Achieving genuine self-sufficiency of the kind described in John Seymour's classic guide is sadly beyond the vast reach of the urban majority today. Few have the space, and for those few there are comprehensive guidebooks. But where do the rest of us look for the answers to questions like how much effort does it really take to grow your own food? Is beekeeping difficult? Is solar power really worth the bother?From a small terraced house in the middle of a big city, Paul Waddington has made it his business to find out, and while trying it himself, has created a practical and absorbing guidebook along the way. It includes easy-to-read lists, tables, personal anecdote, and stunning illustrations, and more importantly demystifies the subject with practical tips that get to the heart of the matter to show you how you can enjoy the fulfilling aspects of the smallholding life without the hassle and expense of 'going all the way'. If you want to go back to the land without leaving home, this is the perfect guide.
21st-Century Smallholder
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
Wittily written and very inspiring, full of sensible tips on everything from windowboxes to pickling your produce. It's a 21st-century version of John Seymour's Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency ... (Josh Lacey Guardian, Gardening section 20060617)
...a charmingly written, practical guide to setting up an urban smallholding, allowing readers to indulge Good Life fantasies, however small their balcony or window box. (The Times 20061125)
A handbook packed full of green advice...Aesthetically pleasant guides to growing and raising your own food accompany serious food for thought on how you can, and why you should make a difference. (Tom Ireland The Ecologist )
Beautifully written and illustrated, the 21st Century Smallholder is the bible for today's Tom and Barbara Good and anyone else who wants to live the dream. (Rachel Savage The Environment Magazine )
If you have space for just a window-box, 21st Century Smallholder is for you. Subtitled "How to Go Back to the Land Without Leaving Home", it offers exactly what it says on the cover. (Edi Smockum FT magazine )
...a charmingly written, practical guide to setting up an urban smallholding, allowing readers to indulge Good Life fantasies, however small their balcony or window box. (The Times 20061125)
A handbook packed full of green advice...Aesthetically pleasant guides to growing and raising your own food accompany serious food for thought on how you can, and why you should make a difference. (Tom Ireland The Ecologist )
Beautifully written and illustrated, the 21st Century Smallholder is the bible for today's Tom and Barbara Good and anyone else who wants to live the dream. (Rachel Savage The Environment Magazine )
If you have space for just a window-box, 21st Century Smallholder is for you. Subtitled "How to Go Back to the Land Without Leaving Home", it offers exactly what it says on the cover. (Edi Smockum FT magazine )
Book Description
For anyone wanting to find 'the good life' in their garden, allotment or even a window box - a practical, accessible and stylish guide to growing food and living sustainably.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
50 of 50 people found the following review helpful
By A reader
Format:Hardcover
Paul Waddington's book is a guide to both the pitfalls and many pleasures of being a 21st century smallholder, no matter how small your holding happens to be. Practical, humerous and honest, his book avoids the 'preachy' style and tacit 'you should be feeling guilty about the way you live' attitude that tends to infuse some of the classic titles in the self-sufficiency library. The book does not claim to be an exhaustive 'how to' manual (and has a good bibliography of specific 'how to' titles), but gives a clear oversight of the various possibilities from raising your own fruit and veg or keeping livestock through to providing your own water supply, dealing with your own waste and having a CO2 neutral exsistence. It shows clearly what one can do depending on one's own situation, and how one can go about doing it. Especially useful (and realistic) it gives assessments of items such as cost, skill needed and storage space required for various activities alongside the usual time involved and environmental benefit information. Such aspects are vital to the urban smallholder, who can't just stuff all their bottling and beekeeping equipment in a handy barn or shed!
Even if you don't want to be a smallholder, the book is a good read, and will make you think about things you probably ought to be thinking about, and will most probably lead to a desire to grow something and snatch back a wee bit of control over the food production in your life.
The layout of the book (about A5 in size) is clear, non-glossy and non fussy with very nice illustrations as a background and accompanyment to the text.
Read this book, apply it's suggestions and perhaps Paul's fear that only Ray Mears would survive an energy catastrophe can become a thing of the past!
Highly recommended.
Even if you don't want to be a smallholder, the book is a good read, and will make you think about things you probably ought to be thinking about, and will most probably lead to a desire to grow something and snatch back a wee bit of control over the food production in your life.
The layout of the book (about A5 in size) is clear, non-glossy and non fussy with very nice illustrations as a background and accompanyment to the text.
Read this book, apply it's suggestions and perhaps Paul's fear that only Ray Mears would survive an energy catastrophe can become a thing of the past!
Highly recommended.
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By J. Brady
Format:Hardcover
This book is a great summary of the many different things you can do to become more self-sufficient. About how you can produce more of the stuff you need to live on, such as food and energy, instead of buying it all in. The style is one of a series of suggestions rather than prescriptions ('you can' rather than 'you must'). The suggestions all build upon each other, so that you can do just one simple thing on its own or a number of them together.
The book itself is mainly explanatory text with a few diagrams and summary tables. This makes a nice change from many other 'how to' books which are full of glossy colour photographs, but short on informative explanations. However the book itself is not bland, as all the pages are decorated with suitable accompanying drawings of one form or another, on thick paper. Paul's text covers the background to each topic, as well as the main information you need about it. This is a quality and well thought out book.
What I liked was that you are walked through the different aspects of self-sufficiency, each being independent of the other. So you start with how to grow your own food, then raise your own food, then energy efficiency and production and waste. Finally some notes on how to try and go completely self sufficient on your own small holding. While you might not do everything, there will be something everyone can do one way or another in this book.
As someone just getting into trying to grow my own vegetables in my back garden, I found the book useful, realistic and optimistic. While I won't be using the other information on keeping chickens or solar heating for some time, it was interesting to read about them in the larger context of being more self-sufficient. The section on growing vegetables was good enough for me, and provided me with a greater understanding of the different types and how to deal with them. He has also planted ideas for me to come back to in the future.
The book itself is mainly explanatory text with a few diagrams and summary tables. This makes a nice change from many other 'how to' books which are full of glossy colour photographs, but short on informative explanations. However the book itself is not bland, as all the pages are decorated with suitable accompanying drawings of one form or another, on thick paper. Paul's text covers the background to each topic, as well as the main information you need about it. This is a quality and well thought out book.
What I liked was that you are walked through the different aspects of self-sufficiency, each being independent of the other. So you start with how to grow your own food, then raise your own food, then energy efficiency and production and waste. Finally some notes on how to try and go completely self sufficient on your own small holding. While you might not do everything, there will be something everyone can do one way or another in this book.
As someone just getting into trying to grow my own vegetables in my back garden, I found the book useful, realistic and optimistic. While I won't be using the other information on keeping chickens or solar heating for some time, it was interesting to read about them in the larger context of being more self-sufficient. The section on growing vegetables was good enough for me, and provided me with a greater understanding of the different types and how to deal with them. He has also planted ideas for me to come back to in the future.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Initially, I was going to slate this book, because it is very short on the 'how to' . But then I re-read it and changed my view.
It is an excellent, inspirational, little book.
It doesn't give you much by way of 'how to', but there are many 'how to' books out there.
It does give you ideas, backed by sound logic of why you should be doing this. It also lays out the likely cost, hassle and expense of any venture you are likely to undertake. Then you can hunt down the 'how to' book and get on with the project.
If you are concerned with what you eat and the current state of the planet, I recommend this book. It will set you on the path to doing something positive about it. And if we all do our bit... there's hope.
It is an excellent, inspirational, little book.
It doesn't give you much by way of 'how to', but there are many 'how to' books out there.
It does give you ideas, backed by sound logic of why you should be doing this. It also lays out the likely cost, hassle and expense of any venture you are likely to undertake. Then you can hunt down the 'how to' book and get on with the project.
If you are concerned with what you eat and the current state of the planet, I recommend this book. It will set you on the path to doing something positive about it. And if we all do our bit... there's hope.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see the review
2.0 out of 5 stars
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
21st-Century Smallholder: From Window Boxes To Allotments: How To Go...
One word for this book: EXCELLENT! Everything you need to know in the world self-sufficency. I can THOROUGHLY recommend this book if you are looking to go down the self-sufficient... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Andy B
5.0 out of 5 stars
inspired me...
Wonderful little book that inspired me to change my habits and change my life!
I now grow my own veg and hope by next year to have gotten into the swing of it so as to... Read more
I now grow my own veg and hope by next year to have gotten into the swing of it so as to... Read more
Published 22 months ago by klynn
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed
I was very disappointed with this book .... it didn't contain enough detailed information...its Ok for someone trying to do basic veg growing and energy saving but its title is... Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2007 by Jardiniere
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Search Customer Discussions
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Home & Garden > Gardening > Garden Styles > Urban Gardens
- Books > Home & Garden > Gardening > Organic Gardening
- Books > Science & Nature > Environment & Ecology > Conservation
- Books > Science & Nature > Environment & Ecology > Ecology
- Books > Science & Nature > Environment & Ecology > Environmental Philosophy
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Agriculture & Farming
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
