An Encyclopedia Like No Other

As a librarian in a rural small town in a region of independence-minded folk, I find myself regularly asked to find books on odd topics related to gardening, livestock, hunting, wilderness survival skills, and similar subjects. This seems to have increased over the course of 2020 as people realize how fragile our economy can become in the face of disease, rioting, and the hubris of politicians. While we have many books on many topics, there are always a few go-to volumes when people make odd inquiries like the one I received yesterday.

Since we are still in curbside pickup mode only, one of our patrons called in to ask whether we had any books on tanning hides. I didn't have any dedicated to that topic alone, but I knew we did have a copy of The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery. That book began in the 1970s as a recipe collection, but became a compendium of Carla's lifetime of experience in gardening, raising livestock, preserving food, and many other aspects of what people now call "homesteading." As such, it came as no surprise to find tanning in the index.

I did have a couple other books to include. We have a book on butchering game and livestock that also included a section on hides and tanning. There was also a collection of Foxfire articles on the topic in another. But for general back-to-basics information, Carla Emery is the first source I check anyway.

If you are building a library for your personal use, you need a copy of this book. It's not the be-all and end-all of homesteading, but there is no better place to start. You can find it at Barnes and Noble or Amazon, and probably at local book stores or via homesteading supply websites, too. These aren't referral links, so it matters not to me how you go about getting this book. Just do. Depending on how 2021 pans out, it just might be the best investment you can make after HIVE.