Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Wisdom Is In Its Pages

Customer Rating:

If you want a great book to help you simplify your life and begin to wean you and your family off the rampant consumerism of today, THIS IS IT. I actually bought it a couple of years ago, but with today's oil crunch and people trying to save money and produce more, thought it would be a good time to recommend such a book to my friends. "Country Wisdom And Know-How" from editor's publishing covers everything from caring for animals, to building suitable gates, to caning chairs, pest proofing your garden, growing food, canning food, and cooking food. It even teaches you how to make wine! This book covers EVERYTHING you need to know to start on the road to live more off the land and your own two hands than depending on others to do everything for you. It is an oversized paperback book, the cover seems to be made out of old grocery sacks (it has that look and feel) and may even be made of recycled material. I have used this book a good bit over the past two years and found the advice is sound, practical and easy to understand. I recommend that EVERYONE interested in getting their lifestyle simplified buy this book. You won't regret it.

Whole Earth Catalog for the 21st century

Customer Rating:

A book for the 21st century in the spirit of the Whole Earth Catalog. Big and thorough, it goes into detail upon detail of the stuff you aunt or uncle would have told you if they lived in the country. While they don't tell you where to buy stuff (WEC did), it does tell you what to look for when you buy, so maybe a better deal? My only complaint is that the type is so small I've had to order a magnifier to read it.

This book is responsible for me moving!

Customer Rating:

Our copy of Country Wisdom & Know-How is very worn and tattered but still remains the focal point of our coffee table. I discovered this book at a Barnes & Noble while living in the city. Was attracted to it because of it's paper-bag-like cover. Even though I lived in the middle of a city, in an apartment, I bought it anyway. My wife and I became hooked! Fell in love with the idea of having a hobby farm because of this book and packed up and moved to the country. Everything you could think of is stuffed into this book, from Beekeeping to butchering chickens to building a compost bin. The book it's self is huge, but the print is very small. The "organic" looking cover doesn't last long. But the material inside is awesome. Since this book, my wife and I have started a small side business keeping honeybees and selling our honey at farmers markets. We also enjoy making pickles, canning, raising chickens, and watching our daughter grow up in a world much richer than what we had in the city. Highly recommend this book for any city dweller interested in starting a life in the country. It's a reference you'll never live without!

Great Info but Greatly Disappointing Book

Customer Rating:

A huge compendium of information from animal husbandry to construction and crafts to gardening...even how to recipes. That's the good news. I have great admiration for Storey Books and own many of their products. This book, however, is not up to par with their other products. The publishing (not by Storey itself) leaves much to be desired. I'm surprised Storey put their name to it. I'd have gladly paid triple the price for a better quality soft-cover or hard-cover books with good quality pages and larger print...even if in several volumes. In fact, that's exactly what Storey should do with this and the similar "Survival Wisdom" book. They would be great hits and huge sellers. So what if it's a collection all in one book. The brown paper cover and lighter-than-newsprint pages require extremely delicate handling, and the tiny print is almost painful to read. Much, if not all, of this book's contents are from the Storey "Country Wisdom Bulletin" series. It would ceratinly cost more, but a set of the bulletins may be the better option. Overall, I'm disappointed. Regardless how potentially useful the information in its pages, this book is not a prudent buy.

Country Wisdom & Know-How

Customer Rating:

My daughter is really into reading about homesteading, and hopes to eventually find her own little slice of heaven. This is an excellent book, with lots of information. Although it's a very large book- which I wasn't expecting (approx. 11x17 soft cover), I do give it a good rating, because it's the information that counts. 2 other books we also purchased: Five Acres and Independence & The Modern Homestead Manual