Under the general topic of growing some (or all) of our own food, we have broken the larger topic down into several knowledge areas.  We think you should understand why growing your own food is a good choice to make, and so “Understand It” is our first general topic.  Following that, “Grow It,” “Save It,” and “Use It” will help you think about the critical topics of how to get food into the ground, how to get it out, how to keep it from spoiling, and what to do with it once you’ve got it on the shelf, in the freezer, or in the root cellar.  Introductory notes in each section will help you choose which books, publications or websites to read first.  We’ve included links in the text, so you can click for more information as you read. Some of the material that follows is fairly basic; other material is more advanced.

Don’t let something supposedly “advanced” keep you away.  Everyone has to start at the beginning.  We all did.  Whether you choose to grow food against possible shortages, or as an economic decision or as part of changing your lifestyle in healthy and rewarding ways, we hope you find this annotated bibliography of the books that have helped us will help you as well.  We’ve included full citations for each book, to help you locate them.