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My latest research efforts were in regard to... you know. You did read the title did you not? Anyway, to the search monster and Amazon I went. I started with a handful of titles and topics. Reading the reviews, starting at the bottom, and working my way through. Often, if the looks of the reviews were ugly or even a bit off, I would find another suggested title and author. I might add that book to my cart, just so I could find it easily enough in order to review the reviews. Hush, I am not an English major or such. I ended up with a well thought out pile of books in the cart, along with a sleep aid which has been suggested. And, for now, there they will sit. However, I thought I would share what is in my cart and what else I found, from the reviews, for free. I likes my freerange books.
Reader's Digest Back to Basics, Joy of Gardening by Dick Raymond, Backyard Livestock by Steven Thomas, Ultimate Guide to Wilderness Living by John McPherson sit in my cart. I did look at that bible one, and some others, but came away with these. From reviews, checking outside Amazon, and just going on gut instincts, these topped the list. There were some topics I failed to find top slots regarding, including a cookbook for stored foods. In that example, I did find a book but the reviews killed the deal. Even the top reviews suggested that the recipes may not have been tested, that some of the instructions even when clear were simply false, and that there were many errors, incomplete recipes, and wrong proportions. Being a decent cook, I could overcome some of that, but not all of it. Also precluded was a book on grain growing. By the reviews, I simply could not find one that worked. The one D.C. has had on his site, from the reviews, was more for people with at least a small tractor? There were other flaws, though I am hoping he might comment on that.
Ah, to the freerange materials. This, if nothing else, I really wanted to share. While looking at purchasing "Where There Is No Doctor", I ran into a review which suggested these are outdated and referring anyone reading the review to go to Hesperian Foundation and download the updated manual for free. Oddly in a not so odd, or funny, of a way, that review disapeared when I went back later in search of it. To find the name of the link which lead me to the downloads. Amazon would not scrub a review for taking away business would it? My wonder is how they connected my looking elsewhere to the review and so quickly? Yeah, the bastards know more than they let on. Further, I also found a free download regarding dentistry, women's health, and a midwife guide. They are all as updated as possible, more so than the offerings on Amazon. If you wish you may purchase the books or books and cds, rather than just doing the free download(s). I have all of them on the machine, at the moment.
Wow, stayed awake until after 14:00! Anyway, I am thinking on those books. I think I have enough money to cover them, and would like to explore the topics, but I sort of want to wait a bit, into the middle of the month, before spending anything. I do not want to go through last month's personal monetary meltdown. It is a bad place for me, more so than most. Sam says "MeoHIw", Sassy says, "Huh? No... Well, maybe if you like me... *burrrh* Urhm, no... bye!". Or, something like that.
Have a great day.
Books on computers have a way of disappearing when the power goes out and stays out. I did not mention downloading the WTIND book because you will want a hard copy in either case, and for the price, the printed copy did not seem unreasonable when compared to downloading, printing, punching and binding (do you have a comb punch and binder? I didn't think so...) Without checking into the prices, I figure the added hassle of bringing the file to Kinkos to be printed and bound in addition to the cost of printing would end up being worth at least the $12 book price.
ReplyDeleteDo a search on the title and you will be sure to find it online and downloadable. Caveat Emptor when the flags go up tho. Everything I consider indispensible is getting printed out and stashed in my Big Book or bound into its own book form.
In re: Gene Logsdon's book (if that is what you referred to), I don't have a tractor, just a tiller, and I could easily manage a couple acres of grain production with just that, my scythe, and a couple more sets of hands at harvest time. Threshing will still be pretty labor intensive until and unless I develop and perfect my thresher. He has a tractor, but nothing of what he goes over *necessarily* requires a specific level of mechanization. Scale up or down to your circumstances.
Re: Carla Emery's book if that is what you meant, I will still push it. It is a real treasure if what you are looking for is a ton of useful info in one place.
There are a lot of "cookin' from storage" type books out there. I can't recommend any in particular. I have several but have not tested any of the recipes. Which doesn't matter in my case as most of the time a recipe is a suggestion or a starting point for me.
Definitely lots to consider. I tell you what, I will add Carla back to the list, as the potential coverage is good. The rest will have to wait a bit. Though I can improvise with a list of ingredients and will probably need to adjust timing through practice, some cooking directions need to be very explicit for me, such as bread, especially when working with whole wheat flour. I have even considered researching means of producing unbleached white flour, though I am dubious about the practicality and expense of that.
ReplyDeleteLooking, looking, sometimes finding, sometime not.
Hard as things are, they will not improve tomorrow.
So it goes, on and on, until one day, I will just be a splot.
Heh!
One thing we've discovered about fresh ground wheat flour is that it makes baked products that are *much lighter* than what one expects from store-bought wheat flour.
ReplyDeleteIf you must, however, you do it by buying fine mesh sieve pans and sifting out the fibrous parts of the wheat. You don't get 100% white flour but you get something lighter than whole wheat.
I need to buy the sieve pans I've been meaning to buy. They are good for more than wheat. I have 5 acres of mesquite trees, and mesquite beans make a decent, nutritious meal, if a bit high in fiber. The sieves can cure that part.
Cool! I can't wait to start trying some of this stuff. The pans would be good, if nothing else, to begin breaking into new foods more slowly. Try it both ways. Fine mesh sieve pans, eh? Never heard of it. The fact that home ground wheat is lighter is a huge thing. Store bought whole wheat is... brutal. As a fact, no matter how I tried, I could not get good bread from that. By the way, that may be why that recipe book did not work regarding bread and other items, the user(s) was using store bought wheat and other such.
ReplyDeleteI gotta admit, just learning as I get deeper is one of the fun things on this road. Especially since I do enjoy cooking (well, eating, but cooking seems necessary since I am not wiping my mouth with disposable gold plated silks or such.