Holistic Homesteading: A Beginner's Guide to a Sustainable and Regenerative Lifestyle

by Roxanne Ahern

Make healthier life choices to heal yourself and the environment through self-sufficiency. The Happy Holistic Homestead by Roxanne Ahern provides the tools for living slowly, intentionally, and better through permaculture, edible gardening, and organic farming. Live the Homestead Life. Ahern’s book guides new and seasoned homesteaders in improving personal and environmental health. The Happy Holistic Homestead is geared toward people who are interested in pursuing intentional lifestyles and organic farming methods. It is both for those who have access to land and those who are interested in retrofitting urban and suburban lifestyles and landscapes to shift towards sustainability. Utilize Sustainable Organic Farming Techniques. Learn about permaculture design, holistic nutrition, and sustainable farming in rural and urban settings. The Happy Holistic Homestead covers how to use organic soil and zero chemicals to grow the best vegetables and fruits, responsible and humane animal husbandry that improves the ground and carbon sequestration, as well as the best canning and preserving techniques. Ahern also provides tips on safely foraging for flowers and mushrooms. Read The Happy Holistic Homestead and If you enjoyed books such as The Modern Homestead Garden , The Encyclopedia of Country Living , and Beginner's Guide to Preserving , your next read should be The Happy Holistic Homestead .

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening

248 pages, Paperback

Published September 13, 2022

Reviews

[Kaydon_the_dino · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. Truly. The photos are gorgeous and most of the info is nice (if a bit superficial). But the end really threw me for a loop with the author’s new definition of wealth and prosperity where the mentally and chronically ill and disabled don’t exist through the magic of eating homegrown vegetables.
Yeah, every culture has always had mentally and chronically ill and disabled folks. Not including them in your conception of a perfect society is a huge frickin YIKES.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It had so much information to offer that I took my time reading it so that I could give my brain a chance to absorb it all. I LOVED the chapter about using the forest as a blueprint for the homestead. How the forest doesn't need fertilizers or pesticides or weeding because of the layers and types of plants. That was a fantastic opening to the whole idea of holistic homesteading, and I am so excited to try it. This is another book I need to add to the resource section of my library. I loved this book. Five out of five stars!!!

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book spends time at the beginning and end “vision-casting.” With the deeper whys behind homesteading and self-sufficient living. The middle chapters have a whole range of different interests and practical ways to homestead, with just enough practical to give you an idea if you want to dive into it or not.

I agree with another reader that there is a sort of pretentious tone, though it could be in part to the audiobook reader. I would feel frustrated at the high standards the author put forth, but tried to remember the title and theme is “holistic.” Though at times idealistic, she imagines if the philosophies of homesteading were applied, holistically, to all of life.

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book with much helpful information. I appreciate the fact that Ahern goes into more of the thought process behind a project, so you can then branch off into different, related areas, rather than simply giving step-by-step instructions only. Good recipes too.

[Charlee-Ann Koke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Format: Audiobook.
Rating: 9.5/10
Age rating/interest level: General audience.

Overview: As someone who is interested in agriculture, horticulture, holistic stuff, and homesteading, I picked up this as an audiobook to listen to while I cleaned my rabbits space. While some complained that the book didn't provide them with much deep information, I would like to bring out that the book itself labels it as a BEGINNER'S GUIDE. And for that, it is great! Its an inspiring book that gives you an overview of what holistic & natural homesteading could look like for you, regardless of where you live and how much land you own.

Things I enjoyed: I really felt like this book was inspiring. It gave me ideas of what to look out for and how to be more conscious of agriculture and the environment in my daily life. I garden and try to make natural recipes, and this book really goes along with those concepts.

Things I did not enjoy: At times, the author did seem to press her opinions a bit at times, but it is her book. And as it turned out, I agreed with her opinions, so it wasn't an issue for me! She is very encouraging, however, as she just tries to help people do what they can. And she is very honest, saying that her families lifestyle is not "perfectly holistic", but we can all learn what we want to personally strive for and do our best.

Summery: If you are looking for a nice introductory read to holistic homesteading, try this one! You can learn about what crops to plant together and other agricultural ideas to live more holistically and naturally with the world around us.

[Emilee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not the book I was looking for. I feel like books in this genre have to play a balancing act between inspiration that motivates readers to act vs. giving detailed recipes/tutorials that teach you how to put that motivation into action. If you only have the inspiration, you are often left wondering what you are supposed to do, and often you end up looking for other books for the how-to. If you only have the recipes/tutorials, you get a detailed textbook. Both of these are fine and have a place. Books that try to mix them need to be written extremely well. This one was not.

To be fair, some of my issue here came from the narrator (I got the audiobook) who possibly made the text more pretentious than it was. But I think the author was in fact pretty judgmental and way crunchier than the general population, so her "inspiration" swung between ego and far-left ideology. And unfortunately her recipes and tutorials often left out clarifying details and directions, making them good jumping off points but bad on their own.

A lot of this book wasn't relevant to me (I have no interest in foraging, hate sourdough, don't eat animal products, etc), but that's really more of an issue of personal preference. I really just couldn't get past her writing voice and disdain for most of society (comparing someone who buys clothes in a store for their family to being as evil as a southern slave owner in the 1800s was fairly ridiculous). I would say this book was a total wash, but it's redeeming feature is the excellent list of other resources (books, movies, youtube channels, etc) at the very end. I do want to be more self-sufficient and move away from funding bad businesses, but I don't need to be shamed for failing to meet a crunchier-than-thou lady's standards.

[Fred Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is exactly what I have been looking for!
There are a ton of books about homesteading and “going back to the land” out there, but as a person who is probably a few years away from owning land I appreciated that this book has a start where you are approach. I do think it would be good for people who already own land too, it just didn’t make me feel like there was nothing I could do right now to start living more in alignment w my values. There is an extensive chapter on gardening and growing food, but the author also discusses Alternatives for people who don’t have land, like community gardens or simply supporting local farmers. Like I don’t have to grow it all myself to help create a more sustainable system. I can buy food in bulk from a farmer, save money, and preserve (there is a chapter all about preservation) it myself in my apartment and that is me being sort of a homesteader.
There is a great chapter on baking sourdough bread and lots of recipes for using the culture as well (I didn’t know pre fermented grains were much healthier for you!) and there is even a chapter on foraging. There is also a section on starting a small business w a sustainable approach. It has beautiful photography throughout. This is going to be a go to book for me to gift people in the future! One of my favorites now.

[Tisha (IG: Bluestocking629) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I have too many books on the subject? But this book did now totally wow me .

It was more of a "you can do this and that" book versus a "this is how you do this and that" book.

It left me wanting more.

[Viola May · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book which I personally love. It is so beautifully made. And I love all the sourdough recipes we make them all the time. It is overall an awesome book and guide to holistic homesteading. This is a great one to own for reference.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too crunchy for me but a quick read!

[Eli Richter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being somewhat informed on the topic, much of what was discussed was familiar but it was a well laid out discussion on sustainable practices and what the world could be like if we all payed close attention to what we consume and buy. I really liked the section on bread.