Good Reads

It's always good to relax with a book but I find that in the summer I seem to want to read even more! I love books! I would love to have a little bookstore with a little cafe where I could sell homemade treats and have live music. So I thought I'd share a few homemaking and gardening books with you in case you're looking for some new summer reading.

One of my favorites is "Home-Making" by J.R. Miller. which I got from Vision Forum.com but it seems they are out of stock right now. It's also available through amazon but for some reason it's titled "The Family" even though it's got the same cover as mine. It's also available online free here, if you'd like to have look before purchasing. It was originally published in 1882 and it's not a how to take care of a home type book. It's more about the relationships between people in a home - wife and husband, parents and child and how each plays a particular role in creating a lovely home life. It's so beautifully written! Here's a snippet:

"Love may build its palace of noble sentiments and tender affections and sweet charities, rising into the very clouds, and in this splendid home two souls may dwell in the enjoyment of the highest possibilities of wedded life; but this palace, too, must stand on the ground with unpoetic and unsentimental stones for its foundation. That foundation is good housekeeping. In other words, good breakfasts, dinners and suppers, a well-kept house, order, system, promptness, punctuality, good cheer - far more than any young lovers dream does happiness in married life depend upon such commonplace things as these."

I just finished "The Backyard Homestead" and really enjoyed it! She has drawings of what you can do with 1/10 of acre, 1/4 of an acre or a half an acre. Great gardening and extending the season tips, cidermaking, drying fruits (which you don't really hear too much about), herbs, growing grain, keeping chickens, making sausage and lots more. It's good to learn and research these things even if don't have the space or time to do them yet!

I always look to see what people have on their bookshelves! Do you? When I'm looking at a picture in a magazine and they have books on the tables, I always try to see the titles! I tried to place most of the books shown in this post in the Amazon widget to your right, but I'm still working on it - it's easier and faster than me talking about each book.

Have a great weekend everyone!