The expanded, updated version of the best-selling classic, with a dozen new projects. "A delightfully readable and very useful guide to front- & back-yard vegetable gardening, food foraging, food preserving, chicken keeping, and other useful skills for anyone interested in taking a more active role in growing and preparing the food they eat."—BoingBoing.net "...the contemporary bible on the subject."—The New York Times This celebrated, essential handbook shows how to grow and preserve your own food, clean your house without toxins, raise chickens, gain energy independence, and more. Step-by-step projects, tips, and anecdotes will help get you started homesteading immediately. The Urban Homestead is also a guidebook to the larger movement and will point you to the best books and Internet resources on self-sufficiency topics. Written by city dwellers for city dwellers, this copiously illustrated, two-color instruction book proposes a paradigm shift that will improve our lives, our community, and our planet. By growing our own food and harnessing natural energy, we are planting seeds for the future of our cities. Learn how to: * Grow food on a patio or balcony * Preserve or ferment food and make yogurt and cheese * Compost with worms * Keep city chickens * Divert your grey water to your garden * Clean your house without toxins * Guerilla garden in public spaces * Create the modern homestead of your dreams The book focuses on what you can do right now in your own city to become more self-sufficient and sustainable. That makes it unique. This is the first book on self-sufficiency I have seen that directly addresses the fear that underlies the desire many people have to become more independent of the economy--the fear of some apocalypse, social collapse, disaster, etc., which they here dub "when the zombies come." I loved that they use humor to address that fear. There is a LOT of humor in this book; it's almost worth reading just for that. 260 pages, 2010 (35)