Discover new books on Goodreads

See if your friends have read any of Anna Hess's books

2728 ratings | 2711 reviews | avg rating:4.34

Anna’s Year In Books

Anna’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Anna’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Anna’s 2025 Year in Books

Anna Hess’s Followers (114)

Anna’s Bookshelves

to-read (20)
currently-reading (0)
read (2753)
did-not-finish (0)
to-read-for-mark (10)
can-t-get-on-ill (1)
fiction (2229)
gardening-homesteading (203)
other-non-fiction (203)
requested-on-ill (0)

Anna’s Friends (375)

Errol Hess

62 books | 33 friends

Marina Finlayson

988 books | 99 friends

Heather

1,888 books | 33 friends

Joey

1,942 books | 27 friends

Mikey Sklar

1,125 books | 142 friends

AtomicMassUnit

1,142 books | 28 friends

Marcia

628 books | 95 friends

Jennifer

2,463 books | 42 friends

More friends…

Anna Hess

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://www.wetknee.com

Genre

Home & Garden, Nonfiction, Young Adult

Member Since

January 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/waldeneffect

edit data

Anna Hess dreamed about moving back to the land ever since her parents dragged her off their family farm at the age of eight. She worked as a field biologist and nonprofit organizer before acquiring fifty-eight acres and a husband, then quit her job to homestead full time. She admits that real farm life involves a lot more hard work than her childhood memories entailed, but the reality is much more fulfilling and she loves pigging out on sun-warmed strawberries and experimenting with no-till gardening, mushroom propagation, and chicken pasturing.

She also enjoys writing about the adventures, both on her blog at WaldenEffect.org, and in her books. Her first paperback, The Weekend Homesteader, helped thousands of homesteaders-to-be find ways t ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Anna Hess questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Anna Hess’s books

Average rating: 3.89 · 3,941 ratings · 284 reviews · 52 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency 3.82 avg rating — 751 ratings — published 2012 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Getting Started With Your Working Chicken: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Backyard Eggs & Meat (Permaculture Chicken Book 1) 3.97 avg rating — 466 ratings — published 2011 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Trailersteading: Voluntary Simplicity in a Mobile Home 3.67 avg rating — 290 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Weekend Homesteader: April 4.05 avg rating — 231 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Homegrown Humus: Cover Crops in a No-till Garden 3.96 avg rating — 218 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Weekend Homesteader: May 3.98 avg rating — 129 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	$10 Root Cellar: And Other Low-Cost Methods of Growing, Storing, and Using Root Vegetables (Modern Simplicity Book 3) 3.48 avg rating — 142 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pasture Basics: How to Keep the Grass Green and Your Chickens Happy (Permaculture Chicken Book 2) 3.86 avg rating — 110 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Farmstead Feast: Winter: Delicious, in-season recipes by the author of The Weekend Homesteader 3.59 avg rating — 117 ratings — published 2014 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Weekend Homesteader: August 4.04 avg rating — 103 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Anna Hess…

4672 posts
Anna Hess's Blog

New winter sowing method without the fuss

What if the plastic-milk-jug method of winter sowing isn’t the only way—or even the best way—to get a jump start on the garden year? While other gardeners were cutting up containers and buying potting soil, I tried out a simpler, cheaper approach that might actually work better….

Container winter sowing: Why I was skeptical

Winter sown lettuce seedlings If you’ve been hanging out in gardening spaces online in the last few ye

Series by Anna Hess

Weekend Homesteader (12 books)
by

Anna Hess (Goodreads Author)

3.96 avg rating — 1,907 ratings

rss
Anna’s Recent Updates

Anna rated a book it was amazing Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Darn you, Ali Hazelwood! You stole hours of sleep from me! More seriously, this is such a delightful combination of navigating the perils of physics academia, overcoming people pleasing, and enjoying a delicious romance. Just don't start it at night... ...more
Sep 01, 2026 01:41PM · 1 like · like · see review
Anna rated a book really liked it How to Grieve Like a Victorian by Amy Carol Reeves (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5 star beginning, 3 star end. I found the premise really fun, and the beginning used just the right blend of teaching history through character. Then we hit the last third, which included a long infodump about the Bronte sisters and a lot of wrap-up ...more
Aug 30, 2026 08:12AM · like · see review
Anna rated a book really liked it A Talent for Trickery (The Thief Takers, #1) by Alissa Johnson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I didn't love this as much as book two (possibly because I read them in the wrong order...or because my brain was deeply fogged by other things). ...more
Aug 26, 2026 03:14PM · like · see review
Anna rated a book it was amazing Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
SO GOOD! A very upbeat, hopeful version of Murderbot meets Legends & Lattes. Found family, robot weirdness, and a gentle story set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco. Hard to describe how easy to read and sweet (yet at the same time thought-provokin ...more
Aug 26, 2026 03:08PM · like · see review
Anna rated a book really liked it Traveler's Guide to Ancient Ohio (Thinking About Ohio) by John E. Hancock	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I'm torn about how to rate this book. What annoyed me will likely make others happy --- it's written in old travel guide style, with a paragraph of this and a paragraph of that so you can go on tour routes, and the author thus includes things that I ...more
Aug 26, 2026 02:55PM · like · see review
Anna rated a book really liked it The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I loved the beginning, but it didn't quite deliver on being more than Star Trek fan fiction. So many interesting parts that didn't quite come together! ...more
Aug 23, 2026 04:25AM · like · see review
Anna rated a book it was amazing A Gift for Guile (The Thief Takers, #2) by Alissa Johnson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Really good banter!
Aug 16, 2026 03:55PM · like · see review

More of Anna's books…

Quotes by Anna Hess (?)

“you have to plant things even if you don't think you'll get to see the harvest.”
― Anna Hess, Watermelon Summer: A Romantic Young Adult Adventure

2 likes

“How will you know if your pollinator population isn't up to par? If you find cucumbers fat at one end and skinny at the other, baby summer squash that are rotting at the blossom end, blackberries with only a few plump lobes, or lop-sided apples with a big side and a little side, your garden isn't seeing proper pollination. In some cases, inadequate pollination can be due to bad weather during bloom time, but if you notice problems, your first step should be to ensure that you're providing the proper habitat for wild pollen movers. (There's not much you can do about a cold spring.)”
― Anna Hess, Bug-Free Organic Gardening: Controlling Pest Insects Without Chemicals

2 likes

“As you can probably tell by now, I'm a very hands-on incubationist, so the advice in this section will fly in the face of conventional wisdom. However, as long as you keep the humidity and temperature at the right levels using the tips in the last section, you can be as hands-on as you want with no ill effect. In fact, helping chicks when they need it will increase your hatch rates and decrease your angst as a chick struggles and then perishes in the shell. On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend helping chicks out of the shell unless all of the following criteria apply to you: You have some sort of critical care unit prepared. Chicks you help out of the shell are likely to be weak and will need some extra time in a warm spot where they can't be picked on. ”
― Anna Hess, Incubating and Hatching Homegrown Chicks: Perpetuate a Self-Sufficient Backyard Flock!

1 likes

See all Anna Hess's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Precinct 81: Round 5 - Task 5	27	19	Jul 26, 2018 01:29PM
Game Night: Jenga - Tower Power (1)	367	61	Jul 28, 2018 06:04PM
Precinct 81: Prom/Round 6	27	24	Aug 26, 2018 12:35PM
A Million More Pages: Fly Around the World with AMMP	89	177	Jan 09, 2019 08:26PM
Precinct 81: There Is Mole To This Then I Thought	3691	51	Jan 20, 2019 12:55PM
Precinct 81: XXX ♛ Dawn XXX	108	43	Apr 22, 2019 11:37AM