Appalachian Homestead Skills Handbook : 75 Old-Time Projects for Self-Reliant Living

The skills that kept mountain homes running, updated with today's tested safety guidance. Put up a pantry that lasts all winter. Grow more food on less ground. Build a chicken coop, mend a fence, split and season firewood, and keep your family safe and warm when an ice storm takes the power down for a week. The Appalachian Homestead Skills Handbook gathers 75 practical, step-by-step skills from Appalachian homestead life. Each skill includes a tool and materials list, clear numbered steps, and safety notes, with diagrams where they help. Canning times follow USDA-tested methods and include adjustments for mountain elevations, because canning at 2,000 feet is not the same as canning at sea level. INSIDE YOU'LL FIND: KITCHEN & PANTRY (20 skills) • Boiling water and pressure canning, step by step • Crushed tomatoes, green beans, applesauce and old-fashioned apple butter • Crock sauerkraut, refrigerator pickles, freezing, drying and safe jerky • Curing sweet potatoes and onions, and setting up a root cellar • Churning butter, rendering lard, restoring cast iron, cornbread and biscuits GARDEN & ORCHARD (19 skills) • Reading a soil test, building raised beds and making compost • Saving seed, starting seedlings, cold frames and row cover • Three Sisters planting, potatoes, sweet potatoes and garlic • Planting and pruning fruit trees, growing blueberries and cover crops HOMESTEAD PROJECTS (18 skills) • Rain barrels, chicken coops and a backyard laying flock • A barrel smoker, firewood and wood stove safety • Sharpening tools, fixing faucets, patching drywall and mending fences EVERYDAY SELF-RELIANCE (18 skills) • 72-hour emergency kits, water storage and power outage planning • Generator safety and staying warm without power • Map and compass, knots, mending, budgeting and a deep pantry • Planning for ice storms and flash floods Whether you live on a mountain homestead or just want to be more self-reliant wherever you are, this handbook belongs on the shelf next to your canning jars.