Anyone who wants to learn basic living skills and adapt them for a better life in the twenty–first century need look no further than this eminently useful, full–color guide. With hundreds of projects, step–by–step sequences, photographs, charts, and illustrations, The Back to Basics Handbook will help you dye your own wool with plant pigments, graft trees, raise chickens, craft a hutch table with hand tools, and make treats such as blueberry peach jam and cheddar cheese. The truly ambitious will find instructions on how to build a log cabin or an adobe brick homestead.

More than just practical advice, this is also a book for dreamers—even if you live in a city apartment you will find yourself inspired. There's no reason why you can't, for example, make a loom and weave a rag rug! Complete with tips for old–fashioned fun (square dancing calls, homemade toys, and kayaking tips), this is the ultimate concise guide to voluntary simplicity.