Actually, in most cases it isn't, but it is pasteurized. Sterilization would make the medium insanely contamination-ridden, due to the lack of competing microbes. Once mold starts growing, you've gotta toss the medium completely. While this is probably a nice hippy-dippy way to sell mushrooms, there's no way it's going to maintain healthy flushes for long with a "tame" culture like agaricus bisporus. It just can't compete with molds like trichoderma, which is possibly the most common mold on earth. That's not counting the possibly hundreds of people touching the growth medium, throwing their trash in it, discarding unwanted mushrooms into the pile, and the like.

I've read a lot about it (I was once an aspiring mushroom farmer) and I believe it has something to do with pressure+heat killing fungal spores, but leaving beneficial bacterial endospores intact. Essentially, the bacteria and other microbes take up real estate until the fungus shows up, and then it moves into their turf and consumes them as well.

The interesting thing is that in commerical mushroom grows, pasteurization temps are reached naturally due to the size of manure piles. The mass of the piles coupled with the immense activity of microbes within them raises the internal temperature to anywhere between 140f-170f.

Source: Paul Stamets, The Mushroom Cultivator and Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms.

Edit
Here's some more places to find information about mushrooms, since I'm hardly an expert. I'm just a guy who reads a lot, essentially.

Books:

• Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, Paul Stamets
  
• The Mushroom Cultivator, Paul Stamets
  
  Those are the standard grow manuals, but if anyone has a suggestion for a more comprehensive or up-to-date manual, it'd be welcome. Mycelium Running is a great book if you're just looking for a fun read about mushrooms.
  
  Websites:
  
  
• /r/mycology - The subreddit devoted to mushroom growing and identification. Probably more relevant info here if you're interested in growing mostly edibles.
  
  
• Fungi Perfecti is good for equipment (I bought all my HEPA filters there, at the time they were the cheapest around). I think they have a YouTube channel too, and that's got some interesting stuff on it.
  
  
• Shroomery.org is a moderately famous mushroom growing forum, with a bit of a bent more toward psychedelics. However, I found tons of great people and information in the edible mushroom forum, and I received a few commerical grade cultures from a very generous member. There can be a bit of a circlejerk surrounding some "celebrities" that post there, but take what they say with a grain of salt, and always fact check against your grow manual. If you see something that looks stupid, it probably is, unless it works. Edit: I don't think Reddit likes linking to the Shroomery, removed the formatting.
  
  Videos:
  
  
• TED Talks: Paul Stamets - Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save The World - This is basically his "standard" speech he gives when he does talks. There have probably been additions and improvements to it, but the message hasn't really changed. This is "Mycelium Running" in about 5 minutes. Watch this to decide whether you want to read that book.
  
  
• Let's Grow Mushrooms! by Roger Rabbit - One of the aforementioned Shroomery celebrities. His videos are helpful, but make sure to fact check why you're doing stuff, because he tends to leave a lot of that out. This is very nuts and bolts demonstrations of how to prepare substrate, how to provide humidity at a low cost, and several different methods of growing for different species of mushrooms.
  

Bingo. There's a whole school of study and thought around the concept of animals and plants which have taken the evolutionary route of being useful and harvestable to another species in order for themselves to thrive. I highly recommend The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan, which explores how the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato have all evolved to serve a specific human desire. Good stuff. Personally, I'm fond of chickens. There are more than 20 billion chickens on Earth at any given time simply because they're delicious and relatively easy to raise for harvest. It's a great strategy, chickens aren't going extinct any time soon. In a way, they're gaming the system.

I wouldn't hold my breath or assume that it is a "fact". Judging from the negative reviews on Amazon the book is full of bad science and unfounded speculations.

Never read it, probably never will.

Some remarks:

>In fact, he merely collects a few observations, speculations and his own personal circumperambulations of, about and around a plant and tosses them into the hopper. His chapter on marijuana was so incoherant I began to think it was deliberate - an exemplar of marijuana's effect.

and another

>What is unfortunate about this book is that it has and will be read by many people who have not been exposed to much science writing and, even worse, think that what Pollen is writing about is well-reasoned and insightful. It is neither. Dates and facts are routinely confused and the grasp of theology is as weak as science. If one is interested in evolution, Stephen Jay Gould is a good place to start; for natural history, Diane Ackerman is a great writer who also knows how to do her research.

Source

Obviously just peoples' opinions but I would take the broomstick-dildo connection with a grain of salt.

If you move the decimal over. This is about 1,000 in books...

(If I had to pick a few for 100 bucks: encyclopedia of country living, survival medicine, wilderness medicine, ball preservation, art of fermentation, a few mushroom and foraging books.)


Medical:

Where there is no doctor

Where there is no dentist

Emergency War Surgery

The survival medicine handbook

Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine

Special Operations Medical Handbook

Food Production

Mini Farming

encyclopedia of country living

square foot gardening

Seed Saving

Storey’s Raising Rabbits

Meat Rabbits

Aquaponics Gardening: Step By Step

Storey’s Chicken Book

Storey Dairy Goat

Storey Meat Goat

Storey Ducks

Storey’s Bees

Beekeepers Bible

bio-integrated farm

soil and water engineering

Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation

Food Preservation and Cooking

Steve Rinella’s Large Game Processing

Steve Rinella’s Small Game

Ball Home Preservation

Charcuterie

Root Cellaring

Art of Natural Cheesemaking

Mastering Artesian Cheese Making

American Farmstead Cheesemaking

Joe Beef: Surviving Apocalypse

Wild Fermentation

Art of Fermentation

Nose to Tail

Artisan Sourdough

Designing Great Beers

The Joy of Home Distilling

Foraging

Southeast Foraging

Boletes

Mushrooms of Carolinas

Mushrooms of Southeastern United States

Mushrooms of the Gulf Coast


Tech

farm and workshop Welding

ultimate guide: plumbing

ultimate guide: wiring

ultimate guide: home repair

off grid solar

Woodworking

Timberframe Construction

Basic Lathework

How to Run A Lathe

Backyard Foundry

Sand Casting

Practical Casting

The Complete Metalsmith

Gears and Cutting Gears

Hardening Tempering and Heat Treatment

Machinery’s Handbook

How to Diagnose and Fix Everything Electronic

Electronics For Inventors

Basic Science


Chemistry

Organic Chem

Understanding Basic Chemistry Through Problem Solving

Ham Radio

AARL Antenna Book

General Class Manual

Tech Class Manual


MISC

Ray Mears Essential Bushcraft

Contact!

Nuclear War Survival Skills

The Knowledge: How to rebuild civilization in the aftermath of a cataclysm

Two general types of experience you can get: hands-on, and book learning.

The former is very important, but not too difficult to do. A fair number of people in the Portland area go mushroom hunting occasionally, even if they only know a species of two. Sucking up to the right people is surprisingly effective. Also, getting in touch with or joining organizations like Oregon Mycological Society or the Cascade Mycological Society can be immensely helpful in making contacts and finding hunting partners/mentors.

The latter is also very important, as there is some much you can learn without actually holding a mushroom in your hands. For books, accessible guides like Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest and All That the Rain promises and More are great for getting started, and heftier books like Mushrooms Demystified are good for those looking to take the next step in learning. Online, the hunting and identification board on The Shroomery, Mushroom Observer, and /r/mycology are great places to lurk and just soak in info, while sites like Mushroom Expert are good places to explore and follow what interests you.

A friend took me when I was a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed college kid. I took our findings to a mycologist on campus who spent 20 minutes describing proper browning-in-butter protocol. I was hooked- both on mushrooming and the goofy people involved. I already collect field identification books, so I have a shelf in my bookcase just for mushroom ID and foraging. Every time i go out i try to ID a new mushie. Anything im super lost on i take to a mycologist friend in town, or i email the prof at OSU (which is 30 minutes drive) and bug them with it.

I also have permits for personal collection of mushrooms in all the local national forests (most were free) and researched the county and state park rules for collection on their property. Gotta be responsible, yo.

I recommend picking up All That Rain Promises and More (link) and the unabridged Mushrooms Demystified link2 because i reference both a TON, The first one is waterproof, and David is a certified goofball.

Great work!

I put in several similar beds last spring as well. I've been gardening for nearly a decade now, but this is my first year doing raised beds using Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot method. I plan to dabble in some permaculture techniques eventually.

I can't say enough about the Square foot gardening if you want to maximize the yield in smaller spaces. I grew 8 tomatoes using the described method--1 plant per square foot--and several others using my previous method of "let 'em bush out like mad".

For larger indeterminate tomatoes, I'll never go back to the bush growing ways. The bush method works best for determinate and small tomatoes like cherries or grapes. For the square foot method the idea is to build an 8ft tall trellis and train them vertically. Pinch all suckers off once or twice weekly, which results in a single vertical stem/vine per plant rather than a giant tomato bush.

You'll get less yield per plant, but considerably higher yield per square foot of space. Tomatoes grown this way ripen quickly, and entire sets of fruit ripen together. The fruit is more uniform and less likely to be damaged by pests, and it's dramatically easier to harvest. It takes a bit more management to keep them pruned and trained, but it's well worth it come harvest time. I can't suggest it enough.

The square foot method isn't as great for some other veggies, however. Brassicae (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, etc) need way more than 1 sq foot per plant. Want to grow squash or melon? Better dedicate an entire bed to it. I was shocked at how well it works for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, salad greens, herbs, etc though.

I'd going to answer in two posts here, this one will link stuff to websites or amazon for physical books. The other will be more discussion based. (e.g. this is just a raw data dump.)

I have used some google foo and I'm willing to post links, note that many of these will overlap (that is they have the same free PDFs or HTML pages etc.) Others are a bit further out there, e.g. magnetic pole reversal etc.

You get the point though people compiled whatever they though the world might need after aliens, the clintons took your guns, or trump and putin nuke everybody, global warming, plague, etc. Since it takes a massive amount of work to put these together and most people are not dedicated enough to do so, they all have the flavor of whatever the person building them thought was most important.

Here is a list, use from it what you can. Including in the list are things like RACHEL, hardware hotspot for wifi that any computer can connect to, like a library box or pirate box. Many of these resources are focused on and in use in 3^rd world nations. things like the one laptop per child might be a perfect resource to allow some technology designed cheaply but ruggedly to have to access this stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD3WD

https://worldpossible.org/rachel

http://librarybox.us/

http://one.laptop.org/

http://www.appropedia.org/Welcome_to_Appropedia

http://www.fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/CD3WD/INDEX.HTM

cd3wd torrent magnet link. 2012 version

dropbox link for torrent files for the above if the magnet or trackers aren't working.

http://oer2go.org/

Pole shift library magnet link

Need 55 gigs of wikipedia offline? get it at this link

http://www.cs.amedd.army.mil/borden/Portlet.aspx?ID=cb88853d-5b33-4b3f-968c-2cd95f7b7809

http://hesperian.org/books-and-resources/

https://modernsurvivalonline.com/survival-database-downloads/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061992860

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452295831

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570618402

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933392452

https://graywolfsurvival.com/3083/documents-need-bugout-bag/

https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/

Here are some good “starter” books to go through. Starter in the sense that they give a good overview of generalized modern western Witchcraft along with a basis for Wicca is that so interest you. It also has some supplementary guides for those interested in alchemy, mirror work, spirit work and the like.

Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft and Buckland's Book of Spirit Communications are good books for getting a decent understanding of what could be (subjectively speaking) considered “traditional” witchcraft. I myself am NOT a fan of the Llewellyn branch of magick, as it is heavily based around forming structured groups and covens and much of the information seems more ceremonial than anything. That being said, these books give a great basic rundown into alot of different styles and tools you will most likely be using or want to use.

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner is great if you want to go down the Wicca path AND it’s made specifically for solitary practitioners along with having some of Scott Cunninghams own spells in it as well.

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs is a good rundown of many common and uncommon reagents used in witchcraft along with their metaphysical uses. Reader's Digest Magic and Medicine of Plants despite the name is a more practical and scientifically written book on the historical and medicinal used of many N. American plants.

Inside the Mirror Box: Spells and Theory for All Practitioners was actually written by a friend of mine. His book gives alot of information on actual spellwork, along with a large selection of Mirror Box spells and a short section on other uses for mirrors (such as divination).

And finally the Encyclopedia of Spirits is a great reference guide for those of us who want to work with specific entities. The author covers the full gamut of spirits and deities from the ancient gods to christian saints and archangels to lesser known spirits.

All New Square Foot Gardening II: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More in Less Space https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591865484/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_yZ8LBbKQCG5AP

Botany of Desire is a great book. In addition to potatoes, you also get apples, marijuana, and tulips.

Here is a good start

Have an accepted offer on 50+ acres of land (future home site). About 50% cleared for eventual pasture, 50% wooded. Lots of wildlife in the area, dirt is better than most of the area and plenty of pond sites available.

Ordered 'The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 40th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living off the Land & Doing It Yourself' when it dropped about $10 on Amazon. Reviews make it sound like a must-have book for our next adventure.

Read Five Acres and Independance. Best 8.96 you'll ever spend.

Sounds like you have some fantastic goals to get you going. A lot of others here have offered great advice too.

If you are in the U.S. I'll happily share some heirloom seeds that I have extras of to assist with planning your garden for Spring. If that interests you, please PM me and let me know what gardening zone you are in. I have lots of seeds to share that are suited for many climate zones.

Some general suggestions I have that you might consider include-

• Plan the construction of a smoke house for meat preservation.
  
  
• Start studying seed saving. If you choose to use heirloom seeds for your gardens, winter is a great time to read up on how to harvest seeds for future gardening endeavors. Here are a few resources-
  
  

• This is a great beginners guide that can be printed out for free as a handbook
  
  http://howtosaveseeds.com
  
  
• One of my favorite books on the subject
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Techniques-Vegetable-Gardeners/dp/1882424581
  
  

• Start experimenting with canning, fermenting, jam/ jelly, winemaking (if you drink), and other various methods of food preserving.
  
  
• Make a list of your hobbies. What things do you love to do? What crafts to you make? Is there a way that you could create part time work from these things on your list?
  
  
• Begin spending time at local farmers markets (if you don't already). If farmers markets are seasonal where you are, start mapping them out. IMO local farmers markets are such an amazing hub of community, information, advice and so much more. When you involve yourself with other locals in your area doing similar things, amazing connections can be made.
  
  
• Get to know your local County Agricultural Extension Office. Every state in the U.S. has at least one. They offer so many amazing free resources and many classes. Almost all have Master Gardeners programs, offer soil testing, have demonstration gardens, sell seeds bred for your locality, offer plant pest ID, printed information and more.
  

The Encyclopedia of Country Living

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs is a great resource for the many, many uses of herbs and other plants in magickal rituals.

Edit: Also, a ttrpg with accurate herbalism mechanics sounds cool as hell, I'd love to play it when it's complete!

Dave Jacke's book:
http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Forest-Gardens-2-set/dp/1890132608

Gaia's Garden:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603580298/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687542&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1890132608&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0DKFRRSMRZE5HP5F3XDB

Seconding u/theUnmutual6's recommendations, in addition to u/BlueSmoke95's suggestion to check out Ann Moura's work. I would like to recommend Ellen Dugan's Natural Witchery and her related domestic witchery books. Ellen is a certified Master Gardener and incorporates plants into much of her work.

Some of my favorite plant books!

Plant Science:

• Plant Physiology and Development (you can get away with the previous edition of this one!)
  
  
• Botany for Gardeners
  
  
• Essential Plant Pathology (do NOT get the first edition - the second edition is superior in almost every single way)
  
  
• American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques
  
  
  Foraging & Field Guides:
  
  
• A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and central North America
  
  
• Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods From Dirt To Plate
  
  
• The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants
  
  Herbalism:
  
  
• Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use (this is the first one I would recommend to novices)
  
  
• The Herbal Apothecary: 100 Medicinal Herbs and How to Use Them
  
  
• The Herbal Medicine Maker's Manual
  
  
• 300 Herbs: A Materia Medica
  
  
• Culpeper's Complete Herbal
  
  Ethnobotany:
  
  
• A Modern Herbal Vol I and Vol II (these could belong in the above section or here - I love love love these books. I think they are a must for any hedge witch or green witch!!)
  
  
• Folklore and Symbolism of Flowers, Plants and Trees
  
  
• Whispers from the Woods: The Lore & Magic of Trees
  
  
• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
  
  I also encourage y'all to look into fungi as well. I work with both plants and fungi and I think they bring a fascinating and fulfilling aspect to my work. Plus, hunting for mushrooms is super fun! I can recommend field guide books for folks who are interested, they just tend to be very region-specific so I'm not going to list all of them here.
  
  For general fungus reading I recommend the following:
  
  
• Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds
  
  
• The Fifth Kingdom
  
  
• Mycelium Running
  
  
• Radical Mycology: A Treatise on Seeing & Working with Fungi
  
  
• Mushrooms Demystified

> The Botany of Desire

The book is pretty good, too. ;)

Ever since I read this book with my vegetable garden in mind, I've been really curious about putting a fungal species in both that and my cannabis/hemp tent to create a mycorrhizic relationship. Especially with a plant like cannabis where you're constantly fertilising it, it intuitively seems like it would boost nutrient uptake over the more or less sterile way I'd otherwise grow it indoors. Neither PF cakes nor grain spawn managed to take in the garden this year though. I think my next step is using the spent 50/50 from a monotub, maybe with additional straw on the surface, as a compost mixed in to the smart pots.

How do you do yours? Do you take it all the way to flowering in the monotub or transfer it?

There is a wonderful book called “Seed to Seed” that is absolutely excellent.

Actually, you should put the seeds in water for few days to ferment them. This removes a coating that inhibits germination, supposedly. Then continue as above.

Pole beans you should just be able to save. Make sure you're not planting hybrids of either plant, or your saved seed will give you unpredictable results.

This book is often recommended. I read it and it was helpful, and will be a really good reference for when I can actually start doing it. There are other factors to consider, such as cross pollination and such, and they're all covered here for each and every plant you could possibly want to grow.

Also... I read Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties and was fascinated. She touches on seed saving, and of course gets into cross pollination (on purpose this time!) and genetics and such. It was really exciting to read, in a total geek sort of way.

Find out what he uses as his water source, if it's tap or he manually buys distilled/R/O water, consider getting him a 5 stage reverse osmosis filter, that one's $89 which is a very good deal imo.

As far as books go, this one from Greg Green is recommended by many, as well as this one by DJ Short, a decades long professional grower. Lastly is one of the most recommended books I see posted, by Jorge Cervantes.

Otherwise, I'd try to familiarize yourself with his setup, maybe take pictures if possible and I could try to suggest things you could buy as improvements :)

Hey friend! That's kind of a big question with a lot of detail. All the information is out there, but it can be tricky to find. I think we can all empathize with you there.

Generally speaking, all the concepts are the same, it's only the equipment that changes. Essentially, all you're doing is the following, without any of the details:

 

1. Get a small culture and expand it
   
   
2. Wait a few days/weeks.
   
   
3. Use the expanded culture to inoculate some spawn. Alternately you can just buy the spawn online and skip to step 5
   
   
4. Wait around a few days/weeks for the spawn to colonize (if you didn't buy it online).
   
   
5. Prepare some substrate (usually sawdust/wood chips that have been pasteurized, or sawdust/wood chips supplemented with a grain bran that has all been sterilized) and inoculate it with your spawn. You can usually source hardwood sawdust/wood chips for free on places like CraigsList. If not, you'll have to buy it in the form of mulch or pellets.
   
   
6. More waiting
   
   
7. Expose the colonized substrate to fruiting conditions
   
   
8. More waiting
   
   
9. Take pictures of your grow and pretend it was all easy
   
    
   
   I usually advocate for getting a pressure cooker and beginning with grains/jars; but you said you were on a tight budget, so I'll give you some beginner-tier options to get the above accomplished. The caveat here is that they're by no means the best or least-risky methods, but you asked for a cheap way forward that is still effective, so that's what I'll give you. It would be impossible for me to list out every detail, so just ask me questions and I'll fill in the rest one thing at a time:
   
    
   
   You could pasteurize prepared wood chip/sawdust mix (substrate) in a coffee can or plastic tub (with a lid) and buy pre-made spawn online. Spawn is ≈$10-25USD and comes as bags of grains or sawdust. You can find tubs all over the place for cheap. Then you just combine the two, wait for the substrate to colonize, and fruit from there (Steps 5-9).
   
   You could also buy a grocery store Hericium mushroom, chop it up into slices, spread that out over moist cardboard, and let that colonize. This is a little more risky with Hericium (v. Pleurotus, which is much more aggressive). After it finishes, you would add that cardboard spawn to some pasteurized wood chip/sawdust mix in layers, then wait for it to finish colonizing before fruiting it (Steps 3-9).
   
   Those are both cheap ways to start out, but don't skimp on the spawn.
   
   Depending on the tote you use, you might need to make a ShotGun Fruiting Chamber (SGFC), which is just a tote with holes in it on all 6 sides, with some perlite or grow stone at the bottom. It's as expensive as it is to buy a tote. You'll need to find a drill and bit to make the holes. I can run you through that, too.
   
    
   
   All of this is just a basic idea to point you in a direction given your low budget. It's slightly more risky, but cheap and easy. That's the tradeoff.
   
   If you're in college, you might have access to a biology lab and be able to use their equipment. Glass Petri dishes, bio-safety cabinet, autoclave, possible supply of agar, etc. Let me know if you do and I'll walk you though some more advanced techniques that also meet your budget. All you'd have to do is buy a few bags at ≈$1USD each and either some liquid culture (≈$10), or even a store-bought mushroom will do.
   
    
   
   That's a super rough, dirty version. People will probably yell at me, but that's ok. I can't type out a novel here, so just ask questions about what you don't understand and we'll go from there. If you need a source that takes you front to back, go to your college library and Inter-Library-Loan "Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms" or "Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation: Simple to Advanced and Experimental Techniques for Indoor and Outdoor Cultivation".

If you enjoyed this article, check out a guy called Paul Stamets, he did a TED talk on how fungi can save the planet:

http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world?language=en

Also his book is about mycelium, the "internet" of the plant world

http://www.amazon.com/Mycelium-Running-Mushrooms-Help-World/dp/1580085792

That's him. And I've been informed it's 10 years since I set this garden up using his book.

www.amazon.com/All-Square-Foot-Gardening-Revolutionary/dp/1591865484/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536030570&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=all+new+square+foot+gardening+2nd+edition&dpPl=1&dpID=61WJIemI

They wouldn't claim to be scientists, more like ecological engineers, but there are tons of writeups. They write a lot of books; there are a lot of "test sites" around the world.

Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home Scale Permaculture --> most accessible guide for the layperson
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603580298/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1603580298&linkCode=as2&tag=postapocaly06-20&linkId=PARY4RJKHWLQYGER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0908228015/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0908228015&linkCode=as2&tag=postapocaly06-20&linkId=NSVF65UXGPBESS3D --> Permaculture: A Designer's Manual, by Bill Mollison --> the textbook for the so-called "permaculture design course"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

Some famous demonstration sites:

Zaytuna Farm, Australia - http://permaculturenews.org/2012/06/01/zaytuna-farm-video-tour-apr-may-2012-ten-years-of-revolutionary-design/

Bealtaine Cottage, British Isles - http://bealtainecottage.com/before-permaculture/

Agroforestry UK - https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/

It's quite a rabbit hole! Good luck exploring!!

Feel free to check my sources. I'm not a historian, I just communicate the information I've been made aware of.

1. Chang, K. The Archaeology of Ancient China. Yale University Press. (1963)
   
2. Li, H. The Origin and Use of Cannabis in Eastern Asia Linguistic-Cultural Implications. Economic Botany. (1974)
   
3. Li, H. An Archaeological and Historical Account of Cannabis in China. Economic Botany. (1974)
   
4. Rubin, VD. Cannabis and Culture. Campus Verlag. (1975)
   
5. Pollan, M. The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World. New York: Random House. (2001)
   
6. Ratsch, C. The Sacred Plants of our Ancestors. Tyr: Myth - Culture - Tradition. (2003)
   
7. Booth, M. Cannabis: A History. Thomas Dunne Books. (2004)
   
8. Russo, EB. Mechoulam, R. Cannabis in India: ancient lore and modern medicine. Cannabinoids as Therapeutics. (2006)
   
9. Russo, EB. History of cannabis and its preparations in saga, science, and sobriquet. Chemistry and Biodiversity. (2007)
   
10. Clarke, RC. Traditional Cannabis cultivation in Darchula District, Nepal: seed, resin and textiles. Journal of Industrial Hemp. (2007)
    
11. Gray, AW. Rasmussen, WD. Fussell, GE. Mellanby, K. Nair, K. Ordish, G Crawford, GW. Heilig, S. Shiri, R. Origins of Agriculture. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2015)
    
12. Staelens, S. The Bhang Lassi Is How Hindus Drink Themselves High for Shiva. Vice. (2017)
    
13. Long, T. Cannabis in Eurasia: origin of human use and Bronze Age trans-continental connections. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. (2017)

Ethical Concern: The GMO corn is trademarked by <insert well known chemical company here> and the seed is sold to farmers who invest in it. Corn propagates by wind, neighbor farmer did not buy in but now his seed stock is infiltrated and the trademark owners sue him for stealing seed stock or some other violation of copyright. Local farmer caves to relentless legal pressure, soon all food stock is owned by corporations. This could get really wild (The Windup Girl), but so far that's still sci-fi, right?

Environmental Concern: Most GMO crops are created by chemical companies who in turn make products effective on plants that were not created by them. Rather than taking time to work with the environment these companies amass petrochemical sprays (a further economical cost to the farmer as well) and bombard regions so their plant survives. This chemical mixture goes into the soil and water where it in turn effects us; you do know that ALL drinking water is recycled I hope.


So you might be right, there might not be concerns on the healthy diet level (though we all know how wonderful the American diet is for us all). But there are larger socioeconomic issues here as well. To lock this only on a healthy for diet issue is absurd. I highly recommend Botany of Desire (book or PBS) as the potato chapter is enlightening on this measure (from an economic standpoint). Basically; organic food is far more economic in terms of space, maintenance, and profit per square foot.

If anyone wants to read a good account of the tulip craze, read Michael Pollan's "Botany of Desire." It looks at 4 plants as 4 examples of how humans have interacted with plants throughout history for various reasons: tulips for beauty, potatoes for storage, marijuana for changing consciousness, and apples for breeding new varieties. Its a fun read!

PBS has it online for free: http://video.pbs.org/video/1283872815/

The book is here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Botany-Desire-Plants-Eye-World/dp/0375760393

Carla Emory's Encyclopedia of Country Living.

A little bit of everything.

This book was extremely entertaining.

The Botany of Desire

Read this book: Five Acres and Independence.

It gives you all the information you need without unnecessary expenses.

this book is a nice older resource for the magical uses of herbs. This article is a very simple primer to give an idea of kitchen witchcraft. You can also use resources like
http://www.witchipedia.com for a starting point if you just need general knowledge on something. this live journal article (What a throw back website!) has a lot of suggestions for books in different areas of kitchen witchery.

One of the easiest things you can do is start working intent into your daily, weekly rituals that already exist: banish as you clean, bless as you cook, etc. I like how this page lists some examples of how to work in a bit of kitchen witchcraft to your life. Kitchen witchcraft has an inherent magical quality that is actually super easy to incorporate.

I definitely suggest you start noting things down as you come across them, either digitally or in a physical book. This will help you learn as well as form the foundation of your grimoire/ book of shadows/ whatever you choose to call it.

Cc: /u/vampiras

That really is the best, and if you like

mushrooms https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Demystified-David-Arora/dp/0898151694
or https://www.amazon.com/All-That-Rain-Promises-More/dp/0898153883

or rocks https://www.amazon.com/Gem-Trails-Oregon-Garret-Romaine/dp/1889786446

There's an excellent book called Seed to Seed that goes into a lot of detail, put out by Seed Savers. This is my first year saving seeds from my garden, I found a lot of valuable information in it.

We could import a heck of a lot less than we do. Eliot Coleman farms in an environment almost identical to NS, zone 5.

http://www.amazon.ca/Four-Season-Harvest-Organic-Vegetables-Edition/dp/1890132276

Did you know that tomatoes were grown in Northern BC during the depression? That cherries can be grown in zone 3? Figs in zone 5? Olives are being grown in BC and the first crops will be within 5 years? Ginseng is being grown for China in the Okanogan? People in Vancouver are growing lemons (Meyer) outdoors year round? Pawpaws in Ontario? Amazing, isn't it.

I'm about six months in to five acre mature forest gardening in the Northwest. Any specific questions?

I can't stress this book enough, ESPECIALLY for your inquiry: Edible Forest Gardens.

I know they're expensive, but worth it. If you simply can't afford it and know of a way to exchange 15mb pdf files, I can hook you up!

Cut a slab of agar out of a clean plate and cover that entirely with it. The mycelium knows which way is up and can easily emerge on top. The bacteria will remain trapped beneath. Source: Paul Stamets

I'm a big fan of the Black and Decker book, read it cover to cover.

Glad to help. Now is a great time to get back into gardening and build up the soil where you live. You might want to consider throwing in some perennial edibles. And this book is a good read if you want a collapse-resistant garden. Good luck and have fun!

Buy a regional guide. Here are a few if you are in the US. It's important to know the terminology that goes along with mushroom hunting.

Also Use the links in the sidebar here, they will tell you the active mushrooms in your area. Once you do this do individual research on each one.

Regional guides

Alaska

Common Interior Alaska Cryptogams

Western US

All The Rain Promises and More
Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest

Mushrooms Demystified This is an old book, while still useful it definitely needs updating.

The New Savory Wild Mushroom Also dated but made for the PNW

Midwestern US

Mushrooms of the Midwest

Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States

Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest

Southern US

Texas Mushrooms: A Field Guide

Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States

Eastern US

Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians

Mushrooms of Northeast North America (This was out of print for awhile but it's they're supposed to be reprinting so the price will be normal again)

Mushrooms of Northeastern North America

Macrofungi Associated with Oaks of Eastern North America(Macrofungi Associated with Oaks of Eastern North America)

Mushrooms of Cape Cod and the National Seashore

More specific guides

Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World

North American Boletes

Tricholomas of North America

Milk Mushrooms of North America

Waxcap Mushrooms of North America

Ascomycete of North America

Ascomycete in colour

Fungi of Switzerland: Vol. 1 Ascomycetes

PDFs

For Pholiotas

For Chlorophyllum

Websites that aren't in the sidebar

For Amanita

For coprinoids

For Ascos

MycoQuebec: they have a kickass app but it's In French

Messiah college this has a lot of weird species for polypores and other things

Cultivation

The Mushroom Cultivator: A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home (If your home is a 50,000 sq ft warehouse)

Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation: Simple to Advanced and Experimental Techniques for Indoor and Outdoor Cultivation

Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms

Mycology

The fifth kingdom beginner book, I would recommend this. It goes over fungal taxonomy Oomycota, Zygomycota and Eumycota. It also has ecology and fungi as food.

The kingdom fungi coffee table book it has general taxonomy of the kingdom but also very nice pictures.

Introduction to fungi Depends on your definition of beginner, this is bio and orgo heavy. Remember the fungi you see pop out of the ground (ascos and basidios) are only a tiny fraction of the kingdom.

It really depends on what kind of mushrooms you'd like to grow; I wouldn't suggest the white mushrooms you see at stores to grow first; they have some pretty specific requirements to grow that makes it difficult for the home cultivator. Shiitake are really simple to grow; get some oak logs with holes drilled in them, shove some spore plugs in it, and bam, in about a year's worth of time you'll have shiitake mushrooms and they will keep coming back for many years. (With more and more every year)

Also some mushroom tips:

• Keep everything spotless and disinfected while working. Whether you go with store bought or spores cross-contamination is a serious problem with mushrooms. As in, if you don't sterilize you will not have mushrooms. You'll have random mold and... stuff.
  
  
• Bleach and bleach wipes are your friends
  
  
• Sterilize EVERYTHING (Especially soil and growing mediums)
  
  
• keep your hands washed and ultra clean
  
  
• Keep hair tied back, latex gloves, and even a face mask to prevent your nasty mouth germs from getting on your shrooms
  
  Generally it's a good idea to watch videos and search for the kind of mushroom you want to grow; Paul Stamet's Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms is an awesome resource as well. You can also find a (not sure about the legality) free PDF version if you just search for it + pdf. It contains general growing information as well as specific cultivation tips of almost every mushroom you could want to grow.
  
  
  But anyway, here's some things to consider:
  
  Mushroom spores:
  
  
• Wider variety of different kinds of fungi to choose from
  
  
• Tends to be pretty expensive, but it's usually a one time investment if you're good at the mushroom growing
  
  
• Some companies are super nice and will send you cultivation instructions/hints which you might not find
  
  Mushrooms from Stores:
  
  
• Small selection, usually limited to portobello, shiitake, oyster, and chantarelles (white mushrooms are reeeaaallly difficult to grow from what I've read; I've never tried to grow them)
  
  
• I find you have a higher chance of cross-contamination with store-bought mushrooms.
  
  
• Much much cheaper than spores.
  
  
• It can be pretty difficult to get spore-prints and keep them sanitary.
  
  
• Best variety for growing from store-bought mushrooms is oysters. You can find lots of youtube tutorials on choosing which ones to get to start your mushrooms to the best growing medium, etc. etc.
  
  Hope this helps!
  

Ooh! Ooh! This sounds fun. I put some time into this when I should have been working, so I hope it helps.

1) Pruners - $20.49

This will be your most used tool. Eventually, you can upgrade into Felcos or Bahcos, but right now just get these Coronas. They're honestly a better size for hobby gardeners (fit right in your pocket), and the're very high quality for the price.

2) Your First Gardening Book - $17.06

Gardening Without Work by Ruth Stout. It's simple and gives you a general plan that really does work very well. It's a must for beginning gardeners, imho. You can find just about any other information you need on the internet (for now). Very little maintenance required, including fertilizing, weeding, applying pesticides, etc. (In a nutshell, the main step involves putting down an 8" layer of mulch...).

If you want to go with a more traditional raised bed setup, you should buy Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening. It's a fantastic back yard gardening book, as well, but the methods are kind of pricey and less sustainable. Still, it's a great system for growing a lot of food in limited space and it was the first book I used.

3) Indestructible Garden Trowel - $15.99

This will be your second most used tool. This particular model is about as indestructible as it gets short of this bad boy. You'll use it for digging holes for transplanting, mostly. Don't buy a cheap one or it will bend or break or both.

4) Fertilizer - $7.83 + $11.06 = $24.26

I chose cottonseed meal because that's what Ruth Stout recommends using (the rest of the nutrients in her system come from the giant mounds of mulch). Apply as she indicates.

I also added some Fish Emulsion Liquid Fertilizer because I love the stuff. It's a great way to add some extra nitrogen (and just a little P & K) mid season to your veggies or even to your compost pile when it gets carbon heavy. The stuff I have right now stinks, but the plants love it and it's easy to apply if you have a watering can.

Make sure you tailor your fertilizer to whatever system you're using, though. Don't fertilize like Ruth if you're not using her mulch based system. If you're using Square Foot Gardening, you won't be fertilizing at all, but you will be using lots of peat, vermiculite, and (different kinds of) compost. Etc, etc, etc.

5) Work Gloves - $10.97

These are specifically for women, but there's a button to switch to men's if that's you. You won't wear them all the time, but you'll be happy you have them when you need them. Notice that this comes with 6 pairs of gloves. I misplace gloves all the time, so having several is handy (hehe).

__

Total: $88.77

__

Notes:

• Save the rest for now. You're inevitably going to become enamored with something like earthworm casings, azomite, or a nozzle for your gardening hose down the line. Your future self will thank you for having some extra cash to buy it with, and this is plenty to get you started on your way to being a badass backyard gardener.
  
  
• The two above methods claim to be mostly pest free. In my experience, nothing is pest free, and you just need to grow enough quantity to weather the storm when it does randomly come. I would just concentrate on growing healthy plants first and foremost and then let the chips fall where they may. You might turn to pesticides later, and that's fine, but hold off on buying any until you know what is nibbling on your plants. Most pesticides are specific to the pest.
  
  
• Notice that I don't include any seeds. Your first year of gardening, I'd honestly recommend just buying live plants from your local nursery (and sticking to plants bred to survive in your region). Growing from seed can be hard, and your entire crop of seedlings dying is a humbling experience, I can assure you.
  
  The other reason there are no seeds on my list is because I don't recommend buying them on Amazon. I've had bad experiences every time I've tried it. If you need seeds, go with a good seed dealer, like Johnny's Selected Seeds, Burpee, etc, or find a good nursery in your area.
  
  
• If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
  
  _____
  
  TL;DR: Pruners, a book to get you started, a durable trowel, fertilizer that is specific to your growing plan, and some gloves. Enjoy!

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Wiring-Updated/dp/159186612X

Bought that when I got my first home. The thing is amazing for basic wiring.

Start with Gaia’s Garden (https://www.amazon.com/Gaias-Garden-Guide-Home-Scale-Permaculture/dp/1603580298/)

Permaculture on the scale for those of us that aren’t farmers.

Toby Hemenway would disagree with you.

the aggressive nature of bamboo is greatly overstated. This is partly due to the fact that things like sidewalks actually make it more aggressive - it will eagerly shoot under 24" of concrete to come out the other side. It is also partly due to bamboo's need for trimming - in the wild, all sorts of critters eat the shoots when they're small so only a few ever reach the crown. However, there are all sorts of bamboo barriers that do a righteous job of containing bamboo even if you're too lazy to go out and eat the shoots every now and then.

Is bamboo a voracious grower? Yes. Are its rhizomes tough to eradicate once a clump is established? Yes. But compared to some perfectly mainstream-acceptable plants like ivy and blackberries, it's a pussycat. People freak out about bamboo because it's what the cool kids do. Likely there was someone who moved into a house with a bamboo grove in the back, decide to take it out, and discover that it doesn't go quietly.

I once had eight sawed-off 55gal drums full of golden bamboo. They were beautiful. They were also on pallets, in a parking lot, 150 feet from the nearest bare earth.

That didn't stop total strangers from walking up while I was watering and saying "better be careful, that stuff will get away from you!"

I was introduced by Gaia's Garden , it was a wonderful read and an even better starting point

Pollan's Botany of Desire has an entire section devoted to the domestication of cannabis.

Not specifically Wiccan but potentially some form of witchcraft. Wicca is a pagan religion that employs witchcraft in its rituals whereas "witchcraft" is a category and as a whole pertains to various types of folk magic (thus, Wicca is just one form, there are other types of witchcraft). Most of what is encountered in the US is Neopagan witchcraft, which is mostly derived from European folk magic. However, (outside of Neopaganism) there is also Afro-American Hoodoo (rootwork, conjuring) which sometimes calls for burying objects as well. Depending on your location, there could be a stronger likelihood of the latter.

When it comes to Neopaganism, basically you have individuals who pursue some traditional style of spellcasting (either utilizing traditional methods or drawing inspiration from them) while others create spells with symbolism they've created. However, a difficulty with pinpointing what something buried could be is that the largest segment of Neopaganism is Eclectic, i.e., practitioners who develop highly individualized systems that draw on various sources in addition to personal innovations.

So, you're not necessarily going to be able to look at something and determine what the person who placed it there practiced or what they intended. There can be general indications. E.g., anything with a poppet (doll) would indicate it's a spell either for or against a person, discerning which can potentially be puzzled out by what else is with it.

In terms of identifying magical use and lore regarding herbs, the best book (IMO) on it would be The Master Book of Herbalism Paperback by Paul Beyerl

Scott Cunningham was a prolific writer and while there is debate over his books regarding Wicca, he was well regarded for his knowledge in herbalism and magic. His books are an easy read, such as:

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs & Book of Incense Oils and Brews by Scott Cunningham


Catherine Yrodwode is well regarded in the practice of Hoodoo, she runs the luckymojo.com website and has authored various books, here's a link to one of her online articles:

Laying Down Tricks & Disposing of Ritual Remnants in the Hoodoo Tradition - Catherine Yronwode


These just scratch the surface and there plenty of other sources others might cite, but these will give you a sense of direction.

This is a great reply and pretty close to what advice I was going to offer!

Any spell that has worked for anyone - may not work for you based on the intent that was used to create it. What’s in your heart might not mesh with what was in the original creators.

Instead look for spells that you feel comfortable tweaking to make them yours.

Even in so far as changing up the rituals ingredients, and even the words used to make it more personal to your will and intent.

It will definitely help you find a new path in creating your own from scratch.

I suggest Scott Cunningham’s book encyclopedia of magical herbs

To help you get started if you want to change ingredients.

And I like to map out almost like how I would map out an essay on what I want the words to be for a spell.

• what is the intent of the spell
  
• who if at all am I reaching out to if you subscribe to any deities
  
• what offerings are you sharing to said deity
  
• reaffirm the intent in a more personal way
  
• how will I recognize that the spell has worked
  
• thanks and gratitude for the universes attention
  
  Each point is a sentence or two used in the casting.
  
  I hope this helps guide you in a way that strengthens your resolve and confidence in mastering your own spells.
  
  If you have further questions don’t hesitate to PM

I'd start by reading

https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-40th-Anniversary/dp/1570618402/

1. Water is life. You want to keep as much water on your property as long as you can. Have you put in swales on contour or keylines to stop, spread, sink the water into the soil so the trees can benefit?
   
   
2. What is your soil like? Is it acidic or alkaline? Is it compacted? Eroded? Deficient in minerals? Is it more clay or loam or sandy? Have it tested. There are ways to improve the soil. If it's compacted, you can deep rip. If it's acidic, you can add lime and dolomite. If it's clay, adding gypsum will break up the clay. Pioneer trees can also help break up soil with their deep tap roots. Forests are usually alkaline while pastures are more acidic. Forests have more fungi where pastures have more bacteria. You can get a jump start on changing over the soil if you take some starch like rice to a forest, leave it on the ground for several days, collect it, and scatter it where you want the fungi to take over. There are things you can add to increase the soil microbes that are so beneficial: compost, compost tea, bio-fertilizers, and inoculates on seeds.
   
   
3. What do you want to accomplish with a forest? Are you wanting to use some of the trees as a wind block? Are you wanting to stop some of the soil erosion along the stream? Are you wanting food (fruit, nuts) or fodder for animals or fiber or timber for building or trees that bloom to feed bees or trees for coppice or trees for firewood or a mixture? If you know what you want, then you can consult some books and local permaculture groups for trees that will live in your site-specific conditions that provide the function you want.
   
   
4. For each tree, you'll want to plant multiple nitrogen-fixing support plants that you will sacrifice so that the desired tree has nutrients. Legume trees, shrubs, and ground covers add nitrogen to the soil that will feed the main trees. Over the course of several years, you'll chop and drop the nitrogen fixers several times. Besides adding nitrogen to the soil, they will also shade out grasses and other non-desirable plants until your trees are established. You can also mulch with straw to shade out pioneer plants you don't want. Timing is important. You want to plant at times that give the plants the best time to get established. You'll want to chop and drop the nitrogen-fixing support species when the rains come. You'll want to use the mulch and cover crops at the same time as you plant your trees to prevent weeds from taking over. You'll want to time when the trees produce food. You can plan some early crop, mid-season crop, and late crop varieties. Thinking about your timing carefully.
   
   Resources:
   
   
   Creating a Forest Garden by Mark Crawford.
   
   Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier
   
   Forest Gardening by Robert Hart
   
   
   

The appendix in Vol. II of Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set) by Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier has a pretty extensive list. It's broken down by zone, size, function, moisture requirements, and a zillion other factors – including food and other uses.

I'd would plant a small edible forest garden. I like the ecological soundness, variety of produce and yield/upkeep factor of such systems.

For general gardening books, I recommend The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. If you are looking specifically for information on saving seeds and related information, I recommend Seed to Seed.

I bought this book recently because I wanted to learn this exact thing. I recommend it it’s really good

Dude....Any basic gardener can tell you the shelf life of a seed.

If you have no experience gardening you don't need to store seeds.

Seeds are alive, if you really want to maintain seeds you need to read this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Techniques-Vegetable-Gardeners/dp/1882424581

This is the most important resource book on seed saving I've come across, I'd say it's invaluable as a prepper and gardener.

Since you have no idea how seed saving works, most seeds have a life of 1-5 years. The life of a seed is a lot like an atomic "half-life". After the typical life span of a seed about half of the seeds won't germinate.

You could easily test this yourself if you've ever done any gardening. Just find a seed packet from 3-5 years ago, even if it contains 50+ seeds, and you'll be lucky if you get even a few sprouts.

"Seed vaults" don't make any sense, they're advocated by people who have no practical experience growing their own food. As an example of this, even if you do want to deploy your seed stash, you're going to need specialized fertilizers and equipment...which you'd know if you had experience gardening.

I am relatively new to this subject and these books have been useful for me:

The Urban Homestead A good introductory book that touches on a lot of relevant topics.

Gaia's Garden This is not specifically a homesteading book but it is a very useful book for growing food and learning about small scale permacultural design.

Four Season Harvest Another useful book for growing, especially for those of us in cold climates.

Country Wisdom & Know How A fun reference for many homestead topics.

btw here are the links if anyone wants… I recommend the Cannabis Grow Bible by Green first. It’s good for beginners. The Cervantes one might seem overwhelming for beginners.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cannabis-Grow-Bible-Recreational/dp/1931160589/ref=pd_sim_b_2

http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Horticulture-Outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X/ref=pd_sim_b_2

Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets. Here's my brief review.

Edit: I also really enjoyed The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Ah I see. Well here are some things on my list, I think it's different from gardener to gardener.

seed starter with heat

Kevlar sleeves for prickly plants and tomatoes that make me itch

seed stamp for planting

square foot gardening book

knee pads

garden clogs

gloves I go through gloves like crazy!

plant markers

gardening set just some basic tools

bucket organizer

of course there are lots of other things that you might want like seeds, tomato cages, kits for building your own raised beds they are all available from amazon, so it really depends on what you like and want to grow. I don't know if this helps you any? Maybe plan out your garden and what you want to grow then you'll know what you need?

if its your first house can i suggest a couple books?


http://www.amazon.com/Gaias-Garden-Second-Home-Scale-Permaculture/dp/1603580298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278971308&sr=1-1

or



Intro to Permaculture by Mill Mollison
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Permaculture-Bill-Mollison/dp/0908228082


p.s. pssssst... get rid of the lawn and put in something useful and beautiful.

I second the Monty Don rec, but do you know what aspect of plants you're most interested in?

There's a nice book Botany for Gardeners that goes into the details of how plants work if that's what you want to know, but it isn't going to tell you how to grow plants in your yard.

https://www.amazon.com/Botany-Gardeners-3rd-Brian-Capon/dp/160469095X

I will check that out, thanks! This post reminded me of The Botany of Desire, which is what inspired my comment.

The usual recommendation is Cunningham but personally I prefer Beyerl.

There are no quick tips on how to tell the poisonous ones from the delicious ones from the hallucinogenic ones.

Buy an identification book (this is a good one) or make friends with someone who knows what they're doing (they'll have that book, and others, on their shelf).

If you're not 100% positive about a species identification, don't eat it. Some of the poisonous ones don't just kill you, they kill you in one of the most painful and nasty ways to die (liver failure).

Mushrooms Demystified is a good general ID book. It's a little dated, so some of the taxonomy has been updated since it's last edition, but it'll get you started. I'd also recommend looking into more regionally specific guidebooks for your area. There are tons such as Musrhooms of the Mid West or Mushrooms of Colorado and the Southwest Rocky Mountains. A quick web search should get you in the ballpark.

Check out Robert Rogers' Fungal Pharmacy. Most comprehensive book on the medicinal qualities of fungi that I've encountered.

Edit: Also, I like The Deerholme Mushroom Book for the culinary angle.

Don't forget general skill books with old techniques for many of these areas, like:

The Encyclopedia of Country Living

Back to Basics

/u/dave9199 has already recommended "Country Wisdom and Know How" which I second. Really the whole series is great.

This book has a ton of info on a wide range of topics:

http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-Anniversary-Edition/dp/1570618402

Oh, cultivating mushrooms for food is another good skill. They'll grow (if you pick the right kind) on any kind of wood or paper scrap. They don't need soil or light, just a little water misting and ventilation. The spent growth medium also makes for fantastic compost and you may even get bonus mushrooms in your garden!

The main challenge in mushroom growing is sterile technique, since any environment that's good for mushrooms is also great for growing mold. Sterile technique takes practice, but the equipment needed is minimal. The main thing you need is a pressure cooker, which is also extremely useful for canning and cooking — essential prepper equipment, imo.

You can also use mushrooms to decontaminate soil — "mycoremediation". I can't speak to the effectiveness, nor the safety of eating the resulting mushrooms (I would throw them out; some organic molecules will be broken down, but not heavy metals). However in a survival situation, this could be a good way to get more usable land for plant cultivation.

Check out Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets. I recommend starting with oyster or shiitake. In fact you can buy prepackaged kits for growing these, which makes a good beginner project.

5 acres and Independence is a good place to start. Good read. It talks about farm animals, what crops to plant, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Five-Acres-Independence-Handbook-Management/dp/0486209741

There are so many and with many different focal points. I also think a list with some identification as to the focal points for each book would be useful. And I'm always happy to find new good ones, so I am glad for this post.

Rodales is one that I've seen mentioned a ton elsewhere, and I have found it useful too. There is some lore and some preparation and growing information along with medicinal info..

If you are looking for experience logs concerning herb usage, Susun Weed's forum is a nice place to search. The accounts are not made by medical professionals and perhaps are not studies based, but they are from people who test and use herbs on themselves. A very female bent; however, I've not seen a male treated anything but nicely there.

Cunningham's is a good magical go-to based in some lore, but can be problematic sometimes as dangers are not always noted. And the lore can be difficult to track down; though I was surprised that some of it had uses that I was already familiar with from childhood. Many websites about magical correspondences are word-for-word taken from it. It's Llewellyn, but don't let that scare you. I doubt there is an apothecary in existence that doesn't have a copy somewhere.

Miller's Magical and Ritual Use of Herbs was one I acquired years ago when starting the magic/psychoactive hunt. It includes some methods for preparation though the herbs included are limited. I think going to a forum or sub here that is dedicated to psychoactives would probably be more useful for preparation guides, but they may lack the ritual component.

For identification and growing and a tiny bit of lore too, I found Angier's Field Guide to Medicinal Wild Plants to be very easy to use when I first started. It's not comprehensive and it is dependent on region, but I thought it was a charming read.

I think if you can find a field guide to wild plants that pertains to your geographical area, it would be better. That way you can get out and examine the plants yourself and see how they grow and interact with other plants and their environments. Much of what I have read about the magical properties of plants makes sense when I consider observations of the plants behaviors. Some of it is counter-intuitive too, but what makes a plant magical is sometimes going to be based in a lore you create on your own.

The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants was a pricey thick one, but one I have found very useful for its purpose. I think it could be more inclusive, but I think the same thing could be said of every plant book published! If you can find one used, you may get it at a bargain. I bought mine for under 50$US but I have never seen it that cheap before or since. But this is not one that will be in every public library, so if you can afford it and spot it cheap, it may be worth the jump of you are into this kind of information. And of course the ever-loving Erowid is a great resource too.

These are just a few for beginning that I have used, but I have not used them in isolation. And there are several I have on a wish list too (this one has been rec'd to me, and omagah these have a savings account building over here). Websites have been excellent free resources especially to start. U.S. Wildflowers has a huge photo library and links to others if the geographical areas pertain to you. It's helped me get some basic identification of local plants many times.

For medicinal use and contra-indications that might feel safer, there are many hospitals that host pages of advice about herbal medicine and many of those link to studies. Since nothing here should be taken as medical advice, going to those resources may be very helpful. I have used too many to list.

And the same goes for growing guides. Websites are going to be quicker than books, but books may offer things like seasonal planting patterns and landscaping that a simple growing guide might not contain. There are too many of those to list as well.

Sorry for the length and I hope you get many more suggestions!

Sure! I started gathering info on YouTube, so social media witches are strangely my first true love - I get a lot of inspiration seeing actual people practice. I rec Kelly-Anne Maddox for her psychological and tarot content, and Hearth Witch for her practical info - it’s like she reads all the books and presents the best parts. I like Behatilife for astrology and predictions (though I know that’s not every SASS witches bag! She’s very motivational though).

I love Fotis Casper on YouTube for meditation music, he creates music for every full and new moon that somehow correlate with the positions of planets (he uses tones that correlate to the resonance of planets- something I’m sure science witches among us could think is cool).

I don’t particularly love witchcraft books, but when I formulate spells, Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs is the best resource. https://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com is my favorite place to look up crystal meanings.

I’m super privileged to have a ridiculously amazing local new age/witch store that gives me so much inspiration.

As a bonus, my most useful crystal is garnet, and my favorite deck is the Queen of the Moon Oracle.

• One.
  
  
• Two.
  
  
• Three.
  
  
• Four.
  
  
• Five.

My favorites are:

Roger Phillips Mushrooms and Other Fungi....
https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Other-Fungi-North-America/dp/155407651X

David Arora Mushrooms Demystified
https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Demystified-David-Arora/dp/0898151694

Audubon Society Field Guide:
https://www.amazon.com/National-Audubon-Society-American-Mushrooms/dp/0394519922

DK Mushroom Book:
https://m.barnesandnoble.com/p/mushrooms-dk/1127751094/2689838557184

This last one is a big beautiful hardcover book with a lot of different mushrooms from around the world and some excellent pictures:
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Fungi-Life-Size-Hundred-Species/dp/0226721175

Other than that it would depend on your region because I have some guides I love that focus on my region.

For a pocket guide I'd recommend All That the Rain Promises and More. It has a little bit of a bias towards species in western North America, but it's still very useful in the east (I'm in New England and I love it). Mushrooms Demystified is pretty big for taking into the field, but it is a great companion to ATtRPaM, and it is the best all around field guide for North America, in my opinion.

I would suggest picking up Mushrooms Demystified and All That the Rain Promises and More. Great books to get you into identification.

And remember; There are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old bold mushroom hunters!

The mushroom you have there is a Red Chanterelle, inactive, although rather delicious.

If you're hunting for the real deal, try searching for Panaelous Cinctulus. They often grow in well fertilized lawns, and in or around horse dung. P. Cinctulus occurs in all 50 states and in many countries worldwide.

My best advice to you if you are serious about doing this (which you seem to be), is to learn how to properly identify a mushroom. I highly recommend you purchase a field manual such as "Mushrooms Demystified" by David Arora; it was my first mushroom book and is what spurred my now unending interest in fungi.

I know some people have made suggestions about further reading online, but, I urge you to check out shroomery.org. Besides having a ton of free information on what you're looking for, they have a very active and helpful forum that will be able to assist you in correctly identifying mushrooms. Be sure to read the rules (stickied at the top of the forum) before posting.

Goodluck and be safe. If you have any questions in the future or need a little help, feel free to PM me. Peace.

Invest in a good field guide. All That the Rain Promises and More is good to get your feet wet, and Mushrooms Demystified is the bible. Also, see if there are any mushroom clubs near you. Have fun!

My favorite so far is probably The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour:

http://www.amazon.com/Self-Sufficient-Life-How-Live/dp/0756654505/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=61t6SRQzuNL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR129%2C160_&refRID=19QK02D2JDVH1815J35Y

I've also enjoyed The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery:

http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-40th-Anniversary/dp/1570618402/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=029NTQA9FBYZB5Z7SDMF

Some of the Storey's Guide books have also been helpful to becoming more self-sufficient (Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits, for example). I'm always on the lookout for others! <3

I don't have a favorite, I have a long list of favorites. Listed below is a good starter selection. Lucifer's Hammer is the book that probably most directly led to the path I am on today. I have always liked science fiction and read it long before I would have ever called myself a prepper.


Fiction, to make you think:

• Lucifer's Hammer by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
  
• Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Lights Out by David Crawford
  
  Self Defense:
  
  
• Boston's Gun Bible by Boston T. Party (Kenneth W. Royce)
  
  Sustainable Living:
  
  
• The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery
  
• Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Solomon
  
• Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving by Altrista Consumer Products
  
  Health and First Aid:
  
  
• Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner, Jane Maxwell and Carol Thuman
  
• First Aid -- Responding To Emergencies by the American Red Cross
  
  Free Your Mind:
  
  
• The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose
  

Sorry I have to plug an amazing book about the soil food web that can put a lot of perspective on how to improve the nutrition cycle efficiency.

It's called "Teaming with Microbes" and is an absolute trove of knowledge.
https://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=teaming+with+microbes&qid=1573491535&sprefix=teaming+with+mi&sr=8-2

The same author also has one called "Teaming with Nutrients" which I haven't read yet but that I believe is just as good based on a user I was chatting to in the permaculture sub a year or so ago.

Try to get your hands on Edible Forest Gardens ( vol 1 and 2 ) by David Jacke and Eric Toensmeier. It's the premier work on Eastern North American ecological agroforestry.

Martin Crawford's work is also very applicable since he's in a humid zone 3-5 ish British climate. His book is an amazing resource.

The Bullock Brother's have done a lot of work in Cold climate permaculture but they're in Washinton so it's still more humid.

Great Plains ecology is an interesting biome though and I'm not sure there's been a lot of work done on food forestry in that particular climate. I know a fair amount of work has been done on perennial grasslands but it gets more complicated since you are dealing with elements of dryland design and cold climate design. Some tropical techniques for water retention aren't going to work since frost is going to be a factor. Probably the best technique would be to follow the ecology and design around coolees since that's where great plains deciduous forests tend to thrive.

Excerpt from The Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green

Fresh bud (eight weeks canned curing) is the pinnacle point of cured bud. After that the THC cannabinoids rapidly change composition and lose potency. Fresh bud is far better than aged bud. You may hear of other curing processes, but canning works wonders and is affordable too.

Canning sweats the bud, which causes it to retain its smell and flavor and allows the bud to burn more efficiently. By opening and closing the can at different intervals you can control how damp or dry you want your buds to be. Try to use cans that have a larger opening at the lid – enough to allow your whole hand to fit inside. This is because some of the trichomes will fall from the bud into the bottom of the can. Use your fingers to get at these trichomes. You can gather these into a small mass they can be smoked later on.

Drying your bud helps to relax the THC particles by removing water from the bud. This makes THC easier to burn and thus more psychoactive than when it's damp. Applying heat will remove water and will affect the overall cannabinoid content of the bud. It is not a good idea to press bud or to pack tightly during the curing process, because bunching of THC particles will make them harder to burn.

Curing helps to break down Chlorophyll, which has magnesium-containing green pigments. Magnesium is responsible for the sharp and harsh taste in the back of your throat when smoking fresh bud. This is another good reason to cure your bud.

If you over dry your buds you may lose too much moisture, resulting in bud that has less taste and aroma then it should. The best way to add moisture back into your buds is to introduce new fresh bud to your cans. The new fresh buds will share their moisture with the dried bud, bringing them back to a more even level of moisture and restoring their aroma and taste. Some people use fruit slices to bring back moisture, such as apples or orange slices. These fruit slices will also add their own aroma to the buds.

If you have dried your plants for three weeks hanging upside down you can subtract that time from the canning time. Although you can have good bud to smoke two weeks after harvest, it is better to wait for four weeks or more.

I would add pasteurized chopped cardboard or sawdust to the coffee grounds in a 50 / 50 mix. You will get a better block.

If you don't already have it, this book is worth the $30.

there is a book on the subject, mycellium running, we have a copy and it is worth reading.

Square Foot Gardening.

Whoa! One or the other. One of the biggest reasons people drop out of gardening as a hobby is that they start with too much - too big a plot, too ambitious a plan. Start small.

Not much to it, but pretty easy to get yourself killed or burn your house down. I recommend you read a wiring basics book. In a nutshell, you need to run 14/2 with ground to a new 15A breaker.

Here's a good book. You'd only need to read a chapter or two: Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Wiring, Updated 6th Edition: Current with 2014-2017 Electrical Codes (Black & Decker Complete Guide) https://www.amazon.com/dp/159186612X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_kjnnzbYY9GS27

Sepp Holzer is also from Austria and has done some great things and written a few books.

Toby Hemenway's book, Gaia's Garden, is fantastic.

If you only care about growing vegetables in a garden bed, there are a lot of books on how to get started and any one of them would work for you. Go to a used book store and see what they have, I'm sure you'll find something you like.

Well, as someone who worked a blue collar job while studying philosophy in my leisure time, I'd have to say I've come to the same conclusion. Plan on moving out west and joining an ecovillage/worker cooperative. You might want to look into permaculture for your gardening, better yields through organic farming.

(Not trying to one-up you, just saying that thanks to the wide-spread nature of information, you don't have to be an academic elite to come to such conclusions)

> Gaia's Garden

First search result is some woo-woo New-Agey crap site. I think this is what you meant? Looks like a very good book. May have to pick it up.

Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets

Read Paul Stamets book Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms, and also The Mushroom Cultivator which details a lot of info on spore storage and culture practises.

Its so easy to get one contam spore into whatever you're doing - ordinary air has so many contam spores in just 1cm^3, its almost impossible to work 100% sterile. But not to worry: the best we can do as cultivators is hold off the inevitable. A good cultivator will do what he or she can to work clean but all the time understands that all grows will ultimately end in contamination - thats just natures way.

The contaminations themselves often sporulate on the surface of cube spores which after finding residence on nutrient media will then 'piggy-back' using the spores which touch each other. The contaminations can often be 50 times smaller, and so can easily rest like a pest on the spores surface. An electron microscopy picture can really show you well what I'm trying to say here. They also reproduce far faster than their larger basidiospore cousins in the cubensis family, so can out compete them for the available resources that you have so kindly provided for them.

Its not that having a lot of spores in a syringe is a bad thing, its just that throughout my experience with cubes I've found that 'less is more' - the more spread out the spores are from each other, the more you can isolate the good strains and culture out the contams. :)

That warm tray looks like it will work just fine for this project.

In the future, I would recommend Pleurotus ostreatus (Blue Oyster) for cooler growing temperatures. It is an oyster, so it is aggressive and easy to grow, and it has a lower optimum temperature for colonization and fruiting.

There is a good book by Paul Stamets called Growing Medicinal and Gourmet Mushrooms. It contains break-downs of the optimum growing conditions of pretty much any kind of mushroom you could think of growing. If you want to continue with indoor growing, it is an incredible resource.

Warning: Stamets is a little crazy.

This is where I get my mushroom plug spawn.

There are many others out there but I pretty much stick with Everything Mushrooms.

Here's a good page on how to do the log cultivation.

I used Gulf Wax instead of cheesewax because I wanted the logs to be vegan, turns out cheesewax is still vegan.


It's good to have a second person. My grandfather was a huge help having a lot of experience with torches, tools, and lumber in general. He marked a 5/8" drill for the proper depth and drilled all the holes while I went around with a rubber mallet nailing the plugs in.

Once we finished drilling and hammering we rigged up an old food can with some metal handles and melted the wax in it with a torch. Using some old craft brush, I'd dip the brush in the hot wax and dab it on all the plugs, the g'pa would reheat the wax as needed. Then we stacked the logs. Now, we wait.

It's probably too late to do an outdoor cultivation unless you happen to be in a part of the world that isn't going to go below 50 degrees F for another few months. There is always the PF Tek.

If this stuff fascinates you then you need to do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Paul Stamet's Mycelium Running. It doesn't get into step by steps but covers a wide variety of cultivation methods with lots of pictures of insane outdoor grows.

The Mushroom Life Cycle

An Easy Wild Bird Seed Tek

Building A Fruiting Chamber

Easy Bulk Substrate

Edit: If you are really interested in mycology all Paul Stamets books are must reads

Mycelium Running is a good start

All New Square Foot Gardening II: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More in Less Space https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591865484/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_0BXJAbCB1CWG0

Hi, I ran a garden consulting business for several years and worked with a number of preppers.

The one book you want is called The Square Foot Garden, it allows you to maximize the space you have available. One 4'x4'x6" is capable of pulling out hundreds of pounds of produce if you follow the instructions.

All of this is worthless information unless you start learning gardening in your free time.

There's definitely some community gardens in your area. Either ran by a community college, church group, or gardening group. You need to start volunteering there, or be willing to start your own garden. You can start a high potential Square Foot Garden for about $150.

Everyone's first garden is going to have a lot of failures. It takes a few years of growing to really get the hang of it.

You wouldn't go out and buy an airplane for SHTF without taking some time to learn how to fly it. It would be a disaster if you never started the engine and now you're flipping through a manual trying to learn how to fly. The same is true with gardening. Only practical experience is useful.

I have to also recommend the Square Foot Gardening book, mostly for all it has to offer someone who is kind of starting with the basics. Once I read that I then branched off to various web sites, including reddit. MIGardener, while in Michigan and not at all your climate or mine, has tons of videos on youtube that are great for the beginner. If you follow him on Facebook you'll get a notification when he puts up a new video on youtube (though he has enough now you could lose a whole weekend watching them). He also just started selling seeds for $0.99, so if you're looking for an online seller, there you go.
My first garden, a 4' x 4' raised bed, was done strictly according to the Square Foot Gardening (SFG) method. I learned so much that first season about timing, soil, watering, etc., and even had some very successful veggies! My second season didn't go so well but that had nothing to do with what I had or hadn't learned. This is my third season and I've started several plants inside, ready to put them into my garden in a month or so. I will still be using all that I learned from my SFG book though I have a better idea of what plants I can crowd more than he recommends. Regardless, the book is still vital reference material for me. I even consulted it Saturday night for some seedling information.
For the existing plants, you might want to google them specifically (ie, 'pruning rosemary' or 'caring for my rosemary bush'). I got a ruled notebook and made one page per veggie/fruit that I was interested in and noted the information I found that was specifically important to me. The other stuff just kind of lays dormant in your brain until you get more involved in gardening and then it just pops out when needed! Good luck and enjoy! (I too plant tomatoes though I don't care for them much, unless in pico de gallo. I started 8 different types this season because it's so fun to watch them grow!!)

https://smile.amazon.com/All-Square-Foot-Gardening-Revolutionary/dp/1591865484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486443200&sr=8-1&keywords=square+foot+gardening

https://www.amazon.com/All-Square-Foot-Gardening-Revolutionary/dp/1591865484/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=

My wife bought square foot gardening and has been getting decent results playing around the last couple years. We’ve had tomatoes, kale, spinach, cucumbers, squash, eggplant...bunch of herbs, micro greens, etc. built 2 3X9 beds from materials purchased at Home Depot and pretty much followed that guys advice.

Edit: She says we are like 7A/6B so should be similar. The only thing that failed was corn because we didn’t have enough space to plant enough to make it work.

I used the previous version of this book..

https://www.amazon.com/Decker-Complete-Wiring-Updated-Edition/dp/159186612X

I also had assistance from posters at WoodNet forums where there (at the time) were several electricians that would answer questions. I would assume this forum or others would be able to answer code questions.

Most questions I had were just to confirm my understanding and in material selection. The hardest questions I had were in dealing with the design of two sub panels, one with a lockable disconnect to keep machines from being used when not using the shop (safety for kiddos). I also upgraded my main panel to 200 amps. All of it was very straightforward to do. The only difficulty I had with any of the work was in finding quality materials. Most of the materials at the home store are “builder grade”, and at least my Home Depot and Lowe’s did not stock a lot of the higher quality materials so I ordered them in from supply houses. I lived in an area where the supply houses would not sell to homeowners. Lighting was a similar challenge because I wanted to have a very bright garage and finding quality T8 ballast/fixture combos locally was impossible, so I had to buy a few sample fixtures from online suppliers, evaluate them and return those I did not like.

The black and decker books are a pretty good starting point:
http://www.amazon.com/Decker-Complete-Wiring-Updated-Edition/dp/159186612X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412963985&sr=8-2&keywords=electrical+how+to

Yes you can. Easily if you have basic tools and the desire the learn.

Buy this book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159186612X?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

Read it from front to back.

Also, if you find yourself thinking you want to see if you could push for self-sufficiency, this book is amazing for that: https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Farming-Self-Sufficiency-Brett-Markham/dp/1602399840/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496610942&sr=8-2&keywords=quarter+acre+farm

A family of four. Plus he would also carry a wagon into to town once or twice a week to sell the excess he said he would normally make a couple of dollars and that one time he made 20, which is a lot for then.

Here's a great book on farming for yourself, wonderful info. or you can find a pdf of it online if you're feeling tricky ;)

Here's one thorough option

I also recommend checking out your local library, they usually have a good selection.

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, 2nd Edition: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Regions: Wide Rows, Organic Methods, Raised Beds, Deep Soil https://www.amazon.com/dp/160342475X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_vyl7Cb55Z3W69

I’m a new gardener. I love this book. Full of pictures, tips and easy to read format to look up what you want to read about

One of two books I keep on my shelf at all times. The other is this.

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C. Smith

If you haven't already, introduce yourself to permaculture. A good start is Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway and this video right here by Geoff Lawton.

Toby Hemenway. This book has some discussion of the non-native issue. This video might be the one you're looking for. See also this discussion thread.

One Straw Revolution

Teaming with Microbes

Teaming with Nutrients

Master Cho's Lessons

Gaia's Garden

This is a good base into the natural side of things, if that interests you at all.

Gaia's Garden, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle are two great ones. Gaia's Garden regards permaculture and making your garden more in touch with what occurs in nature. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, while it is not a "Gardening" book, is a great read and was what inspired me to start a garden as soon as I moved out of my apartment to the country.

>we've got to fight to survive

Absolutely. Giving up is certainly worse. When I first learned of the economic and energy aspects of collapse I thought things would fall apart much sooner than they did. It's almost excruciatingly slow once you see how untenable the trajectory is. The good news is you can take action personally to be less dependant on the failing system and to help others wake up.

If you're looking for some positive ways to prepare, consider Prosper by Martenson and Taggart, this intro to permaculture, this intro to Appropriate Technology, and/or this collapse-aware career book.

Good luck with your upcoming semester. You've come so far, and you'll be glad you finished what you started.

Successful organic gardening and farming is a question of figuring out how to turn what seem like liabilities into assets. It seems like you have too much sun. Try putting up some shade cloth to block out sun during the most intense parts of the day. Mulch your plants. A lot. Mulch will save you.

Read some books. Eliot Coleman's books are fabulous, and contain a lot of good general information even though the author lives in Maine. I particularly recommend Four Season Harvest. Gaia's Garden is great, and is well suited to someone who owns very little land. Teaming with Microbes is an easy-to-read introduction to bringing your soil to life. And Roots Demystified has some great information about how to best design watering systems for specific plants you're growing. These books all have good pest-fighting information.

You can PM me if you have any questions. Get started!

Get Gaia's Garden. Read it. Then decide what trees to plant.

A Short History of Nearly Everything, A People's History of the United States, Freakonomics, The Botany of Desire, Sun Magazine

Have you read The Botany of Desire? I absolutely loved it.

Michael Pollan wrote a fascinating book from the "Plant's View" of the world, and how it influences us in ways we usually don't give it credit for. 200 bits /u/changetip

Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City is an amazing book. The main point is about Ford trying to create a company town in Brazil in order to grow rubber. But the books gives you a great picture of Ford the man, the company, what the era was like and the larger philosophical and economic ideas behind this project. Honestly, for me it read like fiction- I couldn't put it down.

They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967 looks at the Vietnam war from three different perspectives, from students protesting, to the actual front and then from the government officials. The narrative is amazing and it's so well researched that it was captivating as well, but I think he really captured the feeling of the times as well, which is so great to see in a book.

Michael Pollan is know most for Omnivore's Dilemma (which is a great read) but I really love his first book too, and that doesn't get as much attention, which is still very interesting is The Botany of Desire. He goes through the history of 4 different plants, apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes. Not too interesting on the surface, but he makes the stories fascinating. It's a great in its overarching nature about our relationships with plants.

[Marriage: A History by Stephanie Coontz] (http://www.amazon.com/Marriage-History-How-Love-Conquered/dp/014303667X) is another one I always recommend. It is an expansive work showing that the idea of Marriage has been in flux since the beginning and completely depended on the culture and time period. It's well researched but also a compelling work.

if you grow an apple tree from a seed the chance of having edible fruit is ridiculously small. And if you actually end up with one, you can name it, sell grafts from it and become quite wealthy off of it.
For example, every Granny Smith Apple is descended from one particular tree in Australia somewhere. But if you take the seeds from that apple, it's offspring will have nothing in common with it.

Source: The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

The Tulip by Anna Pavord and The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan both give excellent descriptions of 'Tulipomania' in Holland in the 1700s.

> It's not necessary to keep fruits appealing to wild animals if we are spreading and planting them ourselves.

This is more or less the premise of the excellent book, The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. It describes four different plants, and how they have "used" humans to become some of the most prolific species in the world.

I amazed no one has mentioned 5 acres and independence yet.

Edit: Also, check our /r/backyardorchard. Tons of fruit/nut hobbiest info there.

I suggest the Wicca Bible and Cunningham’s encyclopedia of magical herbs to start. If possible, have them mailed to a friend’s house or a PO box.

https://smile.amazon.com/Wicca-Bible-Definitive-Spirit-Bibles/dp/140273008X/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=wicca+bible&qid=1568859279&sr=8-2

https://smile.amazon.com/Cunninghams-Encyclopedia-Magical-Llewellyns-Sourcebook/dp/0875421229/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=cunninghams+encyclopedia+of+magical+herbs&qid=1568859312&sprefix=cunningha&sr=8-2

Remember that this is an earth-based faith. We mostly use our powers for the good of the world environment. If you cast selfishly, you won’t see the results you want.

It sounds like you're able to work a lot with correspondences. For that alone I'd recommend Stephen Skinner's Complete Magician's Tables. You'll find numerous correspondences between quite a few plants and planets, signs, entities, etc. From there you can work out when to harvest, perhaps the type of metal tool, things you can use them for, etc.

Going a little more plant-centric, Cunningham's Encyclopedia is a nice reference.

edit: linked to skinner's book

>kitchen witch

Kitchen witch is specifically a term for those who practice magic that is quick and simple. More like "folk magick" -- so called because a lot of the ingredients for this magic are found in the kitchen. For example, a kitchen with might boil someone's picture in salt in order to purify them of any bad influences. Or put a representation of someone in the freezer in order to cool them off and stop them from doing harm.

>What resources do you use for herbal knowledge?

It really depends on how much you already know. If you are an absolute beginner I recommend Cunningham's two books on the subject. The first is a reference book on Herbs and their magical properties called Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. The second is his Complete Book of Incense, Oils and Brews. The first one really talks abotu the herbs themselves, but the second one gives you different ways to use the herbs by making oils or essences out of them.

> I live in an apartment and would like to grow my own herbs, no balcony. Where do I start?

I would google search for something called "urban gardening" it's a really big movement of people who discuss just this. I don't know a lot about it personally but I'm sure you will find others here who do.

Hope this helps :-)

Usually, for every magickal endeavor you want to make incense for, there is a household correspondence that you can use to make it. We wouldn't be Witches if we weren't crafty, right?

Some texts that will help you find correspondences (If you can't buy them yourself, you can always browse them at a bookstore and take notes. Places like Barnes and Nobles carries these kinds of books. They are worth buying secretly and sneaking home, imho.) :

• Cunningham's Magickal Herbs
  
  
• Cunningham's Incense, Oils, and Brews
  
  
• Cunningham's Magical Herbalism: The Secret Craft of the Wise
  
  and while you're at it, for extra sneakyness:
  
  
• Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen
  
  There are other books out there about herbalism, but Cunningham's books are simple and effective primers to get you started down the road towards Herbalism. Just remember, there is WAY more advanced stuff out there, and if you care to learn it, you can.
  
  For more immediate help regarding making incense, A video about Herbalism from Cunningham: [Herb Magick] (http://youtu.be/Mn6B2m1pLoE). The video may not have an extensive correspondence list, but it'll get you down the road.
  
  PLEASE DON'T POISON YOURSELF.

Kudos on studying mycology, do you intend to get a degree? Chanterelles are steady awesomeness. But Macrolepiota procera is some tasty meat...as are M. americana and M. rachodes. Mmmmm. Did you find them in the woods, or in an urban habitat? Also, what species of chanterelle did you eat?

Sooo, uhm.

• There is no accurate detailed mushroom identification guide for the semi-experienced. As a semi-experienced mushroomer, you should be able to garner information from as many sources as possible, including mycologically astute members of your community, local mycological societies, various field guides and keys, and of course, the interwebs. The internet is an awesome place for ID fun. Mushrooms Demystified is the standard, though.
  
  
• Restaurants are sometimes hard to crack. Find your local dining out guides and try to get a sense of the menus. Look for folks who specialize in "local" and "slow" foods. Stay away from corporate stuff. Often the only option is walking in with mushrooms. Phone calls usually fail. You must persevere and be tough.
  
  
• Yes, there are. So many. Many members of the genus Russula are some of the tastiest mushrooms out. All of the edible members of the Boletaceae that I have sampled have been awesome. Several Lactarius mushrooms are notable. Hmmm. This is a big topic... I've eaten some 200 species of mushrooms.
  
  
• This is an open ended question that could break me. Like a buffer overflow. I see bears. I fall down. My vehicle leaves me stranded. It hails. I find too many mushrooms. I encounter people i know in the middle of nowhere. Get hassled in the forest by the feds. I find stuff - flint-making equipment, a hatchet, laptop memory, abandoned camps... old bottles, the legacy of timber harvest, trash of all origins. I'll come back with a nice story, right now I've gotta go deliver 7 lbs of chanterelles to a local restaurant.

Far too simple. I use Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora, it's basically a 500 page flowchart for figuring out what species you're looking at.

All That the Rain Promises and More by David Arora. Fantastic guide with a lot of information on edibility. Also highly recommended is its companion guide by the same author, Mushrooms Demystified

I've been getting a lot of information from foraging accounts on Instagram. The folks there can be really helpful. (I wrote a post on my blog about getting into foraging here with some resources and Instagrammers listed at the bottom.)

Also, check out Mushrooms Demystefied. Great book. I got it for myself when I wanted to get started.

http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Gourmet-Medicinal-Mushrooms-Stamets-ebook/dp/B004GTLS2U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396469718&sr=8-1&keywords=growing+mushrooms

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mushroom-Cultivator-Practical-Mushrooms/dp/0961079800/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1396469733&sr=8-2&keywords=growing+mushrooms

My complaint about these books is that they are geared for exactly what you're talking about and not necessarily low-tech home cultivation. They cover just about everything you would need.

TMC gives:


Spawn Run:

Humidity: 90-100%

Substrate Temp: 78-84F

Duration: 10-14days

CO2: 20,000PPM or 20% by volume

Fresh Air Exchanges: 0

Light: None



Pinning:

Humidity: 95%

Air Temp: 55-60F

Duration: 7-14 days

CO2: less than 600PPM

Fresh Air Exchanges: 4/hr

Light: 2000lux / hr for 12 hours a day. Grow-lux type bulbs recommended.

Watering: regular misting once to twice daily until fruiting bodies are 30-40% of harvest size, at which point water is used to prevent cracking.



Cropping:

Humidity: 85-92%

Air Temp: 60-64F

Duration: 5-7 weeks

CO2: less than 600PPM

Fresh Air Exchanges: 4-6 per hour

Flushing Interval: 10 days.

Light: 2000lux / hr for 12 hours a day. Grow-lux type bulbs recommended.



Edit: Giving credit where credit is due. It's a good book. Buy it.

The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 40th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living off the Land & Doing It Yourself


https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1570618402/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_FwHhDbCZ82V3E

Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills

The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 40th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living off the Land & Doing It Yourself

That's a crap ton of knowledge right there. Remember to practice and learn before you need the skills.

This probably isn't exactly what you are looking for, but I did want to give you my three favorites that relate to self-sufficiency and off grid living.

• The Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing.
  I really like this book as a sort of "what to expect" instead of "what to do." It chronicles Helen and Scott's decision and life to live a self-sufficient life.
  
  
• The Encyclopedia of Country Living. This is a great resource. It covers EVERYTHING from gardening to raising chickens. It also covers cooking and canning with what you raise. It is primarily a consolidation of 40 years worth of a homesteading magazine.
  
  
• The Foxfire series. This series is quite long and comprehensive. However, it is an attempt to chronicle the oral knowledge of rural Appalachia. Everything is essentially about self-sufficiency (including moonshining), homesteading, and living life "the old way." It is truly a fascinating series and a wealth of knowledge.
  
  I am not familiar with the books you listed, but I do love the three I mentioned above.

Is the other SF civilized? Is that where they are setting up? That might determine the things I'd most want to have.

That said, if I could only have one book, it would be The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery: http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-40th-Anniversary/dp/1570618402/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451333303&sr=8-1&keywords=the+encyclopedia+of+country+living

It is big, though. But I'd still want it.

I was asking a similar question not that long ago. One thing I realized is that it's a difficult question to answer. "Homesteading" describes an incredibly diverse range of activities: planting and gardening, livestock, building, repair, assessing land and soil quality, cooking, canning, bee hives... The list goes on and on. I'd recommend a couple of general books to start with, picking up books on each specific topic as you go. Pick one new thing to add to your homestead at whatever pace feels right.

I purchased both of these books based on numerous recommendations. They fit the "general homesteading" label rather well, and I think they're probably a good place to start.

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour

and

The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery.

They both cover a broad range of topics with enough depth to get an idea of what is involved with a project, though I'd probably suggest more in-depth material for really diving in to something.

This should get you as far as you'll ever want to go

I would suggest picking up the book Teaming with Microbes. http://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131

This really gives you a good idea of what living soil is all about. Once you have an idea of how good soil is balanced composting is a lot easier.

I would recommend, Teaming with Microbes.
Really a cool book if you're into gardening or just want to understand the soil.

Read the book "Teaming with Microbes" it is by far the best book on organic gardening I have ever read. You can get it through Multnomah County library.

Also, hit me up if you want to use my compost tea brewer or need some help with planting/planning/harvesting (I live in SE).

Here is the wiki page on heirloom tomatoes.


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heirloom_tomato


In my experience as a seed saver, if you save seeds from a hybrid you will wind up with a mystery veggie. It could be one of the two parents mixed to create that cultivar. And sometimes even more cultivars are used to crossbreed. So it is almost a guessing game. Heirlooms are old varieties with no cross breeding, so when you plant the seed it comes true to seed. However cross pollination occurs with heirloom seeds too. That is, if you are buying heirloom seed from a non reputable source. Their are distances needed to properly pollinate heirlooms and so much more. The best book I have on the subject is this.


http://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Techniques-Vegetable-Gardeners/dp/1882424581


Seed to seed. It has taught me more than I ever expected! Very helpful resource for saving seeds.


To answer your question in less complicated words. If that seed you saved was from an open pollinated heirloom with no chance of cross pollination it could be a few things. If it is a hybrid we have to guess.

A really good book on seed saving is Seed to Seed. Highly recommended.

The quick answer is keep them cool and dry. Glass is better than plastic (as in mason jars) and you can buy those little dehumidifying packets to toss in there as well. When they are dry, you can freeze most seeds safely where they will last for decades, but you must avoid a repeated freeze thaw cycle. You lose a little every cycle.

Seeds vary greatly in their longevity. Some like onions will lose a great deal of their viability in a single year under less than ideal conditions. Others like the brassicas (colllards, kales, broccoli) can go 5 years with basic care.

Breed your own vegetable varieties

&

Seed to seed

Are the two most important books for what you're looking for.

Have fun, and let me know if you have any questions. If folks want I can start a post about the topic sometime

Apples are this way because the fruit takes the traits of both parents and most orchards use crabapples as the second parent. Other fruits and veggies act the same (squash is one that comes to mind). For these types of plants, in order to get a "pure" seed that isn't cross contaminated, you need to hand pollinate and then tie up the flower to avoid cross contamination. Or you have to separate varieties by as much as 400 feet.

Beans, on the other hand can cross pollinate but it doesn't happen often because pollination happens before the flower opens (since bean flowers are consider perfect, self-pollinators).

There are several books on seed saving and web resources that can tell you what seeds are the easiest to save and harvest and what seeds require more manual intervention. The most popular book on seed saving is Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, 2nd Edition.

If he really wants to step it up, this book by Eliot Coleman. He lives in Maine and gardens year round!

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Season-Harvest-Organic-Vegetables-Edition/dp/1890132276/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1410619791&sr=8-2&keywords=year+round+gardening

Oh ok. There is info on micronutrients in my forest gardening book. Apparently most of the US has the right kind of geological history, meaning there is very little risk of those micronutrients being depleted (since plants need so little of them and the subsoil is still pretty young). Certain areas (like in the SE where I am) need more careful balancing of the ecosystem in order to not deplete them too quickly, and are more sensitive to ecological disturbances like clear cutting.

A proper ecosystem cycles these nutrients via dynamic accumulators. This family might have planted comfrey, for example. The comfrey uses it's deep-reaching roots to take in the micronutrients from the subsoil. It stores it in it's tissues which you can then harvest and add to your top soil.

This family is not exporting 100% of their produce, they are composting, planting dynamic accumulators, and growing on young subsoil. So they shouldn't have any problems with micronutrient depletion for centuries.

If you are considering a forest garden, I would not recommend doing so without a proper design. I highly recommend these two books: http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Forest-Gardens-2-set/dp/1890132608

They will help you create the right design which will save you a ton of work/ resource usage in the long term.

If you are looking for examples, Sepp Holzer has lots of videos on youtube. Search "temperate permaculture" and you will find a lot of stuff on youtube.

http://tcpermaculture.com/site/ is a great temperate permaculture resource with guild lists and explanations of how permaculture can be used in a temperate climate.

The absolute BIBLE I rely on is this:
http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Forest-Gardens-2-set/dp/1890132608/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1368994131&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=eric+tonsmeijer

It's pricy and worth the hardcopy. But it's out there in torrents. It has an absolute ton of information on HOW to do permaculture in a temperate setting. I can't recommend this highly enough. If there is one thing you do, find this and read it!

Good tips. I have a bit of experience in your current study topic and if you feel like diving in deep I'd suggest Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke. It's like the bible of permaculture in my opinion.

Thank you. I have been told that this is also very good. Have you read or used it as well?

Not by any means perfect but this book made it really easy to get started and have successful grows on my first few tries.

The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing and Using Magic Mushrooms https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937866289/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_TZ64CbY36KCSZ

Botany for Gardeners

Alex Veidel has been doing research and experiments with non-manure-based compost in aquaponics. He did a talk on it at the Aquaponics Fest, and is writing an article in Aquaponics Survival Communities this month on possible issues with compost.

I know that inoculations have become quite popular in hydroponics as of late. This might be partly because they've realized that aquaponics systems actually grow faster once they're mature, and that this must have something to do with bacterial or fungal nutrient uptake improvements.

Human knowledge in this area is severely lacking. We know so little about how microbial communities influence plant growth, we might as well be cave-men scratching drawings on a cave wall. For a good read on this topic, check out Teaming With Microbes.

Vlad Jovanovic at Aquaponics Source Forum might have some ideas for you.

My favorite: Teaming with Microbes

http://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131

Hi, coming from the same angle, I'm fairly certain that you want to read this book.

If you want to go organic, read Teaming With Microbes.

It's the down and dirty of using organic inputs

Whether or not your 'flush' was needed depends on what was in your fertilizer as you were using bottled chemicals and not organic inputs... Organic gardening relies on organic inputs decomposing in soil via microbial activity, broken down and fed to plants through a mycorrhizal fungal network. You don't need to use any sort of bottled nutrients if you are gardening organically. I'm no expert gardener, but I've worked in a few gardens and harvested a few plants, and I seem to see the healthiest, hardiest plants grown in plain soil with no bottled nutrients. Check out the book "Teaming with Microbes" by Jeff Lowenfels and explore the soil food web http://www.soilfoodweb.com/ if you want to learn about organic gardening. If you want to learn more Jeff has written a three part series, the next book is Teaming with Nutrients and lastly Teaming with Fungi.

Tons of amazing suggestions in this thread already so I'm going to go with a different suggestion...read "Teaming with Microbes" by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. I think a much easier approach to organic gardening is understanding that every input you choose to introduce should be feeding the microbial life that is in the soil. At the heart of SST, ACT, and all of the fermented variations of organic fertilizers are microbial beasties (bacteria and fungi). These are what you are trying to nourish with organic inputs since they (and the organisms that feed on them) are responsible for producing/converting the nutrients in the soil into plant accessible forms.

I hugely appreciate Nature. Had a few encounters with the intelligence of nature and I experienced a glimpse of what it feels like to be a tree while being guided by a shaman in Peru. I found that so many things are treated with ignorance and the real beauty of nature has to be perceived as a whole. What goes on underneath, in the soil is truly remarkable.
Read this book after my experience that made me realize how little we know and understand:
https://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131

I have read all of these front to back multiple times. I read the grow bible 5 times before I even started purchasing equipment and propagating seeds. Do it right, take the time to do the research. You will find there are many cost effective ways to grow amazing Cannabis.

True Living Organics: The Ultimate Guide to Growing All-Natural Marijuana Indoors

The Cannabis Grow Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing Marijuana for Recreational and Medical Use

Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition (Science for Gardeners)

Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition (Science for Gardeners)

Fundamentals of Horticulture 4th Edition

The Secret Life of Plants: a Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man

edit: If you cant tell I am an organic cultivator. ;D

Yep. And in order to comply with Rule#2, I use a pitchfork to fold mulch/compost into the clay. We had no earthworms (that I ever saw) when we started gardening. Fork up the soil the following year after mixing wood mulch into the clay and every forkload of soil has a juicy fat earthworm in it. Using a pitchfork is not only a much easier way of turning the soil (as opposed to using a shovel), but it also prevents the earthworms from being accidently lopped in half.

Edit: interesting anecdote gleaned from Teaming with Microbes: earthworms hate forests because of the high acidity soil microculture there.

I have variety in my lawn, different grasses, clover, some weeds. I’ve never had to thatch anything. I think at least part of the problem some people have is that they kill the things that help decompose that dead grass. Pesticides kill lots of beneficial insects and over fertilizing with strong chemical fertilizers kill lots of microorganisms in the soil.


This book really opened my eyes to the benefits of mostly organic gardening and lawn care. It’s a pretty short read and explains well some really basic concepts to help your plants of all kinds thrive with minimal effort




https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1604691131/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_8?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

If you want a book Seed to Seed is a good one to go with. There are even sections for specific plants.

I did save a few of the easy things like corn, squash, beans, and watermelon. Saving seed is definitely something I want to do more of this year. Seed to Seed is a great resource that I use. I've experimented with heirloom and hybrids varieties. Hybrids seem to be easier to grow, but you don't get a quality seed to save.

It all depends on what you're trying to achieve.

You're concern is on par. If you only keep seeds that are from late in the season it's possible you might end up with pepper plants that put off late fruit. I generally try to save seeds from the best looking and tasting fruit all season.

One big question: Are you growing more than one variety of pepper or tomato? If so, and you did not take precautions to make sure they did not cross-pollinate, you will likely end up with a variety other than what you planted. Doesn't mean you can't save the seed, but don't expect those plants to be your main crop producers next year.

Check out the book Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth. It is the best resource on seed saving I've ever read.
http://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Techniques-Vegetable-Gardeners/dp/1882424581

Here are two books I consider essential references, both of which I would recommend to anyone:

Seed to Seed

Root cellaring

You need to preserve your seeds, and you need to preserve your harvests. Both are superb references for their respective topics.

I've seen this recommended in other material as a great resource for seed saving info.

https://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Techniques-Vegetable-Gardeners/dp/1882424581/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496172117&sr=8-1&keywords=seed+to+seed

Seed to Seed is an excellent reference.

Ashworth's book has some pretty specific stats on seed longevity (e.g. "spinach seeds will retain 50% germination for 5 years when stored under ideal conditions.") Unfortunately the one flaw in the book is that is really is only for vegetables, so many of the basic grains like rice are not included. But it's still a standard reference for home seed saving.

Most serious seed savers freeze it, tbh. Or at least freeze representative samples of their favorite varieties, enough to recreate the population should your harvest fail. Dry it appropriately, stick it in a ziploc in the bottom of a chest freezer, and most seed will effectively last forever, until the electricity dies.

Book: Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, 2nd Edition

Purple Nurple

I have tons of passions. My biggest passions are equal rights, justice, and farming. Equality and justice are really important to me and farming is something I really enjoy doing.

This book reminds me of my passion of farming

I recommend a book called Four Season Harvest by Elliot Coleman. Great introduction on how you can produce year round.

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Season-Harvest-Organic-Vegetables-Edition/dp/1890132276

Both if you can. Chickens as they are omnivores and will eat almost everything. For plants you can pick and choose what will do best for you. In the case you are presenting I would suggest getting plants that people in dryer or hotter climates grow. Start growing them now along with other plants for diversity.

Some books I suggest

• The Whole Seed Catalog 2019 Great seeds from across the world and for sale. Also includes guides on how they taste and some info on growing them.
  
• Four-Season Harvest
  
• Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving Along with this I suggest learning how to pressure can food. I am not aware of a good book to teach this.

I just took a look at your post history and it looks like you are in Newfoundland, CA?

I think your best bet is leafy greens. The leaf arrives before flowers, fruits and seeds, so is a safer option than most. Many greens will grow while there is enough sun and then stop, but will not die in a greenhouse and so can still be harvested in December and January.

Here's a Mother Earth News article on winter hoophouse crops. If you are actually providing some supplemental heat you are way ahead of the game. If you've got twenty bucks to spare or have a good library, get a hold of Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman—a huge resource for winter growing.

First check with your landlord with what you can do. Then get a bunch of gardening books from the library. Right now is when you get things in for a fall harvest. In late July through August is when you would want to get in winter crops. Yes, you can grow things in Toronto in winter you just need protection. I would see what your local nursery has in the way of vegi and herb starts and get some good potting soil and put them in containers. Spend some extra cash and see if you can get a large healthy Tomato that is filled with flowers and put it in at least a 5 gallon pot.

If I may suggest some good reading on the subject, The Cannabis Grow Bible is great for a fact based start. After that I would sign up at THC farmer's forums. Some of the best growers on planet Earth over there that can help you with ANYTHING you may ever want or need. Your grow should always be kept simple and clean, that is what will give you consistent results as long as you follow the growing discipline that you agree with the most. Grows run into all of the problems when people try and mix and match disciplines.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/how-grow-marijuana/72079-breeding-beginners-create-your-very-own-strain.html -Basic Overview & http://www.amazon.com/The-Cannabis-Breeders-Bible-Definitive/dp/1931160279 -Books http://www.amazon.com/The-Cannabis-Grow-Bible-Recreational/dp/1931160589/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411213996&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Cannabis+Grow+Bible

What Every Body is Saying to be able to tell when people are lying to you (based on your interest in Lie To Me and it's a useful skill to have) and The Cannabis Grow Bible so you can grow your own plants (or just learn a shitload about that plant).

Damn, drama up in here.

Don't worry, I gotchu fam https://www.amazon.com/Cannabis-Grow-Bible-Definitive-Recreational/dp/1931160589

Otherwise:
-Out? of incubation? When you have exposed roots or you think they have filled whatever they are in.

-The clones? Prob a bad idea.

-There are some tutorials and videos, but it seems difficult or not very good for the plant unless you're doing some weird monster cropping thing, which is beyond me.

-Duct tape, mylar, and dark canvas/cloth, sit in the room if you can to find leaks. For outdoors you can pick up some flowering bags (kinda like big trash bags).

-Pots, everytime.

-Fancy if you have the money (my vote)

-Flowering is usually dictated by your plant, you can usually look up your strain and find out a general time frame, some are much shorter than others.

-Don't grow ditch weed man, if you don't have access to real seeds buy some feminized seeds online, seriously, it's worth the money. I got some from https://amsterdammarijuanaseeds.com/ they all popped and grew like champs. It took a while to ship, but otherwise no issues.

-Neem oil, but if you have WORMS, you probably have a bigger issue. Many solutions, this is something you will have to reasearch.

-I dunno about any new moon business. It depends on your flush methods and when your plant is done flowering.

Good luck!

The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible:... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937866289?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Thanks, I think it looks neat, too.Yes I did. Was a heck load of holes to drill. Drilling alone took me more then 2 hours I think.

​

I worked with this tutorial from the shroomery and had «The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible» by Haze and Mandrake at hand.

The materials I used are a 46l plastic tub with lid, permanent marker, measure tape, scalpel, small cordless drill that fit inside the tub with the bit on, pilot drill bit 3.5mm, 6mm drill bit and a wooden board to drill on.

At first I roughly measured out the outer 4 holes of the grid based on the side I was drilling, so that the grid would be more or less centred. Then I piloted by drilling holes with the smaller bit that has a pilot pin on slow speed. Did all holes on one side first and then finished them with the bigger bit on full speed and used the scalpel to scrape the remains. With time I more and more eye balled it and stopped piloting. In the end I drilled all of them on full speed and only ripped the edges of one or two holes slightly.. If you're careful it works.

​

The plastic is a bit of a nightmare to work with. Had a go at a glovebox a few days ago and completely wrecked the plastic with the first cut -.-Bought a second tub when I got the one for the SGFC. May have a go at heating the plastic with the hot air gun before cutting it.

It's a great project!

​

edit: Holes are apart 5cm.

I’m not sure how much knowledge you’ve already acquired but I’ve found The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible to be incredibly helpful getting my hobby off the ground

https://www.amazon.com/Psilocybin-Mushroom-Bible-Definitive-Mushrooms/dp/1937866289

Amazon has a mushroom bible that I found very informative. There are probably better teks to use but this covers everything from supplies to techniques to contamination info, highly recommend it for the price! The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing and Using Magic Mushrooms https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937866289/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ckyMAbQEMA5EY

https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Gourmet-Medicinal-Mushrooms-Stamets/dp/1580081754?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1580081754

http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Kuo/e/B001ILI9G2/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603582142/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 http://www.amazon.com/The-Mushroom-Cultivator-Practical-Mushrooms/dp/0961079800/ref=pd_sim_b_8?ie=UTF8&refRID=0V56Q93CSRKQYV2W1C0B http://www.amazon.com/Mycelium-Running-Mushrooms-Help-World/dp/1580085792/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0V56Q93CSRKQYV2W1C0B http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0472030361/ref=oh_details_o04_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0472031260/ref=oh_details_o04_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394519922/ref=oh_details_o04_s01_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580085792/ref=oh_details_o04_s01_i03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Paul Stamets - Mycelium Running

Book on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mycelium-Running-Mushrooms-Help-World/dp/1580085792

Paul Stamets TED talk:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXHDoROh2hA

>growing my own food

You say that like it's a bad thing! Growing our own food is one of the most powerful things regular people can do to help break the vile corporate stranglehold we find ourselves locked into. You'd be surprised how much food you can grow in a relatively small space, with relatively little effort. This book and its associated Wikipedia entry outline a good method.

Well, four that I can think of off the top of my head would have to be:

• The Four Season Farm Gardener's Cookbook
  
• Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre
  
• All New Square Foot Gardening
  
• The Vegetable Gardener's Bible
  
  Also, here's a channel on YouTube that has an ENDLESS amount of organic gardening information. GrowingYourGreens

Just start small and you will learn a little more each season. I started last year in pretty much the same place, with a square foot garden. Ordered some seeds from a seed library local to my region. I was shocked that anything at all came up from those seeds! I grew a huge crop of the most beautiful and wonderful simple vegetables in two 4x4 boxes. (cucumbers, tomatos, lettuce, carrots). Some sort of beatle attacked all of my green beans. And the lettuce grew quick in the early spring but most of it rotted in the ground because who can eat that much lettuce! Now I try to share the excess.. I ended up giving away bags and bags of cucumbers on craigs list and made my very first batch of homeade tomato sauce at the end of summer! This year we added a compost bin and a third box. We are flush with radishes right now - which come up super quick :) http://www.amazon.com/Square-Foot-Gardening-Second-Revolutionary/dp/1591865484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464224162&sr=8-1&keywords=square+foot+garden

Can you be more specific?
Plants depend on the climate, season, soil depth, companion planting, sun and shadow availability. Planting in a rooftop doesn't affect that. I'm in Mexico City, so I can plant most plants during most of the year.

You can use this map to find your hardiness zone (if it's Vienna, which I'm guessing from your history, it's zone 6). And use a hardiness zone planting guide:
http://veggieharvest.com/calendars/zone-6.html
http://www.almanac.com/plants/hardiness-zone/6

As for cultivation techniques, with limited space you should be looking at intensive gardening techniques:
http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/intensive.html

I'd go for square foot gardening, it's nice and simple.

Please let me know if any of this is unclear, or if you were looking for something else.

Here is a good starter book http://www.amazon.com/dp/1591865484
You can use this method for small containers that you put on your balcony.

And a good reference book http://www.amazon.com/dp/1603424768

Good luck!

Baker Creek Herloom seeds has a very useful website. Under all of their plants they have reviews. Also if you go to their Facebook page they have a guy named Matt that teaches a lot about gardening on their live feeds. Also a good starter book that I enjoyed just staring out was [square foot gardening ](All New Square Foot Gardening II: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More in Less Space https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591865484/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_xoHRybVDJT2Y6)
And The [Vegetable Gardener's Bible ](The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, 2nd Edition: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Regions: Wide Rows, Organic Methods, Raised Beds, Deep Soil https://www.amazon.com/dp/160342475X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fpHRybBXSA45A) if you have any gardening questions you can PM if you would like and I would love to help.
Also I'll compile a list of my favorite resources for gardening.

We did raised beds when we lived in town. Check out the book All New Square Foot Gardening. Lots of good info in there.

Since you say that you live in a rural area do you live in a house with a yard? One really good way of saving money on food is to start a garden. Gardening is a skill that is fun and can be learned. It is also a fun hobby. If you use the raised bed method then there is almost no maintenance work needed once you have it all set up. Another popular method is Square Foot Gardening. If you use permaculture methods then there is no need to constantly buy fertilizer.

From September to November we will be spending $0 on buying fruit. The apple and pear trees from the community garden provides all the fruit we need for this period. All you can eat pears and apples does get a bit boring after a while though. We have enough winter squash to last us into next year.

Our community garden patch is 30x30 feet. We don't grow food on all of it. It supplies most of our vegetables during the fall.

We kind of overdid it on the Swiss Chard this year. Been eating way to much of that stuff. The beets were nice this year as well. (Don't forget that you can eat beet greens.) Still eating the potatoes from the fall harvest. Hopefully they will last till Christmas but I'm not sure. The New Zealand spinach was nice as well. The yellow zucchini was really nice. The tomatoes were wonderful.

Do yourself a favor and buy/read this book first.

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Guide-Wiring/dp/159186612X

Here (reddit in general) is not the place to educate yourself on basic electrical principles. This is a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Wiring-Updated/dp/159186612X

In general what you want to do sounds okay. There are definitely approved methods for "old work" stuff like this.

(insert usual get a permit, do it legally, etc etc)

I'd recommend you buy something like this and make sure you read through it carefully and check with your city building department, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Wiring-Updated/dp/159186612X

It's kind of cheesy, but I have been really happy with books like this and this and this and this.

This makes me nervous to place an electric stove right where a gas one is, so to do it right and prevent your house from potentially exploding
I would cap the end of the pipes properly with a pipe cap](http://www.homedepot.com/s/pipe%2520dope?NCNI-5) and some pipe dope.

For the electric, I would expect the existing line there (if there is one) is a 15 or 20 amp line and outlet, tied back to a 15/20 amp circuit breaker. You will need to add a (most likely, check the oven you want) 40 amp circuit breaker, new 40-amp wires, and 40 amp outlet. All of that will need a permit and follow code.

You can pull the permit and do it yourself, get it inspected, etc. I recommend the Black & Decker: Complete Guide to Wiring.

This would be awesome or anything you picked. :)

Also, not only do you look smashing today, but you make my Wednesdays awesome by making my mornings go faster and with fun by your Waldo contests. :D

Some good books for reference.

http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Farming-Self-Sufficiency-Brett-Markham/dp/1602399840/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333634510&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Complete-Traditional-Edition/dp/1602392331/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333634541&sr=8-1

My suggestion would be to start very small and learn all the core gardening principles -- soil, maintenance, harvesting, weed/pest control, etc. -- and then expand what you grow in your second year. The more manageable it is, the more likely you are to stick with it. Perhaps you could start with an herb garden with basil, thyme, rosemary, dill, cilantro, a few of those, then a tomato or two and maybe some bush beans or peppers. Maybe even less than that. You will get a ton of value and a lot of different flavors from just growing that little bit.

Your zone just tells you how hot/cold your area is. You are in a medium US climate so mostly this means you have a decently long season for growing, meaning you can grow the plants that need hot temps for a longer period of time - some plants need it to be 80deg for several months, while others can only be grown at the beginning and end of the season when it's coldest. Right now, you might be able to plant cold weather stuff like spinach and kale. When it warms up a bit more, you can start doing hot weather stuff like tomatoes. Look up the last frost dates for your area and it will help you know when to plant what. The zone can also inform what varieties of plants to grow - some are better for colder areas and other hot, etc. - but if I were you, as a new gardener, I'd just stick to growing the larger plants (tomatoes, peppers, etc.) that have already been started from a local nursery. They'll have stuff suitable for your zone and growing from seeds is often the hardest part for plants like tomatoes, so getting a baby tomato plant rather than the seeds can give you a better chance of success overall. it's just one less thing as Forrest Gump would say.

Check out gardenweb.com. They have a ton of good info. My new gardening book this year is The Vegetable Gardener's Bible and it's a really great book for new gardeners.

Local extension office and the farmer's almanac are also great resources. Also, check out Pinterest. There are a ton of ideas on there.

Yes, they appear after a branch has established itself. You just wanna gently pinch them off as they appear. Think of it as, "No two branches can be in the same space at the same time." Like a physics lesson n shit. Don't let your starters get too tall before you plant them, this is called "leggy" and a leggy tomato plant will not be able to support itself, tomatoes need a lot of nutrients from the soil and they can't get that if they are all plant and not enough root.


Definitely get a book! The Vegetable Gardener's Bible is kind of as good as it gets. It is important to put some thought into gardening and I like learning about stuff, but I think that over thinking it can end up making it feel like more work than it is.


Good luck with your garden!!

Permaculture: A Designer's Manual is considered the bible for permaculture because of how comprehensive it is and how much information is packed into that book. It won't explain all of the effective strategies for different climates that we've developed over the last 30 years but I would definitely start there for the foundation. Then move on to books on topics that are specific to a particular topic within permaculture design.

​

My Recommendations:

• Permaculture: A Designers Manual - https://www.permaculturedesignersmanual.com/product-page/permaculture-a-designers-manual
  
• Gaia's Garden - https://www.amazon.com/Gaias-Garden-Guide-Home-Scale-Permaculture/dp/1603580298
  
• Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond - https://www.amazon.com/Rainwater-Harvesting-Drylands-Beyond-2nd/dp/0977246434
  
• dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations - https://www.amazon.com/Dirt-Civilizations-David-R-Montgomery/dp/0520272900
  
• The New Wild: Why Invasive Species will be Nature's Salvation - https://www.amazon.com/New-Wild-Invasive-Species-Salvation/dp/0807039551
  
• The Worm Farmer’s Handbook: Mid- to Large-Scale Vermicomposting for Farms, Businesses, Municipalities, Schools, and Institutions - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1603587799/
  
• The Humanure Handbook, 4th Edition: Shit in a Nutshell - https://www.amazon.com/Humanure-Handbook-4th-Shit-Nutshell/dp/0964425882

Again, great questions. Here's a video I did on hugelkultur a bit ago. I don't recommend going to my website at the moment though because it's been recently hacked and I'm working on cleaning it up. The youtube video will be fine though. Check out that video, if you have more questions, feel free to ask.

You can do the flat raised bed idea, and I did the same last year, but I believe you will get more benefit from doing the piqued hills.

Grey water collection and rainwater harvesting are excellent ideas. I don't know if you could make use of it, but here is a super cool idea for a ram pump which requires no external input other than elevation change. Other than that, I don't know much about water tanks.

One really cool thing I've seen used is where people dig a trench under their garden and bury weeping tile in that trench which snakes around their garden. Then they connect that weeping tile to their downspout from there gutters and when it rains, they get a massive deep soak in their garden.

Swales are a fantastic thing to think about as they will help keep water on your land. Swales mixed with heavy mulching are a huge force in keeping your land irrigated. Check out greening the desert for more on that.

As for the PDC, you don't even have to pay for it. I googled free online PDC and found this.

http://www.permaculturedesigntraining.com/

If you want to learn more about it, there are amazing books which can help.

Gaia's Garden and Sepp Holzer's Permaculture

That's awesome that your SO is taking that course. She'll probably learn some really cool sustainable farming things.

Also, check out http://www.permies.com. There's tons of info there, and super amazing people who are very helpful.

sadly, permaculture has been the victim of greenwashing. Check out Gaia's Garden: http://www.amazon.com/Gaias-Garden-Second-Home-Scale-Permaculture/dp/1603580298

The core concept of permaculture is to integrate systems into each other so intimately that the waste streams of a single process become input for others and eventually recycle into the first. Rainwater harvesting, grey-water plumbing, black-water irrigation and purification, and food production can all be tied together to make the most of the water that you collect, and by mulching the compostable materials on the property you can create healthy happy soil that is exponentially safer than pumping in pesticides and fertilizers to make it viable.

Often, its not that technology has been overlooked, Its that technology harms the land that it is used on. Such as row planting and mechanized plowing. By planting only ONE crop, the farm's soil instantly loses most mirco-nutrient content due to lack of plant diversity. The large machines come in and destroy the fungal and bacterial water networks that take many years to develop. With these gone, and the crop layer having been harvested, there is no water or biomass to hold down the top soil and we get dust storms, while the farmer has to spend tons of money to aerate and fertilize the sand which he hopes to grow food on again.

Sorry to be so long winded, but Permaculture takes every method by its input/output and matches it to a system that can handle those flows. IF you can create a system that is healthy for the planet, uses less (or no) oil, and creates healthy food for millions, then permaculture can save agriculture, but imho, its gotten too big to tame, and we need to look at other avenues to provide food security.

i can personally attest to the benefits of building your garden this way. i think i pulled 2 weeds all season and my tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers and lettuce did great! i have already started next year's garden and can't wait to try a few new things! some added bonuses (other than not having to till) are that with this technique you don't have to disrupt the ecosystem under the soil and the cardboard actually draws the worms up into your garden, adding even more fertilizer. i will never build garden any other way! an excellent book that talks about this and other ways to create and work with a natural ecosystem is gaia's garden. it teaches you how to have a beautiful, useful yard/space with minimal work.

Don't know about adobe construction, but Gaia's Garden is a great introduction to practical permaculture. The photo on the cover is from a farm in Arizona.

Reading "Gaias Garden" right now. Lifechanging stuff.

Permaculture can help save our world!

Everyone here has already covered all I was going to say. In some of your comments you said you wanted to learn more about permaculture might I recommend Gaia's Garden. It is very general but it gave me a really great foundation for permaculture and the lists and ideas are fantastic.

Depending on how much space you've got, this one is pretty nice: The Backyard Homestead. There's a little bit of everything :)

If you're into permaculture and that kind of thing, I'd recommend Gaia's Garden and Edible Forest Gardens, Vol 2. Be warned, Edible Forest Gardens is a bit like reading an engineering text!

I don't know what you're into, but check out Gaia's garden for ideas on what to plant. You don't have to garden the entire yard, but make what you plant count.

Most people want to enjoy their outdoor space with a seating and dining area too. What a great blank slate you have!

This is a topic that I've just barely started to get into, but right now I'm reading Gaia's Garden and its really interesting so far.

If you have a place where you can grow a few things in the house or outside covered in colder weather, you have more options. Some are tropical. I would say make a list of your favorites. One example of something you could likely grow if you found the right bulbs is saffron. It's often used in Indian cuisine and comes from a variety of crocus. You can grow your own pepper. You can also grow flavorings for old-fashioned candies, herbal teas or tisanes, root beer ... anything you can think of if you look hard enough. Even if you can't grow the exact plant, there are often alternative plants you can grow and get a very similar flavor. Nasturtium flower buds can be made into "poor man's capers". You can grow more than just food. If you are into crafting, you can also make your own plant-based dyes and paints from plants, eggs, and other things.

For a book that lists other plants you may not think of, as well as ways to attract and help wildlife try Gaia's Garden. I think you may also enjoy Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden.

I suggest you to read "Botany for gardeners" by Brian Capon (https://www.amazon.com/Botany-Gardeners-3rd-Brian-Capon/dp/160469095X). It's a good book to start learning botany.

Everyone has different preferences but I bought a houseplant care book (specifically How Not To Kill Your Houseplant ) and maybe I just didn’t buy the right one but I didn’t really care for it. It was cute, I flipped through it once or twice, and then I literally never touched it again. There’s so much information available on plants online, specifically with regards to care instructions, that I find the book unnecessary. You can easily post to r/whatisthisplant or use a plant ID app (much less reliable but works somewhat) to identify plants. If you’re just trying to familiarize yourself with different species of plants, browsing plant subreddits is a good way to go.


If you want to be better at caring for plants in general, I’d highly recommend Botany for Gardeners. I haven’t finished it yet, but it really breaks down how plants work in a way that’s easy to understand but still highly scientific and in-depth. From plant anatomy, to how they grow and reproduce, this book will help you better understand your plants. It doesn’t give specific care tips, but I feel like I’ve gotten much better at caring for my plants since reading it. Far too often we’re told what to do or how to do it, rather than why we should be doing it. If you learn the way plants work, you’ll have a much better idea of how to help them when they start struggling!

It’s not really how to care for plants, but I’m reading Botany for Gardeners that shows the scientific aspects of plants if you’re interested in that type of thing.

Botany of Desire. The title turned me off, but it's actually really interesting and my whole family has read and enjoyed it.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary lives in North Korea Serious stuff, but so fascinating.

Stumbling on Happiness. Fun read on human nature and happiness.

• Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick
  
• 1491 by Charles C Mann
  
• Omnivore's Dilemma and Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
  
  I found these books very educational. They definitely have changed my worldview on the history of agriculture, human ecology, and economics.
  They really make you think that if Anglo-Western style capitalism or agriculture were non-existent, the world would be just fine.
  
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Mayflower-Story-Courage-Community-War/dp/0143111973/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321693822&sr=8-1
  
  http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321693987&sr=1-1
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dilemma-Natural-History-Meals/dp/0143038583/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321694010&sr=1-1
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Desire-Plants-Eye-View-World/dp/0375760393/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321694049&sr=1-1

Good read on the botanical equiv: The Botany of Desire

Sup homie,

Now firstly before I get into the actual books I am going to recommend Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast - He's effectively doing audiobooks via podcast these days (I'm actually re-listening to "Prophets of Doom" at the moment, it's about 4 hours 30 minutes of excellent storytelling of historical events) - Really, really recommend that. (you can also buy all the old episodes).


Now onto the History Nonfiction books themselves:



Michael Pollan - The Botany of Desire - While somewhat more of an analysis of how plants have become and evolved according to human cultivation the book does an excellent job of historically breaking down each major event and process involved.



John H. Mayer - Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign - Title says it all. Pirates. Open seas. History. Strong recommend.



Alfred Lansing - Endurance - Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - If you love an amazing story of stoicism, heroism, and amazing leadership then anything about Shackleton should be on your list. This epic tale follows Sir Ernest Shackleton's voyage on the Endurance with the aim to cross the Antarctic - which failed. What happened next throughout the following months is an monument to the incredible spirit of a man, his crew, and the desire to get everyone home.

If you need more try looking into the below:

Niall Ferguson - The War of the World

William L. Shirer The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich A History of Nazi Germany

Andrew Roberts - The Storm of War

Jared Diamond - Guns, Germs, and Steel

Marcus Aurelius - Meditations

You won't regret it. That book literally turned me on to non-fiction (before that I basically only read novels). It already provides a pretty scathing analysis of corn. But if you want even more of that sort of thing check out the author's earlier The Botany of Desire. Now I don't drive past a corn field without giving it an evil glare.

Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook for Small Farm Management : http://www.amazon.com/Five-Acres-Independence-Handbook-Management/dp/0486209741/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319032710&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Five-Acres-Independence-Handbook-Management/dp/0486209741

It was written 50+ years ago, so a large part of the advice on farming is very low-tech.

That's both informative and kind of a drawback at the same time.

here's a link on Amazon

I think you could do it on less than 5, provided that you did not raise meat, or very little. Provided that you lived in a climate the produced most of the year, and ate only veggies and fruit I think it could be done.
http://www.amazon.com/Five-Acres-Independence-Handbook-Management/dp/0486209741/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347587158&sr=8-1&keywords=5+acres+and+independence

My favorite book on the subject is Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs

This one by Scott Cunningham’s really good.

Okay;First off you need a Grimoire.Its basically a spell book.You can purchase one online or write it yourself like a journal!

I highly suggest keeping a journal about magic.Write all of your experiences,feelings and failures of all the spells,rituals,invocations you have casted.
Also create a section on herbs.Write there effects down and how they make you feel!

Heres a book on Herbal Magic: https://www.amazon.com/Cunninghams-Encyclopedia-Magical-Llewellyns-Sourcebook/dp/0875421229/ref=zg_bs_12486_3/135-8205043-8790655?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=PQJ6TXTK6F6GKV41VFXN

Dont worry.If your not into herbal magic you dont need to get into it :)

As for purchasing,i suggest buying traditional Magic books from Amazon.

Im not exactly sure what you may not like so heres a link of 5 books for beginner Witches,with synopsises,summaries and why it may be good for Beginner Witches: http://learningwitchcraft.com/5-best-witchcraft-books-for-beginners/

I recommend checking out this channel and watching her video about what you should be thinking of while casting a spell.

Here are 2 links from this site which is hella helpful:

https://exemplore.com/wicca-witchcraft/Witchcraft-for-Beginners-Free-Spells-Exercises-and-Lessons.

And: https://exemplore.com/wicca-witchcraft/Witchcraft-For-Beginners-The-Five-Essential-Parts-of-Casting-Spells

I wish you the best experiences as a Witch!

May you use your powers for good always.

And focus on meditating,lucid dreaming,seeing auras and Astral Projection.You are very gifted in it,so please focus on it always :)

Check out the Occult subreddit,They're
all about Astral Projection and alike :) https://www.reddit.com/r/occult/

Good luck my Witch friend!

It really depends on what kind of herbs you like to use. I like using yarrow for spells, but that one isn't edible. Edible herbs I like are rosemary, mint, oregano, basil and cilantro (aka coriander). I also use plants that arn't really herbs, like marigold. If you don't know what plants you want,t ry browsing through Cunningham's' Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (or another similar book/website).

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs is kind of close to a no-brainer for herbs.

The best advice for runes from the runemaster that taught me was to ignore the meanings and definitions floating around out there and look at historical material, for example the rune poems, and decide for yourself what each rune means. It's more work but gives you a more intimate understanding of the runes. If you would prefer a reference work that provides meanings for each rune, there are dozens of books out there. Or just buy a set of runes; most come with such a reference. If you want to put in the extra effort, Stephen Pollington's Rudiments of Runelore is an excellent and academically-oriented resource.

Good luck!

The Following list is taken from the Witches & Warlocks FB page. (This is Christian Day's group)

Witches and Warlocks Recommended Reading List
This is a collection of books recommended by our admins and participants in the group. Books must be approved by the admins so if you'd like to see one added to the last, please post it in the comments at the bottom of this list and, if it's something we think is appropriate, we'll add it! We provide links to Amazon so folks can read more about the book but we encourage you to shop at your local occult shop whenever possible! :)


BEGINNER'S WITCHCRAFT BOOKS

Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft
by Raymond Buckland
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0875420508

Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America
by Margot Adler
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0143038192

Grimoire of the Thorn-Blooded Witch: Mastering the Five Arts of Old World Witchery
by Raven Grimassi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578635500

The Inner Temple of Witchcraft: Magick, Meditation and Psychic Development
by Christopher Penczak
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738702765

The Kybalion: The Definitive Edition
by William Walker Atkinson (Three Initiates)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1585428744

Lid Off the Cauldron: A Wicca Handbook
by Patricia Crowther
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1861630328

Mastering Witchcraft
by Paul Huson
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0595420060

Natural Magic
by Doreen Valiente
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0919345808

Natural Witchery: Intuitive, Personal & Practical Magick
by Ellen Dugan
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738709220

Old World Witchcraft: Ancient Ways for Modern Days
by Raven Grimassi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578635055

The Outer Temple of Witchcraft: Circles, Spells and Rituals
by Christopher Penczak
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738705314

Power of the Witch: The Earth, the Moon, and the Magical Path to Enlightenment
by Laurie Cabot
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385301898

Solitary Witch: The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation
by Silver RavenWolf
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738703192

Spirit of the Witch: Religion & Spirituality in Contemporary Witchcraft
by Raven Grimassi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738703389

Witch: A Magickal Journey
by Fiona Horne
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0007121326

Witchcraft for Tomorrow
by Doreen Valiente
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0709052448

Witchcraft Today
by Gerald Gardner
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0806525932
The Witches' Craft: The Roots of Witchcraft & Magical Transformation
by Raven Grimassi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/073870265X
The Witching Way of the Hollow Hill
by Robin Artisson
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982031882

WITCHCRAFT HISTORY AND RESOURCE BOOKS

Aradia or The Gospel of the Witches
by Charles Godfrey Leland
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982432356

Encyclopedia of Mystics, Saints & Sages: A Guide to Asking for Protection, Wealth, Happiness, and Everything Else!
by Judika Illes
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0062009575

The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca
by Rosemary Ellen Guiley
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0816071047

Etruscan Roman Remains
by Charles Godfrey Leland
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1494302519

The God of the Witches
by Margaret Murray
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0195012704

The Weiser Field Guide to Witches, The: From Hexes to Hermione Granger, From Salem to the Land of Oz
by Judika Illes
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578634792

ADVANCED BOOKS ON WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC

Blood Sorcery Bible Volume 1: Rituals in Necromancy
by Sorceress Cagliastro
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1935150812

The Deep Heart of Witchcraft: Expanding the Core of Magickal Practice
by David Salisbury
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1780999208

Teen Spirit Wicca
by David Salisbury
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1782790594

Enchantment: The Witch's Art of Manipulation by Gesture, Gaze and Glamour
by Peter Paddon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936922517

Initiation into Hermetics
by Franz Bardon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1885928122

Letters from the Devil's Forest: An Anthology of Writings on Traditional Witchcraft, Spiritual Ecology and Provenance Traditionalism
by Robin Artisson
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500796360

Magical Use of Thought Forms: A Proven System of Mental & Spiritual Empowerment
by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowick and J.H. Brennan
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1567180841

Magick in Theory and Practice
by Aleister Crowley
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500380679

The Plant Spirit Familiar
by Christopher Penczak
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982774311

Protection and Reversal Magick
by Jason Miller
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1564148793
Psychic Self-Defense
by Dion Fortune
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578635098
The Ritual Magic Workbook: A Practical Course of Self-Initiation
by Dolores Ashcroft-Norwicki
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578630452
The Roebuck in the Thicket: An Anthology of the Robert Cochrane Witchcraft Tradition
by Evan John Jones, Robert Cochrane and Michael Howard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1861631553

The Satanic Witch
by Anton Szandor LaVey
http://www.amazon.com/Satanic-Witch-Anton-Szandor-LaVey/dp/0922915849
Shadow Magick Compendium: Exploring Darker Aspects of Magickal Spirituality
by Raven Digitalis
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VS0N5K
The Tree of Enchantment: Ancient Wisdom and Magic Practices of the Faery Tradition
by Orion Foxwood
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578634075
The Underworld Initiation: A journey towards psychic transformation
by R.J. Stewart
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1892137038

HERBALISM, CANDLES, INCENSE, OILS, FORMULARIES, AND STONES

A Compendium of Herbal Magic
by Paul Beyerl
http://www.amazon.com/dp/091934545X

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs
by Scott Cunningham
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0875421229

The Enchanted Candle: Crafting and Casting Magickal Light
by Lady Rhea
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0806525789

The Enchanted Formulary: Blending Magickal Oils for Love, Prosperity, and Healing
by Lady Maeve Rhea
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0806527048

Incense: Crafting and Use of Magickal Scents
by Carl F. Neal
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738703362

Magickal Formulary Spellbook Book 1
by Herman Slater
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0939708000

Magickal Formulary Spellbook: Book II
by Herman Slater
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0939708108


SPELLCASTING AND SPELLBOOKS
Crone's Book of Charms & Spells
by Valerie Worth
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1567188117

Crone's Book of Magical Words
by Valerie Worth
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1567188257

Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells
by Judika Illes
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061711233

Everyday Magic: Spells & Rituals for Modern Living
by Dorothy Morrison
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1567184693

Pure Magic: A Complete Course in Spellcasting
by Judika Illes
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578633915
Utterly Wicked: Curses, Hexes & Other Unsavory Notions
by Dorothy Morrison
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0979453313
The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook
by Denise Alvarado
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578635136

The Voodoo Doll Spellbook: A Compendium of Ancient and Contemporary Spells and Rituals
by Denise Alvarado
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1578635543


THE ANCESTORS AND WORKING WITH THE DEAD
The Cauldron of Memory: Retrieving Ancestral Knowledge & Wisdom
by Raven Grimassi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738715751

The Mighty Dead
by Christopher Penczak
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982774370

Speak with the Dead: Seven Methods for Spirit Communication
by Konstantinos
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738705225
The Witches' Book of the Dead
by Christian Day
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578635063
_____
TAROT

78 Degrees of Wisdom
by Rachel Pollack
http://www.amazon.com/dp/157863408

Anyone that's interested in identifying, cultivating and consuming wild mushrooms, check out Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora.

Essential reading for everyone; from the budding mycologist to anyone who wants to eat wild mushrooms but is afraid of poisoning themselves.

This is how you do that: mushrooms demystified

LOL oh geez dude, are you sure you want to go down that rabbit hole? Mushrooming has a reputation for causing otherwise normal people to get a little obsessive... I never thought it'd be such an addiction but it really is - I mean we're talking a literal treasure hunt in the wilderness, depending on what you're after. (morel$ are just about to start fruiting)

This is THE book you want: https://www.amazon.ca/Mushrooms-Demystified-David-Arora/dp/0898151694/

These could be false morels, though I hope they aren't and you can eat a yummy meal. I would check them out on multiple sites and make a shroomery account. Also, if you plan to hunt often, Mushrooms Demystified and the Audubon Society's Mushroom Field Guide are both very necessary guides.

I can't speak to some of those questions with great certainty, I don't have any formal education in this topic. Though I know enough to hunt for many edible mushrooms.

And a copy of Mushrooms Demystified.

What book are you referencing?

Concerning the spore measurements, you do indeed need a microscope to discern individual spores.

Though taking a spore print of a mushroom is pretty simple, Here ya go.

> If you don't want to separate the cap from the stem, make a hole in an index card, place the card on a paper cup and slide the stem of the mushroom through the hole until the underside of the cap is resting on the card; then proceed as above.

You assure that you will not make a big mistake by sticking to tried and verified mushrooms that are well documented.

Search engines are an incredible resource for learning this kind of thing.

Many people who love mushrooms love to share their knowledge so many resources are available online.

Most importantly you should find people to hunt with to help you ID your finds.

Good luck, happy hunting!

This is a really good book

If your serious about it, https://www.amazon.com/Mushroom-Cultivator-Practical-Growing-Mushrooms/dp/0961079800 , this is your fucking bible.

Mushroom god paul stamets has made leather out of mushrooms. His hat that he wears is mushroom leather and is over 3 yrs old.

The indoor mushroom growing guide. Great book.

I'm also looking at other non-mushroom eating ideas like using the mycilium as packing/building materiel.

I'm a bit of a generalist. I always have lots of projects going on at once, each in a different state of completion. The books I have listed I do own, and read and pick through the most often.

The first two are generalist books. I say that because they both have such a breadth of information it's hard to describe them. The third is more specialist in that it covers only a single subject, but does so in such detail and in a recipe type format that it's easy to follow along. It starts with how to build a blacksmith shop, what tools you need, and how to use tools you make to build bigger tools to help build other, bigger tools.

https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-40th-Anniversary/dp/1570618402

https://www.amazon.com/Self-Sufficient-Life-How-Live/dp/0756654505/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FR7BRBKJ9CA3XRWW1N8H

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Modern-Blacksmith-Alexander-Weygers/dp/0898158966/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473081102&sr=1-15&keywords=blacksmithing

Where are you posted? I'm curious if the seasons would be applicable enough for a homesteading book or something.
http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-Anniversary-Edition/dp/1570618402

Otherwise, if you're more tropical.... hm... I don't know, actually...

And if you're posted in SSA... African Friends and Money Matters. 100% effective.

You're looking for "The Encyclopedia of Country Living", by Carla Emery.

https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-40th-Anniversary/dp/1570618402

> I don't just leave them locked outside all day.

Doggie door. Cutting a hole in the side of my house is the absolute best life enhancement in terms of bang for buck.

Best of luck on moving to the country. This link and most of the recommended books at the bottom of the page are awesome.

I've heard great things about this one, but haven't purchased it for myself yet. It's one of those old-school "pass thing down the way they used to do them" books. http://amzn.com/1570618402

Momentan citesc Growing Gourmet Medicinal Mushrooms. :)

Inainte de ea am terminat 12 Rules for Life.

Urmatoarea probabil o sa fie Skin in the game.


> Bonus: Cartea preferata.

Nu prea mai am o carte preferata. Sunt mai multe aflate la nivelul maxim din varii motive si nu prea pot alege intre ele.

"The Gift" a lui Hafiz si "Felicity" a lui Mary Oliver sunt doua carti de poezie care mi-au placut enorm si pe care le pot recomanda fara ezitare. :)

The Origins of Fruit and Vegetables of Jonathan Roberts is my bible <3

https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Fruit-Vegetables-Jonathan-Roberts/dp/0789306565

​

And I agree, Botany of Desire is a good starter !
https://www.amazon.com/Botany-Desire-Plants-Eye-View-World/dp/0375760393/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1G9DWQF9KY9ZR&keywords=botany+of+desire&qid=1562782042&s=books&sprefix=botany+%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C235&sr=1-1

So far the best book I've read has been Guns, Germs, and Steel. Right now I'm reading Botany of Desire, which is pretty interesting. And after I finish that I think something old-fashioned and cheesy would be nice. So I'm probably going to read Edgar Rice Burroughs's Venus series.

I believe this is part of a documentary called "The Botany of Desire" based on a book of the same name. It's a really good read, here is the link to it if you're interested, http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Desire-Plants-Eye-View-World/dp/0375760393

America needs to see Marijuana as a business opportunity, not a problem. We're capitalists, let's not pay taxes to incarcerate someone who could be the taxable consumer of a taxable product of a taxable industry. There are numerous low and high skill jobs directly related. Opportunity means jobs, jobs mean income and stability for America. Obama has blundered on marijuana policy, Mexico's drug war worsens, our economy is bleeding, it's time to try something new.

A new industry is something America needs right now. Tobacco helped build early America, we're no stranger to this system. It's an un-taxed estimated $35-45 billion business opportunity. We don't even have to subsidize it, there's already enough available market to privately fund it anyway. What's the harm to try? Very few living Americans have even lived in a legal drug society. Surely it could not be worse than what we have now. Our drug policy has been failing since it made our own people the enemy. Every year it costs more money, time, and lives. People are dying out in the world because of this prohibition, it's unacceptable. The solution is right there in front of us waiting to be set in motion.

"Big Marijuana" is a scary future indeed, but one much more agreeable than prison. The distribution networks in existence are already pretty local, I imagine it would be challenging to dethrone them were it legalized. It's a flower, time is definitely a factor in transportation. The flower farms of Central America and the US already have sophisticated air transport systems in place so international business may become available in coming years as well. Additionally, industrial hemp would fit perfectly into our existing agriculture industry. If it were legal, any person could grow it in their garden just like they do other flowers. Medical patients in some states already do grow their own, so I'm not worried about a Monsanto-mono-marijuana apocalypse.

It all sounds grandiose, but American industry is a powerhouse. Sometimes we forget that here in reddit internet land. It's easy to feel like we're shit and everything is hopeless in America. For many the basic physiological and safety needs have long been won, instead, love/belonging, esteem and self actualization are the battles to be won. Dynamic and adaptive policy should be a sign of honor, the will of the nation accurately guiding it's destiny. Advanced drug policy is part of the self-actualization process, maybe we're not there yet; I say we are. Other countries are beating us in drug policy and if it's one thing America hates, it's not being first place. I want to sit and laugh at how much money we're making and reminisce the old days of prohibition. I believe in that future, that's why I'm so adamant.

Have you read the Botany of Desire? If big Industry gets a hold of Cannabis like it did Corn, well, it might have been what the plant wanted!

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan.

It was called "Tulip mania" you can read about it here and here some really crazy stuff.

EDIT: srry, didn't actually click the link haha but regardless some further reading if it piques your interest

Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

> I understand what you're saying about plants, but all I'm saying is that reacting to stimuli in order to flourish does not mean that a plant can "experience" in the same way that animals can.

I didn't say plants and animals experience the same. Obviously they don't, as they don't have brains, nor senses in the way animals do.

Do you think animals do anything differently than react to stimuli? Your response to this post when you read it is already 'decided' at the moment you read it, you're not going to be able to actually do things any differently than your past up to that moment's influences will have you do. This post is stimuli, and you will react accordingly. Just as I can't help but reply :)

> You're conflating "striving for life" with "experiencing life". You were saying that it was good to you that you're alive. It makes no difference to the plant's "psyche" whether it's alive or dead. It has no experience either way.

The plant not experiencing in the way we do does not mean the plant does not have interests. Plants are very interesting, we domesticate them and they likewise domesticate us. The Rose for example is a plant that continued to evolve to appeal to humans to help it survive and spread across the world. There's a lot about this, The Botany of Desire is a very interesting read.

All life acts the same way, replicates, tries to survive as well as it can. Plants and animals both do this, as do other microorganisms, all life does this.

> Not quite. Of course I grant you that life exploits other life, but I don't grant you that this is fine. You are making the value judgment by saying it's okay, and I am disagreeing for reasons that include things like suffering.

I start with nature and when things try to deny inherent aspects of nature I look at them very skeptically.

Why don't you think it's fine that life exploits other life? How can it be any other way?

It's almost like you want nature to exist where nothing dies and nothing suffers?

Botany of Desire
One River
Silent Spring
Basin and Range or most anything by John McPhee
Cadillac Desert

Well someone read their copy of Botany of Desire

I agree. As long as we try and respect them I think they can help.
YOu might want to check this out.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Botany-Desire-Plants-Eye-World/dp/0375760393

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan

Not sure if you've read it, but another interesting book that talks about the tulip is the Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0375760393/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509852536&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=botany+of+desire&dpPl=1&dpID=51NZ3hCsYVL&ref=plSrch

(Sorry about the poor formatting, I'm on mobile and can't seem to get the link to work, otherwise.)

The best history I've read is Michael Pollen's Botany of Desire. Specifically as it relate to the monocultures of apples that are produced for their color and sweetness, compared to their original use as something to create alcohol.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375760393?v=glance

Unfortunately the free preview doesn't give you much of substance, but the opening section is about apples in the new world.

Also note that we only mass produce and mass consume the sweetest fruits. E.g. navel oranges aren't a common type of orange. They're grafts of a single tree discovered in brazil that have been spread across Florida for their sweetness.

I'm going to second all the book recommendations, especially the encyclopedia of country living. I'd like to add:

https://www.amazon.com/Five-Acres-Independence-Handbook-Management/dp/0486209741/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499822776&sr=8-1&keywords=5+acres+and+independence

and

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Life-Nearings-Self-Sufficient-Living/dp/0805209700/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499822872&sr=8-1&keywords=the+good+life+nearing

Peace

edit:
totally forgot the most important book I own: https://www.amazon.com/Public-Works-Handbook-Self-Reliant-Construction/dp/082563041X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499823155&sr=1-1&keywords=public+works
Was a gift from my FIL when we told him what we were planning on doing (moving out to nowhere and living as self-sufficiently as possible).

My partner and I are embarking upon a similar journey. My advice is to read a lot, before buying land.

This book has been VERY informative, and remains practical despite its copyright date. Just keep in mind that there may be a more modern methods available, and you'll be in great shape.

As always I recommend referencing multiple sources for all important info, but Five Acres and Independence is an excellent one to start from.

http://www.amazon.com/Five-Acres-Independence-Handbook-Management/dp/0486209741

I am currently reading "5 acres and Independence" which I am enjoying, its fairly old but still very applicable, i think his anecdotes and way of thinking are very inspiring. Lots of nice little tips and observations.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486209741/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

At the same time I got "Handy Farm Devices and How to Make Them" haven't delved into it too much, but I am less excited about it now that I've thumbed through it. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1604595868/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've heard the "Raising Chickens for Dummies" book is actually worthwhile, so I'm thinking of picking that up next.

Its this one. Its one of the more recommended ones for people starting on the path, but for some reason I never felt draw to his stuff. Thanks for the suggestion!

Edit: Not sure why my link isn't working. Oh well.

Edit 2: Fixed!

If he's into plants and animals and is really detail-oriented, he might get into something like identifying mushrooms; the best book out there is Mushrooms Demystified and the only other tools you'd need are maybe a soil knife and a magnifying glass.

Well, that's a good thing to be and do

If you're really interested, this is a good book to have

Many fungi are indeed edible and many of those are medicinal along several fronts. It's good to learn about them :D

https://www.psms.org/id-clinics.php

https://www.amazon.com/Common-Mushrooms-Northwest-Western-Northwestern/dp/0973981962

https://www.amazon.com/All-That-Rain-Promises-More/dp/0898153883

https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Demystified-David-Arora/dp/0898151694

I recommend a good region specific mushroom guide if she doesn't have one or Mushrooms Demystified if she doesn't have it. Another good option could be a mushroom knife.

If you want to learn more about them, and learn about IDing them, Mushrooms Demystified is a thorough, although a bit dated, discussion of them. If you get more serious into it, I'd recommend finding a more recent and region specific guide on your local fungi, but Arora is a great start.

it's interesting how afraid of fungis we all are. out of the thousands of species of mushrooms in the united states, there are only four or five that are deadly.

source: Mushrooms demystified.

Hey, you. Yeah, you reading this. Don't think these LBM's (Little Brown Mushrooms) that look an awful lot like the ones growing in your yard are safe. Never, ever, EVER pick and eat mushrooms you find unless you have extensive knowledge of mycology. LBM's are notorious for being difficult to identify, as they have no real phenotypic traits (fancy way of saying that there are few visual cues as to what they are and if they're safe or not).

LBM's usually require spore prints to identify the species, and even then you need a keen eye and lots of experience to use those to identify the mushroom. There are plenty of books to help, but remember that microscopic features can be the difference between a trip and a trip to the hospital.

http://www.amazon.com/Mushroom-Cultivator-Practical-Growing-Mushrooms/dp/0961079800

The Mushroom Cultivator is a fantastic book. Can't do without it. Sterile culture, expansion, fruiting, everything. Must have. Same goes for all of Paul Stamets' books, really.

Cloning is actually pretty easy if you have the right environment and a few bits of kit. Good luck! I look forward to photos of your grow.

https://www.amazon.com/Mushroom-Cultivator-Practical-Growing-Mushrooms/dp/0961079800

No worries man! I’m about to start my fourth grow when my spores come in so I totally get where you’re coming from. It’s such a fun process and I’m constantly learning more and more. You should check out this book called The Mushroom Cultivator. It’s such an invaluable reference tool that I’m constantly flipping through when I’ve got questions.

Edit: It’s a little dated, and PF-Tek was published about 10 years later, but everything in the book is still valuable and informative.

Top priority: http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-Anniversary-Edition/dp/1570618402

• Primitive Technology on YouTube
  
  
• The book by primitive tech
  
  
• The recent AMA by the primitive tech guy
  
  
• Townsends A channel dedicated to exploring the 18th Century lifestyle.
  
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIqCzQJXvYj9ssCoHq327g how to make everything channel on YouTube that shows how with fairly minimal knowledge and practice you can make functional (although inefficient) tools and items
  
  
• The Society for Creative Anachronism Researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe, non-LARP medieval reenactors that take it quite serious.
  
  
• /r/bushcrafting
  
  
• /r/PrimitiveTechnology/
  
  
• /r/Homesteading/
  
  
• /r/Leathercraft/
  
  
• /r/Fishing/
  
  
• /r/Hunting/
  
  
• /r/Trappit/
  
  
• /r/HomemadeTools/
  
  
• /r/soapmaking/
  
  
• /r/weaving/
  
  
• /r/knitting/
  
  
• /r/candlemaking/
  
  
• Book Country Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land
  
  
• Book Restoration Agriculture
  
  
• Book Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, 2nd Edition Paperback
  
  
• Book The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 40th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living off the Land & Doing It Yourself Paperback – October 30, 2012
  
  
  
• Book Five Acres and Independence: A Practical Guide to the Selection and Management of the Small Farm Paperback
  
  
• Book Bushcraft: Outdoor Skills and Wilderness Survival
  
  
• Book Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival
  
  
• Book The Trapper's Bible: The Most Complete Guide on Trapping and Hunting Tips Ever
  
  
• Book The Traditional Bowyer's Bible, Volume 1 ALL of the volumes in this series are great and for that matter all of his books are.

what about this?

you can pick them as soon as the veils start to break, they wont get any bigger. They will just open more and begin to start releasing spores. the reason is that they are most potent at this point (how much more potent is arguable). If you are not making spore prints, i would pick them as soon as the veil breaks, but it wont hurt anything to let them open. if this is your first grow I recommend letting a few open all the way just to see the process.

This book is highly recommended and help me through my first few grows: https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Gourmet-Medicinal-Mushrooms-Stamets/dp/1580081754


Be very careful using Reddit a resource for mushrooms, I have seen horrible information and really bad advise on here.

send me a message if you have any more questions.

I use Stamets Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms . What substrate are you using? How did you prepare it? What form of inoculation did you use?

I don't actually know a lot about it, I've grown a couple batches, and read Paul Stamets huge book on the matter. But Stamets is most focused on farm scale cultivation, only a bit on log culture. Basically, to make your own loaf type thing would require a cleanroom and autoclave, although you could make small ones in a pressure cooker. Oyster mushrooms are hardier, pouring boiling water over sawdust is good enough for them. Or you could drill holes in fresh logs and put inoculated sawdust inside. This is cheap, natural, and reliable, but in that scenario the fungus decides when to fruit.

Field and Forest has some good basic instructions, especially the links at the bottom of the page. Include a heavy duty corded drill in the budget for the project, green oak is tough.

Grab a copy of this: http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Gourmet-Medicinal-Mushrooms-Stamets/dp/1580081754/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324996206&sr=8-1 I received a copy for xmas, and it's close to encyclopedic.

Good tip on getting coffee grounds; I'll check w/ my local 'bucks.

Paul Stamets' (arguably the world's leading mycologist) "Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms."

Also, check out his TED talk. Not much on growing, but cool stuff about mushrooms, nonetheless.

• The End of Eternity by Asimov
  
• Growing Medicinal and Gourmet Mushrooms by Stamets

right fertilizer is made readily available via protozoa and nematoads. and other beneficial bacteria dying and the rhizosphere uptakes said nutrient from fertilizer. but i think he was looking for a simple answer.

edit: I highly recommend this book https://www.amazon.ca/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131

You're definitely wise to approach things as a skeptic. I was talking with a fellow permie once about all kinds of permie things, and I thought they seemed quite rational. Then, they started talking about energy healing. That was a "smile and nod" moment. I swear, we're mostly sane.

Teaming with Microbes and Teaming with Nutrients might be helpful books to check out. They don't directly address mineral accumulation, but it explains the processes through with accumulation occurs, if that makes sense. They're very thorough books that will make you wish you had paid more attention in Bio 101, but they're written in an engaging way.

This study is on bioaccumulation, though they're testing for heavy metals and not nutritional value. Maybe their methods are explained.

As far as comfrey goes, I know it dredges up minerals from the subsoil with its remarkably long roots. As the leaves die, they decompose on the ground and the minerals become available in the topsoil, which then makes those minerals available to other plants who don't have such deep roots.

Legumes, however, have bacteria colonies surrounding their roots that make nitrogen from the air available to the plant. When the plant dies, it decomposes and then the air-harvested nitrogen becomes available in the soil. Usually, we innoculate legume plantings with the bacteria. It occurs naturally in soil, but may not necessarily be present in every square foot of soil. So, better to be safe than sorry.

Highly recommend reading Teaming with Microbes [1] for those interested in how plants actually take up nutrients and fixate nutrients in the soil. Bacteria and fungi are actually your best "companions" in the garden.

1. http://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131

Two very popular and highly recommended books. Check out the amazon reviews.

Teeming with Microbes to learn about the soil food web: http://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131

The Well Tended Perennial Garden for ornamental gardening: http://www.amazon.com/The-Well-Tended-Perennial-Garden-Techniques/dp/0881928038

Mel's book is great. However, I think he's very optimistic about spacing. It may be theoretically possible to plant things at those intervals, but a new garden plot needs a few years to develop the biodiversity it needs to achieve peak productivity.

I didn't use much other than Mel's book my first year. I think Teaming With Microbes is essential reading. If you understand soil, you'll understand your plants. Building Soils Naturally is also a good one and it's a little less dry.

I'll also say that Mel's "soil mix" did not work well for me at all. I don't have abundant sources of organic matter available, so I took his suggestion to mix 5 types of store-bought compost. I don't think commercial compost is a sufficient replacement for the homemade stuff. Perhaps if you mix it together with a small amount of homemade compost and let it decay for awhile, it would be better.

That said, plenty of people have success following Mel's book to a T, so your mileage may vary.

“Teaming with Microbes” is a great introduction for everybody— very cool to see results from your education!

Hmm... Teaming with Microbes looks good. I might give it a read.

Short answer: Yes, Use compost tea.
Long Answer: This book

This article by Dr. Elaine Ingrahm is a pretty good intro to the process. She's one of the leading experts on the soil food web, and was essentially the inspiration for the above mentioned book.

Good luck!

cucurbits tend to cross and usually whatever squash you grow doesn't look like the one you got the seeds from, unless the seed saver took measures to restrict pollination. Not sure how wide a variety of squashes a pumpkin will breed with.

I would recommend this awesome book

The statement might start a flamewar in more intense tomato forums, but unless the tomato is a cherry or potato-leaved variety (Edit: or hybrid, which is a whole other can of worms!), the flower self pollinates before opening. See here or Seed to Seed an awesome book that howtosaveseeds.com references frequently.

Hmm, this is not a dumb question at all. I actually got a book

http://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Techniques-Vegetable-Gardeners/dp/1882424581

and used it as my primary reference.

do you have anything specific in mind?

Check your library for the seed saving bible:

http://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Techniques-Vegetable-Gardeners/dp/1882424581/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420352693&sr=8-1&keywords=from+seed+to+seed

>They plan on moving to Hawaii to have year-round growing.

They really ought to read Four Season Harvest before making such a drastic move...

There are tons of farmer/homesteader/gardener memoirs. I think my mom alone probably has a zillion. Unfortunately I haven't read that many myself, but a few titles that I remember from her shelves include:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Enslaved by Ducks

The Egg and I

Hit by a Farm

Here's one that (amazingly enough) she doesn't have, but which is on my to-read list: http://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Lot-One-Tenth-Making-Edible/dp/1603583998/

On a more practical front, this guy may change your life ;)

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Season-Harvest-Organic-Vegetables-Edition/dp/1890132276/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Winter-Harvest-Handbook-Greenhouses/dp/1603580816/

ETA: Thought of a few more from mom's collection:

The Dirty Life

Rurally Screwed

The Bucolic Plague

Edible forest gardens

It actually won't be the first food forest of the nation. There are already plenty of food forests and forest gardens in america... they just arent public. For those interested in forest gardening, I recommend these books. This link also is a well done video detailing why forest gardens/ food forests are important for the future.

I gotchu

https://www.amazon.de/Cannabis-Grow-Bible-Definitive-Recreational/dp/1931160589

I started with this one https://www.amazon.ca/Cannabis-Grow-Bible-Definitive-Recreational/dp/1931160589

​

it had a lot of information I didn't understand at the time of reading but its a good starting point. It covers everything you can imagine some in great depth but what it doesn't cover it mentions and you can do your own research online. I've come a long way from when I first read it. I also read a bunch of similar books in the 4-5 months leading up to legalization but I'd have to check my E-reader if you wanted a full list.

This is the one that got me started, around thirty on Amazon with shipping if in the States. http://www.amazon.com/The-Cannabis-Grow-Bible-Recreational/dp/1931160589

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cannabis-Grow-Bible-Recreational/dp/1931160589

I would say this is a must read for any ent looking at making his thumb greener. In short, the pistols should be 60-70 % brown and the fan leaves will start to change color. Plus the smell will become intoxicating.

I'm looking for this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1931160589/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1466680670&sr=8-1
But I need it in pdf so I can download it to my phone.
Could they give me shit if I just buy it on amazon

Well it depends on your style of learning, but there's a great book on Amazon about growing Also, there are TONS of videos on youtube about how to grow. It was a little bit of a learning curve, but once I figured it out, it's actually pretty easy. There's basically 2 phases. Innoculating the jars and growing the mycelium, and then taking those "cakes" (the mycelium covered material) and placing them in a chamber for the mushrooms to grow from them.

This book shows a very thorough color-picture step by step
and These lids are great for sterile inoculation.

The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing and Using Magic Mushrooms https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937866289/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_nyg7Cb1EC095K

Here are some problems I can recognize in this post.

you are asking about how to commit a felony in your parents' house. you should get their permission first. hiding it is really hard and in my opinion not worth it.

there's info being generously dumped here, and in the sidebar of this sub, and all over YouTube that you don't want to read. you just want us to hand you a laundry list for your convenience. this indicates that you are refusing to do research on your own.

go do research. watch "How to grow magic mushrooms". it explains everything you need to know.

also definitely pick up The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible on Amazon. it explains everything you need to know.

you're trying to jump into this as quickly as possible and you're not thinking. we're trying to help you. do your homework.


here's your laundry list:

spores

vermiculite

brown rice flour

water

a pressure cooker, preferably one that goes to 15psi

anti-bacterial cleaner like diluted bleach or 70% isopropyl alcohol

spray bottle

thick rubber kitchen gloves

chemistry lab goggles

dust mask for nose and mouth

wide mouth mason jars

hammer/nails

foil

Sharpie marker

lab composition notebook

plastic tub large enough to hold 8 wide mouth jars plus room to grow

perlite


that's a list to get you through one grow. if you want to grow continuously and source your own spores you'll need a glove box or a still-air box. otherwise you'll have to keep sourcing spores from someone else.

The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing and Using Magic Mushrooms is the book i want to buy, so it is the one i would suggest to you.

This book: The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible has simple step by step instructions of basic and advanced methods with abundant photos.

This book

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937866289/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_j1EbBbSQ4JFT9

https://www.amazon.com/Psilocybin-Mushroom-Bible-Definitive-Mushrooms/dp/1937866289/

You can take a gram of mushrooms, grind it into powder, and mix it with pureed candied ginger, lime juice and chocolate... then divide into ten equal size pieces to get 0.1 grams per day. That's what I do. I actually mix up larger amounts so I don't have to make so many batches. I got the recipe from this book: The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing and Using Magic Mushrooms by Mandrake PhD, Dr. K, Haze, Virginia, Green Candy Press

Welcome!

I'm not sure what kind of mushrooms you are interested in, but I would say the simplest way of starting to grow gourmet mushrooms would be purchasing a pre-colonized mushroom kit. These are usually only a week or two from producing fruits and will minimize the chances that you will get contamination.

I haven't purchased from them, but something like Fungi Perfecti's indoor mushroom growing kits (link) would likely be a good starting point. This will give you an idea if you like the most straightforward parts of the hobby.

If you find that you enjoy that and find which mushrooms you want to grow more seriously, you can move on from there.

If you want to get more information, a lot of books by Paul Stamets are considered required reading, such as Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms. There is a ton of information in these, but if you've already gotten an idea of what kind of mushrooms you like, you can find a ton of information about each mushroom in this. A lot of excerpts from this are also available on the shroomery.org pages for different mushroom growing parameters.

I hope that this is useful. Feel free to ask any questions! I'm definitely new around here, but it's definitely been a welcoming community.

You did not trouble me at all, please keep researching because there is lots of good information on here and you may come a crossed and expert who could really help you more. I would recommend you order this book from your local library “ Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms” by Paul Stamets

Amazon link:
Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms https://www.amazon.com/dp/1580081754/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_pNRIBbYJKPYP1

YouTube video: of Paul Stamets and Joe Rogan interview
https://youtu.be/mPqWstVnRjQ

Mycelium Running: How mushrooms can help save the world is a good read. Furthermore, Paul Stamets is the man; a myco-champion on a mission.

Resources to educate yourself

https://books.google.com/books/about/Psilocybin_Mushrooms_of_the_World.html?id=36oG8Wh8mI4C&source=kp_book_description


Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1580085792/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_xZO6Cb0KY73AK



https://books.google.com/books/about/Decomposing_The_Shadow.html?id=Q53PBgAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description



https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Psilocybin_Mushroom_Bible.html?id=ZLksjwEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description

I really enjoyed Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets. Not exactly what you seem to be looking for but it certainly would be of value if you have not read it.

Mycology Running has a great science focused breakdown of proven medical benefits of certain species.

This one?

Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

http://www.amazon.com/Mycelium-Running-Mushrooms-Help-World/dp/1580085792

thanks for the recommendation, going to read it!

Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets

http://www.amazon.com/Mycelium-Running-Mushrooms-Help-World/dp/1580085792

Check out Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets. He also has a great Ted Talk.

I'm a huge myco-nerd.

I am interested to read anything related to it, which novel was it?

It is a pretty prevalent concept.

The foresight came to me after careful reflection of the smurfs and their intricate little dwellings..

Also, data, garbage disposal and soil health, electricity could one day be transported by GMO [mycelea](
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1580085792?vs=1)

Sweet, haven't seen that. He is a seller of his own books on AZ... found it!

He's named after a real mycologist who has made the cheeky prediction that there will be an Interplanetary Journal of Astromycology when fungi are discovered in outer space. I just started reading the excerpt from Mycelium Running inside the Amazon Description, and it sounds really fascinating. He's even talking about mycelial mats as neurological networks!

Second what u/GrandmaGos says. Companion planting is mostly folklore. I do a little of it myself but I always plant my rosemary with carrots, lavender next to onions, and basil with tomatoes. But it also attracts pollinators which is important.

My mom had a community garden for a large group of kids in a local summer day camp program. Our favorites were strawberries and carrots. Most kids hated veggies and growing their own and seeing how sweet home-grown carrots were made a huge impression on a lot of kids.

For reading, I recommend Raised Bed Revolution, I got some really great plans from that book that look very nice. I also like Square Foot Gardening if you haven't read that already.

Since its a library you're at, is there anyway for the summer you could have little garden craft classes for the kids? That could be fun and keep them interested / invested. Have crafts like painting stones with the names of all the plants for plant markers. Learn about local wildflowers to attract pollinators?

http://www.amazon.com/Square-Foot-Gardening-Second-Edition/dp/1591865484

If you're looking for a vegetable gardening book, my favorite one is Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. It's got everything you need to know about successfully starting and growing a basic vegetable garden from scratch.

I think the best part about this book is that the methods explained in it are pretty much a fool-proof way of growing great plants the very first time. As you gain more first-hand experience, you can start to add, remove or tweak things that make will improve your garden even more.

Square foot gardening is a game changer. Your local library will have a copy, and it's a quick read. A very small square foot garden plot (which you have space for) fed 2 of us all season.

It looks great, but I have criticism:

1. It'll be a bitch cutting grass around it. Even with a weedeater, those interior angles will be hard to get cleanly cut.
   
   
2. I really like the square foot gardening approach to raised beds and this makes that much more complicated.

This is an amazing book for learning what can fit where. Remember that it is more for advanced gardeners so start small. Use it as a guide on long term plans.

This is a great guide to low-cost or free soil creation/amendment It also has a great guide to growing almost every veggie/herb. It works amazingly as a substitution for the very expensive recommended soil in This great guide to planting closer together to avoid weeds

Some ideas for reducing water usage:

Sub-Irrigation (there are a great many ways to do this, this is just one)

Hugelkultur Looks like shit but creates an amazing wood "sponge" under your gardens. After 2 years you pretty much don't need to water again (if done correctly). You also get a constant stream of nutrients from the wood breaking down. It is possible to "contain" hugelkultur beds to create more of a "I mean to do this!" order so people don't think you are just piling shit up everywhere.

1. Does your raised bed have a wood bottom? It should not. Roots need to go down deeper.
   
2. Please look into the book Square Foot Gardening. It really helps with layout, and other issues, for beginners.
   
3. You MUST water your veggies every day temps reach 80F. If the leaves are wilted, they are under a lot of stress and are begging for water.
   
   

Square Foot Gardening can be a good way to get started with raised beds. It has suggestions for plants, spacing and what to fill your beds with. There's also a helpful book.

Over all, just keep in mind that you want to start with what you can handle, what you like to eat, and maybe 1 or 2 things to experiment with. :)

For herbs, make sure you understand which ones come back every year and which ones (like mint!) tend to spread so you don't end up with a mess a couple years down the road.

Oh, and for filling for your raised bed, if you have a garden store or nursery near you they will sell and deliver dirt/compost/etc to fill your bed with. Hardware stores also often provide the same services.

• I have a zoology degree too so that's a fantastic major :) Part of getting my degree included taking a Parasitology class. We had to do a lab about tapeworms, which meant extracting tapeworms from the intestines of a critter (don't want to go into too much detail...). The next day during lecture, our professor came in with a thermos and proceeded to scoop out long, white, stringy tapeworms, then EAT THEM! The whole class was freaking out when he started giggling and told us they were Ramen noodles. It was a class I will never forget no matter how much I'd like to!
  
  
• Most wonderful time
  
  
• Best of luck to you in your studies!
  
  
• In the school of life, I'm trying to learn more about gardening. This book would help me in my studies and to be a more efficient gardener. Thank you for the contest :)

We were using reclaimed barn wood for most of them until the wood fell apart. I think it was mostly 2x8s and 2x6s. There were a couple of 2x12s that we were lucky enough to find and grow some carrots in last year. With raised beds, I love to recommend starting with square foot gardening if you've never done it before because it teaches you so much about soil preparation and maximizing space... Plus the book is a fun read: https://smile.amazon.com/All-Square-Foot-Gardening-Revolutionary/dp/1591865484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525783437&sr=8-1&keywords=square+foot+gardening+book+by+mel+bartholomew

Thanks! Its a great project that can teach alot and just keeps giving. Its an 80/20 thing. How to get 80% of a full size garden in 20% of the space with minimum effort. The guy who wrote the book on it, Mel Barthlolmew was an engineer who specialized in efficiency...So he does a pretty good job, though the book reads goofy AF.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1591865484/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525897028&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=square+foot+gardening+book+by+mel+bartholomew

The book:

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Complete-Wiring-Updated/dp/159186612X

>a recent diy home electrical book with lots of color photos

I've learned a bunch from Black and Decker's Complete Guide to Wiring
https://www.amazon.com/dp/159186612X

Yep, I agree completely. Do it right, or don't do it at all. For someone who doesn't want to know everything there is to know about house wiring, this book is a great reference to the basics:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159186612X

If you're short on space, there's a really good book called
Mini Farming: Self-Sufficien​cy on 1/4 Acre. I've found it to be really useful, since I live just inside city limits and we really don't have much space.

http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Farming-Self-Sufficiency-Brett-Markham/dp/1602399840

Mini farming has a lot of good info on making the most of a tiny spot.

Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre covers the basics and more.

This book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1602399840/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1602399840&linkCode=as2&tag=theprescat-20

covers that subject in good detail. It's not perfect, but it is a good start for someone just starting out.

I will say that if you're looking to 100% self sufficiency, you're going to need approx 1/4 to 1/2 acre (around 10 to 20 thousand square feet) of land. Your entire space is 1200 square feet. Planted intensively with an eye to crops that produce a lot of food per area planted, you could provide a very large harvest that would feed you for a good part of the year, but I don't think you're going to get to full self sufficiency in that space unless you become a true expert at it.

At first, I would suggest 6-12 laying hens and a rooster. Choose a dual purpose breed that can also be a meat bird. Consider hatching eggs periodically, keep whatever hens you deem necessary to maintain your flock, and butcher the rest. You'll need a decent sized coop and run (unless you can free range) and you'll need a quarantine area to keep young birds so they aren't beat up by older birds in the run. I'd guess you'll never have more than 25 birds at a time (12 hens 1 rooster and 12 birds to butcher when mature), and if I was doing it that would mean about a 150 sq foot coop with a run about 4 times that size. All food and garden scraps are chicken food. Compost is made in the chicken run, need to feed the chickens and whatever is left over is compost covered in chicken manure.

Focus on calorie dense foods, especially root crops and things that can do a second or third planting in a year. Potatoes, carrots, etc are great, they store well and provide a lot of calories per square foot of space.

Some thoughts anyway. It's really a matter of fine tuning efficiency. I've been working towards similar goals for 4 years now and I'm nowhere near where I wish I was.

Yep. The reason you will find so much conflicting data is because plants grow different in different places. Like, drastically differently, in some cases.

Your local extension will most likely have things most relevant to your area. Otherwise, I have really enjoyed this book because it gives good data, including soil temp and several different methods of plant spacing, trellising, etc. It may not be as detailed as you'd like because it often doesn't give root depth, but it will tell you the best soils, pH, and other helpful information in a well-organized format.

How long before that's book is banned like the Anarchist Cookbook?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/160342475X/ref=mp_s_a_2?qid=1289331777&sr=8-2ow

I highly recommend Gaia's Garden a guide to home scale scale permaculture. It's not specifically homesteading, it's permaculture, but it is a way to supercharge the efficiency of your food production with the leist inputs.
https://www.amazon.com/Gaias-Garden-Guide-Home-Scale-Permaculture/dp/1603580298

You should check out Gaia's Garden or a similar permaculture book. As others have said, there's ways to protect your plants without relying on herbicides or weed pulling! :)

Namely, what I've read is that you should plant cover crops that will fight your weeds for you.

Good luck and grats on the baby!

Have a go at Gaia's garden, home scale permaculture design.

It's the textbook in this permaculture class.

Good for you! I suggest picking up this book: http://www.amazon.com/Gaias-Garden-Home-Scale-Permaculture-Edition/dp/1603580298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377806599&sr=8-1&keywords=gaia%27s+garden It's a great place to start and may very well change the way you think.

edit: someone already said my suggestion

Randomly picked up this book from the Uni bookstore, short, to the point, and focused on agriculture/gardening (as opposed to natural history). But I do not know how much it focuses on breeding though (not that far into it yet)


Botany for Gardeners: Third Edition

If you're after something affordable and practical (for your purposes of gardening), then I'd recommend Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon.

I hope you find it useful!

This is an excellent book for those wanting to dip their toes into the botany pool: https://www.amazon.com/Botany-Gardeners-3rd-Science/dp/160469095X

He's pulling those proportions and ingredients directly from this book: http://www.amazon.com/Square-Foot-Gardening-Second-Edition/dp/1591865484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374074184&sr=8-1&keywords=square+foot+gardening

I'd suggest to get a jist either buy or borrow from a library. Yes there are more marijuana based books but learning some basic botany will help. Botany for Gardeners, 3rd Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/160469095X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_5QWZCbX98MJZV

>http://www.amazon.com/Five-Acres-Independence-Handbook-Management/dp/0486209741

I'd either find a guide specific to your locale or read up on something more broad. Anyway, for the "basics" I'd recommend Arora's works.

The pocket guide: https://amzn.com/0898153883

The bible: https://amzn.com/0898151694

https://www.amazon.com/Mushroom-Cultivator-Practical-Growing-Mushrooms/dp/0961079800?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0961079800

https://www.amazon.com/Cannabis-Grow-Bible-Definitive-Recreational/dp/1931160589

So we are taught to laugh at anything called a cure for cancer, but ...

Well here it is since the early 1900's more than 100 natural cures for cancer have been found.

One of the simplest:

ESSIAC, you can buy it for around $20 a pound .. that is enough to make a couple months of the 'tea'. Depending upon the severity and type it may take up to a year to be sure it is completely gone. Some have found that over a period of a half a year or so skin tags shrink and vanish. Others have found that if you take the tea for a few months the tumors will shrink, but if you stop before all traces are gone then it usually comes back very very fast and kills .. a lot like not finishing ones antibiotics, but worse.

Another, Red Reishi, is recognized by the Japanese government as a treatment for cancer. Many mushrooms have strong anti-cancer and anti viral properties. (see Paul Stamets' book "Mycelium Running").

I have a very skeptical co-worker, and I drop small hints every now and again because otherwise he gets grumpy and thinks I'm a nut job. He is becoming more curious on his own now and he's learning what I have come to realize over the years .. we are systematically lied to about everything.

I haven't even brought up the cancer stuff yet.


Edit: For the downvoters, you can read the whole story here. Basically Rene Caisse ran a clinic as a charity, supervised and backed by 8 reputable doctors, for many years before the Canadian government got tired of due process and legality and just shut her down. Rene was only allowed to treat patients that the medical industry could not cure. She was harassed by the medical industry and the police the entire time. She made no money from this and in fact spent her own money curing people with Essiac tea. Anyone who thinks there is a ritual involved is full of shit.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: (see Paul Stamets' book "Mycelium Running").


|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|
|China|amazon.cn|




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