The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 50th Anniversary Edition - by Carla Emery (Paperback)

About the Book

Offers advice in food preservation, recipes, gardening, beekeeping, raising livestock, soap making, and other farm and household activities for living well and living simply.

Book Synopsis

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD: The 50th anniversary edition of the classic manual for sustainable living--with 900+ pages covering basic country skills and wisdom for living off the land!

Whether you're homesteading, prepping, or living off-grid, keep your family healthy, safe, and self-sufficient--no matter what's going on in the world.

From homesteaders to urban farmers, and everyone in between, there is a desire for a simpler way of life: a healthier and self-sufficient natural lifestyle that allows you to survive and thrive--even in uncertain times. Carla Emery's classic guide will teach you how to live off the grid, be prepared, and do it yourself.

- Can, dry, and preserve food
- Plan your garden with a beginner's guide to gardening
- Grow your own food
- Make 20-minute cheese
- Make your own natural skincare products
- Bake bread
- Cook on a wood stove
- Learn beekeeping
- Raise chickens, goats, and pigs
- Create natural skincare products
- Make organic bug spray
- Treat your family with homemade natural remedies
- Make fruit leather
- Forage for wild food
- Spin wool into yarn
- Mill your own flour
- Tap a maple tree
- And so much more!

The Encyclopedia of Country Living has been guiding readers for more than 50 years, teaching you all the skills necessary for living independently off the land. Whether you live in the city, the country, or anywhere in between, this is the essential guide to living well and living simply.

Review Quotes

#1 The Best Country and Rural Living Books list "This comprehensive resource is the most authoritative guide available to a sustainable lifestyle and living off of the land."
--Bookscrolling.com

#1 15 Best Homesteading Books for Beginners in 2021: "This book is one of our favorites...many aspects of basic farm life fill the (tremendously) detailed 928 pages. You'll find gardening tips, how to prepare food, and how to buy land. ...If you want to know more about keeping bees, raising rabbits, and taking care of cows, then this is the book to get!
--Outdoor Happens

"For the suburbanite with just enough space for a little garden to the die-hard homesteaders and everyone in between, The Encyclopedia of Country Living makes for both fascinating reading and a truly essential reference source. You won't find a more complete source of step-by-step information about growing, processing, cooking and preserving every kind of food--from the garden, the orchard, the field or the barnyard!"
Rodale Book Club

"If you're dreaming about moving "back to the land" someday, or if you're already there and want to live more self-sufficiently, you'll want a copy of ... The Encyclopedia of Country Living."
Organic Gardening

"This book is a monument to the coevolution of a person and an idea. . . this book should be shelved in your collection between the Foxfire books and Alicia Bay Lau­rel's Living on Earth."
Whole Earth catalog

"Packed with old wisdom as well as up-to-date websites and mail-order sources to make country living easier."
Country Almanac

"As one aston­ished browser acclaimed, 'Is there anything this book doesn't tell you how to do?'"
Library Journal

"If you're thinking about ditching the city and reconnecting with a simpler, more direct way of life . . . The Encyclopedia covers a wealth of information to keep you on target."
Lehman's Country Living

"If I could only have one comprehensive how-to book on self-reliant living, this would be it."
Backwoods Home Magazine

"The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery is one of my favorite finds. It is a guide to all things country..."
The Jefferson County Post

"While it is impossible for one book to have everything you need, 'The Encyclopedia of Country Living' does an exceptional job of giving you the most bang for your buck when it comes to needing a single resource where you are likely to find the answer to your country living questions."
Outdoor Self Reliance

"Practical advice, invaluable information, and collected wis­dom for folks and farmers in the country, city, and anywhere in between."
Territorial Seed catalog

About the Author

Carla Emery lived on a farm in Idaho for more than thirty years as a wife, mother of seven, home-schooler, goat-keeper, garden-grower, writer, and country-living instructor. She wrote and self-published the first editions of The Encyclopedia of Country Living during the early 1970s and also ran her "School of Country Living." Carla sold nearly 90,000 copies of her self-published editions, traveling the country to promote it and appearing on such shows as The Mike Douglas Show, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Phil Donahue Show, and Good Morning America, where she demonstrated country-living skills such as goat-milking, bread-making, and butter-churning.

When Sasquatch Books published the 9th Edition of Encyclopedia in 1994, Carla continued to travel the country promoting and selling the book, and teaching the timeless skills of country living. Carla cultivated a large and loyal following across the country. Carla passed away in 2005.