Whether you want to learn how to become a modern homesteader or to homestead the old-fashioned way. Whether you have 40 acres or a tiny patio on a balcony apartment. These homesteading books are the best we’ve found and will help you on your journey to becoming a homesteader.
Best Homesteading Books by Topic
In the video below, we’re covering all our favorite homesteading topics and our go-to books for each topic.
We’re sharing practical advice for raising chickens, growing food, good guides to raising farm animals, homesteading on a large or small scale, and just overall living a self-sufficient life. These books are a great place to start.
- Basic Homesteading
- Top Gardening
- Preservation/Canning
- Raising Farm Animals
- Dairy
- Permaculture
- Basic Cooking
- Growing Herbs/Herbal Remedies
- Fun Fictional Books
- Our #1 Top Book Choice!
Basic Homesteading Books
These are the books that cover a wide variety of topics on homesteading. They don’t necessarily go too in-depth within each category, but they can give you a general overview of what to expect with homesteading.
- Back to Basics by Editors of Reader’s Digest
- The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emory
- Surviving Off Off-Grid by Michael Bunker (*NOT BEYOND OFF-GRID AS WE CALLED IT IN THE VIDEO!)
- Old-Fashioned on Purpose by Jill Winger
- Keeping Bees with a Smile by Fedor Lazutin
- The Rooted Life by Justin Rhodes
- The First-Time Homesteader by Jessica Sowards
Top Gardening Books
Here is the (non-exhaustive) list of gardening books we refer to time and time again. These are great resources for starting a garden, producing a lot of food in a small space, soil maintenance and so much more.
- How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons
- The Market Gardener by Jean Martin Fortier
- Gardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon
- The Intelligent Gardener by Steve Solomon
- Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman
- The Family Garden Plan by Melissa K Norris
- Small Scale Grain Raising by Gene Logsdon
- Redeeming the Dirt by Noah Sanders
Preservation & Canning Books
It’s important to know what you’re going to do with all your veggies, fruit, meat and other goods you grow on your homestead.
These are some of our favorite go-to books when it comes to knowing how to properly and safely preserve our foods, whether it be by canning, freezing, dehydrating or fermenting.
- Freeze Drying the Harvest by Carolyn Thomas
- Ball Blue Book, the Ball Canning Book and the All New Ball Book of Canning
- Complete Guide to Pressure Canning (This is NOT mentioned in the video, but is one we regularly recommend for any of our canning webinars and in our canning classes.)
- Everything Worth Preserving by Melissa K Norris
- Preserving with Pomona’s Pectin
- Traditionally Fermented Foods by Shannon Stonger
- Independence Days: Guide to Food Storage and Preservation
Best Books on Raising Farm Animals
When it comes to raising farm animals, the name of the game is EFFICIENCY! That’s why we’re recommending the following books for raising farm animals, whether they’re meat chickens, egg layers, a milk cow, goats or sheep.
- Pastured Poultry Profits by Joel Salatin
- Polyface Micro by Joel Salatin
- Keeping a Family Cow by Joann Growman
- Grass-Fed Cattle by Julius Rouchelle
- STEAK by Mark Schatzker
Dairy Books
If you’re going to own a milk cow (or a goat or sheep), you’ll need to know what you’re going to do with all that milk BEFORE you’re getting upwards of six gallons each day!
Here are a couple of our favorite resources:
- Milk Cow Kitchen by Mary Jane Butters
- Art of Natural Cheesemaking by David Asher
Best Permaculture Books
These are some of our all-around homesteading development and management books. Permaculture is something we’re very passionate about. It’s very economical, very efficient and takes great care of our resources and our people.
- Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison
- The Resilient Farm and Homestead by Ben Falk
Cooking and Recipe Books
As was mentioned in the video, we do a lot of from-scratch cooking without recipes. And we can do this because of the basic principles we’ve learned in these books.
Once you know some cooking basics and have a good grasp on nutrition, cooking should be a fun adventure!
- The Art of Gluten Free Homemade Bread by Carolyn Thomas
- Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
- The Nourishing Asian Cookbook by Sophia Eng
- Daily Sourdough by Lisa Bass
- The Prepared Family Cookbook by Enola Gay
- The Little House Cookbook
Herbs & Herbal Remedies Books
Perhaps one of our favorite categories (and one we’ve covered more in-depth in our post on 15 Medicinal Herbs to Grow, and also our Herbal Medicine Cabinet: COLDS course), here are the books we use to help grow, harvest, preserve and use our herbs.
- Herbal Antivirals by Stephen Bohner
- Practical Herbalism: Ordinary Plants with Extraordinary Powers by Philip Fritchey
- The Herbalist’s Guide: How to Build and Use Your Own Apothecary by Mary Colvin
- The Modern Herbal Dispensatory: A Medicine-Making Guide by Thomas Easley and Steven Horne
- Be Your Own Doctor by Rachel Weaver
- Be Your Child’s Pediatrician by Rachel Weaver
- Backyard Pharmacy by Rachel Weaver
- Materia Medica of Western Herbs by Carole Fisher
Be sure to check out all the other great offerings at Chelsea Green Publishing and Homestead Living.
Fun Fictional Homesteading Books
Because we can’t be learning ALL the time, we also like to read a bit of fiction to wind down and relax now and then. Here are two of our favorite fiction books:
- A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
- The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters (Book 1)
Our #1 Top Book Pick
Our family believes everything you need to know is found in the bible. We read it daily and live our lives by its words. There is life and salvation found within its pages, and we hope you find the same hope we have found.
