Rural Living Today Resources are simply a place to learn how to do things.
We talk about how to grow veggies, raise livestock, cook with cast iron, and do other “homesteady” things.
We are all about cooking from scratch – homesteader style.
We write comprehensive reviews on kitchen equipment that makes our lives a bit easier as well as sharing tips, recipes, and great ideas for food preparation, cooking, and preserving the harvest.
Over the years, we have found many different resources and products that have helped us on our rural living journey.
Here we have listed just a few of them, and we hope you will find some helpful new favorites among them.
Resources to Learn Homesteading Skills, Homesteading Products, Tools and Equipment
Here are a few products that we heartily endorse – things that make it a little easier to live rural, whether it’s a kitchen appliance, instructional book, or website.
Tools and Equipment for Farm and Garden
- GreenHouses
- Mantis Tillers
- Best LED Grow Lights
- Trailer Winches
- Tractor Cart
- GreenWorks Lawn Mower
- Shop vac
- Axes
- Air compressors
- Welder
- Wood working Tools
- Plows
- Hedge trimmers
- Rotor Tillers
- Wood Splitters
- Pruners]
Durable clothing for outdoor chores
- Carhartt WorkwearJolly Garden Shoes by Alpro
- Survival Belts
- Muck Boots
- Work Gloves
Food Preparation and Preservation
- Ninja Kitchen System
- Ninja Pulse Blender
- Excalibur Dehydrator
- FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer
- Dutch Cheese Press
Survival Living and Prepping
KaBar Knife
Review of the Best Survival Knives So You Can Survive
Survival Knife Buyers Guide So You Survive Extreme Environments
Survival Kit for The Ka-Bar Survival Knife
Ka-Bar Becker BK7 Knife Review and Field Test
Small Greenhouse ~ Find the Best for Your Gardening
Misc Homesteading Items and Books
- Fire pits
- Bird Houses
- Raising Chickens (5 Important Tips on Raising Roosters)
- Bees
University of Massachusetts Soil Testing Lab: just mail in your sample and payment, receive a report by email–no matter where you live.
Homesteading Books (Non-Fiction)
Gardening
The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener by Niki Jabbour (Read our review here.)
Homegrown Herbs by Tammi Hartung (Read our review here.
The Fruit Gardener’s Bible by Lewis Hill and Leonard Perry (Read our review here.)
The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Edward C. Smith
Livestock
Storey’s Guide to Raising Pigs by Kelly Klober
The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals edited by Gail Damerow The Backyard Cow by Sue Weaver
Homesteading, Country Life, Rural Living Skills
How to Move to the Country by Patrice Lewis
The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan
Your Custom Homestead by Jill Winger
Storey’s Basic Country Skills by John & Martha Storey
Any Storey Publishing books including Storey’s Guides
The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery
Any Joel Salatin books, including:
You Can Farm
Pastured Poultry Profits
Salad Bar Beef
Family Friendly Farming
Living with Wildlife/Landscaping for Wildlife by Russell Link
Homesteading Books (Fiction)
Pioneer- and early west-era novels often have descriptions of how life really was in days gone by, and one can learn a lot by reading about everyday life.
Some of these are great for giving kids an idea of the self-sufficient lifestyle.
(*Items also have TV series or movies based on the books.)
Centennial* by James Michener
Little House on the Prairie series* by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Lonesome Dove series* by Larry McMurtry
Louis L’Amour books* : Many describe pioneer life, trapping, foraging, and ranching/farming. Movies include Sackett series.
Love Comes Softly series* by Janette Oke
Red River and Dakota Plains series by Lauraine Snelling
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (Bethany’s favorite!)