Resources

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Blogroll

Off-Grid.net

Off-grid brings you news, knowledge, discussion, and classifieds from the off-grid world. What seems like a tiny niche is growing in popularity as people seek a life outside of the city. Off-gridders must find ways to produce their own energy, food, water, shelter, and other necessities. Connect with people who live off the beaten path or begin the search for your own property on this site.

Build It Solar

Dedicated to do-it-yourself renewable energy projects, Build It Solar provides hundreds of ideas and plans for any kind of home energy endeavor. New to renewable energy? Start with the "Half Plan" that uses a variety of energy saving projects to cut your energy usage in half. New to solar? Look for the do-it-yourself site survey to understand your property's solar potential. Not limited to solar, Build It Solar also includes tons of projects for wind power and biofuels.

Earth2Tech

Energy self reliance is a big topic for environmental, political, and individual reasons. Earth2Tech posts news about technological developments that can affect us on personal and societal levels. Stay on top of the news about electric cars, the smart grid, the bloom box fuel cell, solar power applications, and LED lightbulbs.

Wisebread

Wisebread is well-known for its advice on real personal finance. It's a community of bloggers who write about frugal living, lifehacks, careers, and other financial wisdom. Being smart with your money isn't supposed to inhibit you: rather, Wisebread's advice helps people worry less about money, allowing you to focus on the really important things in life. They also feature an active forum where you can ask questions and interact with other people who are trying to live within their means.

Instructables

Do you want to know how to build a vertical garden? How about your own solar panel array? Maybe you're looking for ways to reuse a linen closet full of old pillowcases. Instructables is a community based site that allows anyone to post a how-to project complete with photos and instructions. The result: a lifetime's supply of projects that can help you save money, recycle, or simply satisfy your appetite for making stuff.

Survival Spot

Disasters are a reality that shouldn't be ignored. That's the reason Survival Spot was created - to share information about a variety of survival and preparedness topics. Topics cover many aspects of survival, including gardening, food storage, health, and self defense. Also read about getting by in the wilderness and reviews of essential gadgets and gear. Like any other type of self reliance, preparedness is something to get into gradually and this blog can give you ideas on where to start.

Self-Reliance-Exchange

Written by a group of self reliant people, Self Reliance Exchange is quickly building an enormous database that covers a huge range of categories on self reliant practices and philosophies. Anyone interested in self reliance will find something useful to take away from this blog - recipes from scratch, emergency preparedness, and personal finance are great categories to start looking into here.

Simple Self Reliance

This writer explores the concept of self reliance and how self reliance fits in this modern society. How far can you realistically go down the path of self reliance? How can you stay on track with your priorities? He also writes on the grandaddy of self reliance, Henry David Thoreau. We can't wait to see how this blog unfolds!

American Preppers Network

For information and news from the world of emergency preparation, American Preppers Network is a great resource. Learn about food storage, what to expect during a natural disaster, and about other survival techniques. You can also connect with other preppers in your region and all over the world in the forum and through the numerous links to other prepping blogs on the web.

Books

While the internet is a great source of ideas and advice for home and garden projects, keeping a well stocked library of time-tested, trusted information is just as important. Books offer reliable information with reputations and reviews that can be tracked on Amazon and by word of mouth. They're also handy in case of power outages or interruptions in internet service.

Our "bookshelf" is populated with reviews of books on food, gardening, greywater, and homegrown power considered by bloggers to be essential reading.

 

Latest Additions

Zero-Mile Diet: A Year Round Guide to Growing Organic Food - City Farmer News
This book review by City Farmer News profiles Zero-Mile Diet: A Year Round Guide to Growing Organic Food by Carolyn Herriot. Ten years ago, the author decided to grow as much food as possible. The fruits of her labors have included more than vegetables: Herriot writes gardening columns, opened a nursery, and now runs an organic seed company. And now, she fills this book with her 10 years of knowledge. The good news is that Herriot discovered that it only takes five years to become self-sufficient in produce.
Do your own energy audit using this book
This is a good book on how to do your own energy audit for your home. Its from McGraw-Hill, and looks to be a great way to understand how you can lower your energy usage, which in the end results in more self reliance.
New Book About Square Gardening - WCF Courier
Mel Bartholomew is famous for writing about square foot gardens. Read this article to learn some of the cliff-notes of his wisdom. Also this site gives some healthy recipes from his book.
Millburn- Shorthills Patch: Gardening - A Resolution for Greater Creativity in 2010
This article reviews the book Digging Deep, an introductory gardening book that is unique for its focus on envisioning the garden that best suits your needs.
The Kitchen: The Frugal Foodie Cookbook
Saving money in these tough economic times is important for many families. The Frugal Foodie Cookbook provides money saving and waste-avoiding recipes for people who want to save money.
New York Times: Recall of Do-It-Yourself Manuals
Alert, numerous do it yourself manuals published by Lowes, Sunset, and Amerispec have been recalled due to incorrect information that could harm consumers. Is your book on the list?
Amazon: FREE Kindle Download for PC!
This page takes you to a free downloadable version of Amazon's Kindle for your PC. The Kindle allows you to download e-books at less expensive rates, and many books are available for free.
Planet Green: 5 Must-Have Books for Urban Gardeners
These five books helped the writer of this article make the most out of her quarter-acre in Detroit. Titles such as Fresh Food From Small Spaces by R.J. Ruppenthal and Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew are briefly reviewed.
New York Times Books: 25 Cookbooks
Looking to add to your cookbook library? The Times gives a synopsis of 25 new special niche cookbooks. Topics include baking, Southern and Italian cooking, feeding hungry men, and more.
Zeiger Family Homestead: Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food
You've probably heard of Michael Pollan and his book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. In Defense of Food, released in January 2008, exposes the Western attitude toward food. Here's one review of Pollan's book.
Catholic Exchange: The Politics of Laura Ingalls Wilder
When you were a kid reading Little House on the Prairie, you probably didn't pick up on the themes of fierce self reliance and resentment toward government intrusion. Dr. John Fry, history professor at Trinity Christian College talks about Wilder's self reliant life and attitude which permeate the Little House books.
Off Grid: Possum Living - How to Live Well With (Almost) No Money
Possum Living is a book written by Dolly Freed who lived with her father on a homestead in the 70's. The book was written to teach others how to live a simple life free of the 9-5 routine. This article includes actual footage from the Freed homestead.
Amazon.com: Ball Blue Book of Preserving
Preserve your jams, jellies, pickles and applesauce so you can enjoy the sweet taste of fruit all year long!
Homestead Basics: Top Books on Homesteading and Self Reliance
Readers of the Homestead Basics blog submitted their top must-have books on topics of self reliance. Here's what made the list!
Amazon: The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City
by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen. By urban homesteaders, for urban homesteaders- Coyne and Knutzen write about growing food in apartments, cooking with solar, how to use greywater for gardens, and more. The authors also maintain the blog homegrownevolution.org.
 
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