Originally posted 2017-03-26 20:07:29.
Back to Basics touches upon a multitude of various skills and methods, but don’t expect a in depth guide to each subject. It’s more of a primer, and you may want to look into additional resources that are more detailed on many of the subjects. Regardless, it’s still a good point of reference on how to do quite a lot of stuff! Here’s a sampling of some of the material:
- Land, buying it and building on it
- Skills and crafts for house and homestead
- Energy from wood, water, wind and sun
- Recreation at home and in the wild
- and more!
I’ve learned a ton of valuable information on things I had never tried before, including canning and bread making – and I am still looking to harness the knowledge of this book in order to become more self reliant. The great part about Back to Basics is that it provides ideas for all sorts of projects you can work on if you own a plot of land. There’s information about building a waterwheel for energy. I found the page about underground houses particularly interesting – their design allows for a very small amount of fuel being needed to heat or cool them. There’s even information about building and maintaining a septic tank or outhouse! I own the original version which was published in 1981, but below you can find links to both the original and updated editions.
