The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency Paperback – November 13, 2012

I love this book! The cover and photos are excellent quality and sparked my interest from the start. The monthly divisions of the book make it easy to follow along with various projects throughout the year. And the author's style of writing is clear, concise, educational without being pedantic, and best of all, useful. You don't have to be a person who plans to drop off the grid and become totally self-sustaining to find terrific ideas in here. There are wonderful ideas for weekend gardeners, for instance, ranging from how to construct rain barrels for watering your plants to building an under-the-sink worm bin, which will produce just enough nutrients for feeding four or five houseplants in your apartment. See? You don't even have to have an actual yard to find great information here.Of course, if you do have a yard, and you love gardening, and you are thinking about keeping some chickens, say, and becoming a bit more self-reliant, well then you will get even more out of The Weekend Homesteader. But I read it just for the pleasure of learning some new things, and enjoying all the wonderful photographs and ideas shared within. I highly recommend the book to all gardeners...and wannabe gardeners...anywhere. And you wannabe homesteaders? What are you waiting for. Get it. You'll learn good stuff!

Love this book!! It’s easy to read, and gives a lot of great information. It answered all my questions... and I love how things are broken up into each month of the year.. it gives you not only outside planting and animal projects. It also gives you projects to do inside when the weather does not allow for planting outside. It’s a wonderful book for those interested in and/or just getting into homesteading.

No one said it would be easy. A,lot of people don't understand what homesteading is anymore. It is not just a job it is a lifestyle. You don't need a lot of money just effort and time. You produce your own food. Build your own equipment. It is an experience of its own try it you just might fall in love with it

I've been reading the author's blog and buying (and using) her e-books for more than a year. I'm so glad to have all this knowledge compiled and printed and in my hands!Hess's book is comprehensive, helpful and inspiring, whether you're moving toward complete self-sufficiency or just want to improve and increase your tomato yield. Organized by month, each section contains season-appropriate projects, most of which can be accomplished in a weekend. I've adopted many of her methods, the most successful of which (for my purposes) has been the kill mulch. Faced with a very weedy asparagus bed and no idea what to do with it, her plan for smothering weeds with cardboard and compost worked like a charm.I've since gone on to expand my gardens from a small vegetable plot to a much larger one, with the addition of a separate herb bed, some blackberry bushes, three apple trees and a very large landscaped flower bed. Her techniques have been invaluable - and I've limited my use of them mainly to gardening.I highly recommend this book, and hope you enjoy Hess's writing as much as I have.

An excellent resource for anyone who is interested in homesteading - regardless of how much space you have or where you live. The writing style is easy and approachable, but doesn't skimp on scientific explanations either. There's a little bit of everything in this book - no till gardening, creating your own mulch, using chickens to enrich your soil, and preserving your veggies in a variety of ways (just to name a few). The chapter on finances is refreshingly honest and upfront about the challenges of making full time homesteading work without being discouraging. I've been hesitant to try much of anything in my rented townhouse, but now I feel like an under-the-sink worm bin is fully within my reach. I have several like-minded relatives and they are all getting this book as a gift this holiday season!

I have read several permaculture books, Square Foot Gardening, Root Cellaring, A Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It, and the Mini-Farming series of books. Although all are excellent books, this is the book I wish I had read first! It incorporates just enough of the principles of organic gardening, self-sufficiency, and permaculture to get readers actually making their dreams come true, rather than getting bogged down with information overload. The information is completely practical and suggestions realistic. No need to buy an expensive rototiller or tractor, get the latest compost tumbler, invest in unnecessary livestock, or build a greenhouse or root cellar. Anna shows how to do things as frugally as possible! I have learned so much from this one book that my only regret is buying the Kindle version instead of the paperback. I will be referencing this book often.

I am just starting my homesteading/gardening journey so I’m trying to read and gain as much knowledge as I can. After reading a couple of other books, I ordered this thinking it would have more projects or insight, but it really just seemed like another gardening book. I don’t feel that I gained anything purchasing it and may return it. If this is the first book you read, it has good info, but if you’ve read other books don’t waste your time. It has info on beekeeping and chickens, but not as much as I would have liked. There are far superior books on those subjects.

I work, my hubby works, we are raising kids, and trying to homestead too. This book is excellent. It breaks starting homesteading tasks down into doable chunks, advises you about how much it may cost, lets you know how kid friendly it is, and assigns a one to three hour task for each weekend of the year. It makes something that otherwise might be very overwhelming into a fun practical task. We look forward each weekend to sitting down and reading the next weekend's chapter.