Old Style Inspiration Books

lucym

black-saturn wrote: »

If anyone likes the Darling Buds of May there is a free DVD on the front of the Express (or is it the Mail - cant remember now ) every day this week.

Theres also some good Laura Ingalls Wilder links here:

http://www.lauraingallswilder.com/

http://webpages.marshall.edu/~irby1/laura/frames.html

http://www.littlehousebooks.com/

I found another Laura Ingalls Wilder site - it includes recipes and crafts. http://www.laurasprairiehouse.com/index.html

katieowl_2

We've been chatting about books on the thread "If things get tougher" and has anyone got any suggestions for other OS forum readers of books that you have read and found OS useful, or just plain enjoyed?

It will be very OS for us to compare notes - BEFORE we go and buy anything new You know what a dissapointment it is to buy something and discover there's not actually any new or useable information in there!

I'll kick off with a couple of the second category - pure OS pleasure!

Hovel in the hills and Garden in the Hills by Elisabeth West. These were is written by Elisabeth the female half of a couple who dropped off grid in the late 60's to live in a rundown cottage in Wales, she writes about how they dealt with the wind generator, and tamed the garden, and about the wildlife, what she cooked on the stove, and how they survived on very little income. I've read these over and over. She did write a cook-book but it was pretty basic (I managed to eventually get a copy off freecycle) They are still available - but are now out of print.

I've also been re-reading my childhood favorites, the Little House on the Prairie Series by Laura Ingalss Wilder. She writes about how her life was so beautifully...It's almost hard to imagine how tough it must have been.

Who's next???

Regards

Kate

larmy16

Hi Kate:hello:

I have just ordered a copy of the book by Elisabeth West £2.76 off Amazon.

I like the books by Helen Forrester - Two pence to Cross the Mersey/Liverpool Miss. Not strictly Old Style, more deprivation but it certainly makes you count your blessings.

moanymoany

The Tightwad Gazettes

Lark Rise to Candleford - whole series

Wartime information books - cooking, make do and mend

katieowl_2

OH dear....not going to be responsible for a very NON MS thread am I ?

My daughter's ex-BF's Irish mother used to read him and his sister Angela's Ashes as a bed time story when they were little :rotfl: Nothing like a bit of deprivation to make you realise how lucky you are.... Perhaps other OS parent's would like to give this a go???

Other OS Books and authors I like are:

Alicia Bay Laurel - Living on the earth - a real old Hippy book which is all hand written and illustrated and has some easy to follow hippy :rotfl: sewing instructions amongst other things (she has a website http://www.aliciabaylaurel.com/taxonomy/term/5)

Helen and Scott Nearing - The good life - The book the TV series got it's name from? The did this in The USA way back - they were kind of radicals...but I love the way the organised their life!

John Seymour - The complete guide to Self sufficiency - I have the original, I believe the new edition has some stuff about solar panels etc. John is no longer with us - but buried on his daughters farm in Wales, in a blanket made from the wool of his own sheep.... Can't really think of a better end :rolleyes:

All Hugh Fearnley WHittingstalls books but especially The River Cottage Cookbook and the River Cottage Year. I like these two best as they have multiple recipes for whatever's in season....courgette anyone???

I also adored Barbara Kingsolvers: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - although I skiped the bits her OH wrote (rather dull eco footnotes that I knew already in the main) and also her daughters recipes.... just as it made the book a bit dis jointed. I want to try using her daughters recipe to make mozarella cheese. It also made me angry :mad: as she writes so well about the disregard for the planet, farming and ultimately the future of us all.

troo

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=351340

Nicki

I like the Leanne Ely "Saving Dinner" books which are plugged on the Flylady website. She does all the hard work of menu planning for you, including making sure that over the week your menu is balanced, and does the shopping list for you too. Although the books use the american names for ingredients, its fairly easy to decipher them (using google if necessary!). I've got two which I've been using every week for about 4 months now. My weekly food shop for 4 using them is around £60, and I've never repeated a meal, or had a bad recipe yet. In fact my OH says after every meal how much he's enjoyed it. I've also got a freezer packed full of left overs (as her portion sizes are generous) so I could live off these for a couple of weeks at least, meaning the weekly spend is in reality less than I've quoted.

sammyjig

Nicki wrote: »

I like the Leanne Ely "Saving Dinner" books which are plugged on the Flylady website. She does all the hard work of menu planning for you, including making sure that over the week your menu is balanced, and does the shopping list for you too. Although the books use the american names for ingredients, its fairly easy to decipher them (using google if necessary!). I've got two which I've been using every week for about 4 months now. My weekly food shop for 4 using them is around £60, and I've never repeated a meal, or had a bad recipe yet. In fact my OH says after every meal how much he's enjoyed it. I've also got a freezer packed full of left overs (as her portion sizes are generous) so I could live off these for a couple of weeks at least, meaning the weekly spend is in reality less than I've quoted.

I've got a similar book called Budget Meals by Kimberly Saunders. It has weekly menu planners and shopping lists.

trying-very-trying

katieowl wrote: »

My daughter's ex-BF's Irish mother used to read him and his sister Angela's Ashes as a bed time story when they were little :rotfl: Nothing like a bit of deprivation to make you realise how lucky you are.... Perhaps other OS parent's would like to give this a go??? /quote]

If it's deprivation that you're looking for, a book that I read last year just after having my lightbulb moment, was The Road To Nab End, a Lancashire upbringing in the early 1900s. It made me feel truly grateful for everything that we have, and put our financial difficulties in some perspective.

LameWolf

Definitely MS, and a very well-thumbed book in my kitchen, is "Nature's Wild Harvest" by Eric Soothill and Michael J Thomas.

It's full of things to do with stuff you can pick for free, set out in the different seasons.