Unfortunately, I got so bogged down with tedious information in the beginning that I couldn't make myself interested enough to keep reading. It might have some very good info, but the writing wasn't engaging enough for me to truly find out.

Because my husband and I are looking towards our retirement soon and hoping to have a plot of land somewhere, I thought that this book would be a great start. This is a very comprehensive book about how one can start to live on their own, off-the-grid so to speak. This particular book goes into quite a bit of detail and, frankly, it was over my head. It talks about the types of water filtration systems, animals, plants, food-making, and house you need to be self-sufficient. This book will work for those wanting to live off-the-grid, preppers, and those who are looking to reduce their dependency on municipalities.

I received this book free for an honest review from NetGalley. The opinions are my own.

Subtitled Your Complete Guide to a Self-Sufficient Home, Garden and Kitchen, The Self-Sufficiency Handbook is a 240 page general guide to the concepts and ideas involved in becoming more self-sufficient. The content is divided into 5 broad categories: The Land, The Self-sufficient House, The Organic Food Garden, Animal Husbandry, and The Pantry.

Each of these sections are pretty much standalone and could be read in any order. There is no required cohesiveness to the content and it can be read and accessed as needed. To that end, the book includes a fairly good index which makes the content specifically accessible.

This is a very broad and general book. It's a good 'starting off' guide, a 'dreaming' guide; it's emphatically not a specific how-to guide. If it errs, it tries to be everything to everyone. Anyone actually going into homesteading will hopefully have a solid workable plan for getting from lifestyle A to whatever level of self-sufficiency is desirable.

It's very tempting to see pictures of healthy gardens and adorable lambs and healthy beehives and want to be a part of that lifestyle. (I did!) The guides rarely show pictures of neighbor's pet-dog ravaged lambs, nosema infested empty beehives, or flattened gardens with more weeds than produce and production that wouldn't feed a toddler.

This is a very pretty book. It is a positive upbeat book, a 'you can do it' book. There are recipes and crafts in the final section with nice (very general) tutorials about apple cider, wines, soap and candlemaking etc.

Of good use to those beginning to explore options and at the 'dreaming' stage. Very well photographed and written in accessible layman language. Available in ebook, paperbound and hardback formats. Published 14th Nov, 2017 by Fox Chapel publishing. Authors Alan & Gill Bridgewater have been living a smallholding lifestyle for many years.

Three and a half stars, some very good general info here.

This is a very inspiring guide to attaining a self-sufficient lifestyle. The authors are a back-to-nature homesteading couple from the 1960s who made the successful transition back when many people thought to try but virtually no one succeeded. They have a cornucopia of techniques, a wealth of knowledge to share in this book. Even if one can't "go all the way" to completely living 'off the grid', one can make some changes to lessen dependency. This is informative and uplifting - a worthwhile read beyond a doubt.

I thank Net Galley, the publisher and the authors for providing me with an ARC for my honest review.

A great set up of tips, tricks, how-tos, and watch-out-fors for those wanting to begin a truly self-sustaining lifestyle.

An utterly delightful resource book and a pleasure to read. It covers every aspect of self-sufficiency, from energy, water and housing, to animals and gardening. This is not only a book for those who wish to be self-sufficient, but an excellent resource for those of us who wish to make our lives more sufficient. This well-researched book provides a variety of options that caters for the US, UK and elsewhere, so that the reader can consider all of the options and chose to make their lives a little better for the earth we share. Highly recommended.

One of the better guides to self-sufficiency. The advice is practical and straightforward without the post apocalyptic angst of so many of these guides.

Wow. This book is full of information. The author goes through tons of scenarios and lists the advantages and disadvantages to each.

If you are like me and occasionally daydream about owning your own plot of land and having a completely self sufficient household, growing your own food and creating your own power, then this is the book for you. It is a hard core guide, not just about how to set up a few things to make your house more self sufficient, but how to properly pick a plot of land and what to look for depending on your needs, which I liked. I always appreciate guides that realize that it is not a one size fit all kinda world and talk about options for people since everyone is different. For me personally, it was fun to read but not the most useful, as I am wanting more of a very beginners guide to gradually make my environment more self sufficient (I also need to get better at keeping plants alive if I am going to grow my own food) but when I am ready to make the leap to a more complete outlook this is the book I will go with.

This is a focused book on homesteading. There is a great deal of more depth in this book than in most homesteading books. Most homesteading books are wide,not deep and gloss over things like what kind of land to buy. This is understandable based on the amount of topics most homesteading books cover. Topics like soap making aren't covered here, which allows greater detail in areas energy efficiency and gardening. All in all an excellent homesteading resource.

This is a great book. I found that the deeper I got into the book, I kept saying, "I didn't know that". You don't have to be living off the land in the country to enjoy reading this book.

I am all about being as self-sufficient as possible, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. It truly is filled with practical, easy to follow solutions for a variety of circumstances. I highly recommend and look forward to using the resources within quite a bit in the future. This would make a perfect gift for those who want to get things done themselves.

As someone who dreams if living off the grid, this book is a treasure trove of information that is clearly written. Many of the terms associated with self-sufficient living are generously defined and the details in planning are plentiful. Will I ever be able to truly live off the grid? Probably not, but this book showed me numerous ways to become less dependent on my fully modern life and gives ideas on how to do it on a smaller scale. This book isn't preachy and gives the reader a range of ways to become better planet keepers!

I am without doubt conscious that I make daily decisions that hurt or help our environment as well as my own state of mind and well being. I live in the suburbs in a place where bigger is better and I couldn't tell you more than the very basics about any of my neighbors. I've always imagined retiring somewhere in New Hampshire and would love to lead a much simpler, more self-sufficient life. I grow my own vegetables, recycle and walk rather than drive to local businesses, but I am still oh so reliant on electricity, internet, oil heat and all the modern conveniences that make our lives, well less connected with people. When I saw this book, I was immediately drawn to the authors who stated they would provide an overview on how to live a more self-sufficient life.
The book covers quite an array of subjects, from living off the grid to growing an organic garden and animal husbandry. I would compare this to an appetizer before your entrée; a small taste of something designed to wet your appetite. The stories are interesting and informative and the book provided me with a lot of food for thought. As a beginner's guide, I would recommend this to anyone looking to live a more green life, even if going off the grid isn't your goal. A solid 3.5 stars.
Thank you, Alan Bridgewater, Gill Bridgewater, Fox Chapel Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My review is on my YouTube channel.

Nice practical guide to living off the land and being self sufficient. It's a lot of hard work, but if you're young and ambitious, worth a shot. I can grow enough veggies for winter for myself on my small suburban plot, so maybe I'll try to utilize more ideas from this book to be more self sufficient. If I were younger, I'd go off grid in a heartbeat! Still might!

I wanted badly to like this book, because I am all about self-sufficiency and learning skills to make the best like I can on my rural property. How well you like this book will depend on what you are looking for. I was hoping for more self-sufficiency skills. This book focuses far more on finding the correct parcel of land for your needs, and energy sources. The chapters include: The Land, The Self-Sufficient House, The Organic Food Garden, Animal Husbandry, and The Pantry. While the book does talk about how to begin the path to self-sufficiency if you live in a city, the bulk of the book is focused on things you can do in a rural setting. I also found there was nothing really new here if you have read quite a bit on the subject of self-sufficiency and rural living. That said, if you are new to the idea, it is a good, and somewhat comprehensive, "manual" on the subject.

The book has a lot of really helpful information, especially for a newcomer. My biggest complaint about it is that the information is very location-specific. For example, we live in a southern, desert region, so most of the growing information (and even the solar / wind power information) is irrelevant. I would like to see more regions covered. The gardening section has a similar issue, but not to the same extent. The husbandry section is excellent. Overall, in spite of the location-specific issue, I still give it a high rating!