Strauss - The hands-on home : a seasonal guide to cooking, preserving & natural homekeeping

P RAISE FOR T HE H ANDS -O N H OME :

Buy this book! Far beyond the realm of mere pickles and jam, Erica Strauss provides expert insight into everything we should have learned from our wise great-grandmothers. I am edified to learn that the sweat equity and creativity behind body soap, laundry soap, and a whole panoply of personal and home care products is just as important as the food we grow and eat. Season by season, room by room, Strauss is your skilled guide to a more holistic and healthy way to celebrate domestic bliss.

KAREN SOLOMON , author of Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and Asian Pickles

The definitive homekeeping guide for the 21st century. Like a modern Mrs. Beetons , its the perfect book for anyone wanting to reduce their consumption, eat better, and live more sustainably and seasonably.

MARISA McCLELLAN , author of Food in Jars

Strauss offers a kitchen-smart and eco-conscious guide for economical and creative home care that anyone will love. A great gift for just-marrieds, new home owners, or the DIY enthusiast in your life.

AMY PENNINGTON , author of Urban Pantry and Apartment Gardening

The Hands-On Home is the book that every household needs! It contains incredibly valuable wisdom that can help us minimize our consumerism and produce more of what we need, right in our own homes. Well organized with simple tips and recipes, Ericas engaging and witty tone will surely make the experience fun for anyone who wants to have a healthier and more abundant life!

JESSI BLOOM , author of Free-Range Chicken Gardens

Get your hands on this detailed guide to turning your home into a center of production. Erica Strauss is one of the foremost practitioners of the new home economics.

ERIK KNUTZEN , co-author of The Urban Homestead with Kelly Coyne

Reading Strausss handbook of modern homemaking is like having a very wise and funny friend at your elbow guiding the way towards a cleaner house, a healthier table, and a tastier pantry. With recipes for making everything from beeswax candles to divine homemade yogurt and tips on cleaning everything from soil-stained gardener hands to a greasy stove, Strauss proves that the road to a happy life is paved by taking pleasure in making and using simple things.

WILLI GALLOWAY , author of Grow Cook Eat

Copyright 2015 by Erica Strauss

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by Sasquatch Books

Editor: Susan Roxborough
Production editor: Em Gale
Hardcover design: Anna Goldstein
Illustrations and Lettering: Kate Bingaman-Burt
Photography: Charity Burrgraaf
Food styling: Julie Hopper
Copyeditor: Michelle Hope Anderson

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-57061-992-2
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-57061-991-5

Sasquatch Books
1904 Third Avenue, Suite 710
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 467-4300

www.sasquatchbooks.com

v3.1

To Nick ,

Id rather do nothing with you than everything
with anyone else, and everything with you most
of all. What something shall we do next?

As we live and as we are, Simplicitywith a capital Sis difficult to comprehend nowadays. We are no longer truly simple. We no longer live in simple terms or places. Life is a more complex struggle now. It is now valiant to be simple: a courageous thing to even want to be simple. It is a spiritual thing to comprehend what simplicity means .

F RANK L LOYD W RIGHT , The Natural House

Hows your home life? If you are like most Americans, the honest answer to that question is, What home life?

Statistically, our homes are larger per person than theyve ever been, and more crammed full of stuff than anyone a few generations ago could have dreamed possible. And yet, few of us spend much time at home. We sleep at home, and store things under our roof, and maybe, if we are very lucky, we have a job that lets us work from home once in awhile.