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Self-Sufficiency for the 21st Century: The Complete Guide to Sustainable Living Today
Find your route to a more sustainable lifestyle with Dick Strawbridge, of Escape to the Chateau, and his son James.
Wherever you live--be it in a small townhouse like James or on a rural small farm--this updated edition of Self-Sufficiency for the 21st Century offers the nuts and bolts of off-the-grid living to anyone who wants to embrace sustainability.
Self-Sufficiency for the 21st Century contains invaluable advice on making the most of your own resources no matter where you live. This comprehensive guide to modern sustainability covers everything from how to conserve energy in the home, keep bees, and grow crops in an urban garden to recipes for smoking your own meat and fish, creating nut milks, and preparing greener cleaning products. Each project is fully illustrated and easy to follow, allowing anyone to try their hand at something new.
With plenty of advice and anecdotes celebrating the importance and the satisfaction of a do-it-yourself lifestyle, Dick and James demonstrate that self-sufficiency doesn't have to mean packing up and moving to the country. By making a few small changes and learning the importance of sustainable living, we can all help the planet.
Wherever you live--be it in a small townhouse like James or on a rural small farm--this updated edition of Self-Sufficiency for the 21st Century offers the nuts and bolts of off-the-grid living to anyone who wants to embrace sustainability.
Self-Sufficiency for the 21st Century contains invaluable advice on making the most of your own resources no matter where you live. This comprehensive guide to modern sustainability covers everything from how to conserve energy in the home, keep bees, and grow crops in an urban garden to recipes for smoking your own meat and fish, creating nut milks, and preparing greener cleaning products. Each project is fully illustrated and easy to follow, allowing anyone to try their hand at something new.
With plenty of advice and anecdotes celebrating the importance and the satisfaction of a do-it-yourself lifestyle, Dick and James demonstrate that self-sufficiency doesn't have to mean packing up and moving to the country. By making a few small changes and learning the importance of sustainable living, we can all help the planet.
282 pages, Hardcover
First published July 19, 2010
27 people are currently reading
957 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
February 17, 2021
Daaaamn this is a dense, comprehensive book on self-sufficiency. Mostly surface, no real deep dives, but covering every single thing I could think of and so much more. Gardening, composting, canning, making, repairing, yes. But also ever wanted to make a water wheel? Dig out a root cellar? Make a solar dryer?
I am a huge fan after stumbling over his and wife Angel's delightful "Escape to the Chateau," they make me think there's nothing that hard work and a can-do attitude can't handle.
I am a huge fan after stumbling over his and wife Angel's delightful "Escape to the Chateau," they make me think there's nothing that hard work and a can-do attitude can't handle.
March 30, 2019
یک سری راهکار توی کتاب ارائه شده تا یک خونه ای داشته باشیم که خودکفا باشه. از انرژی گرفته تا غذا و بقیه چیزها. نیاز به مقداری زمین با آب و هوای خوب داره تا بشه چیزی کاشت و حیوون پرورش داد و بقیه کارها
ایده سبز بودن و ارگانیک بودن و اینها خوبه اما بعضی ها خیلی زیاده روی می کنن. برای این کارها باید از جامعه کند و از قرن بیست و یکم دور شد
ایده سبز بودن و ارگانیک بودن و اینها خوبه اما بعضی ها خیلی زیاده روی می کنن. برای این کارها باید از جامعه کند و از قرن بیست و یکم دور شد
June 2, 2021
I read this book because I'm making plans to live in a cabin in the woods. The cabin is just about finished for self-sufficiency.
Good reference book.
Good reference book.
March 30, 2022
A decent reference book, but it felt a little muddled as to who the audience should be. Some things that were covered were very beginner-oriented, while the majority of the projects are quite advanced. Part of that seemed to be because of the order the projects were delivered - the book starts with ways to take your house off-grid (building windmills and waterwheels and that sort of thing), and then moves on to talk about things like gardening. I feel like if I was a beginner, I would have been somewhat discouraged by the immediate jump into huge and extremely expensive projects. This book probably makes the most sense for someone who has been doing some gardening already and is looking to "level up" - even though this book doesn't go into extreme details, it does cover a lot of possible projects and ways to increase self-sufficiency, so it is a good jumping-off point - you may see something here that intrigues you, and gives you a direction for more research. I.e., if I was actually going to build a windmill, I would need to get a lot more information than what is presented here, but this book does give me a basic idea of whether or not a windmill would work for my situation.
The authors are based in the UK, so there isn't a lot of information if you are someone who lives in a climate significantly hotter or colder than their region, but again to me this is an overview rather than details book, so that's okay.
This book does seem to embrace doing things the hard way. I get that the goal is to be self-sufficient, but there just isn't a good path to follow here as far as what order things make sense. Which of these projects is the number one thing I should do as my first jump towards self-sufficiency? Or even the top five? No idea, this book just has literally a hundred or more possibilities and no guidance as to whether it makes more sense to build a greenhouse or a chicken coop or a windmill first. There are also some things that are kind blown off in favor of doing the much more complicated method. For instance, in a section on drying food, home (electric) food dryers are dismissed in one sentence as being "too expensive" (despite the fact that the one I own, admittedly an extremely base model, is $40), and then presents a two-page spread on building a solar dryer out of materials that have to be close to that $40 mark, plus your labor, plus it's genuinely more complicated to dry things in a solar dryer than an electric one. Is the solar one more self-sufficient? Yes, theoretically (although since the entire first section of the book was about producing your electricity, I'm not sure why using a small electric dryer would be that big of a deal...) But would it also make sense to encourage readers to see if food drying is even something they're interested in by trying a smaller, simpler method first and then upgrading if it's a method that works for their needs? I think so. There were a lot of things like that, where they just jump directly to a very involved method of accomplishing something without even pointing out that there are a few intermediate options that you can try if you aren't sure if this project/method/scenario works for you.
All in all, if you already have a base knowledge about homesteading/gardening and are trying to decide what the next step is for increasing your self-reliance, this is a book worth checking out. If you're a complete beginner, this may not be a good place to start because I can definitely see it being incredibly overwhelming. For a homesteading overview book, I personally prefer The Backyard Homestead: Produce All the Food You Need on Just a Quarter Acre! as I think it does a nice job presenting the reader with some smaller projects/steps/ideas to help you decide what aspects of homesteading work best for you.
The authors are based in the UK, so there isn't a lot of information if you are someone who lives in a climate significantly hotter or colder than their region, but again to me this is an overview rather than details book, so that's okay.
This book does seem to embrace doing things the hard way. I get that the goal is to be self-sufficient, but there just isn't a good path to follow here as far as what order things make sense. Which of these projects is the number one thing I should do as my first jump towards self-sufficiency? Or even the top five? No idea, this book just has literally a hundred or more possibilities and no guidance as to whether it makes more sense to build a greenhouse or a chicken coop or a windmill first. There are also some things that are kind blown off in favor of doing the much more complicated method. For instance, in a section on drying food, home (electric) food dryers are dismissed in one sentence as being "too expensive" (despite the fact that the one I own, admittedly an extremely base model, is $40), and then presents a two-page spread on building a solar dryer out of materials that have to be close to that $40 mark, plus your labor, plus it's genuinely more complicated to dry things in a solar dryer than an electric one. Is the solar one more self-sufficient? Yes, theoretically (although since the entire first section of the book was about producing your electricity, I'm not sure why using a small electric dryer would be that big of a deal...) But would it also make sense to encourage readers to see if food drying is even something they're interested in by trying a smaller, simpler method first and then upgrading if it's a method that works for their needs? I think so. There were a lot of things like that, where they just jump directly to a very involved method of accomplishing something without even pointing out that there are a few intermediate options that you can try if you aren't sure if this project/method/scenario works for you.
All in all, if you already have a base knowledge about homesteading/gardening and are trying to decide what the next step is for increasing your self-reliance, this is a book worth checking out. If you're a complete beginner, this may not be a good place to start because I can definitely see it being incredibly overwhelming. For a homesteading overview book, I personally prefer The Backyard Homestead: Produce All the Food You Need on Just a Quarter Acre! as I think it does a nice job presenting the reader with some smaller projects/steps/ideas to help you decide what aspects of homesteading work best for you.
March 26, 2021
I learned of Dick Strawbridge a few weeks ago when I became obsessed with watching Escape to the Chateau. I would watch Dick and be amazed that he could do anything.
Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century shows off Dick and James vast knowledge. It covers with great details and tons of pictures how to do everything from darning a sock, sowing and planting a garden, building baskets. Amazing resource to come back and reference for years.
Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century shows off Dick and James vast knowledge. It covers with great details and tons of pictures how to do everything from darning a sock, sowing and planting a garden, building baskets. Amazing resource to come back and reference for years.
November 16, 2023
Wanting to become a little more self-sufficient or live more sustainably? Well this book has ideas for you. The subject matter goes broad rather than deep, so if you really get interested in any particular topic, you will almost certainly need to supplement your research. But holy wow, when I say it goes broad, I mean brooooooaaaad. Just about everything you can think of is covered in here, and probably a bunch of things you can’t. It certainly gave me some ideas to consider.
January 5, 2018
Super Simple to Understand!! Great hard backed book (not in Kindle yet) that you must find that is used, but definitely one that you will want to have on hand if you are a survivalist or basic DIYer.
June 9, 2020
This book is beautiful and very informative. The only reason that I gave it 3 stars is because this book is set in England while I live in Oklahoma so some of their techniques and plants are suitable for my local climate.
October 5, 2020
I felt this book had a wide variety of topics in regards to gardening and homesteading. It was well written and you could read the passion in the words. Highly recommend giving this book a read. if you’re into homesteading, then you’ve got to read this book!
April 25, 2018
Really liked all of the descriptive walkthroughs on things us city slickers never think about!
August 20, 2020
Definitely a great one to buy and keep on hand. Lots of important projects and advice. Super easy instructions.
September 26, 2020
Very practical.
October 29, 2020
My bible
March 8, 2021
Tons of great information in a beautiful layout. Can’t wait to get going on some of these projects.
November 5, 2021
Let the day dreaming begin! So many topics and so much information. No matter where you want to go with your homestead, or where you live from urban to acreage this book can give you a good start.
August 7, 2022
So much information. Great for beginners or novices. I attained many achievable project ideas 💡
September 16, 2022
This book is an all-inclusive homesteading book. I am throughly impressed by the scope of knowledge encompassed and will have to purchase a copy for myself.
May 22, 2023
Lots to read here.
October 20, 2023
Very well detailed!
April 26, 2016
packed with awesome ideas for how to make your living space more self-sufficient & environmentally friendly. Has lots of pictures and useful diagrams, and the text is really informative without being overly technical. There are many "home improvement" projects ranging from those that require large investments of time & money (Hydroelectric power station), to adjustments that you can complete in a half hour or less with stuff you already have at home (reducing toilet water usage using a plastic bottle). The book includes information on anything from farming, energy generation, heating, cooling, construction, baking, preserving, animal keeping, and way, way more. Definitely recommend to anyone trying to save money and/or your environment, or wanting to take a bigger part in creating the basic necessities needed to live a healthy, happy life.
December 14, 2010
Ok, so I didn't actually read this book cover to cover. There was so much information and so many topics covered. I decided that there was more than I really needed right now, though the information was awesome. I ended up browsing through the book, taking note of the sections that I was most interested in and were the most feasible. I may check this book out again sometime when I have more resources.
May 7, 2011
A solid 4.5 stars!
While I do believe that John Seymour's "The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It," is overall a better book, I am pleased enough with the Strawbridges' "Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century" to seriously consider buying a copy. There are some excellent step by step instructions with great colored photographs that would make this book very valuable to the backyard or small farm homesteader.
While I do believe that John Seymour's "The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It," is overall a better book, I am pleased enough with the Strawbridges' "Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century" to seriously consider buying a copy. There are some excellent step by step instructions with great colored photographs that would make this book very valuable to the backyard or small farm homesteader.
March 10, 2014
I thought this was a great book touching on a lot of different things that can be done - with enough info to do basic things and decide if it would work for you and research elsewhere for more advanced projects.
Obviously not all things in book will work everywhere, as they are in mild England writing about their experiences.
Also noticed some plants they recommended for certain projects are invasive in North America, so double check plants before you plant!
Obviously not all things in book will work everywhere, as they are in mild England writing about their experiences.
Also noticed some plants they recommended for certain projects are invasive in North America, so double check plants before you plant!
January 16, 2016
This is an in-depth look at everything green. From baking bread, to housing chickens. Making window boxes to making cider. It has it all. Unfortunately I haven't tried any of the things in the book, but I do intend to. This is a keeper for the environmental lovers out there. we have a responsibility to take care of ourselves and our planet. This book shows us how.
October 19, 2010
Awesome guide to all things self sufficient. Every page has an inspiring, fun idea for doing 'it' yourself. If you are curious about gardening, watering, electricity, cheese, bread, wild food, composting, eccentric stoves and ovens... too fun. Mother Earth News in one spot and in hardcover.
March 24, 2012
Checked this out from the library. Gonna purchase it. It touches base on many things. It's not thorough in how to do EVERY thing, but it gives you a good idea of what you might like to do more research on.
June 7, 2012
Great resource with beautiful photos. This book makes building a homestead look easier than it is. Borrowed from the library, but I would purchase this book if I ever got a chance to really build a homestead.
November 25, 2012
The book reads like one of those old Reader's Digest how-to books... Two pages on every subject and an easy step-by-step style. I definitely enjoyed it, and would love to see the tv series featuring this father-son team.
October 13, 2016
The book I keep going back to for all things farming. I love this book, and it's scope. Many topics are not in-depth, but it gives you an ideal of how to do a little bit of everything involving self-sufficiency.
January 31, 2011
A good overview of the possibilities of self sufficiency, with information on how one family did it. Lovely photographs throughout. Inspiring!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews