Highly recommended websites and books
Note: this is by no means a comprehensive list. I add to this page a little at a time, due to the fact I'm a mom with children at home, plus I keep learning! If you have sites or books you think I'd like to add, please email me.
*Disclaimer* -- Listing a site or book does not necessarily imply wholehearted endorsement of all information included in it. (Some of the sites/books, yes; all, no.) I have not reviewed all information on each site, page, or book, but have found enough good information to consider it a favorite resource.
Please realize, too, that most of these topics overlap, so something listed under ‘plants and gardening’ likely has great information for ‘cooking’ or ‘home storage’ as well.
Home storage and organization –
►Resources at http://www.providentliving.org --An official site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Topics on the site include Education, Emergency Preparedness, Employment, Finances, Food Storage, Gardening, and Physical Health.
►LDS Home Storage Center locator and order form
►The Family Home Storage pamphlet from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The church has encouraged its members, for more than 150 years, to increase their self-reliance, including (but not limited to!) having a food reserve at home. This pamphlet covers their latest basic recommendations.
►http://www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net - their "Tools" tab has an Excel Spreadsheet that will give you a storage/shopping list for your own, customized, three-month supply.
Emergency preparedness-
►"Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country" - A booklet published by the State of Utah about planning for earthquakes. It's full of good info. Pages 22-23 have more information about keeping your belongings from crashing all over during an earthquake.
►Info on assembling a disaster kit, including what documents to put in your emergency binder
►Home Storage Inventory page- nice and simple- found on page 5 of this food storage cookbook, Bee Prepared Pantry Cookbook (free, no copyright)
►USGS- Latest Earthquakes in the World
Self reliance-
►Rocket Stove - can be made small or big, concentrates the heat! I've cooked a whole pound of pasta in a pan on a small one of these, using 3 sticks, about 1" wide and 12" long. This link shows you one way to make your own, but there are lots of variations. One company that makes them is StoveTec , in Oregon.
►Build Your Own Wood-Fired Oven Kiko Denzer's article in Mother Earth News
►The Simple Art of Making an Earth Oven- Kiko's article in Permaculture Magazine
►How to Make Your Own Charcoal- from Twin Oaks Forge's website
►Making and using solar cookers- lots of simple plans to choose from at http://solarcooking.org/plans/
►Dr. Jones’ BYU solar cooker- very inexpensive to make
►Solar Funnel Cooker Youtube presentation by DrJones
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzUcAyse ... re=related
How to make and use the solar funnel cooker.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dT6kY54 ... re=related
Using the solar funnel as a REFRIGERATOR at night. Also shows the charcoal briquet oven at the end.
►the collapsible ‘Fun-Panel’ solar cooker
►Range Plants of Utah photos and description of plants you'll find growing wild, plus uses for wildlife, livestock, and people
►Making your own vinegar- useful for cleaning as well as cooking!
Cooking and Recipes-
►The American Frugal Housewife - 1838 cookbook, online version. In addition to cooking, this covers housekeeping, budgeting, making do, and much more. Find it in pdf here.
►Store This, Not That! Everyday Food Storage- using long-term storage foods in your regular cooking. There are some beautiful handouts on things like wheat- how to store, use, and what the differences in variety are.
►The Prudent Homemaker blog -from a mom in Nevada who had to live off food storage for two years. She also homeschools, gardens as much as she can, does heirloom sewing, and is full of practical information. She does all the photography for her site, and it is beautiful.
►Uncle Phaedrus, Consulting Detective and Finder of Lost Recipes I love this! I learn something new about food or history every time I check out his site or archives.
►Cake Loves Me -- basic cake frostings and fluffy fillings, with lots of simple variations.
►Top Favorite Food Storage Cookbook! The Bee Prepared Pantry Cookbook Lots of great recipes that use basic food storage ingredients, created by a couple LDS Stake food storage specialists in Sandy, UT. There is no copyright on this. If you live along the Wasatch Front, you can pick up one of these, already in a binder, sold just for cost, at Help U Mail in Sandy. Their address is 10291 S. 1300 E., phone number (801) 571-1441. This is designed to go in a binder, so you can add more recipes as you find them.
►Fabulous information! The Wooden Spoon Cooking School handouts- written by the same ladies as the The Bee Prepared Pantry Cookbook, for a cooking school hosted for a very limited time by the LDS Church at their Welfare Square. Even more information and recipes, just not quite in book form. Sections include: Introduction, Legumes, A Meal In A Bag, Oats, Honey, and Sugar, Powdered Milk, Wheat, Spices, Rice and Pasta. I also have a few pages of notes and corrections for the Powdered Milk handout.
►Organic Emily - a great resource for those living along the Wasatch Front. Some of the best prices anywhere for mostly-locally-grown and organic grains.
►Rainy Day Food (previously "Walton Wheat" or "Walton Feed")- one source for buying grains in bulk. Located in southern Idaho. Other sources include Honeyville Grains, Azure Standard, Auguson Farms, kitchen stores (this one, in my area), and local co-ops.
►http://www.50plusfriends.com/cookbook/index.html This has several 'online' versions of cookbooks, you just click on a recipe name. The one I've spent the most time with is their "Crockery Pot Cooking" link; it has well over 300 crockpot recipes, including things like Rosemary-infused oil, pumpkin bread, butter mints, hot mulled cider, fruit cobblers, rice pudding, in addition to all the beans and meat items you're used to seeing.
For those with food allergies:
►No Wheat, Dairy, Eggs, or Nuts! blog- My sister's blog. As you can guess from the title, her children could not eat wheat, dairy, eggs, or nuts. Talk about having to change your cooking!
►Basics on gluten-free flours, plus substitutes for eggs and dairy ingredients, from "Simply Gluten Free" magazine
►Gluten-free and More, the website for "Simply Gluten Free," a magazine for those with allergies and food sensitivities. Some of their recipes are at their site, but to get all of them, buy the magazine. It's usually worth it, especially if you're new to gluten- or dairy-free cooking.
Preserving Food-
►'How to Waste Less' food posts:
-Reducing Food Waste, and What To Do With Sour Milk
-Cutting Food Waste
►How to eat well and still spend less
►Canning 101 - Free video trainings from the USU Extension Office, for lots of kinds of canning, from marmalade to meat.
►Canning Meat, from Backwoods Home Magazine
►"How To Can Anything" You'll have to see this one to appreciate the treasure trove it is. It has step-by-step canning photos, how-to's, why-to's, why-not-to's, plus lots and lots of recipes. Also has links for purchasing what you'll need.
►Which foods can be safely bottled at home
There's also a great FB canning group, called "We Might Be Crazy But We're Not Stupid"-- they are careful to stay within USDA safety guidelines.
►Tattler reusable canning lids
►http://www.dehydrate2store.com/ - how, what, and why to dehydrate. Lots of videos, including one on building good-looking, shallow shelves for your storage jars.
►How to dry-pack foods This link has several links within it.
►Making and Using Vegetable powders
►Storing Vegetables At Home --How to store them through the winter, even without a root cellar.
►Storing Fruits and Vegetables at home: see page 5 at this link for a chart of what foods prefer similar conditions.
►http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-homesteading/root-cellaring-zm0z85zsie.aspx Written by Mike and Nancy Bubel (who wrote the book on Amazon, considered the 'bible' of root cellaring!)
►http://www.nepanewsletter.com/cellar.html gives an excellent, detailed overview of what you learn in the Bubel's book
►“Return of the Root Cellars”-- great overview.
►Hows, whys, recipes, & supplies for making consistent quality pickled (lacto-fermented) foods. I haven’t tried these yet, but I have been adding more fermented foods to our diet. Also this: https://myfermentedfoods.com/how-make-lacto-fermented-pickles/
Sewing-
►"Apron Evangelism" - Great article on why to wear an apron! Trust me on this. Makes me laugh.
►Free apron patterns, including some vintage ones. Two of my favorites are the "Free Ripply Apron pattern- Vintage 1951" and "Vintage Apron Bonnet Pattern," a half-apron that doubles as a sunbonnet
Plants and gardening-
►Track down local growers and co-ops. It's hard to beat a local mentor!
►Your local/county/state/national Extension Office; here's one for Utah. All states have an extension office, as do as many countries across the world. I've seen ones in Ghana and Australia. https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/ I mostly use their "publications" section- on Food & Nutrition, and Horticulture (gardening). Many of them have email newsletters you can sign up to receive. They also have good sections on Families and Finance.
Growing a garden without buying packets of garden seeds:
• Overview of Seed Saving - blog post, chart, and seed saving/ plant propagation links.
• 10 Ways to Regrow Food in Water
• Start thinking GARDEN! - The Provident Homemaker
• More seeds from your kitchen - The Provident Homemaker
►www.seedsavers.org/mission
►www.seedsave.org
►Seed Saving instruction booklet, on Kindle, $5, by Bill McDorman
https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Seed-Saving-instructions-wildflowers-ebook/dp/B01A83JYB4
►If you're wanting to identify plants so you know what to pull out of the garden, or if you want to know the names so you can find out in what ways they can be used, Weeds of the West is the best I've found- at least for the western U.S. It's out of print so hard copies can be a little pricey, but there's a free pdf here. You'll need to scroll down a page to see it.
►Once you know what a plant is, look it up on Plants For A Future. You'll be amazed; every weed actually has a use. Usually several uses. Plants For A Future contains a database of 7000+ plants, listing Edible, Medicinal, and Other Plant Uses.
►http://www.motherearthliving.com/ An online magazine also available in print, made from combining two previous magazines, "Herb Companion" and "Natural Home", dedicated to growing and using herbs for food, health, and beauty.
►Grow Your Own Transplants at Home:
• Start Your Own Seedlings Indoors (USU Extension)
• Can I Start My Vegetable Garden Indoors? (USU Extension)
►Fruit, Vegetable, and Herb growing guides (USU Extension) - covers 75+ foods you can grow, from Artichoke and Asparagus to Wasabi, Watercress and Watermelon. (You thought I’d say Zucchini, didn’t you! Nope. Zucchini is listed under “Summer and Winter Squash.”)
►Vegetable and Herb Book: a food growing book, free online, from USU Extension Office. It has all their "In the Garden" pages in one place. They list what the best growing conditions are for each type of vegetable, fertilizing requirements, best varieties for Utah, and more. This is great!
►Common Weeds of the Yard and Garden-- available free in digital form, or low cost in a printed and bound version.
►Growing food year-round:
• Make your own simple, portable greenhouses (high tunnels): http://www.hightunnels.org/
• Make them even faster and cheaper (low tunnels): https://www.mofga.org/resources/season-extension/season-extension-with-low-tunnels/, see here and here for individuals' experience using them.
If you want to use steel conduit, and don't want to pay $70+ for a pipe bender (available at Johnny's Selected Seeds), there are plans to make your own at Mother Earth News. Or search YouTube for tutorials.
►Choosing a tree: USU Extension Office's "Tree Browser"
Finances
►One For the Money by Marvin J. Ashton
►Family Finances, from providentliving.org
►http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/
►Dave Ramsey's website
God, and Country
►The Family: A Proclamation to the World
►The Proper Role of Government by Ezra Taft Benson. A shorter version in a printable pdf is here.
►The Constitution- A Heavenly Banner (talk) Ezra Taft Benson
►Is Socialism the United Order? by Marion G. Romney
►Reflections on a Consecrated Life by D. Todd Christofferson
►The Divine Gift of Gratitude by Thomas S. Monson
►General Conference Activities for Children- from the Church of Jesus Christ
►Other General Conference resources for children
►Cliches of Socialism, book printed by the Foundation for Economic Education,1970
►That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen, Frederic Bastiat
►The Law, Frederic Bastiat
Books
►Books from The Millennial Standard Press; these files may be used for personal, noncommercial purposes only
►A Meeting With the Principle- Google Drive version
►A Meeting With the Principle- Audio version, read by the author, Soundcloud file
►Millennial Instructor Volume 1- O 'Bee' Wise, Google drive
►Millennial Instructor Volume 2- Upon My Rock, Google drive
►Millennial Instructor Volume 3- The True Olive Tree, Google drive
Supplemental activities to go with Volume 3, created by a reader
Handwriting and activity workbook to go with Volume 3, created by another reader
►"New Ideas for Cooking with Basic Food Storage", free pdf cookbook, printed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, using basic food storage items
►Essentials of Home Production and Storage, published 1978 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
►The Encyclopedia of Country Living, Carla Emery, covers just about everything you need to know about self-sufficient living.
►Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables, Mike and Nancy Bubel
►Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation, by the Gardeners and Farmers of Centre Terre Vivante (France)
►So Easy To Preserve 375 pages, guide to canning, pickling, dehydrating, freezing, all tested recipes up to the USDA safety standards
►Ball Blue Book 124 pages, step-by-step pictures for each concept: freezing, canning, pickling, dehydrating, USDA tested recipes
►Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman, Barbara Damrosch
►Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost, Wood-Fired Mud Oven; Simple Sourdough Bread; Perfect Loaves by Kiko Denzer
►Amy's Bread by Amy Scherber and Toy Kim Dupree. The first edition is the book I cut my European-bread teeth on, after my brother came home from two years in Spain, raving about their bread. Very detailed instructions, so anyone can do it. Some of her recipes have become staples at my house. Once I've made a recipe a time or two, I jot down the 'summarized' instructions in the margins. Some of her recipes can also be found online on The Food Network.
►The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens by Daniel Wing. He not only writes about bread recipes and formulas, but specifically addresses how to bake in a masonry/clay/earth oven. Excellent resource for learning to work with this type of oven. Most recipes are European-type breads- low in sugars and fats, with long fermentation times to unlock the nutrients within the grains.
►The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread, by Peter Reinhart . A fabulous book if you want to get serious about consistently turning out great artisan/European breads.
►Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg, MD, and Zoe Francois. A good book if you're just starting on the artisan bread path (or the baking-bread-at-home-path!), especially if you are cooking for just yourself or a small family.
►Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients , Jeff Hertzberg, MD, and Zoe Francois. These recipes use a lot less white (processed) flour than the authors' first book. You will need to have powdered gluten for most of the recipes, though some recipes are completely gluten-free (for celiacs or similar)
*Disclaimer* -- Listing a site or book does not necessarily imply wholehearted endorsement of all information included in it. (Some of the sites/books, yes; all, no.) I have not reviewed all information on each site, page, or book, but have found enough good information to consider it a favorite resource.
Please realize, too, that most of these topics overlap, so something listed under ‘plants and gardening’ likely has great information for ‘cooking’ or ‘home storage’ as well.
Home storage and organization –
►Resources at http://www.providentliving.org --An official site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Topics on the site include Education, Emergency Preparedness, Employment, Finances, Food Storage, Gardening, and Physical Health.
►LDS Home Storage Center locator and order form
►The Family Home Storage pamphlet from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The church has encouraged its members, for more than 150 years, to increase their self-reliance, including (but not limited to!) having a food reserve at home. This pamphlet covers their latest basic recommendations.
►http://www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net - their "Tools" tab has an Excel Spreadsheet that will give you a storage/shopping list for your own, customized, three-month supply.
Emergency preparedness-
►"Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country" - A booklet published by the State of Utah about planning for earthquakes. It's full of good info. Pages 22-23 have more information about keeping your belongings from crashing all over during an earthquake.
►Info on assembling a disaster kit, including what documents to put in your emergency binder
►Home Storage Inventory page- nice and simple- found on page 5 of this food storage cookbook, Bee Prepared Pantry Cookbook (free, no copyright)
►USGS- Latest Earthquakes in the World
Self reliance-
►Rocket Stove - can be made small or big, concentrates the heat! I've cooked a whole pound of pasta in a pan on a small one of these, using 3 sticks, about 1" wide and 12" long. This link shows you one way to make your own, but there are lots of variations. One company that makes them is StoveTec , in Oregon.
►Build Your Own Wood-Fired Oven Kiko Denzer's article in Mother Earth News
►The Simple Art of Making an Earth Oven- Kiko's article in Permaculture Magazine
►How to Make Your Own Charcoal- from Twin Oaks Forge's website
►Making and using solar cookers- lots of simple plans to choose from at http://solarcooking.org/plans/
►Dr. Jones’ BYU solar cooker- very inexpensive to make
►Solar Funnel Cooker Youtube presentation by DrJones
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzUcAyse ... re=related
How to make and use the solar funnel cooker.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dT6kY54 ... re=related
Using the solar funnel as a REFRIGERATOR at night. Also shows the charcoal briquet oven at the end.
►the collapsible ‘Fun-Panel’ solar cooker
►Range Plants of Utah photos and description of plants you'll find growing wild, plus uses for wildlife, livestock, and people
►Making your own vinegar- useful for cleaning as well as cooking!
Cooking and Recipes-
►The American Frugal Housewife - 1838 cookbook, online version. In addition to cooking, this covers housekeeping, budgeting, making do, and much more. Find it in pdf here.
►Store This, Not That! Everyday Food Storage- using long-term storage foods in your regular cooking. There are some beautiful handouts on things like wheat- how to store, use, and what the differences in variety are.
►The Prudent Homemaker blog -from a mom in Nevada who had to live off food storage for two years. She also homeschools, gardens as much as she can, does heirloom sewing, and is full of practical information. She does all the photography for her site, and it is beautiful.
►Uncle Phaedrus, Consulting Detective and Finder of Lost Recipes I love this! I learn something new about food or history every time I check out his site or archives.
►Cake Loves Me -- basic cake frostings and fluffy fillings, with lots of simple variations.
►Top Favorite Food Storage Cookbook! The Bee Prepared Pantry Cookbook Lots of great recipes that use basic food storage ingredients, created by a couple LDS Stake food storage specialists in Sandy, UT. There is no copyright on this. If you live along the Wasatch Front, you can pick up one of these, already in a binder, sold just for cost, at Help U Mail in Sandy. Their address is 10291 S. 1300 E., phone number (801) 571-1441. This is designed to go in a binder, so you can add more recipes as you find them.
►Fabulous information! The Wooden Spoon Cooking School handouts- written by the same ladies as the The Bee Prepared Pantry Cookbook, for a cooking school hosted for a very limited time by the LDS Church at their Welfare Square. Even more information and recipes, just not quite in book form. Sections include: Introduction, Legumes, A Meal In A Bag, Oats, Honey, and Sugar, Powdered Milk, Wheat, Spices, Rice and Pasta. I also have a few pages of notes and corrections for the Powdered Milk handout.
►Organic Emily - a great resource for those living along the Wasatch Front. Some of the best prices anywhere for mostly-locally-grown and organic grains.
►Rainy Day Food (previously "Walton Wheat" or "Walton Feed")- one source for buying grains in bulk. Located in southern Idaho. Other sources include Honeyville Grains, Azure Standard, Auguson Farms, kitchen stores (this one, in my area), and local co-ops.
►http://www.50plusfriends.com/cookbook/index.html This has several 'online' versions of cookbooks, you just click on a recipe name. The one I've spent the most time with is their "Crockery Pot Cooking" link; it has well over 300 crockpot recipes, including things like Rosemary-infused oil, pumpkin bread, butter mints, hot mulled cider, fruit cobblers, rice pudding, in addition to all the beans and meat items you're used to seeing.
For those with food allergies:
►No Wheat, Dairy, Eggs, or Nuts! blog- My sister's blog. As you can guess from the title, her children could not eat wheat, dairy, eggs, or nuts. Talk about having to change your cooking!
►Basics on gluten-free flours, plus substitutes for eggs and dairy ingredients, from "Simply Gluten Free" magazine
►Gluten-free and More, the website for "Simply Gluten Free," a magazine for those with allergies and food sensitivities. Some of their recipes are at their site, but to get all of them, buy the magazine. It's usually worth it, especially if you're new to gluten- or dairy-free cooking.
Preserving Food-
►'How to Waste Less' food posts:
-Reducing Food Waste, and What To Do With Sour Milk
-Cutting Food Waste
►How to eat well and still spend less
►Canning 101 - Free video trainings from the USU Extension Office, for lots of kinds of canning, from marmalade to meat.
►Canning Meat, from Backwoods Home Magazine
►"How To Can Anything" You'll have to see this one to appreciate the treasure trove it is. It has step-by-step canning photos, how-to's, why-to's, why-not-to's, plus lots and lots of recipes. Also has links for purchasing what you'll need.
►Which foods can be safely bottled at home
There's also a great FB canning group, called "We Might Be Crazy But We're Not Stupid"-- they are careful to stay within USDA safety guidelines.
►Tattler reusable canning lids
►http://www.dehydrate2store.com/ - how, what, and why to dehydrate. Lots of videos, including one on building good-looking, shallow shelves for your storage jars.
►How to dry-pack foods This link has several links within it.
►Making and Using Vegetable powders
►Storing Vegetables At Home --How to store them through the winter, even without a root cellar.
►Storing Fruits and Vegetables at home: see page 5 at this link for a chart of what foods prefer similar conditions.
►http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-homesteading/root-cellaring-zm0z85zsie.aspx Written by Mike and Nancy Bubel (who wrote the book on Amazon, considered the 'bible' of root cellaring!)
►http://www.nepanewsletter.com/cellar.html gives an excellent, detailed overview of what you learn in the Bubel's book
►“Return of the Root Cellars”-- great overview.
►Hows, whys, recipes, & supplies for making consistent quality pickled (lacto-fermented) foods. I haven’t tried these yet, but I have been adding more fermented foods to our diet. Also this: https://myfermentedfoods.com/how-make-lacto-fermented-pickles/
Sewing-
►"Apron Evangelism" - Great article on why to wear an apron! Trust me on this. Makes me laugh.
►Free apron patterns, including some vintage ones. Two of my favorites are the "Free Ripply Apron pattern- Vintage 1951" and "Vintage Apron Bonnet Pattern," a half-apron that doubles as a sunbonnet
Plants and gardening-
►Track down local growers and co-ops. It's hard to beat a local mentor!
►Your local/county/state/national Extension Office; here's one for Utah. All states have an extension office, as do as many countries across the world. I've seen ones in Ghana and Australia. https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/ I mostly use their "publications" section- on Food & Nutrition, and Horticulture (gardening). Many of them have email newsletters you can sign up to receive. They also have good sections on Families and Finance.
Growing a garden without buying packets of garden seeds:
• Overview of Seed Saving - blog post, chart, and seed saving/ plant propagation links.
• 10 Ways to Regrow Food in Water
• Start thinking GARDEN! - The Provident Homemaker
• More seeds from your kitchen - The Provident Homemaker
►www.seedsavers.org/mission
►www.seedsave.org
►Seed Saving instruction booklet, on Kindle, $5, by Bill McDorman
https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Seed-Saving-instructions-wildflowers-ebook/dp/B01A83JYB4
►If you're wanting to identify plants so you know what to pull out of the garden, or if you want to know the names so you can find out in what ways they can be used, Weeds of the West is the best I've found- at least for the western U.S. It's out of print so hard copies can be a little pricey, but there's a free pdf here. You'll need to scroll down a page to see it.
►Once you know what a plant is, look it up on Plants For A Future. You'll be amazed; every weed actually has a use. Usually several uses. Plants For A Future contains a database of 7000+ plants, listing Edible, Medicinal, and Other Plant Uses.
►http://www.motherearthliving.com/ An online magazine also available in print, made from combining two previous magazines, "Herb Companion" and "Natural Home", dedicated to growing and using herbs for food, health, and beauty.
►Grow Your Own Transplants at Home:
• Start Your Own Seedlings Indoors (USU Extension)
• Can I Start My Vegetable Garden Indoors? (USU Extension)
►Fruit, Vegetable, and Herb growing guides (USU Extension) - covers 75+ foods you can grow, from Artichoke and Asparagus to Wasabi, Watercress and Watermelon. (You thought I’d say Zucchini, didn’t you! Nope. Zucchini is listed under “Summer and Winter Squash.”)
►Vegetable and Herb Book: a food growing book, free online, from USU Extension Office. It has all their "In the Garden" pages in one place. They list what the best growing conditions are for each type of vegetable, fertilizing requirements, best varieties for Utah, and more. This is great!
►Common Weeds of the Yard and Garden-- available free in digital form, or low cost in a printed and bound version.
►Growing food year-round:
• Make your own simple, portable greenhouses (high tunnels): http://www.hightunnels.org/
• Make them even faster and cheaper (low tunnels): https://www.mofga.org/resources/season-extension/season-extension-with-low-tunnels/, see here and here for individuals' experience using them.
If you want to use steel conduit, and don't want to pay $70+ for a pipe bender (available at Johnny's Selected Seeds), there are plans to make your own at Mother Earth News. Or search YouTube for tutorials.
►Choosing a tree: USU Extension Office's "Tree Browser"
Finances
►One For the Money by Marvin J. Ashton
►Family Finances, from providentliving.org
►http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/
►Dave Ramsey's website
God, and Country
►The Family: A Proclamation to the World
►The Proper Role of Government by Ezra Taft Benson. A shorter version in a printable pdf is here.
►The Constitution- A Heavenly Banner (talk) Ezra Taft Benson
►Is Socialism the United Order? by Marion G. Romney
►Reflections on a Consecrated Life by D. Todd Christofferson
►The Divine Gift of Gratitude by Thomas S. Monson
►General Conference Activities for Children- from the Church of Jesus Christ
►Other General Conference resources for children
►Cliches of Socialism, book printed by the Foundation for Economic Education,1970
►That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen, Frederic Bastiat
►The Law, Frederic Bastiat
Books
►Books from The Millennial Standard Press; these files may be used for personal, noncommercial purposes only
►A Meeting With the Principle- Google Drive version
►A Meeting With the Principle- Audio version, read by the author, Soundcloud file
►Millennial Instructor Volume 1- O 'Bee' Wise, Google drive
►Millennial Instructor Volume 2- Upon My Rock, Google drive
►Millennial Instructor Volume 3- The True Olive Tree, Google drive
Supplemental activities to go with Volume 3, created by a reader
Handwriting and activity workbook to go with Volume 3, created by another reader
►"New Ideas for Cooking with Basic Food Storage", free pdf cookbook, printed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, using basic food storage items
►Essentials of Home Production and Storage, published 1978 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
►The Encyclopedia of Country Living, Carla Emery, covers just about everything you need to know about self-sufficient living.
►Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables, Mike and Nancy Bubel
►Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation, by the Gardeners and Farmers of Centre Terre Vivante (France)
►So Easy To Preserve 375 pages, guide to canning, pickling, dehydrating, freezing, all tested recipes up to the USDA safety standards
►Ball Blue Book 124 pages, step-by-step pictures for each concept: freezing, canning, pickling, dehydrating, USDA tested recipes
►Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman, Barbara Damrosch
►Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-Cost, Wood-Fired Mud Oven; Simple Sourdough Bread; Perfect Loaves by Kiko Denzer
►Amy's Bread by Amy Scherber and Toy Kim Dupree. The first edition is the book I cut my European-bread teeth on, after my brother came home from two years in Spain, raving about their bread. Very detailed instructions, so anyone can do it. Some of her recipes have become staples at my house. Once I've made a recipe a time or two, I jot down the 'summarized' instructions in the margins. Some of her recipes can also be found online on The Food Network.
►The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens by Daniel Wing. He not only writes about bread recipes and formulas, but specifically addresses how to bake in a masonry/clay/earth oven. Excellent resource for learning to work with this type of oven. Most recipes are European-type breads- low in sugars and fats, with long fermentation times to unlock the nutrients within the grains.
►The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread, by Peter Reinhart . A fabulous book if you want to get serious about consistently turning out great artisan/European breads.
►Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg, MD, and Zoe Francois. A good book if you're just starting on the artisan bread path (or the baking-bread-at-home-path!), especially if you are cooking for just yourself or a small family.
►Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients , Jeff Hertzberg, MD, and Zoe Francois. These recipes use a lot less white (processed) flour than the authors' first book. You will need to have powdered gluten for most of the recipes, though some recipes are completely gluten-free (for celiacs or similar)