Practical Self-sufficiency: The complete guide to sustainable living today

Description

Illustrated, step-by-step projects demonstrate how to achieve a more self-sufficient life from start to finish Find your route to a more sustainable lifestyle with Dick Strawbridge, of Channel 4's Escape to the Chateau, and his son James. Wherever you live - be it in a small terrace house like James or on a rural smallholding - this updated edition of Practical Self-sufficiency offers the nuts and bolts of off-grid living to anyone who wants to embrace sustainability. Practical Self-sufficiency contains invaluable advice on making the most of your own resources no matter where you live. This comprehensive guide to modern sustainability covers everything from how to conserve energy in the home, keep bees, and grow crops in an urban garden to recipes for smoking your own meat and fish, creating your own oat milk, and preparing your own greener cleaning products. Each project is fully illustrated and easy to follow, allowing anyone to try their hand at something new. With plenty of advice and anecdotes celebrating the importance and the satisfaction of a do-it-yourself lifestyle, Dick and James demonstrate that self-sufficiency doesn't have to mean upping sticks and living the "good life". By making a few small changes and learning the importance of sustainable living, we all have the ability to help the planet.

Dick Strawbridge's road to a self-sufficient lifestyle was documented in three series of It's Not Easy Being Green (BBC). He co-wrote the first edition of Practical Self-Sufficiency with his son James, and also It's Not Easy Being Green (BBC Books, 2009). His current TV project is the Channel 4's primetime Escape to the Chateau (March 2016), now in its sixth series. James Strawbridge, Dick's son, co-presented It's Not Easy Being Green and co-wrote the first edition of Practical Self-Sufficiency and It's Not Easy Being Green. James also co-wrote the Made at Home series on artisan skills (Octopus, 2012).