| Departments: |
| Country conversation | |
| Politically incorrect nutrition; the post office and Y2K; an easy way to save feathers and down; poison ivy remedies; making sauerkraut; a seedsman on Y2K; cheers for the pressure cooker; "capturing" yeast; producer gas; the Forest Service and Y2K; another view of sourdough; a Y2K test that failed; the problems of small business; a born (in 1923) homesteader; life on the farm; good milk and granola; be happy!; plastic injection molding for beginners | 11-31 |
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| Part II: Homesteaders need marksmanship practice; low voltage bite treatment | 113 |
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| Special feature I: The soul of soil |
| What it is, where it comes from, how it is lost, and how to maintain and improve it | 32 |
| No soil? Build some! | 42 |
| How to make compost | 42 |
| Box scraper doubles as a subsoiler | 43 |
| Phosphorus, potash and trace elements | 44 |
| Rejuvenating a "worn-out" farm | 46 |
| The role of roots in soil building | 50 |
| How to improve your pastures | 50 |
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| Country neighbors |
| What it takes to homestead in Greenbreir County, West Virginia | 52 |
| Noah's Ark, revisited | 100 |
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| Making money on the homestead |
| Woods-grown plants provide unique opportunities | 58 |
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| The barn |
| Breed improvement through intelligent selection | 59 |
| The benefits of inbreeding | 61 |
| The "fabulous four" of the homestead barnyard | 94 |
| Old-fashioned animal health care | 107 |
| Veterinary medicine in the 1800s | 108 |
| Raising a calf | 109 |
| Housing for calves | 110 |
| Alternative breeds for the cattle raiser | 111 |
| Take breeders' claims with a grain of salt | 112 |
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| Special feature II: Home butchering |
| How to butcher a hog | 63 |
| An old-timer's tips on rabbit butchering and meat curing | 65 |
| Build a simple low-cost smokehouse | 66 |
| Use a tripod for heavy lifting | 66 |
| ow we smoked hams | 67 |
| The pleasures of hickory smoke | 69 |
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| Making sausage on the homestead |
| Overview and basic information | 71 |
| Getting started | 76 |
| Smoked hams, basic recipe | 77 |
| Cured bacon | 78 |
| Basic sausage | 78 |
| Pickled pig's feet | 78 |
| All about sausage casings | 80 |
| How to make your own casings | 82 |
| A sausagemaker's view of nitrate | 83 |
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| Sausage recipes: |
| Summer sausage | 86 |
| Sausage Veronesa | 86 |
| Russian freedom sausage | 87 |
| Braunschweiger | 88 |
| Kielbasa | 89 |
| Breakfast sausage | 90 |
| Canning lard | 85 |
| Brining poultry for smoking | 90 |
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| Feeds & feeding |
| How we fed rabbits during the Depression | 92 |
| He grows weeds... on purpose! | 106 |
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| Homeschooling |
| Why homeschooling is the only option for me | 95 |
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| Housing |
| Masonry heaters: Expensive, but worth it | 97 |
| Straw and clay method solves their problem | 98 |
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| The garden |
| In search of the perfect vegetable: Try vegetable squash | 102 |
| Growing gourds | 103 |
| Give Jack Frost the cold shoulder | 104 |
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| The henhouse |
| Breast blisters; lice; laying geese | 105 |
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| The machine shed |
| Tips on buying used farm equipment | 112 |
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| The land |
| How to measure your acreage | 117 |
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| Personal finance |
| How much is interest costing you? | 118 |
| Booming economy isn't helping some farmers | 118 |
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| Q & A |
| Sourdough; powdered garlic; cracking nuts; drying eggs | 120, 125 |
| News from Spaceship Earth | 124 |
| Y2K update | |
| Beyond the sidewalks | 130 |
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| Bits & pieces... |
| An easy way to "vacuum pack" frozen vegetables | 62 |
| Calcium-rich vegetables | 64 |
| Mastitis and calves | 111 |
| To cure dysentery in calves | 111 |
| Classic homestead blunders | 116 |
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| Charts |
| Descriptions of three typical soils | 33 |
| Nutrient content of some fertilizer materials | 43 |
| Nutrient removal by harvest portion of crop | 44 |
| Normal root depths of some mature plants | 50 |
| Expected yields of selected crops in Southern West Virginia | 56 |
| Protein content of various feeds | 110 |
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