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Food, Water & Waste Cycling - Essential books for your resource / research library:
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Nourishing TraditionsNourishing Traditions:
The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition & Diet Dictocrats
by Sally Fallon
(1999 2nd Edition) 672pp. $25

US Canada Elsewhere
$28.00 $35.00 $37.00

Recalling the culinary customs of our ancestors and looking ahead to a future of robust good health for young and old, this book offers modern families a fascinating guide to wise food choices and preparation techniques. Unites the wisdom of the ancients with the latest independent and accurate scientific research.

With her insistence that human food should have a much higher nutrient content than corporate industrialized farms are able to provide, Sally Fallon has awakened families all over North America to the fact that if they want to live full and happy lives, they won't find the nutrition they need in packages at the grocery store and are going to have to put some effort into acquiring the quality of food that only small, owner-operated farms can provide. With the large network of "Weston A. Price groups" she has established in the U.S. and in Canada, she has undoubtedly saved more family farms in the last 10 years than any other person or organization. The well documented knowledge she shares makes both farms and families more healthy.

Forager's HarvestNEW! Forager's Harvest:
A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants
US Canada Elsewhere
$26.00 $31.00 $34.00
by Samuel Thayer
2005, $23, 368pp
A fine, rich guide to wild foods of North America warmly written by a master forager: uses, botany, habitat. Provides detailed instructions and personal experiences of harvesting 332 delicious plants, including butternut, wild rice, ostrich fern, hog peanut, cattail, and more.

Ferment and Human Nutrition Back in Print!  Out of Print!
Ferment and Human Nutrition
by Bill Mollison
1993, 288pp. $34

US Canada Elsewhere
$37.40 $43.00 $51.00

"This is not a recipe book in any ordinary sense; its intention is to teach people to store and process their own food an to make their own ingredients. It is a basic survival handbook which is of great use to gardeners and farmers trying to vary their resource base by adding value to their crops. It is the book we all wish we had when we started gardening - it takes the mystery out of complex ferment processes and offers guidelines for the rich and varied diet we all need in this age of fast food malnutrition." Bill Mollison.

Build Your Own Earth Oven Build Your Own Earth Oven, 3rd edition:
A Low-Cost, Wood-Fired Mud Oven;
Simple Sourdough Bread; Perfect Loaves

US Canada Elsewhere
$21.00 $24.00 $28.00

by Kiko Denzer
2004, 132pp, $18

Build Your Own Earth Oven is a fully-illustrated handbook for making a simple, wood-fired, masonry-style oven. It provides clear, step-by-step instructions for building and firing the oven, as well as complete directions for making sourdough bread in the best (and simplest) artisan tradition.

Wild Fermentation Wild Fermentation:
A Do-It-Yourself Guide To Cultural Manipulation
by Sandor Ellix Katz,
2001, 187pp, $25,
.

US Canada Elsewhere
$28.00 $31.00 $35.00

Elegantly written and tested introduction to basic ferments of food and drink, drawing on world culinary traditions. Eat live food! Use friendly microbes to preserve food, enrich diet, and enhance nutrition. With 99 recipes.

The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved:
Inside America's Underground Food Movement
US Canada Elsewhere
$23.00 $27.00 $33.00

by Sandor Ellix Katz
2006, $20, 390pp

"This is the story of the consumer revolution against globally industrialized agriculture and corporate domination of food production, processing, and distribution systems. Katz (Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods) asserts that there are alternatives to the dead, unhealthy, homogenized food commodities this system provides. He visited farmers' markets, food cooperatives, and communities in search of local initiatives that restore traditional food production and distribution methods and revive local economies. Katz found a broad movement of people and organizations involved in preserving native varieties, practicing humane and sustainable treatment of land and animals, supporting local producers and marketers, and using food to improve health. Of particular note is the rapidly growing 'slow food' movement, which rejects standardized fare and focuses instead on cuisine that has served ethnic and cultural preferences in the past. Each chapter cites references for further reading and organizations involved in keeping the programs active. This work is sure to enlighten readers and motivate many to join the revolution. Recommended."- Irwin Weintraub for Library Journal, December 2006

"Sandor Katz describes a political climate in which 'eating well has become an act of civil disobedience.' From bread clubs to the raw milk underground, consumers are voting against commercial food with their taste buds and their pocket books. Don't miss this remarkable manifesto."
– Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions

"Sandor Katz has given us a refreshing, wholesome, wise book on something that affects all our lives. It points us not only to eating in a new way, but thinking in a new way. Here we see food with all its social and economic ramifications, to say nothing of its consequences for our health. I hope it will be widely read."
– Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States

"What's for dinner? Zesty politics, delicious democracy, and satisfying grassroots action. Devour this book." —Jim Hightower

Solar Food DryerSolar Food Dryer:
How to Make and Use Your Own Low-Cost, High Performance, Sun-Powered Food Dehydrator
by Eben V. Fodor
2006, 144pp, $15

US Canada Elsewhere
$18.00 $21.00 $25.00

The Solar Food Dryer describes how to efficiently harness solar energy to preserve food quickly and easily. With your own solar-powered food dehydrator, you can conveniently make all the high-quality dried foods you want - with free sunshine! Eat local and eat healthier by preserving the goodness of your favorite seasonal foods, garden veggies, fruits and herbs to enjoy all year long.

A good solar food dryer will perform amazingly well under a wide range of conditions, working effectively in almost any climate where you can grow fruits and vegetables. This is not "sun drying," its solar drying - a major step forward in applying solar technology to food preservation.

The solar dryer has distinct advantages over conventional electric food dryers and doesn't require the energy or storage space needed for canning or freezing. And solar food drying is a great way to learn about solar energy and to experience the incredible power of the sun - as well as being a great deal of fun!

The Solar Food Dryer includes everything you need to get started:

  • Complete step-by-step plans for building a high-performance, low-cost solar food dryer from readily available materials
  • A review of the best solar dryer designs and features
  • Solar energy design concepts
  • Food drying tips and recipes
  • Resources, references, solar charts, and more
Keeping Food Fresh Keeping Food Fresh: Old World Techniques and Recipes
by Authors: Claude Aubert , Centre Terre Vivante
1999, 160pp, $22
 

US Canada Elsewhere
$25.00 $28.00 $32.00

The recipes in this book were submitted by French magazine readers, and cover a wide variety of traditional preservation techniques: preserving with vinegar, oil and sugar; preserving with alcohol; preserving by lactic fermentation; and several other techniques.
If you're interested in traditional food-preservation techniques, this book is uniformly excellent. The chapter on lactic fermentation of vegetables is fascinating, and the diversity of preservation techniques is remarkable.

Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands, Vol 1New!
Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands, Vol 1: Guiding Principles

by Brad Lancaster
US Canada Elsewhere
$28.00 $32.00 $36.00
 2005, $25, 183 pp., 150 illustrations

First of a 3-volume work, this book lays out an integrated approach to capturing water in landscape: swales, pits, diversion drains, urban runoff, and roofwater. Essential for drylands, useful everywhere.

Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds
by Art Ludwig   
2005, $20, 125 pp.

US Canada Elsewhere
$23.00 $26.00 $30.00

Covers water system design and construction of storage both in and above ground. Comprehensive, concise information about water quality, potential difficulties, and how to avoid them while creating your own supply for domestic use or fire control. With instructions for making ferrocement tanks.

Dam NationNEW! Dam Nation: Dispatches from the Water Underground

US Canada Elsewhere
$23.00 $27.00 $33.00

by Cleo Woelfle-Erskine (Editor), July Oskar Cole (Editor), Laura Allen (Editor), Annie Danger (Illustrator) 2007, 321pp., $20

This essay anthology looks at water issues worldwide and throughout history, including science, history and investigative reporting, as well as personal stories and profiles. Among other concerns, writers collected here-mostly activists, but also sociologists, educators and reporters-address untreated sewage dumping and the disease outbreaks it causes; the destructive power of upstream dams; and the sediment-starved Mississippi Delta, its attendant erosion, and the horrific storm damage that's resulted. A short, frank multi-millennial history of urban sewage disposal illustrates well the dangers of water supplies contaminated by sewage-cholera, typhus, typhoid, etc.-and is equally forthright about the problems with current municipal sewage treatment practices. The authors maintain a tongue-in-cheek style that, for the most part, keeps tedium at bay; if readers find Part One too polemical, Parts Two and Three offer principles and proper construction techniques for practical, at-home solutions, including home watergardens, home-scale greywater systems and composting toilets.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edited by the coauthors of the notorious zine The Guerrilla Graywater Girls Guide to Water, this collection of original essays, drawings, and photographs is part radical history of water and part DIY guide to disengaging one's home, school, or workplace from the wasteful water grid. The pieces are arranged in three sections: "Water Wars" focuses on the history and politics of dams and water infrastructure; "The Water Grid" chronicles the rise of energy-intensive, polluting sewage treatment plants, and points out alternative systems; and "Watershed" examines the often destructive relationship between human settlements and nature, but finds hope in the experiences of those involved in watershed restoration.

Creating an Oasis with GreywaterNew!
The New Creating an Oasis with Greywater:
Choosing, Building
& Using Greywater Systems (5th edition)
by Art Ludwig    
2006, $21, 144 pp.

US Canada Elsewhere
$24.00 $28.00 $32.00

Thoroughly revised primer detailing 20 systems that work and how they might fail; parts, design diagrams, operating and maintenance tips. Clear, logical, easy-to-read. The definitive guide.

Builder's Greywater GuideNew!
Builder's Greywater Guide

by Art Ludwig   
1995, $15, 48pp.

US Canada Elsewhere
$18.00 $19.00 $21.00

How to fit greywater systems into the code with tried and tested methods. Thorough, precise, well-documented, with explicit building code references and diagrams.

Water in the Home LandscapeWater in the Home Landscape

US Canada Elsewhere
$7.00 $8.50 $9.00

Learn simple, low-tech, quick-start solutions in this 32 page booklet from Permaculture Activist, 2005, $6

Basic approaches to Tanks, Rainwater Catchment, Ram Pumps, Ground Recharge, Urban Stormwater, Ponds, Dowsing

Composting Toilet System Book Composting Toilet System Book:
A Practical Guide to Choosing, Planning and Maintaining Composting Toilet Systems
by David Del Porto & Carol Steinfeld
2000, 192 pp, $30
Temporarily Unavailable
An impressive, comprehensive, reader friendly, and practical guide to choosing, planning and maintaining composting toilet systems for those seeking an alternative to traditional sewer and septic tank systems. David Del Porto and Carol Steinfeld collaborate to explain the technologies, sources, applications, graywater issues, and regulations relevant to a composting toilet system for the home, whether manufactured or site-built.

Worms Eat My Garbage Worms Eat My Garbage:
How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System, 2nd Ed.
by Mary Appelhof
1997, 162 pp, $13

US Canada Elsewhere
$16.00 $17.00 $22.00
A new edition of the definitive guide to vermicomposting--a process using redworms to recycle human food waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer for plants. Author Mary Appelhof provides complete illustrated instructions on setting up and maintaining small-scale worm composting systems. Internationally recognized as an authority on vermicomposting, Appelhof has worked with worms for over three decades. Topics include: bin types, worm species, reproduction, care and feeding of worms, harvesting, and how to make the finished product of potting soil.

The Humanure HandbookThe Humanure Handbook:
A Guide to Composting Human Manure
by Joseph C. Jenkins,
1994, 198pp. $25

US Canada Elsewhere
$28.00 $31.00 $35.00