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How did people eat before giant corporations stocked grocery stores?

It's a complex question that many people are facing now more than ever.

In recent years we've seen trends in panic buying, chemicals infiltrating our produce, and our foods being processed with artificial products.

What's happened to the food we eat?

What purpose is the land in our backyard serving?

Homesteading is having a new surge in popularity as people look for more ways to become self-sustaining.

You can learn all the basics to start a backyard homestead.

That means you need not go buy a plot of land; instead, you can homestead with the very foundation of it in mind, use what you have on hand, and cultivate for the future.

In this book, you'll discover:

How to plan for a homestead that accommodates the size of your yard.

7 of the best resources for new homesteaders or home farmers.

How to select your chickens and build a coop.

How to plan your garden throughout the year for a high yield.

Top 10 perennial vegetables to grow year-round.

How to make the most of your seeds and cultivars.

Mistakes to avoid that can lead to low-yield or no-yield seasons.

Cool tricks for growing your homestead without buying more property.

Step by step monthly maintenance calendar

How to share your homesteading experience and skills to help build your community.

And much, much more!

When you have finished this guidebook, you'll understand how to create and plan a homestead, and how to maintain it in the months and years to come.

There's no doubt that you can build the skill set necessary to cultivate the ground and develop your property into something that can sustain you and your family.

Take your first steps to learn to live a self-sufficient life by getting this book now.

You'll be the envy of your friends and neighbors!

So if you want to learn more about creating your own backyard homestead, scroll up and click the "add to cart" button!

"An outstanding and enjoyable introduction to botany, whether the reader is a gardener, or just a garden visitor." --Bloomsbury Review

What happens inside a seed after it is planted? How are plants structured? How do plants reproduce? The answers to these and other questions about complex plant processes can be found in the bestselling Botany for Gardeners. Written in accessible language, this must-have guide allows gardeners and horticulturists to understand plants from the plant's point of view. Now in its third edition, Botany for Gardeners has now been expanded and updated, and includes an appendix on plant taxonomy, a comprehensive index, and dozens of new photos and illustrations.

In celebration of his 300th year, a definitive survey of Capability Brown's most famous gardens and landscapes in Britain. Widely acknowledged as the most influential landscape designer of his age, Lancelot Capability Brown was to England what Frederick Law Olmsted was to America--responsible for shaping the very ideal of the nation's parkland. Brown's ambition was to bring out of a landscape the best of its potential rather than impose his own ideas upon it. His designs are organic, weaving gestures of color and perspective into the features that the country already afforded. So natural are his designs, and so perfectly do they complement the houses within them, that for many a Capability Brown landscape is the epitome of the English estate. His gardens and parklands--as much as the houses themselves--would become icons of British country life. Published to coincide with the tercentenary of his birth, this remarkable book illuminates fifteen of Brown's most celebrated landscapes. To love the great English estates is to love the settings with which Brown surrounded them--from idyllic parklands at Milton and Broadlands to structured landscapes around iconic houses at Blenheim, Burghley, Wakefield, and Chatsworth. With photography commissioned for the book, and including rarely seen archival drawings that shed light on Brown's process, this book serves as a guide to Britain's most beloved landscapes and an exploration of the masterful mind behind their creation.

100,000 sold in hardcover

It's hard to imagine a more comprehensive look at color scheme possibilities.
--Los Angeles Times

What a cool idea for the color challenged among us... 200 combinations fit for a king and queen and their royal family.
--Booklist

When it comes to decorating, the endless color choices available are enough to overwhelm the most determined home decorator. The Color Scheme Bible solves that problem, and with hardcover sales of 100,000 its value is well proven. This lay-flat paperback edition is sure to be an equally popular choice.

With 200 color scheme ideas to choose from, The Color Scheme Bible is an easy-to-use and inspiring reference to using color in the home. It describes how colors interact and the effects they have on a room. It explains how to choose colors that complement each other for a subdued effect, and which colors and combinations energize a room. The book also includes 50 recommended palettes that can be used with different materials for refreshingly original color schemes.

Features include:

How color creates ambiance and atmosphere

How to use color to give a small room the illusion of space and depth

200 distinctive color schemes inspired by nature, art, travel, and even a favorite possession

50 recommended palettes

A "How to Use This Book" gatefold.

The Color Scheme Bible changed the way we approach choosing colors for the walls, floors and furniture in our homes. It is an essential handbook for decorators and interior designers.

For people who don't have space or time for traditional gardening and who need expert advice on choosing and using plants and containers to create their own container garden, large or small. At long last, a smart and sensible gardening guide from the most trusted name in gardening.

Compiled from the pages of Fine Gardening magazine, Container Gardening will inspire readers with:

dramatic plant combinations

step-by-step techniques to plant and care for containers under all conditions, including regions with short growing periods.

The experts at Fine Gardening will show even a beginning gardener how containers can create boundaries, direct traffic, break up wall space, and soften edges throughout the year.

Whether you live in a country farmhouse or an urban apartment, find inspiration for every room in your home. Come cozy up with your creativity and Liz's welcoming voice so you can love the feeling of being at home.

In this beautiful book of house and garden photography and DIY inspiration, popular blogger Liz Marie Galvan shares:

100 tips and tricks to make your home feel cozy

Budget-friendly hints to make decorating affordable

Simple DIY projects for every room in the house

In Cozy White Cottage, Liz offers her best home décor and design tips to help you create a space you'll love coming home to. You'll love Liz's real-life, easy, and affordable ideas to get the most out of your home and discover things like:

The passion and productivity that can pour out of an inspiring, functional workspace or office

The conversation and connection that flow out of a warm, well-arranged living room

The thoughtful hospitality that can welcome guests, be it for a cup of coffee or an overnight stay

The rejuvenation that can happen when we have quiet spaces for reading, prayer, and rest

The calming routines and rituals that we can implement into our spaces and our lives

The laughter, joy, and learning that can occur in adorable, functional playrooms

The life-giving power that beats in the heart of our homes, the kitchen

Each month hundreds of thousands of readers find design inspiration and DIY ideas on Liz's blog, where Liz shares stories of life with her veteran husband, Jose, their 1800s Michigan farmhouse, and the home décor boutique she co-owns. Cozy White Cottage offers inspiration for every style and makes the perfect self-purchase, housewarming gift, birthday treat, Mother's Day read, or holiday gift.

"This book will help you keep your plants healthy."--Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7 Books to Shake Up Your Home Decor

Houseplants are more popular than ever before--especially with millennials, who are setting up their homes for the first time and discovering that nothing can add energy, style, and that essential "lived-in-ness" to their spaces better than a little bit of green. Whether it's a statement-making fiddle-leaf fig or a tiny tabletop succulent, a houseplant instantly elevates the look of your home. But where to begin?

In Decorating with Plants, Baylor Chapman walks readers through everything they need to know to bring houseplants into their home. First, there's Plant Care 101: from how to assess light conditions to tricks for keeping your plants alive while on vacation, Chapman gives readers the simple, foundational info they need to ensure their plants will thrive. Then she introduces us to 28 of her favorites--specimens that are tough as nails but oh-so-stylish, from the eye-catching Rubber Tree to the delicate Cape Primrose. Finally, she guides readers through the home room by room: Place an aromatic plant like jasmine or gardenia to your entry to establish your home's "signature scent." Add a proper sense of scale to your living room with a ceiling-grazing palm. Create a living centerpiece of jewel-toned succulents for a dining table arrangement that will last long after your dinner party. From air purification to pest control, there's no limit to what houseplants can do for your home--and Decorating with Plants is here to show you how to add them to spaces big and small with style.

"An informative and celebratory resource." --Booklist

In this beautiful and empowering book, Jennifer Jewell--host of public radio's award-winning program and podcast Cultivating Place--introduces 75 inspiring women. Working in wide-reaching fields that include botany, floral design, landscape architecture, farming, herbalism, and food justice, these influencers are creating change from the ground up.

Profiled women include flower farmer Erin Benzakein; codirector of Soul Fire Farm Leah Penniman; plantswoman Flora Grubb; edible and cultural landscape designer Leslie Bennett; Caribbean-American writer and gardener Jamaica Kincaid; soil scientist Elaine Ingham; landscape designer Ariella Chezar; floral designer Amy Merrick, and many more. Rich with personal stories and insights, Jewell's portraits reveal a devotion that transcends age, locale, and background, reminding us of the profound role of green growing things in our world--and our lives.

"A visual treat as well as a literary one, Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life will be deeply satisfying for gardeners and garden lovers, connoisseurs of botanical illustration, and those who seek a deeper understanding of the life and work of Emily Dickinson." --The Wall Street Journal

Emily Dickinson was a keen observer of the natural world, but less well known is the fact that she was also an avid gardener--sending fresh bouquets to friends, including pressed flowers in her letters, and studying botany at Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke. At her family home, she tended both a small glass conservatory and a flower garden.

In Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life, award-winning author Marta McDowell explores Dickinson's deep passion for plants and how it inspired and informed her writing. Tracing a year in the garden, the book reveals details few know about Dickinson and adds to our collective understanding of who she was as a person. By weaving together Dickinson's poems, excerpts from letters, contemporary and historical photography, and botanical art, McDowell offers an enchanting new perspective on one of America's most celebrated but enigmatic literary figures.

You're excited to plant your first vegetable garden--but where to start? In The First-Time Gardener: Growing Vegetables, you'll find the answers you're looking for.

Homesteader Jessica Sowards, the warm and energetic host of YouTube's Roots and Refuge Farm, is the perfect teacher for new gardeners, offering not just know-how but inspiration and time-management tips for success.

Before you sink your hands into the soil, she'll answer all those questions rolling around inside your head:

Where do I put my new garden?

How do I prepare the soil?

What vegetables should I plant?

Is it better to start new plants from seed or should I buy transplants?

What about watering, feeding, and taking care of my garden?

What do I do if bugs show up?

There are no stupid questions here. Everyone has to start somewhere, after all. Not only will you learn how to prepare, plant, and tend your first vegetable garden, you'll also learn:

How to design an eco-friendly layout

How to grow with the seasons

How to maximize your harvest, even if you only grow in a small space

Jessica wants your first food-growing experience to be a positive one, and she's prepared to go the distance to make sure tending the earth becomes your new favorite hobby.

A single growing season is all it takes to fall in love with growing your own healthy, organic, nutrient-dense food. With Jessica as your guide, you'll soon discover all the satisfactions, challenges, and great joys of growing your own food garden.

This book is part of The First-Time Gardener's Guides series from Cool Springs Press, which also includes The First-Time Gardener: Growing Plants and Flowers. Each book in The First-Time Gardener's Guides series is aimed at beginner gardeners and offers clear, fact-based information that's presented in a friendly and accessible way, including step-by-step instructions and full-color illustrations throughout.

The ultimate color-by-color flower reference guide - from New York's pre-eminent floral designers, Putnam and Putnam

Planning a wedding, a dinner, a birthday party, a romantic evening, holiday entertaining, or just arranging flowers for the pleasure of having them, more often than not your creative process begins with thinking about the color of the flowers that you want. To help you find what you are looking for, Flower Color Guide is the first reference book to organize flower types by color, with an emphasis on seasonality and creative color schemes - and the results are stunning in their sheer variety. What Pantone is to color, Flower Color Guide is to flowers.

Showcasing 400 flowers at their peak, with stunning photography taken by Putnam & Putnam in their Brooklyn studio, this guide includes an appendix featuring perforated pages, with tips on flower care, notes on how to prepare vessels and a list of suggested color schemes. A great gift to give, or to have for oneself, the book speaks to the most seasoned flower enthusiasts as well as those just beginning to explore the possibilities of arranging flowers.

Michael and Darroch Putnam have built a reputation for romantic, dramatic floral arrangements and installations using color as their guiding principle - here, they share their knowledge with readers worldwide: "This is the book we wished we had when we started doing flowers."

Written by the long-time manager of the renowned Alan Chadwick Garden at the University of California, Santa Cruz, this substantial, authoritative, and beautiful full-color guide covers everything you need to know about organically growing healthy, bountiful fruit trees.

WINNER OF THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY BOOK AWARD

For more than forty years, Orin Martin has taught thousands of apprentices, students, and home gardeners the art and craft of growing fruit trees organically. In Fruit Trees for Every Garden, Orin shares--with hard-won wisdom and plenty of humor--his recommended fruit varieties and techniques for productive trees, including apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot, nectarine, sweet cherry, orange, lemon, fig, and more.

If you crave crisp apples, juicy peaches, or varieties of fruit that can never be found in the store, they are all within reach in your own backyard. Whether you have one tree or a hundred, Orin gives you all the tools you need, from tree selection and planting practices to seasonal feeding guidelines and in-depth pruning tutorials. Along the way, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the core principles of organic gardening and soil stewardship: compost, cultivation, cover crops, and increasing biodiversity for a healthier garden. This book is more than just a gardening manual; it's designed to help you understand the why behind the how, allowing you to apply these techniques to your own slice of paradise and make the best choices for your individual trees.

Filled with informative illustrations, full-color photography, and evocative intaglio etchings by artist Stephanie Martin, Fruit Trees for Every Garden is a striking and practical guide that will enable you to enjoy the great pleasure and beauty of raising homegrown, organic fruit for years to come.

Garden Alchemy is a hands-on guide for do-it-yourself gardeners who want to turn their garden into gold using natural recipes and herbal concoctions (while saving both time and money!).

This gardening recipe and project book is packed with over 80 ideas to naturally beautify your garden, using organic methods that regenerate your soil and revitalize your plants. By following the processes that are closest to nature, it brings the gardener in sync with the garden, allowing plants to thrive with less effort and less cost.

Recipes for mixing your own potting soils and homemadeorganic fertilizers give you the freedom to choose what ingredients make their way into your garden. Step-by-step instructions for building a compost pile, concocting soil tests, and constructing inexpensive DIY seed-starting equipment are accompanied by gorgeous, full-color, step-by-step photography. You'll also find recipes for natural pest deterrents and traps, garden teas, and growth-boosting foliar sprays to help your garden grow strong all season long.

Garden Alchemy starts with home experiments to help you get to know your soil and customize recipes for your individual needs. The rest of the chapters share how to decipher and combine natural ingredients to make the best quality amendments and elixirs. Detailed descriptions of earth-based materials demystify common ingredients, such as mycorrhizae, biochar, and greensand, and help you learn how to fix common garden problems with minimal effort. The simple method of making use of what you have available supports plants better than brand-name products.

Dozens of recipes and projects include:

Homemade seed bombs, disks, and tapes

Granular and liquid natural fertilizer recipes

DIY rooting hormone

Herbal anti-fungal spray

Plant propagation instructions

Soil care recipes to adjust the pH and manage fertility

13 specialty potting mixes

7 clever traps for common garden pests

Written by Stephanie Rose, the creative gardener, permaculturist, and herbalist behind the popular website Garden Therapy, this fun and beautifully illustrated book is packed with great ideas and inspiration for DIY gardeners who want to embrace their creativity and have more control of the garden's care.

Create a foliage-driven garden that dazzles!

Although seductive, flowers, by their fleeting nature, are a fickle base to provide long-lasting gardens with year-round interest. Tackle this problem with the advice in Gardening with Foliage First. Learn how to first build a framework of foliage and then layer in flowers and other artistic elements as the finishing touches. This simple, recipe-style approach to garden design features 127 combinations for both sunny and shady gardens that work for a variety of climates and garden challenges.

Plant selection and garden style are deeply influenced by where we are gardening. To successfully grow a range of beautiful ornamental plants, every gardener has to know the specifics of the region's climate, soil, and geography.

Gardeners in the northeast are lucky--the regular summer rain, gorgeous summer blooms, and stunning fall color make it an ideal place to garden. But there are drawbacks, like hot and humid summers, bitterly cold winters, and mosquitos. TThe practical and beautiful Growing the Northeast Garden starts with a comprehensive overview of the weather and geography of the area, along with regionally specific advice on zones, microclimates, soil, pests, and maintenance. Profiles of the best trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and bulbs offer hundreds of plant suggestions, along with complete information on growth and care.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The authors of The Home Edit and stars of the Netflix series Get Organized with The Home Edit teach you how to apply their genius, holistic approach to your work life, on-the-go necessities, and technology.

At home or on the go, you don't have to live like a minimalist to feel happy and calm. The Home Edit mentality is all about embracing your life--whether you're a busy mom, a roommate living with three, or someone who's always traveling for work. You just need to know how to set up a system that works for you.

In the next phase of the home organizing craze, Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin go beyond the pantry and bookshelf to show you how to contain the chaos in all aspects of your life, from office space and holiday storage to luggage and pet supplies. Get to know your organizing style, tailor it to your family's lifestyle, and lead the low-guilt life as you apply more genius ideas to every aspect of your life.

Clea and Joanna are here to remind you that "it's okay to own things" in the quest for pretty and smart spaces. With The Home Edit Life, you'll soon be corralling phone cords, archiving old photos, arranging your phone apps by color, and packing your suitcase like a pro.

Featuring one hundred of the most spectacular interiors across the world, this richly illustrated overview spans the entire twentieth century to the present day and includes interiors assembled by leading artists, fashion designers, architects, and interior and set designers. Bringing together diverse design talents, from Piero Fornasetti and Coco Chanel to Alvar Aalto, Marc Newson, and Matthew Williamson, this expanded edition of The Iconic Interior also features three new interiors from Los Angeles-based Commune Design, Morocco-based tile designers Samuel and Caitlin Dowe-Sandes, and Dimore Studio's London house interior for the owners of fashion design studio Dsquared2. The book also features a list of designer biographies and key works, making this a complete resource for designers and students.

Representing every style, from minimalism and art nouveau to neotraditional and Gesamtkunstwerk creations that defy definition, these iconic interiors are sure to inspire all audiences, from designers and students to homeowners and DIY enthusiasts.

This updated and revised edition of The Interior Design Reference & Specification Book gives you the information essential to planning and executing interior projects of all shapes and sizes in a format that is as easy to use as it is to carry--now including interviews with top practitioners from across the field of interior design.

With detailed charts, specifications, diagrams, and digital information for planning and executing projects of every scale, this accessible reference explores these vital design topics:

Fundamentals: Provides a step-by-step overview of an interior project, describing the scope of professional services, the project schedule, and the design and presentation tools used by designers.

Space: Examines ways of composing rooms as spatial environments while speaking to functional and life-safety concerns.

Surface: Identifies options in color, material, texture, and pattern, while addressing maintenance and performance issues.

Environments: Looks at aspects of interior design that help create a specific mood or character, such as natural and artificial lighting, sound, and smell.

Elements: Describes the selection and specification of furniture and fixtures, as well as other components essential to an interior environment, such as artwork and accessories.

Resources: Gathers a wealth of useful data, from sustainability guidelines to online sources for interiors-related research.

The Interior Design Reference & Specification Book is an essential sourcebook for designers, students of design, and anyone undertaking an interior design project.

The Reference & Specification Book series from Rockport Publishers offers students and practicing professionals in a range of creative industries must-have information in their area of specialty in an up-to-date, concise handbook.

In Lawns Into Meadows, landscape designer Owen Wormser makes a case for the power and generosity of meadows. In a world where lawns have wreaked havoc on our natural ecosystems, meadows offer a compelling solution. They establish wildlife and pollinator habitats. They're low-maintenance and low-cost. They have a built-in resilience that helps them weather climate extremes, and they can draw down and store far more carbon dioxide than any manicured lawn. They're also beautiful, all year round.

Owen describes how to plant an organic meadow that's right for your site, whether it's a yard, community garden, or tired city lot. He shares advice on preparing your plot, coming up with the right design, and planting--all without using synthetic chemicals. He passes along tips on building support in neighborhoods where a tidy lawn is the standard. Owen also profiles twenty-one starter grasses and flowers for beginning meadow-makers, and offers guidance on how to grow each one.

To illuminate the many joys of meadow-building, Owen draws on his own stories, including how growing up off the grid in northern Maine, with no electricity or plumbing, prepared him for his work. The book, part how-to guide and part memoir, is for environmentalists and climate activists, gardeners and non-gardeners alike.

Lawns Into Meadows is part of Stone Pier Press's Citizen Gardening series, which teaches readers how to grow food and garden in ways that are good for the planet.

A beautiful and practical book on choosing and caring for over 100 easy-to-find houseplants, as well as inspiring plant styling advice and much more.

Fresh flowers are great--everyone loves receiving them. But inevitably they're already on the way out the door (and into the trash) by the time they arrive. Plants--living, breathing, life-sustaining plants--are where it's at! Authors Lauren Camilleri and Sophia Kaplan really want you to love indoor gardening and growing as much as they do. Leaf Supply profiles and provides comprehensive (but easy to follow) care instructions for 100 houseplants--including tropical plants, palms, hanging plants, succulents, cacti, and more unusual varieties such as air plants and carnivorous plants--ensuring you learn and grow as your plant grows.

But much more than a plant guide, Leaf Supply also gives interior styling advice on choosing the right pots for your plants--both aesthetically and practically--as well as best utilizing your space, making the most of your indoor greenery, plus advice on pet-friendly (as well as harmful) plants for your home. This is a comprehensive guide for any budding green thumb interested in greening their apartment or inside their home.

Llewellyn's Herbal Almanac offers a wide variety of practical ideas on how to benefit from nature's most versatile plants. With hands-on projects, fresh ideas, and tips and techniques, this guide is designed for herb enthusiasts of all skill levels. It also features innovative herbal ideas that span gardening, cooking, crafts, health, beauty, history, and lore. This year's edition also includes profiles for ginger, rhubarb, chamomile, sunflower, and comfrey and articles on:

Aromatics for Nervous, Respiratory, and Digestive Systems - Edible Wild Herbs and Grasses - Swedish Princess Cake with Matcha - Chewable Herbal Pills - Late-Season Herb Gardening - Italian Citrus Fruits - Soup Garden - Tinctures - Crafting with Recycled Materials - Herbal Bath Recipes - The Gardens of Pompeii - Gourmet Herbal Sandwiches - Conservation Plants - Homemade Herbal Scrubs - And Much More

"This is a fascinating books for anyone wanting to truly broaden the range of plants they grow." --Gardens Illustrated

Moss is an extraordinary plant--it grows without roots, flowers, or stems. Despite being overlooked, in many ways, moss is perfect: it provides year-round color, excels in difficult climates, prevents soil erosion, and resists pests and disease. In The Magical World of Moss Gardening, bryophyte expert Annie Martin reveals how moss can be used in stunning, eco-friendly spaces. The beautifully illustrated guide includes basics on designing and planting a moss garden, and an inspiring tour of the most magical public and private moss gardens throughout the country.

Written by Donald J. Leopold, expert in horticulture, botany, forestry, and ecology

No other single volume on native plants has such comprehensive horticultural coverage as Native Plants of the Northeast: A Guide for Gardening and Conservation. Nearly seven hundred species of native trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, grasses, and wildflowers from the northeastern quarter of the United States and all of eastern Canada are included. Each plant description includes information about cultivation and propagation, ranges, and hardiness. An appendix recommends particular plants for difficult situations, as well as attracting butterflies, hummingbirds, and other wildlife.

Happy New Almanac Year! It's time to celebrate the 229th edition of The Old Farmer's Almanac! Long recognized as North America's most-beloved and best-selling annual, the handy yellow book fulfills every need and expectation as a calendar of the heavens, a time capsule of the year, an essential reference that reads like a magazine. Always timely, topical, and distinctively "useful, with a pleasant degree of humor," the Almanac is consulted daily by users from all walks of life, throughout the year.

The 2021 edition contains the fun facts, predictions, and feature items that have made it a cultural icon: traditionally 80 percent-accurate weather forecasts; notable astronomical events and time-honored astrological dates; horticultural, culinary, fashion, and other trends; historical hallmarks; best fishing days; time- and money-saving garden advice; recipes for refreshment; facts on folklore, farmers, home remedies, and husbandry; amusements and contests, plus too much more to mention--all in the inimitable way that the Almanac has done since 1792.

- Beloved by generations for being "useful, with a pleasant degree of humor," The Old Farmer's Almanac features everything under the Sun, including its much-in-demand long-range weather predictions, essential astronomical timetables, 2021 holidays, fascinating trends, best fishing days, valuable gardening information, tantalizing recipes, fun folklore, amusements, contests, and much more!
- Exclusive: 32 reference pages, covering such popular topics as full Moon names, hurricane names, flowers that attract birds and butterflies, U.S./metric measurement conversions, and many more!
- Easy-to-read edition, with crisp, white paper and larger type than the regular paperback version
- Includes 112 full-color pages
- Stiffer cover helps to protect the pages