The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!

This comprehensive guide to homesteading provides all the information you need to grow and preserve a sustainable harvest of grains and vegetables; raise animals for meat, eggs, and dairy; and keep honeybees for your sweeter days. With easy-to-follow instructions on canning, drying, and pickling, you'll enjoy your backyard bounty all winter long. On just a quarter-acre of land, you can produce fresh, organic food for a family of four year-round! Contents Preface Introduction Part 1 GETTING THE MOST FROM FRESH FOOD - Setting Up the Homestead Kitchen - Fresh Vegetables: Harvesting, Handling, Cooking - Fresh Fruit: Harvesting, Handling, Cooking - Grains and Beans - Homemade Sweeteners: Honey, Maple Syrup, and Apple Cider Syrup - Eggs, Birds, and Rabbits - Fresh Milk - Meat: Goat, Lamb, Pork, and Beef Part 2 FOOD PRESERVATION - Cold Storage - Freezing - Canning: Boiling-Water-Bath and Pressure Canning - Drying - Pickling - Making Fruit Preserves - Culturing Milk and Making Cheese - Curing Meats and Making Simple Sausage Part 3 HOMESTEAD COOKING - Breakfast and Egg Dishes - Vegetable, Cheese, and Bean Dishes - Poultry and Meat Dishes - Desserts and Baked Goods Appendix: Basic Cooking Methods Resources Metric Conversion Charts Index Put your backyard to work. Enjoy fresher, organic, better-tasting food all the time. The solution is as close as your own backyard. Grow the vegetables and fruits your family loves; keep bees; raise chickens, goats, or even a cow. "The Backyard Homestead" shows you how it's done. And when the harvest is in, you'll learn how to cook, preserve, cure, brew, or pickle the fruits of your labor.