Book Review (Backyard Homesteading: A Back-To-Basics Guide to Self-Sufficiency by David Toht)

Backyard Homesteading: A Back-To-Basics Guide to Self-Sufficiency by David Toht is an excellent starting point for those interested in urban homesteading. Mr. Toth covers a number of worthwhile subjects such as raising vegetables and herbs, owning chickens and beekeeping. It also touches on brewing beer, canning foods and growing fruit, berries and nuts. The catch with the book is that it is definitely for the novice homesteader. Though it touches on a number of issues it does not necessarily do so in an in depth manner. With that said it does point you in the right direction for further research and that in and of itself is valuable.

I am the sort that even if I cannot successfully or maybe even legally take part in a particular branch of homesteading, such as raising goats, I still enjoy reading about it. Personally I found the section on beekeeping extremely interesting. I was not familiar with the holistic approach of beekeeping using the top-bar hive until I read this book. If you are interested in exploring the world of top-bar hives check out BackYardHive.com

Overall I would certainly recommend this 255 page book from the folks at Creative Homeowner. If nothing else it will inspire you to dream big and give you a gentle nudge in the right direction.

Tobias Whitaker blogs for Mother Earth News and Grit Magazine. Click on the Mother Earth News logo at the bottom of the page for all of his post. You can also find him on Facebook at Seed To Harvest: Bossy Hen Homestead  https://www.facebook.com/seedtoharvestbossyhenhomestead/ which is a central location for his homesteading blogs and his homeschooling blog, A Mile In Her Shoes: Tales Of A Stay-At Home Dad found here https://amileinhershoestalesofastayathomedad.wordpress.com/