oh my !
M is for Mother Earth News...Magnificent !!!
E is for Extraordinary Eggs !
S is for Shapely Sheep ?
T is for Tilling, Timber, and TRACTORS !!
E is for Eureka, it's compost !!
A is for Applesauce, Apple-pie, Apple crisp, Apple butter, Apple cake, and apples galore !
D is for Delightful Dairy Goats !
I is for Indulging in a glass of homemade wine...Ooooo La La !
N is for Nature Nerds...Naturally !
G is for Gadzooks, we'll be happily homesteading if we win this AWESOME prize bundle !!!!!!!
Thank you for this amazing opportunity !
Karen Doll

AlinaJoy Dubois said...

How could a box of homesteading goodness help our family to build our dream homestead? Well, two years ago my software-engineer husband got laid off from his job. He had been spending a lot of time on the road and sometimes wouldn't see our children awake for days on end. He said to me, "You all live in the country, but I live in the city and I only sleep in the country." Children are only young once and he was missing so much! So, he left his career and converted our little 5 acre yard into a fruit and vegetable farm. To say I was SHOCKED would be an understatement, but after I adjusted to the idea, I decided to start blogging this software-engineer-turned-farmer-experience. It has taken us 2 years, but we have built up a little community of people who want to learn more about homesteading (both locally and online). Here's the thing: If you start a blog and begin selling a few vegetables, suddenly everyone thinks you're an expert! I get A LOT of questions and sometimes the questions are really hard to answer! (Recently someone emailed me wanting my expert opinion on albino grasshoppers!) I don't know a single thing about homesteading and 100% of what I've learned over the past two years has come directly from Google. Really, should a back-to-basics homesteader be this dependent on Google? So, if this box finds its way to our house, we will be using it to help our own little homestead achieve Google-freedom and also to help our farm customers and the people who email us. Thanks for a great Giveaway!

AlinaJoy Dubois said...

Karen Doll - Great poem! It made me laugh out loud! Now I have visions in my head of you dancing through your garden with a glass of homemade wine in your hand! =)

Liza said...

Oh my! The money saved through the acquisition of these books would allow me to get that walk behind tractor! Or maybe get started on fixing up a nicer greenhouse for this homestead/small CSA goal of mine. I'm moving in big directions and saving pennies in all sorts of ways. Flowers to come this spring. Chickens are settled in. The garden is growing and the ground is getting prepped for the spring season. I picture myself settling into the upcoming winter days with these books - having a dinner table set and a book club going by the wood-stove fire. The books and the dinner could be a venue for educating community members on this goldmine of a lifestyle and/or building community amongst existing homesteaders/farmers. I'm a lover of books and all things farm. I'd be happy to have such companions on the shelf, ready to support this determined and delighted homesteading heart of mine. (And maybe I could finally start that blog...putting the book ideas to the test...)

Betsy said...

My husband and I are working towards our dream of owning a micro-farm. This would help immensely!

Anonymous said...

Some people are having trouble posting a comment. I am just testing.

Unknown said...

This is a little gold mine of information you are giving away! My husband and I are determined to "get back to our roots" no matter how crazy our family members think we are! We are fairly new to homesteading and are currently doing what we can on just under an acre. However, one day.... in the meantime we are raising goats and pigs but no chickens (Oh My!) while doing a bit of gardening as space allows. No fresh eggs you say? No fresh broilers? As much as we would LOVE to add, we must become good stewards of what we currently have undertaken. And I have to say... the Storey books alone would be a great resource towards that stewardship. Every time I go into TSC I browse through the Dairy Goat book and get a bit more info that I can use. But wait, you are throwing in a stink load of food preservation books and basically a mish-mash of homesteading goodies? Forget the slogan "Calgon take me away!" I'll stick with "Storey, you've made my days!"

Joyness Sparkles said...

What a fabulous giveaway! I would love to win!

My husband and I are working hard to earn enough money for land in Wyoming. As we save we are learning as many skills as possible that we can apply without our own land. These books would be a great assest to continue our learning and boost the confidence not only for us, but our children as well.

Thank you so much for hosting this giveaway with Mother Earth News, this is fabulous!

Tiffany Zwieg said...

This is such a great opportunity! Thank you for this giveaway. :)

I know we would be able to use all of these things and start putting everything into practice with our urban homestead (in an apartment) until we can get our land someday. We are constantly trying to learn with the help of books, articles, our Community Garden and so forth. Thank you!

zwiegs (dot) family (at) gmail (dot) com

Pam said...

We are a homeschooling family that is working to homestead on 10 acres of land. We provide the meat and milk from our efforts to our local community members. We bring as many families and youth from all walks of life out to our farm to share what we've learned and encourage them to start moving toward self-sustainable actiities in their own lives. We believe that regardless of where you live, you can do something to become more self-sustainable.

Within the past year we've launched www.gofarmu.com to begin building out hands-on and virtual educational resources for families and military veterans. We work with Wounded Warriors (you can see our latest news at www.gofarmu.com)in order to help veterans be able to go home and provide for themselves instead of being forced to rely on the government for their livelyhood. We are just starting in this process and have no funding other than what we bring from our own labor.

The resources you have listed will be a huge benefit to not only our family, but all of those that we are working to support through our local community and our online community. Thank-you for your generous provision and consideration. As you can tell from the entries- it means a lot to the community.

Tim and Lisa Reitz said...

A few years after getting married we recognized our mutual desire to live more sustainably - as we defined what this meant to us, we found ourselves crafting a plan that included living off little and taking steps in our lives to respect and give back to the environment. A few years later, we have a plan that has be designed by us, for us. We have been working our way to making this a reality since. In 2009, we took the biggest leap for our homesteading future – we purchased our property which we call White Sky Woods. We are so passionate about our goals, we have dedicated a website and blog to it to continue to keep us inspired on our journey (www.whiteskywoods.com). As we continue to prepare our property for our big move to live off the land, we live frugally, save every penny possible, and practice and educate ourselves (through reading and doing) on skills we will need to have to live off the land. We are firm believers in DIY and hardwork – we optimistically look forward to the day we move to our homestead – White Sky Woods! A wonderful library of books and resources are another step for us in the right direction.

mavis said...

Hi, My name is Mavis and I currently feed my family for $100 a month through the use of coupons, gardening, and bartering with my neighbors.

My goal this year was to try and grow 2,000 of fruits and vegetables in my back yard.

The growing part comes pretty naturally, it's the preserving part I could use a little more help with.

We own chickens, but I'd like to learn more about livestock, beehives and and growing food for my family during the late fall and winter months.

Knowledge is power, and the more I can learn about being self sufficient, they better my family will be in the long run.

This giveaway would be a great help.

Goodmond said...

When I was a child, I dreamed of owning a castle. In this castle, I imagined a huge kitchen where my family, friends, and I would always have food, never allowing us to go hungry. I imagined a library where we could have all of our favorite books, never giving us an excuse to be bored. I imagined this castle sitting on a tract of land full of forests and prairies and endless opportunities to play hide-and-seek, never thieving us of our love of adventure.

Since then, my image of such a grand palace has been refined many times. I realized that in order to have such a kitchen, I would have to supply it. I realized in order to have such a library, there would need to be people to read it. I realized that in order to have such a vast land, I would have to learn how to manage it. Coming to these realizations hasn't made my dream less obtainable. In fact, these realizations have made it more so.

I realized that what I want isn't a castle, it is a school. I want a school where people can come and learn, especially young people. With a deep interest in education, I realize that ours in this country is not of the quality it once was. I know that this dream can change that. In order for it to do so, I realized that I need to come up with a plan for an educational center. This institution has to be sustainable. It has to be a place where people can live permanently, and work and learn and have a school where their children can too. I realized that I need people to make this kitchen, library, and land not into separate ideas, but into a concept. However, I will have to learn about each of these things in turn to help make this institution a reality.

I spent and still spend much time learning about culinary art and the science of food, education and the acquisition of knowledge, and permaculture and the act of managing the land (and learning when it is best left alone). Through these main areas of study, I came across practices and processes that fascinated me. Many of them have been around for centuries and have evolved over time. They are interwoven through life and politics, and it will surely be that way as long as civilization exists.

I learned about agriculture from its humble beginnings many of thousands of years ago to the controversial place it stands in our society today. I spent time traveling around Iowa, where I grew up, and the midwest to better understand what kind of role agriculture plays in my life and in the lives of many others through the economy, lifestyle, and nutrition. I traveled to Europe and specifically to Italy, where part of my blood is from, to understand why the Slow Food revolution originated where it did, and what impact that has on Italians, both young and old, and the rest of the world. I learned the word "Torschlusspanik" from a German friend. There is no direct translation, but it is something like the fear a person has of diminishing opportunities as time goes by. A lot of the people of the food movement in Italy had this feeling as they saw how agriculture was being made into an commercial or industrial concept, and there was panic. They understood that there was a more wholesome approach to feeding the world literally and figuratively. The instilled this panic in me without me realizing it.

In those same travels, I awed at the architecture that has held up through some of the worst times in human history, and wondered at the loss of the architecture that didn't. I learned the Portuguese word "Saudade" from a friend in the Netherlands that, again cannot be directly translated. It is this terribly deep longing for something or someone you love which or who, respectively, is long lost. I felt that feeling for the buildings that were once beautiful and since destroyed. They were connections to some of the people that helped to figuratively and literally build the feelings and ideas we are still influenced by today.

Goodmond said...

I continued to learn throughout my travels and upon returning to Iowa. I spend the growing seasons in the dirt to make my living both financially and spiritually, but I read and travel when I can in the winter months. It helps to give me more determination, hope, and inspiration to build a sustainable institution where children can learn to learn and love to learn so they are rightly prepared for whatever the university or the world presents them. It will be a place that layman and scholar can learn new ideas and skills while continuing to hone those existing, and where eventually, surely long after my death, there will be a university that can be an inspiration to the rest of the world. Hopefully, it will inspire before then.

I want so deeply to build upon this dream. My grandparents own 40 acres of land that I am purchasing over the next couple of years. It has a prairie and a substantial pond. It has many trees and natural history that could engage even the most uninterested person. However, it also has about 22 acres that are being used for conventional agriculture. Visiting this acreage one time, I felt a stronger tinge of something I have been feeling for some time.

I realized that I am experiencing yet another word that I learned! "Toska," as Vladimir Nabokov describes it, has no English equivilant. "No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.” I realized that I was indeed feeling this.

I have a deep desire to learn, teach, share. It is agonizing. It aches. I want so terribly to grow things, grow people, grow myself. Every food or plant I discover that tastes good or provides beauty in some way, every person I meet that is actively pursuing a deeper understanding of the universe around them and the universe inside them, and every new bit of knowledge I learn that helps me gain insight is one less level of toska.

I eat greatly because I work hard to grow healthy, sustainable foods that are both highly nutritional and highly spiritual in nature. I read often because I have food that nourishes my brain and soul in a basic, but not easily understood way, so I can continue to nourish my brain and soul in hopes to someday understand it all. I grow many healthy, sustainable foods in part because of your books, Storey Publishing (and in part of some good weather and luck to boot).

From this set, I have two books, "Country Wisdom & Know-How" and "The Garden Primer." Along with many other books, including a few others from you, I've been able to turn my tenth-acre urban lot into a seemingly 10-acre urban lotusland, and I have been able to better plan for turning my 40-acre dream into a 40-acre reality.

Thank you,

Goodmond

goodmond dot danielsen at gmail

Anonymous said...

This would help so much in our adventures in beginning to homestead! Chicken raising, goat milking, gardening, soap making and more...

2houndnight said...

This is a great collection of books and materials. I would like to be awarded this prize as I will soon be unemployed and in need of ways to make myself feel like a contributing member of our household.
For the past 17 years I have added to my families financial income. I was quite shocked when they told us that our division would be dissolved at the end of October. With the job market being pretty bleak in my area, I immediately began to think of ways to contribute to my families well being even if I'm not out there in the workplace bringing home the bacon, so to speak...
Over the past few years I've introduced gardens and fruit trees to our yard. I've brought home chicks to provide us with eggs and this winter I will attend our local "bee school" to learn about raising honeybees.
I am a reader and researcher by nature and learning about self sufficiency has been exciting for me, the more I learn, the more I want to learn and will devour those homesteading books with relish (homemade relish that I've canned myself hopefully).
The authors of these books are my personal heroes. Folks just like me making taking control of their consumerism and making self reliance happen in their lives and the lives of others by sharing what they know. They pave the path with their experiences good and bad, making it smoother and just a little more possible for those of us who follow....

Unknown said...

my wife and i are expecting our first child and we want our child to be raised right. i just want to have the knowledge to care and support them when times become rough.

«Oldest ‹Older   201 – 289 of 289   Newer› Newest»

LinkWithin