The Old Farmer's Encyclopedia: A Practical Compendium of Traditional American Wisdom and Know-how - Softcover

Time-honored advice from our greatest American farmers. This classic volume - the only one of its kind - collects turn-of-the-century wisdom on every aspect of farm and country life. From the barn to the nursery, nothing has been overlooked. Divided into three parts that cover the land, the homestead, and leisure activities, The Old Farmer's Encyclopedia offers handy advice on such matters as livestock, barns and fences, farm machinery, manure, blacksmithing, beekeeping, the dairy, kitchen devices, canning and preserving, home remedies, sewing and quilting, toys and sports, whiskey making, country fairs, and much, much more. Fully illustrated throughout, The Old Farmer's Encyclopedia is not only practical and a pleasure to read, it is also beautiful to look at and fun to browse through for the hundreds of enticing drawings that pepper the text on nearly every page. It sits just as well displayed on a coffee table as it does on a wooden shelf in the toolshed. This wonderful collection is the perfect gift for a friend or relative making the move from city to country life, anyone lured by the rich legacy of American agriculture or anyone interested in pursuing a fundamentally simpler way of life.

This classic volume presents a comprehensive collection of farm-and-country wisdom and know-how from the turn of the century, a time when most farmers were still virtually self-sufficient and had to know how to do everything on their own. Divided into five parts that correspond to the five basic divisions of farm work and organization, Traditional Country Skills provides a fascinating glimpse of farming at the dawn of the twentieth century as well as handy advice for the modern homesteader on dozens of key tasks. Introductions to each section, written by editor Sheila Buff, provide background on the material and offer a useful historical perspective that allows the reader to understand more clearly the transformations that have taken place and what time-honored practices have been regretfully lost over more than a century of farming in America. (8 1/2 x 11, 240 pages, b&w photos, illustrations)