Table of Contents
PRAISE FORLEMONS AND LAVENDER
Billee Sharp set up an almost entirely self-sufficient household in which coughs and colds call for honey-sweetened cayenne infusions and oatmeal baths ease poison oak...In this era of unanswered healthcare questions, thats good news.
East Bay Express
Billee Sharp pointed out, the more extravagant the gifts, the harder the parents must work to provide them, resulting in less time spent with their kids. Lavishness, in this sense, becomes empty compensation for a shortage of available love.
San Francisco Bay Guardian
You neednt be a tree-hugging hippie to enjoy some of Sharps tips. She provides advice on saving a cell phone that has been dropped in water, and offers websites for downloading free music legally. You will even find a section dedicated to party games From gardening tips to recipes for baking bread at home, youre sure to find a gem of practical wisdom that sits well with you.
Sacramento Book Review
This book is a great reference book/reminder for the knowledgeable, already experienced environmentalist and even better for beginners. In addition to all the information in the book, there are great online sources and websites listed throughout and an index of sites.
Fresno Book Review
Five minutes into this book, I was hooked. Even though Im a frugal-savvy gal already, I still found plenty of new ideas, websites, crafts, recipes, and some reminders of things I knew but needed a kick to get into gearA step-by-step handbook to revolutionizing your spending habits and reclaiming your quality of life. The book holds up to this promiseand in a time where we all need as much help as we can get, its empowering to be able to claim your self-reliance, save money, and make a positive impact on the environment!...Everyone will benefit from this fabulous guide!
Country Bookshelf blog
It is like a little holistic handbook for your life that just happens to be centered around food. The tone in this book is just plain upbeat, positive, and really good.
Retail Therapy Lounge blog
A warehouse full of inspiration for whatever will ultimately blaze your own trailBest thing about it: the happy collision of hippie and techie.
Bitch Magazine
The book is divided up into seven chapters with a little bit of fix, make, grow, and bake in each section. Its also an easy read as each chapter is further broken down into stories, ideas, tips, notes, recipes, lists, etc. Its a perfect bedtime read as the book is small, easy to hold up while lying down, and the short bits allow you to read only a little, without missing a thing, before drifting off.
The Lucky Yogini blog
I recommend this book. Its thoughtfully written and you wont end up feeling like a penny-pinching miser in some hippie gulag, but rather like an environmentally aware superstar who coincidentally has a very clean home, better skin, and the information a person needs to revive their cell phone if it takes an accidental swim. Tip o the trowel to Billee!
Pennsylvania Garden blog
In this DIY guide to the good life, readers learn how to edit their lives, since in the long run, less is morepedal now or paddle later! Readers and their families can live more joyfully and far more creatively, all on a dime. The best things in life are freeor very nearly freeand author Billee Sharp shares her freecycling, budget-savvy, barter-better wisdom.
The Thrifty Things blog
It is one of those books you have to attach post-it tabs to as you read in order to go back later and quickly find something you read before that was useful. Why? Because the entire book is filled with advice, recipes, money saving tips, green living tips, fun things to do with the kids, and even helpful gardening tips.
OrganicTaste blog
There are so many things in here that I really wish I had known in those first few years of marriage and living on my own! It includes everything from how to fix a toilet leak to how to grow your own lettuce and so much more.
Turning the Clock Back blog
The book is really about reframing the way you think about what is considered quality in life. The best things in life truly can be free (or low cost) and the book explains why. I have felt motivated to implement some of the suggestions in the book as I am always looking for ways to save money! I have decided to take one suggestion a month and fully implement it to see how much money I can save!
Cake Mom blog
From creating your own cleaning products to growing organic vegetables, this book covers it all. The emphasis is on self-reliance, sustainability, and the all-important saving a buck. Billee has found a way amongst the tangible suggestions to weave a subtle life lesson regarding living lightly, focusing on our passions and people.
Healthy Holistic Living website
There is not a single page in the book that I didnt have an a-ha! moment or find some useful tip or website/organization that could make me an even Greener Greenie. With resources out the wazoo and enough recipes for homemade cleaners and meals, I dont think this book can live on my bookshelf; it must be stored in the kitchen as a reference guide! I think there is a new authority in town on Greening up our lives and it is Billee Sharp!
Green Leaf Reviewer blog
If youre considering downshifting, want to improve your quality of life, or simply want to consume less and create more, then this book is well worth reading. It is inspiring with great suggestions to get your creative juices flowing and by the end of it youll view your resources differently and be on your way to self-reliance.
Little Green Blog
FOREWORD
Marriage, motherhood, multiple careers, wise forebearsa stonecutter father, a kitchen-wiz mother, and hardworking, victory-garden-growing grandparentsalong with the serious study of sages from J.R.R. Tolkien to Stewart Brand have conferred several lifetimes worth of wisdom upon Billee Sharp, who can make piatas, cure cold sores, and fix leaky faucetswithout spending a dime. Socially aware, eco-conscious citizen that she is, Sharp pays it forward in Lemons and Lavender, a handbook packed with inspiration, ideas, and handy how-tos for every room in the house. From crafting techniques to bath-salt formulas, its so engagingly written that even the staunchest procrastinator or toolophobe will be coaxed to snatch up shovels, stencils, screwdrivers, and sangria recipes, transforming wardrobes and lifestyles in the process.
Whether youre a diehard DIYer or new to the fold, Billee Sharp is exactly who you want in your (handpainted, rag-rugged, borax-cleansed) corner. As she so eloquently reveals in Lemons and Lavender, shes not only the cheering-squad pal you wish you had; shes also your friendly neighborhood philosopher, career counselor, financial planner, political activist, party organizer, plumber, art instructor, healer, herbalist, beautician, travelagent, decorator, gardener, psychologist, and chef. She describes herself as a committed daydreamer. But if self-reliance, independence, and the saving of oodles of cash is the result, then the president should appoint a daydreaming czar. I know whom Id nominate.
