Homesteading (Survival Guide)?

Okay guys, i am not exactly a "prepper". I do know how to survive in the wilderness on my own, solo. Easily, however, life is miserable that way, and very uncomfortable.

I have continued to search on Google to no avail. I need a guide, a specific one. Not one on how to simply "survive" but one to build a HOME.

Can someone help me find a book that tells me how to basically "homestead?". Basically, a guide that teaches you how to build a home and live in that home, such as in the 1800s, or I guess we could call it pioneering.

Again, i need to reiterate, I need a guide that teaches me how to build a HOME off the land and maintain it. I don't need a guide that teaches me how to merely survive, but to rebuild.

How to maintain cleanliness without "soap" or to make my own soap. Maybe how to be a blacksmith if necessary.

I am tired of seeing guides on how to survive, but no guides on how to build up a home and make a permanent residence without electricity and modern medicine.

I am very frustrated about how much focus in on surviving. I want to know how to rebuild and survive "permanently." I am not looking to be a nomad.

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However, I'll be on the military side of things, which means id most likely die regardless, but I feel better knowing I have a book that teaches me the lost secrets of our forefathers.

One last reiteration. I need a book that doesn't simply teach me how to survive, but a book that teaches me how to create a home off the land. Surviving is relatively easy, but very uncomfortable and stressful.

This story is likely to impress: Alone in the Wilderness
Also good to find books about wild foods/plants indigenous to the area!

Best Wishes~

∞LOVE
mayallsoulsbefree∞

reply to post by awake1234


Very interesting indeed. However, I am looking for a book that teaches me how to live asin the 1800s. If we lose electricity, life is going back to the 1800s, so I need a book that explains to me how to live in that time frame. Not just surviving it, but making and maintaining a home.

Building a home from your surroundings is a challenge.
One that takes alot of time, effort and a little bit of knowledge.
I am very passionate about that time period myself.
I've visited numerous replicated buildings from then, also.

There are plenty of books to read about building "settler" log cabins...
Amazon is a great place to search about the subject.

I can't recommend a particular one, because there are 100's of authors on the subject..
Learning how to fell trees and de-bark them without modern tools is tough too.
So a good collection of saws is an excellent start.

Remember one thing, most pioneers had a few men to build their homes.
But basic understanding of early log cabin buildings is a crucial part to learning.
Early settlers and Natives all built very hardy buildings from their local environments.
Research 1700-1800 settler cabins or trading posts.



Hope anything helps.

reply to post by havok


I was hoping someone would have written a book that explains making a cabin, making tools, farming, skinning and curing pelts, cleanliness, and using natural resources as the people in the 1700s and 1800s did. It is frustrating to me there are no books that teach the things my great grandfather or mother knew.

It's like the knowledge of our great and great great grandparents knew died with them. No one thought to write it down.

reply to post by milkyway12


I have a copy of a great paperback book that has exactly that...
Primitive Wilderness Living and survival skills

Check it out...
It's has tanning, building, hunting and primitive lifestyles...
I recommend it as a good addition to anyone's collection.

reply to post by havok


Ah, thank you. My anger was instantly appeased. Thanks, I was getting more agitated by the minute.

My iPad was nearly thrown across the room.

Sounds personal? It is.

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If any one else has any more recommendations, please mention them. I am a book addict. I am very technical and militaristic. So, I pour through data like candy. I read at least one book a day. So, the more the better.

I can probably help. First off do you have land? If you have no land, then how are you going to build?That said, get some books on basic construction and then start visiting your local dump site to scavenge building materials, you can pick up windows, doors, lumber etc. off the free piles. I have helped build log homes, forget it, stick construction is way better. You will need to get tools. Start collecting them and buying them before you even start. Go to garage sales and look in Craigs list. If you really want to do this I would be willing to work with you on it as a U2U, we have done this and live off the land at present, we grow all our own food and hunt, live off grid, our land was bare when we bought it and we build everything ourselves. Homesteading books by Jackie Clay are great. She is my own personal mentor and friend. Carla Emory has a great homesteading book, a huge volume that has everything you could ever want to know about homesteading in it. Hope to hear from you. Good Luck!

reply to post by bwcawaterbear


Thanks a lot for the information. I did not mean I wanted to go off grid, I am to spoiled. However, I wanted to be prepared to survive off-grid if am presented with that situation. EMP strike, solar flare, some other type of event that sends us back to the Stone Age.

Thanks for the book recommendations. I'll be checking them out here in a few minutes.

Look here for some great info and a pdf download.

I don't understand your anger part? If you google homesteading you will find numerous resources for what you are asking. Foxfire and Mother Earth News are great sources. There are blogs you can subscribe to as well. If you are looking for one giant compendium that covers every possible issue you may not find it. Talk with others who have already done it. They will give you the best feedback.

reply to post by milkyway12


building a house is not that hard, sure its a LOT of hard work, but the mechanics of it
is simple, logs, striped of limbs, cut notches twords the end and stack,
roof is usually flat, made out of logs for main support and smaller branches down to twigs
piled on top, although a piece of plastic would make a huge difference...
then cover holes with mud, walls and roof, just keep packing mud until you have a air tight
house.

skinning and taking care of critters is not to hard either, but its a skill you really have to learn
first hand you can read about it, but its better to experience it. basically you cut the hide off
the deer or animal build a square frame out of what ever you can find, stretch the skin
over and tack in place, use a scraper of some kind to keep scraping at it to get down
to the skin and get all the fat off, then you can use salt
to help preserve the hide and dry it out where the fat was. Although now days you can
buy a kit for $30 that will do a super job in tanning a hide.
But again, this is something that its much better for you to learn first hand,
its hunting season , call up a buddy and go hunting, buy a deer tag, borrow a rifle if
you dont have one, and experiment.

most of it is basic common sense. Its just a different way of living.

One other thing you may want to consider learning is how to make candles, if you are
truly roughing it in a 1800 type setting, you are going to need light at night in winter, as
well as a way to light it. But learning candle making would be very useful.

So would canning, which can be done on a open fire if you know what you are doing.
This would help you stock up food for those times where the game just isint there.
Jerky is always a good way, but after a while ya get tired of jerky, and would want
something else. Canning will keep the big game fresh to eat for a few years,
thus keeping from wasting much of the meat.

The net is full of useful information if you look, sure there are books and in a SHTF situation
a book would be better than net, but it would be best to practice the things now, so you can
get a feel for them. that is if you are having any ideas of living in that setting for any leingth of time.

reply to post by grayeagle


I didn't understand the anger part either, however, it was agitating the heck out of me.

I am about to order the books mentioned by bwawaw (lol, sorry) it is very comprehensive and was exactly what I needed. I also will be ordering the primitive surviving book. All web sources have been book marked.

reply to post by milkyway12


I've been looking on youtube about these earthbag homes you can easily build yourself with little cost .
www.youtube.com...

I would warn you that I have been checking to see how well they hold up and keep you comfortable in cold winter climates. I would look at some of the problems the come with them,such as mold cold air etc.

With insulation and proper drainage I think you can make them much more comfortable.But do check it out and read all the pros and cons on it. Hope this helps you.

I would rather learn how to build one of these

R42 factor, easy to build, a few can build in a summer, and can blend in the surroundings and never be seen if done right.

www.simondale.net...

reply to post by severdsoul


... I thought the Earth bag home was awesome ... And then I wanted to be one with nature ... Awesome house ...

reply to post by milkyway12


Try here:

memory.loc.gov...

I'm pretty sure that a lot of this kind of stuff can be found on the Gutenberg project website as well. Pretty much any small town museum should be able to give you some good titles to check out as well. The type of book you're after was quite common 100 years ago.

reply to post by milkyway12


When I was young I had a few books called foxfire . There in a series and have everything about living in the 1800s ! Building , animal husbandry, tanning , living off the land , how to build a still !! I think they are still available on Amazon ? I also go on a website homesteading/survivalism , and Mother Earth news , they have tons of info and books and DVDs for sale !

Back to Basics.

There was another book my father had of a similar title. It might be out of print now, because his book was from the mid-1970s(?). It was put out by Reader's Digest of all things.

I liked my old man's book better, but this one covers all the basic ground.

A good place to start is the magazine Mother Earth news. I don't personally agree with their politics but they are a wealth of info. Honestly, with what you are looking for, you may want to start searching used bookstores, amazon etc for older books on the subject. Alot of what has been written in the last 10 years is geared toward SHTF.
You will want books on lots of topics, there won't be one specific omnibus to cover all of your bases, and if you do find one, it won't be specific enough.For example there are specific details regarding the processing and storing your own food safely, those are not details to overlook or take lightly. The books you will need to grow the food to store will be different altogether, though some good one's will overlap.

That being said some of my personal recommendations for you would be:
STOCKING UP published by Rodale press, compiled by the editors of Organic Farming and Gardening mine is copyright 1973

THE AMERICAN FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE by Mrs. Child 1833

Anything by Jerry Baker for gardening, his tips will help to design a good garden in the first place, saving alot of headaches!

I have old Amish cookbooks that provide so many tidbits of info, I just sit and read them sometimes.
Anything that links us back to our grandparents and great grandparents should get you where you need to be.
You need skills more than books, but books help, and imo the older the better in this case. We didn't have the technology to rely on even 100 years ago.

I have one on the way called Country Living that has tempted me for a long time, I can't remember the author offhand though.

Good luck with your homestead, it is alot of work, but you can pull it off on even an acre or 2 if you are wise about it.