Book Notes
There were a set of books that were written begining in the 1970's that dealt with the self sufficient home (everything from trapping, skinning and tanning skins to making your own soap and more). They were the Foxfire books. The series got a little esoteric with the later books, but the earlier ones (probably the first 6 or 7) were good. Also, there were a number of books by Bradford Angier which were very good. Some of the books are probably out of print but you still should be able to find them, including one dealing with edible wild plants and another about back country living.
I'm an Angier fan and particularly enjoy rereading "On Your Own in the Wilderness" (1958), co-written with Col. Townsend Whelen and Angier's wife Vera. It's dated information with regard to materials and equipment, but all tried-and-true nevertheless. I have a few of these vintage tomes, and they make great reading. Like when I read "My Side of the Mountain" when I was about 12 or so. They're all an "Oh, wow!" experience.
A contemporary source of back-to-basics/self-sufficiency information and inspiration is Backwoods Home Magazine (
http://www.backwoodshome.com/).
I'd love to do a primitive bug-out sometime. Unfortunately I have no practiced skills and would probably come to grief fairly quickly. I may need to ... practice ... out in the back acreage, alongside the Farmington River.
For readers, I also recommend "To Fish and Hunt in Maine", a collection of stories of life in a rustic camp, by Edmund Ware Smith. A lot of humor, wisdom and, like Angier, the author has Massachusetts connections (think Dennison Manufacturing).
I should also mention another of my favorite authors, Karen Berger (
www.hikerwriter.com). I bought her "Hiking & Backpacking - A Complete Guide" at the Auburn Mall, after much consideration of the competition in the genre. Imagine my surprise when, after gushing over the book for weeks, I looked more closely at the cover and realized, "Hey, this was written by a girl!". I had the great pleasure of meeting Karen years later in Otis, and having her over the house a couple of times. She's an accomplished outdoorswoman, a Triple Crown hiker. When I last spoke to her she was working on a book about ultra-light hiking, which I think is now in publication.
So, anyone read any good books lately?
![[pot]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/037.gif "Stir the pot [pot]")
