The Half-Acre Homestead: 46 Years of Building and Gardening
Starting with a vacant half-acre piece of land, they built their own home, created a garden with vegetables and fruit, and describe raising chickens, bees, and goats.
By Lloyd Kahn & Lesley Creed
Shelter Publications
The Half-Acre Homestead is a record, with over 500 color photos, of Lloyd and his wife Lesley’s owner-built home and garden. They show you what the house and garden look like, how various functions (solar panels, septic systems, skylights, etc.) operate, and tools they use in the kitchen, garden, and shop.
There are recipes and sections on fishing – Fishing Refined – and foraging.
There are descriptions of raised beds, raising chickens, and collecting rainwater.
There are photos of Lesley’s quilts, weavings, and baskets.
Also shown are flowers, vegetables, birds, and spiderwebs.
There is advice for anyone thinking of building a home these days.
Lloyd, the former shelter editor of The Whole Earth Catalog, has published seven books on owner building, showcasing hundreds of builders, and this is his first book on his own work.
Starting with a vacant half-acre piece of land, they built their own home, created a garden with vegetables and fruit, and describe raising chickens, bees, and goats. The book also covers cooking, foraging, fishing, crafts, birds, butterflies, and tools.
Their main theme is that this was all done by hand.
They have never paid rent nor have they ever had a mortgage.
There are over 500 photos illustrating all the above facets of their lives and clear explanations of building skylights, maintaining a septic system, building greenhouses and raised vegetable beds. There is a section on unique kitchen tools, as well as photos of Lesley’s quilts and weavings, and advice on useful tools used in construction.
