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Small Cabin Forum / Off Topic / Books for the Cabin
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RnR
Member
# Posted: 3 Nov 2010 15:02
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Hey I thought I would start a thread where we can share and recommend books to take to the cabin.

Currently, I have:

POSSUM LIVING how to live well without a job and almost no money while maintaining a middle-class façade; It lets me and guests dream of breaking free from the shackles of a 9 to 5 job.

THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE – COMPLETE PROTECTION FROM THE LIVING DEAD. Really funny book, and I'm hoping the teenagers will read it and have fun freaking themselves out!

THE CABIN - A SEARCH FOR PERSONAL SANTUARY by well-known author, environmentalist, wilderness expert HAP WILSON. Wonderful book, my favourite. Out of print but still obtainable from certain dealers. I found a copy online. Hap Wilson is a Canadian settled in Norther Ontario. From his early attempts to building a treehouse which infuriated his father, to his stumbling upon an abandoned cabin and restoring it.

bugs
Member
# Posted: 3 Nov 2010 15:14
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Hey RnR

Possum living sounds interesting. I have never had a 9 to 5 job for more than 3 months. There are pros and cons to doing it tho.

Ummm We kind of focus on the guide books for our shed: Mushrooms of N. America , Pond Life, Wildflowers of the Prairies, Roadside Wildflowers, Animal Tracks, Butterflies of Saskatchewan, usual birding books, etc etc. One of the better ones is Johnson etal Plants of the Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland. Great book for identification plus traditional medicinal usage.

MikeOnBike
Member
# Posted: 3 Nov 2010 15:59
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THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE, my teenage son has been bugging me to read his copy.

Fatu-Hiva - Back to Nature, Thor Heyerdahl
Great story about living in the wilds.

also by Heyerdahl:
Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft
The Ra Expeditions

"More Readings From One Man's Wilderness: The Journals of Richard L. Proenneke"
49mb pdf file

Gary O
Member
# Posted: 3 Nov 2010 21:32 - Edited by: Gary O
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Quoting: bugs
usual birding books,


We have some shelves of cabin building books, to maintain inspiratrion during back spazms, and at even tide, after NY Times crossword.

Also, the wife has read me some chapters of a book she's reading named Pioneer Women, by Joanna Stratton. Geez, what tough, grim people! Think I'd have gone back east after the first winter of wolves clawing at the door and ceiling of my dug out sod hole/house....... because the only food around is you......
The cover is indicative of their hardships. I really don't think she's gathering chips for a rousing game of natural frizbee golf.....

Birding books is next though. There's so many different sounds and sights from our sky and trees there. Looking for one of those books with sound and pix. A veritable 'see and say' book for old coots.
Beats going, "whazzat?" all the time.
Favoite bird sound is still the meadow lark.
One of you bird experts ought to start a thread on birding........

Gary O
Member
# Posted: 3 Nov 2010 21:33
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Pioneer Women
Pioneer Women
Pioneer Women


hattie
Member
# Posted: 3 Nov 2010 22:09
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My favourites are bird books, wildlife books, gold panning books, local history books, and I also enjoy really old books (ca. 1900) purchased second hand. I also LOVE leafing through repros. of the 1927 Sears House Catalogue (yup you could buy a house through the catalogue *grin*) and I have a repro. of an 1897 catalogue. On a snowy, winter night I love leafing through them with my cuppa.

islandguy
Member
# Posted: 5 Nov 2010 23:41
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I have read some really facinating memoirs, such as Homer Hickams "The Coalwood way" and "Rocket Boys." about growing up in a coal mining town in WV in the 50s and 60s. Later, made into a movie, "October Sky." (October Sky is an anagram of rocket boys.)

The book captures the towns growing realization the their coal mining way of life is under threat from foreign coal and and less dependence on coal as a fuel in the North American way of life.

I also highly recommend Robert Collins "Butter Down the Well." his memoir of life on a tiny Saskatchewan farm during the depression. So named for the habit of keeping butter cool by suspending it on a rope into the coolness of the family well during the heat of summer on the Canadian prairies.
Collins father was partially disabled by a German gas attack during the war, but refused any handouts because of it preferring to eke out a living on a tiny farm.
Collins himself remembered his childhood with such fondness, he tried to buy the farm and tiny house back from the farmer who later owned it, without success.
These are great "cabin reading"

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 12 Nov 2010 22:53
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speaking of books.Maybe someone would know about this cookbook i am looking for.It is by some old woman who has recipes for wild game.She has recipes for chipmunk patties.she was on like some show it seems with Katie Couric one time.Well,maybe it was not Katie but it seems it was.
This lady looked like an old hippy .i wrote her name down and carried it about for years and then i lost it in one of our moves.thanks so much.

MikeOnBike
Member
# Posted: 12 Nov 2010 23:28 - Edited by: MikeOnBike
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Quoting: cabingal3
chipmunk patties


Hmmm, this?

Elantu Veovode

http://www.amazon.com/Contented-Poachers-Epicurean-Odyssey-Wilderness/dp/1580085547

http://www.thedreammasters.org/elantu/index.php

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 13 Nov 2010 07:57
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thanks so much Mike.i am going to check it out.Gar brought it up to show me the picture of the lady.I saw her old.So maybe this is when she was young.If this is not it-its sure an interesting lady and book.going to investigate it more.
one book i think everyone should have is Carla Emorys country living encyclopedia.Now that is one interesting got to have book.

Vince P
Member
# Posted: 13 Nov 2010 09:57
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check this thread: http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/7_10_0.html
and this section of cabin builder's site: http://www.small-cabin.com/small-cabin-books.html

hattie
Member
# Posted: 13 Nov 2010 12:08
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Quoting: cabingal3
one book i think everyone should have is Carla Emorys country living encyclopedia.Now that is one interesting got to have book.


This is an AMAZING book! I got it a couple of years ago and I just love it. It is really pricey, but well worth it. Tell Gary O it would make a good Christmas gift. hint...hint. *S*

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 14 Nov 2010 21:31
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Hi all.well i had one copy of Carla emory encyclopedia that was one of her first i think.it was all different colors of paper and looks like it was copied out on a copy machine.I found it at a yard sale.
Then i got the other one in the early 70s.that thing is in shreds.it is the best book.Her bread recipe that makes 2-3- and 5 loaves is an old family standby.i would make 5 loaves of bread when all the kids were home ,2 times a week.and cinnamon rolls and pies.that book has so much of everything wonderful.
now i m going to the bookstore to look thru the book MikeonBike found to see if this is the one i am searching for.

RnR
Member
# Posted: 15 Nov 2010 10:24
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A friend has a cookbook on his coffee table that was something like the Pioneer cookbook or something, with all kinds of unusual recipes for squirrel pie and stuff. It was fun to read even if you weren't planning on actually using the recipes.

The posts here have been so interesting, and are making me realize I should get good bird and plant identification books. I wish I knew more about mushrooms too.

hattie
Member
# Posted: 15 Nov 2010 12:25
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RnR: I would stay away from wild mushrooms - even if you have a book to identify them, unless you have an actual expert with you to show you what is good or bad. Some mushrooms are extremely poisonous and look very similar to eating mushrooms. Be very careful!

RnR
Member
# Posted: 15 Nov 2010 12:43
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yes, I would not harvest any mushrooms unless I had first hand experience. I now there is a mycology group in my area, and I would definately join them for field experience first.

Thanks for looking out for us Hattie!

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 15 Nov 2010 21:08
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i use to pick mushroom s and cook and eat them for me.My family hates mushrooms.A lady in the neighborhood who had a mess of kids showed me which ones to pick.i picked for a while and then did not anymore.sort of scared myself.
i like to know about fungi.to maybe not pick and eat but just to know -like witches butter.its interesting to be able to know and identify things.
me and hubby are always forgetting to take both pairs of binoculars so we can identify birds.i have bird and animal books out at the cabin.i dont know if i should of taken them to the cabin cause i go to look for something and its gone and i look and look and then i remember...its at the cabin.

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 18 Nov 2010 15:01
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some books i have really enjoyed reading are;
the last american frontiersman by Elizabeth Gilbert
and the final frontiersman and this one is about Heimo Korth
then always the Laura Ingalls stories just for a homey kick.Her story about Mr.Edwards saves Xmas is the best story ever.
what about that 50$ underground house?theres always an interesting book.and any books about houses and cabins built in odd and unusual ways...i always want to do a cord house.so always love to look thru those books.

kbvalley
Member
# Posted: 20 Apr 2011 20:03
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Walden

smitty
Member
# Posted: 20 Apr 2011 20:07
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I bought Lemars book on simple solar homesteading.
Lots of info, it was a good read. Worth the price I think. Enjoyed it.

Youngster
Member
# Posted: 22 Apr 2011 12:00
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Though a very simple book... My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George...

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 23 May 2011 13:44
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gars book is out and published and ready to read.
its on amazon.
well it may be one to add to the cabin shelves.
i am so excited for him.hugs cabi3

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 21 Jun 2011 11:40
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right now i am reading...hellen and scott nearings book and it is called...
continuing the good life.it is excellent.

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 4 Sep 2011 23:23
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I know this sounds corny but i have the whole laura ingalls series i got for xmas years ago.
When we went to our cabin this weekend,i decided i would start and read the whole series each time i go to the cabin.I started reading little house in the big woods.Now i tell u-the stories are charming and lots of ole ways to do things we maybe would not think of or have to do in our day and age.
The story of ma ingalls slapping the bears behind cause it was dark and she thought it was her cow and needed milking.Now i think that even my grandsons would whoop it up on this story.such charming warm stories.

perpetualsummer
Member
# Posted: 21 Jan 2012 19:12
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Is "Walden" a must have?

manny
Member
# Posted: 21 Jan 2012 19:54
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Anything by Patrick Mcmanus.

wakeslayer
Member
# Posted: 22 Jan 2012 15:22
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Edward Hoagland On Nature

Borrego
Member
# Posted: 22 Jan 2012 19:35
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I'm starting the Jack Reacher series a friend recommended - I like action stuff. Another friend lent me the Log Of A Cowboy.....

Malamute
Member
# Posted: 22 Jan 2012 22:15 - Edited by: Malamute
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Cache Lake Country, by John Rowlands. One of the most relaxing and enjoyable books I've ever read. He lived in a cabin the the wilds of Canada sometime in the first half of the 1900's. He ran into an old Indian guy he knew when he was a kid, and another guy moved in a couple miles away also. They travelled by canoe and foot in summer, by snowshoe and hauled their gear by toboggan pulled by dogs in winter. It's arranged in chapters by the month, detailing many aspects of life in the Canadain bush, in a very easy to read style. Not exactly a "how to" book, but much to learn from his stories.

cabingal3
Member
# Posted: 8 Feb 2012 12:17
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well i am pretty excited.as i was digging thru my books and reorganizing them...i found jewels book about her growing up in Alaska on her dads 600 acre homestead.it is called...jewel,chasing down the dawn.it shows her brothers shane and atz lee and her mom and dad when young.i had forgotten i had this book.it always pays to go and dig thru things now and again.hee hee

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