The Practical Homestead Book Review

The Practical Homestead
by Paul Heiney
Published by DK Books
www.dk.com

The Practical Homestead by Paul Heiney, Published by DK Books is probably the worst volume I have ever seen by anybody in the Homesteading, Prep/Survivalist genre. It is nicely done as all DK books are, with lots of pictures and glossy type pages in its 192 page softcover bindings.
So if it looks so nice and is well presented, where does it go wrong? Starting on the front cover. It states that it is the “The backyard handbook for growing food, raising animals & nurturing your land.” If a person used this book as a handbook for creating a homestead, I would imagine all the animals would die and the person would starve. Similar books by this publisher are ok overview books. They also tend to be European based as all the pictures tend to look to be from across the Atlantic.
Upon further review, I found that this book was previously sold twelve years previous as Country Life. This is a much more suitable title. I can see that they wanted to jump on the Homestead bandwagon and sell a freshened up book but this misleads a potential buyer that this book is something that it is not. Country Life explains the book a lot better. It is a nice overview of a small/family farming operation. It has very little to do with a backyard, unless you live on acres of land and even then, is not the handbook it says it is.
The only thing keeping this from being a total failure for those who might be reading my blog is that it is nicely done. I suggest only picking it up at a library as it will not be a huge help on the homestead.
Prepping on the Cheap Grade: D-

Welcome to Prepping on the Cheap!

Welcome to the first article on Prepping the Cheap. I intend to use this to write about the cheaper way of living, prepping, surviving and homesteading. There are lots of articles out there on spending tons of money on the latest tactical gear. While worthwhile and in some instances very cool, it is not always the best for the job. Part of what I will try to cover is when to spend money on good durable items and when you can get by with cheaper options. This is for all the folks who are either cheap or have to be based on their circumstances. This is the type of information will present cheap ways of preparing for the future no matter what happens. We will be reviewing cheap products that simply work well. We will be looking at when it makes sense to purchase more expensive but durable items that will last forever. We also will be looking at making your own supplies and skills and products that our grandparents and their parents used.
Prepping on the Cheap. Living cheaply, whether you need to or not.