Making a home

What would a homestead be without a home? Raising food may be the single most important endeavor on the homestead, but it is the myriad domestic activities that make homestead life abundantly satisfying. Most domestic skills live on only in books these days. Someday we may return to the place where these skills are passed in practice from generation to generation, but for now we are mostly dependent on books for reclaiming those skills. Here are some of the most helpful of those books that we've found.

• The Complete Tightwad Gazette . Don't be thrown by the title—although frugality is the overarching theme, this is a book about how to work towards the good life by taking direct control of one's circumstances. Not only is it filled with clever and useful tips about how to make do with what you have, it is an inspiring example of how to think clearly about such things.
• The Foxfire Series. This series of books is a treasure trove of information about Appalachian folklore, history, and traditional skills. Best of all, they are direct and unpretentious, being the result of a forty-year-long project which has high school students approaching their parents and grandparents, collecting their wisdom, and setting it down in writing.
• The Plain Talk recordings are conversations about the simple life, where the participants have the time and luxury of telling their story in a detailed and reflective way.
• Home Comforts. Most of the critical knowledge about how to keep house is no longer passed along, much less the understanding that a well-kept home is central to the good life. Cheryl Mendelson has done the rest of us a valuable service by creating a comprehensive treatment of the domestic arts.
• Prescription for Nutritional Healing. Those who are working to take back responsibility for restoring and maintaining their own health will value this comprehensive reference to dietary supplements, vitamins, minerals and herbs.
• Prescription for Herbal Healing. A companion to Prescription for Nutritional Healing, this is a comprehensive reference to herbal remedies, covering more than 150 common disorders.

• The Soapmaker's Companion. Soapmaking is a practical skill that can save you a lot of money while giving you complete control over an everyday element of home life. This book shows how to make 40 soaps, from simple to luxurious, including laundry and liquid soaps.
• The Candlemaker's Companion. Perhaps not a critical skill these days (but who knows?), candlemaking is a delightful craft to pursue. This book explains how to make rolled, poured, molded, dipped, and decorated candles.
• A-Z of Quilting. From Australia, a clear and comprehensive guide to quilting, with 864 step-by-step, up-close color photographs that illustrate 98 different stitches and techniques.
• A-Z of Embroidery Stitches. Also from Australia, a clear and comprehensive guide to embroidery, with 1416 step-by-step, up-close color photographs that illustrate 84 different stitches and techniques.
• A-Z of Knitting. Also from Australia, the best introduction to knitting we've ever seen.
• A-Z of Crochet. Also from Australia, the best introduction to crochet we've ever seen.

• The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love. A hope chest can provide not only a repository for a growing dowry but a treasure chest filled with memories of the past and hopes and dreams for the future. If you think it would be good to center your daughter’s training on the creation of a hope chest, this book is a very good place to turn for ideas and inspiration on how to proceed.
• The American Boy's Handy Book. The kids all love this book, which contains dozens of practical and entertaining old-fashioned projects for children to occupy themselves with.
• The Field and Forest Handy Book. And the kids love this one even more, being chock full of old-fashioned lore about how to enjoy the outdoors.