Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

In case you had not heard, we are participating in this years Farm-to-Fork Loudoun event, a week of special menus in area restaurants featuring locally sourced foods. We personally support this effort because we believe in the principles of eating healthy, locally produced, foods. The most recent edition of the local magazine Posh Seven has […]

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Michael Judd’s book Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist: How to Have Your Yard and Eat it Too was an informative read that we have already utilized in our yard. This book was great! It took a few permaculture principles, and explained each to a depth that made me feel comfortable immediately implementing the principles […]

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I was recently inspired by reading Niki Jabbour’s Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden. At first I was skeptical as I didn’t see how a book that included 73 different garden plans could do justice to any of the plans. After reading just a few pages, though, […]

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2014 was the year of livestock here on the farm. New additions included Goats, Ducks, Chickens, Rabbits, and Hogs. 2015 is going to be the year of the garden. We plan on, at a minimum, having a 5,000+ square foot vegetable garden, in addition to perennial beds closer to the house and edible landscaping out […]

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Recently I read The Non-Toxic Avenger by Deanna Duke. I first stumbled upon Duke’s blog a couple of years ago, and found some useful takeaways from her writing. Therefore, I was looking forward to reading her book. While poorly edited and containing many irrelevant asides, the book would be helpful for those curious about the […]

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I’ve spent some time absorbing all of the information in The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live it by John Seymour. This book is an amazing resource that covers so many aspects of homesteading!  Since the book covers a wide range of topics, it doesn’t go into too much depth on any one.  I could […]

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Yesterday I read the book Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power by Mark Schapiro. This book was clearly written with a liberal bias.  The author praises the European way of addressing the chemicals present in everyday products, and is very anti-Bush administration.  I could be okay with […]

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We have some wonderful homestead dogs.  These poor dogs have had some struggles with homestead ticks, though.  Our region is a hotbed of tick activity, unfortunately.  I spoke to the vet about the problem, and she recommended a product that’s a new import the US market from Europe.  It’s a Scalibor Tick & Flea Collar.  […]

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As I embark on a candle making adventure, I picked up Candle Making in a Weekend by Sue Spear to pickup some pointers. This book was a good overview of candlemaking.  It had instructions for a wide range of projects.  The instructions were simple and easy to understand, plus there were helpful pictures.  I feel […]

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As we were beginning this homesteading adventure, I read Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich.  This book was not worth reading.  It was all I could do to finish it, and I would not recommend it. The biggest issue I have with this book is how the author writes about mistakes that she made, but […]

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