arksanto

** spoiler alert ** I originally found out about this book through an excerpt in Mother Earth News. Woginrich is an entertaining writer, mixing her own experiences in gardening, chicken-raising, bee-keeping, dogs, rabbits, and music all on her rental homestead in Idaho. While the stories were brief, they were good to spark the imagination and remove fear from "I've never done this" attitude to being more self-reliant. One of the best parts of the book is the idea of what you can do, that works for you, is enough. This attitude removes the black or white nature of the subject. What ever you want to or can incorporate in your life is good enough, because something is better than nothing. So just because you have a garden doesn't mean you have to be off the grid, driving a bio-diesel hand-knit car tomorrow, while making all your own clothes and housewares out of your neighbor's recycling bin cast offs. The most sobering part of the book was the chapters on Rabbits. One of her angoras broke its spine and had to be put down. It gave her the perspective of the whole experience, not just the cute & fuzzy side of hobby farming.

2023-07-14 15:54