Let’s Dive Into My Review of The Beginner’s Guide To Backyard Homesteading

Book reviews are so exciting to me as I’m an avid reader, but in particular I love to do them for for my fellow homesteading friends.  Many of us bloggers are also freelance writers, and authors as well.   Lisa Lombardo, blogger/author at The Self Sufficient HomeAcre and I have loads in common and we are both extremely passionate about backyard homesteading.  As you all know backyard homesteading is a topic that is near and dear to my heart.  On to the book review…

First of all I would be remiss if I did not mention the gorgeous art work on the cover of her book.  The cover is artsy and attractive and caught my eye, and compelled me to want to check it out.  The cover also reminds me of what my garden hod looks like when I’m bringing in all those lovely fresh good eats from the garden.  The art throughout this book and the font choices are stylistically superb.   I know, I know…being a blogger automatically kind of labels me as a font geek but it’s true and yes, I had to mention it lol…

Backyard Homesteading or  Farming?

Lisa suggests homesteading concepts for you to think about before you get started with backyard homesteading.  I enjoyed her introduction which helps you reflect on whether backyard homesteading is for you.   You can homestead on a farm, on a large rural lot, in suburbia like myself, or even on small city lot.  Lisa shows you in her book clearly that you don’t need a lot of space to grow and raise substantial amounts of healthy and fresh food.

There are a lot of considerations for you to think about even before you begin homesteading on a small scale.   She will guide you through those details.  For example, when we first started homesteading I would often vacillate with extremes such as too few or too many chickens.  Nevertheless, homesteading is exciting no matter how you go about it.  This book will give you the confidence you need as a newcomer to this lifestyle.  Mark my words, it is a lifestyle shift, especially if you have never picked up a hoe, or nursed a chicken or goat back to health.

Have you ever wondered how much food you could grow on your own homestead?  Lisa will share what is accomplishable for you and in her book breaks it down into easy to read practical chapters.  A yearly snapshot of what you can accomplish with backyard homesteading,  was one of my favorite highlights of this book.  In this book, Lisa has taken her vast amount of backyard homesteading experience and answered many of your questions that she learned through trial and error.  We haven’t raised rabbits, but after reading her this book I feel confident I would know where to begin!

Are you planning on being a backyard homesteader?

In this book, Lisa as your guide will teach you how to maximize your space, diversify your garden, and be realistic with your short and long term goals.  Another favorite feature of mine in this book, are the invaluable check lists for the numerous tasks involved in backyard homesteading, that when you are just beginning with your suburban or backyard homesteading that you may not even be sure where to begin.

She reviews soil, (which is so important!) Soil is so important, the Viking and I recorded a podcast on it.  She dives into mapping and planning out your gardens, raised beds, and your entire homestead.

Will Your Backyard Homestead Be A Business?

Are you looking to make a profit from your backyard homestead?  Lisa shares ways to profit from your homestead and goal setting, and record keeping.

Once you decide or whatever you decide, this makes topics such as plant and livestock protection even more important.  You have to keep your chickens safe if you want fresh eggs and you have to protect your plants against pests and storms.  She shares practical ways to do so in her book!

Livestock On Your Backyard Homestead

This book is loaded with helpful content and dives into raising livestock from every aspect conceivable.  The chapters include everything from daily care livestock schedules, to vaccines, and breeding tips for rabbits.  It also includes in depth processes for milking goats, butchering your livestock, and so much more!

Lisa discusses beekeeping in depth and answers your questions about hive equipment, and expectations for yields for honey.   She shares about preserving the harvest from freezing, dehydrating, storing, fermenting, and canning food.   She also includes a myriad of recipes of all the things that she has grown/raised on her backyard homestead.   The recipes range from cakes to stews and I actually got hungry looking over all of them.

I think you can all tell that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this fabulous and practical book filled with Lisa’s wealth of knowledge.  I know you will all enjoy this book as much as I did!  Visit this link to pick up your own copy of The Beginner’s Guide to Backyard Homesteading.  You may also want to follow her Author’s page on Amazon, because rumor has it that she has yet another book in development.

And as always, I wish you all a beautiful week, month, days…until next time…

Fondly,