Tis the season! My entertainment center is again full of tidings and most of the family and friends have checked in. O Wise One is outside burning the christmas trash as I write this blog. A pot of red beans simmers in the crockpot full of onions and smoked sausage and the smell of cornbread baking permeates the house.
Snow is still on the ground but the sun is shining and it is melting fast. A new storm is predicted for Sunday and we will start all over again. I sit here and listen to the melting snow slide off the tin roof. These are the days here on the homestead for dreaming. A time to plant, a time to harvest and a time to plan and dream. I anxiously pour over the incoming seed catalogs and gardening books. These are the days when I visit my old friends on the book shelf and make new ones. Bookshelves are scattered all over my house. Everyone here is an avid reader. We carry bags of books at a time out of our county library this time of year. Most people go to town for groceries we go to town to replenish our book supplies.
Bookshelves are tucked in corners all over my house. You can find anything from cooking and preserving to farming, wildlife, trapping, herbs, herbal medicine and insect books. Many we use regularly in our lives here on the homestead, they stand on those shelves waiting for the next dilemma when we come to them looking for ideas and answers.
A small table sits beside my recliner upstairs and my regulars are waiting there. Mostly gardening books covering everything from passalong plants to garden design. Many of these books and magazines gifts from my own children down through the years.
And this year I add a new friend to my gardening favorites. Baby O bought me The Planet Whizbang Idea Book For Gardeners by Herrick Kimball. O Wise One and I have been followers of Mr. Kimball's various websites for years. He is the only other man I have ever met that skins a deer with a golfball like O Wise One. Not only is Mr. Kimball an avid gardener but also an inventor and small business man. Many of his products can be found on his website. The great thing about his products is that THEY WORK!
Now I have been a gardener since a small child. In my teen years I was a member of the State 4-H Plant Science Team. As an adult the love of gardening stayed with me and for a time my first husband and I actually owned a greenhouse manufacturing corporation. I have been to many agricultural/horticultural trade shows through the years. There is not much that I haven't seen or heard of gardening wise during that time. But as you can see by the tabs above Mr. Kimball has managed to inspire even a hardened old gardener like me. Those book tabs in the picture above are all ideas I want to try in some form. O Wise One's spring honey do list has just grown by leaps and bounds thanks to this author.
Now the author did not provide me with this book but rather I put it on my amazon.com wishlist and Baby O purchased it for me as a Christmas gift. This review was my own idea and I have received nothing for it. I will say if you are looking for a good gardening book with lots of useful ideas on gardening this is the book for you. Most of his projects in this book are inexpensive and utilize either things that are already around your garden or things easily available locally. It covers everything from garden trellising to pruning tomatoes to yokes, soil remineralization, hoe care and planting tips. If you buy the book there is even a (secret) website provided for additional pictures and information supporting the book. This book will not let you down. I cannot recommend this gardening book highly enough. If you are looking for a gardening book to curl up with and inspire a new spring project this book will not let you down. Your husband may not be happy with the results : )
You can find the book at the link below or on amazon
If you would like to read more about the author here is the link
You can also find his link daily on my sidebar where it has been for years. Many thanks to Baby O for buying mama the book and to the author for a great self published book.
I would love to know what is your favorite homesteading skills reference book?
I would love to know what is your favorite homesteading skills reference book?
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
Is he the Whizbang Chicken Plucker guy? lol Our little homestead sounds like yours...ah...let the dreaming begin...
ReplyDeleteYep that's him! My next investment is some of his new American made clothes pins. They are a little on the expensive side but have to be better than the ones on the market from overseas which are really kind of crap!
DeleteI was just going to ask you if you bought any of his new clothes pins-thought the best buy was his kits-but decided although I loved them just couldn't afford them and didn't know how hard it was to get the springs on them. let us know how you like using them
Delete...a golf ball?! If you haven't already talked about skinning and prepping deer, I would love to hear about this.
ReplyDeleteHe actually has a tutorial of sorts on his blog site check it out!
DeleteWould you give a link to his website?
DeleteYou can find his website here
Deletehttp://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/
Here is the link to the deer skinning tutorial. WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS
Deletehttp://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2007/01/fun-fast-way-to-skin-deer.html
The Whizbang book is super. Already used the hint to plant raspberries around stakes and I can't tell you how easy it is going to be to keep them weeded plus picking will be a breeze. Plus you don't have to put them in long rows like using wires.. This is a great book. Hope this post goes thru. Seems something happens to most of my replies to you. If it does could you think about a post on your favorite seed varieities???
ReplyDeleteI sure can write a post on my favorite varieties.
DeleteAwesome! Any recommendation from you works great for me! Thanks so much for sharing good stuff. I get so sick of all the gimmicky books out there people are promoting. I used to just buy them all but finally stopped that quite a few years ago & started getting them from the library first to check them out.. Since I've been doing that, there are very few that I actually go ahead & buy these days.. I bought this one though.. It sounds like something I'd love as well as the websites! Thanks so much for the recommendations!
ReplyDeleteGlad you're spending some downtime relaxing & dreaming.. Blessings to you & yours for a wonderful New Year!
Kimberly like you I rarely buy gardening books anymore. So many are just gimmicks. Like you I check some out of the library but rarely find one that I am willing to purchase. Many of my go to books are very old gardening books that are really back to the basics gardening. I do trust this author though in both his books and his products. Have a Happy New Year!
DeleteCQ
I am sorry to say that I am unable to garden, but I dream that I am one and that's what I love about your blog. AND a bonus is that you are from or have lived in Louisiana. I am from the New Orleans area and, to me, there is nothing better than a good pot of red beans and rice (with ham hocks, celery, garlic pow and bay leaf). Little slice of heaven!! My fav red beans are Camellia Red Beans. Are you able to get those in MO?
ReplyDeleteLoretta this old gal grew up around the Ponchatoula area right on the edge of the Natalbany River. That is just on the other side of Lake Ponchatrain near the Manchac Swamps. Spent most of my summers in NO as a child as I had several aunts that lived there : ) I am just tickled that you are able to garden through me. No I cannot buy Camellia Red beans up here! I got so homesick for them I had a family member mail them to me and I planted them right out of the bag. Now I grow them every year from seeds I originally saved from New Orleans. I love mine with Tasso, garlic powder, onions and bay. A side order of my mama's buttermilk corn bread and some rice and I am in heaven.
DeleteHugs CQ
Well, I grew up in Metairie but now my parents (my Mom passed recently) live in Covington across the lake. I've been to the Manchac area though. I now live in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, but my home will always be Louisiana. I still get homesick even though I've been here in Georgia since 1988. Most Mondays I cook red beans and rice!! Retta :-)
DeleteHow Funny! I was born just north of Atlanta in the Ellijay Area and then as an infant my family moved near New Orleans where I grew up. Baby O was born in Covington. Like you Louisiana will always be considered my home.
DeleteI have many of the same books you do. Once, we were visiting in Grain Valley MO and to kill some time while waiting on a family member, we visited their branch of the library. My girls asked the librarian how many titles they had, and much to their delite, discovered we have more books than that library did...Of course, they rotate their books thru the other branches, but it still struck a cord with them how lucky we are to have books as our friends--especially on days when we may be snowed or iced in.
ReplyDeleteI also recently purchased Herrick's book! I love it - so many great ideas.
ReplyDeleteYou asked for ideas for other books for homesteaders - here's a list of some that I've bought recently:
http://green-change.com/2013/11/25/sustainability-books/
All that snow! I think it's amazing that you start every year again from scratch! i feel so lucky that we can garden year round where we are :) As for a reference book? Hmmm, mine are Australian Diggers mainly... I think local knowledge is always the best though when it comes to gardening!
ReplyDeleteI'm ordering the whizbag gardening book as a present for me. I'm so excited that it won't be too long before I'm back in the garden again.
ReplyDeleteI hope everything is OK. I read your blog faithfully and it's been quite awhile since you posted. Hope it's just a well.
My favorite homesteading reference book is my 1981 version of Reader's Digest Back To Basics How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills. It has everything you need to know about homesteading from building a home to canning and everything in between. If you ever find a copy in a used bookstore, grab it!
ReplyDelete