Book: The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency

Many people dream of becoming self-reliant during these times of fluctuating prices and uncertain job security. Using truly simple techniques, you can cultivate the pioneer's independence to provide safety against lost wages, harsh weather, economic recession, and commercial contamination and shortages. Strengthen your family's self-reliance as you discover anew the joy of homegrown food, thrift, and self-sufficient living.

This book was discussed on one of our local area Ham Radio nets. Here is a comment from a review on Amazon.com:

This book is an excellent resource for folks working toward maximizing their gardening year and for folks working toward a self sustaining lifestyle. It's full of great tips and tricks - tried and true by people whose lives depended on it. Topics include seed saving, pollination, cellars, cold storage, greenhouses, grapes and fruit trees, perennial vegetables, long keeping vegetables, chickens, etc.

There is no way one book can completely cover all of the topics addressed, so the author has listed other resources that will help answer the questions that you might have. I had a great time exploring types of geothermal greenhouses after reading about the author's.

If you're already very knowledgeable about many of these topics, then you might find the treatment too cursory, but if you're just starting out, then I highly recommend this book. I consider myself a skilled summer gardener, but I really learned a lot about winter storage, greenhouses, and extending the gardening year.  -Robin Edmundson.