I liked this introductory guide for many reasons, it’s basic, it’s got budgeting in mind and the authors are writing for people who don’t have acres of garden, it’s a very down-to-earth guide. To give you an example, most books make cheese-making sound more like a job for a laboratory, here there are two basic recipes, ideas for adapting the two methods and lots of tips on how to get started – as easy as that!  And if you don’t want to go as far as cheese and sausage making, there’s a host of recipes that are cheap and easy to make. Plenty of tips for the gardener too – the only way it could be more user friendly was if the authors came round and did your garden and cooking for you.

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Synopsis

This book is not about looking back with regret to former, apparently simpler times. It is about learning and using those skills that made it possible for people to live a self-sufficient, low-impact and highly satisfying life over the last hundred or so years and applying them to the complex times we find ourselves in today. Grandma's Ways represents a store of knowledge that we have mostly forgotten. With a little modification for these busy modern times, techniques for preserving food, keeping hens and bees, growing vegetables and fruit, making your own cosmetics and a host of other things will bring us not only closer to the products we enjoy, but closer to benefiting from the work we do for ourselves. There's nothing more satisfying than cooking wholesome food from scratch at home, baking your own bread, growing your own vegetables, foraging in the wild and even making your own household cleaning products. Not only will you be living a more sustainable life in terms of the environment, you'll save money, too.

Reviews

'The Mrs Beeton for our times...You will not only learn hot to do nearly everything yourself but discover how easy it is to fit it all into your life.'
Family Interest Magazine

About the Author

Paul and Diana Peacock practise self-sufficiency in Manchester. They believe strongly that the way we live is changing towards making more of our own food, and even some of the goods we use from day to day. Paul has written extensively for the gardening press, edits the Home Farmer Magazine with Diana, and has written fifteen books on gardening, self-sufficiency, beekeeping, wild food, and butchering. Diana has over thirty years experience of caring for a family of five, often on a tight budget, and is the author of two books on home baking and jam and preserves. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation