Have you ever wished there was a simple, month-by-month calendar to tell you how to become a homesteader and become more self-sufficient? Do you lack time to homestead around the clock and wish you could find a few projects that would help you toward your goal of being more self-reliant without taking so much time and effort? Then it’s time for you to check out The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to S,kkjelf-Sufficiency.

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Right at the beginning of the book is a great description of the modern homesteader, which really strikes home with me:

Modern homesteaders want to provide their families with a better life than they could afford if they had to pay cash for the trappings. They’re willing to start where they are and use sweat equity to grow nutritious, delicious food, create sustainable heat from locally grown wood, and use free organic matter to rebuild the soil. Most of all, homesteaders want to be healthy, happy and cheerfully self-sufficient.

And this book is all about helping you achieve those goals, step by step.

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What I Like about The Weekend Homesteader

The Weekend Homesteader is one of those books that you can read only the parts that interest you, or the whole way through. It’s all written in very easy to understand language and rather similar to reading a bunch of blog posts. The author, Anna Hess, started homesteading in 2006. Since then, she has been sharing all she learns with others in her blog and via books and ebooks online.

There are 48 projects you can complete from the book, 4 for each month of the year. Some of them are very hands on, and others are more about mental preparation of providing for yourself and being self-reliant.

Topics you will find inside include:

  • Planting a spring & fall garden
  • Worm composting
  • Growing edible mushrooms
  • Saving seeds
  • Building a budget
  • Preserving food with canning and freezing
  • Conserving resources

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I also like that for each section there is a quick overview of what you need to know for the project: the goal, the approximate cost, time needed to complete the project, it’s overall difficulty and it if is kid-friendly. Each section has illustrations, diagrams, tables, charts and lots of photos to help you understand what you need to be doing. And once you’ve completed all these tasks, you really will know a good portion of what is required to live off your land and provide for yourself. No it doesn’t include every skill one could ever possibly need to become self-sufficient, but no one is making claims that it’s supposed to either. This is a straight forward approach to help you get your feet wet or move forward with your self-sufficiency goals without a lot of extra effort.

Overall, I think The Weekend Homesteader is well written and I’d recommend it for anyone who is getting started with their own homestead, whether it’s in a high-rise apartment, their suburban backyard or out in the country. There is much to be learned from each section and if you complete all of these tasks, you’ll definitely have a great start into self-sufficiency. Those who have been homesteading for a good while might find some value in it, but I personally think it’s best for beginners.

Note: I received a copy of this book to review but all opinions expressed about this book are my own and have in no way been influenced by the author or publisher of this book. Links contained within this post are affiliate links and a small commission will be paid to me to help No Ordinary Homestead keep running, should you decide to purchase this book via one of the links.