Best Books for Wiser Living

Enlarge Image Image Gallery From homemade cleaners to financial stability, our readers provided a solid collection of useful, interesting reading suggestions. GETTY IMAGES

Last winter, we asked you to tell us about your favorite books, the works that have changed your life. You responded enthusiastically, offering up a veritable library of tomes and topics. Here are the winners, the most useful and inspiring selections to consider for your wiser living bookshelf. Happy reading! — Mother 

The Encyclopedia for Successful Homesteading 

While living in suburban Virginia, my husband and I read all we could about farms, gardens and livestock. The Nearings, “Brother” Salatin and other writers spoke to us. We amazed our friends and neighbors with successes in gardening, canning, goats and chickens on our “backyard” farm.

“Were you raised on a farm?” we were often asked. “No, but we do a lot of reading.”

We ultimately took the plunge and left Virginia for 80 acres of farmland in Missouri. Since April 2006, our goat herd has increased, and we have added a guard llama and Dexter calves. Our farmstead library has also grown accordingly.

The one book that I hold above all others is Carla Emery’s The Encyclopedia of Country Living. I have yet to find a piece of information in it that has steered me wrong. My only regret is that I never wrote to Carla to thank her for such dedicated work, but I feel that every time I open the book a part of her lives on.
Mary Jane Phifer
Mansfield, Missouri 

Inspiring Ideas That Make a Difference

One of the books that has changed my life is 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth by the Earth Works Group. Referring to it since high school, and now with three kids and a 10-acre farm, I can help show my husband and our children how to take better care of our Earth. It helps us compost for our gardens, reuse and recycle everything we possibly can, plus save money, water and energy. We love our farm and our Earth and hope to help slow, stop and reverse global warming.
Karen Ladd
Farmington, Missouri

Of Bees and Dreams

When I picked up A Book of Bees by Sue Hubbell, I was simply looking for information about the insects and whether honey was something to consider on my future homestead. I found so much more.

The book takes up Hubbell’s story 15 years and 300 hives after her bold move from East Coast university librarian to Missouri Ozarks beekeeper. With skill and a keen sense of humor, Hubbell explains all one needs to know about maintaining a beekeeping and honey farm.

Being a middle-aged woman with similar aspirations, I found this book inspiring. It’s about bees, but also about having a can-do spirit, working hard and following one’s dreams.
Susan Fay Smith
Wilmington, Delaware