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Carla Emery visited Granny's Country Store
Carla Emery stopped by our store on her western speaking tour in the fall of 2004. She gave a two-hour presentation about "getting a happier, healthier life" to a small crowd of local neighbors, friends, and family. Most people at the talk were already familiar with her great book, An Encyclopedia of Country Living, which is hardly surprising, since Carla Emery has sold more than 500,000 copies over the last thirty years. Our neighbor brought a 1974 copy of the book for Carla to sign.
We were saddened to learn that Carla Emery passed away in 2005. She was a tremendous inspiration to so many of us to become more self-reliant and to live more independent lives. Her work will continue to guide people on the path to successful self-sufficient country living for generations to come.
Encyclopedia of Country Living
An Old Fashioned Recipe Book
by Carla Emery
review by Renee Elpel
When Tom and I started out with our own "homestead", we had a 1977 edition of Carla Emery's book. I found myself referring to it often. I learned about leavening bread, homestead cooking, gardening, caring for critters, preserving foods... many things a newly married city girl knew nothing about. I found Carla's simple writing and anecdotes to be an inspiration to keep working hard because self-sufficiency is something I really wanted. Now that we have four kids, numerous animals, plus a home and business of our own, we feel like we have made it on our feet in the country, yet there is still so much to learn.
My favorite thing about Carla Emery's book is that she discusses her failures as well as her successes. I still find her book useful and entertaining. There are hundreds of country skills in this book that I haven't tried yet.
Some of the topics include: Moving to the country, buying land, sewing a quilt, living self-sufficiently, planning a garden and raising vegetables and herbs, saving seeds, improving soil, raising earthworms, growing mushrooms, wild foraging, growing grasses and grains plus winnowing and grinding grains, making pasta, establishing an orchard, pruning a tree, pressing apple cider, tapping sugar maples, sun-drying fruit, stocking a root cellar, making vinegar, caring for livestock, including feeding, doctoring and butchering, plus breeding rabbits, shearing sheep, milking cows, making cheese, raising chickens, turkeys, guineas and ducks, plucking feathers, cooking a goose, plus resource lists of books, magazines, and mail order suppliers for every subject imaginable.
The Encyclopedia of Country Living. 10th Edition. ISBN: 978-1-57061-553-5. $30.00