{"id":254,"date":"2024-08-08T15:45:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T15:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/?p=254"},"modified":"2024-08-08T15:45:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T15:45:02","slug":"book-review-extreme-simplicity-homesteading-in-the-city-epictactical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/?p=254","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW -\u201cExtreme Simplicity, Homesteading in the City,\u201d \u2013 EpicTactical"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Written by our contributing write Christopher Nyerges, \u00a0What an awesome book with commonsense details on living small in the big city. Worth a read!<\/p>\n

Of all the books I\u2019ve written, one of my favorites is still \u201cExtreme Simplicity, Homesteading in the City,\u201d which I wrote with my late wife \u00a0Dolores.<\/p>\n

Christopher Nyerges<\/p>\n

The book is packed with the details of how w purchased a very run-down house and how we proceeded to practice our self-sufficient lifestyle. We didn\u2019t know everything, and we were really on a low budget, but, step by step, we took action.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The book describes our efforts to practice \u201cliving lightly on the earth,\u201d even in the small suburban Los Angeles home.<\/p>\n

We describe what we call \u201cintegral gardening, \u201d using every bit of usable land, to produce food (for people and wildlife), medicines, fragrance, shade, and useful tools. We also raised earthworms, chickens, rabbits, bees, a goose, a pig, and our dogs in the back yard.<\/p>\n

We \u00a0take the reader along on our journey to installing a wood fireplace, solar water heating, and a solar electric system.<\/p>\n

Though there is much \u201chow to\u201d in this book, it is full of personal stories and rich reading of the learning we experienced along the way.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s really a timeless book that you\u2019ll enjoy reading, illustrated with both drawings and photos.\u00a0 You can get your copy from \u00a0Amazon, or from the\u00a0 Store at www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com<\/a><\/p>\n

SOME SELECTED EXCERPTS<\/p>\n

4 MAGIC WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. Never waste anything.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2. Continually improve your personal honesty.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3. Leave every situation or circumstance better than you found it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4. Tithe to the church (or organization) of your choice.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We know that these are genuine practical solutions. We have heard people say that they cannot make these efforts \u2013 such as tithing, or improving an environment \u2013 because \u201cwe are poor.\u201d Our perspective is that they have their reasoning backwards. They are poor because they do not engage themselves in the world in these ways. Logical thinking leads to erroneous conclusions when the premise is false.<\/p>\n

3 STEPS TO HOUSEHOLD ENERGY EFFICIENCY<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. You can do without some electrical devices.\u00a0 This will probably involve changing your behavior, for instance, thinking twice before switching on an electrical tool or appliance when a non-electric alternative will work just as well or better.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2. You can learn to use your existing devices more efficiently.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This step, too, requires changes in habit, but once you\u2019ve understood the extra expenses caused by inefficiency and waste, you\u2019ll feel good about it \u2013 plus you\u2019ll save money by practicing efficiency.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3. You can purchase new appliances that render your household inherently more energy efficient.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This step requires initial outlays of money, and in some cases higher short-term expenses, but with certain especially wasteful appliances, the best way to save energy and money is to immediately replace the old, wasteful model.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A CONVERSATION WITH VERNON<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 During an early morning conversation with our friend Vernon .. he remarked that the musical group that he played with would begin and end each performance with a lively rendition of \u201cLove Makes the World Go Round.\u201d Yet he always felt that this was very hypocritical, because it isn\u2019t \u201clove\u201d that makes this world go around, but rather fear. He explained to us that fear drives most people for decades to hold down regular jobs that they hate, because they \u201cneed the money.\u201d This, of course, opened up a whole can of worms \u2013 and led us into long discussions about the differences between \u201cneeds\u201d and \u201cwants,\u201d \u201ccost\u201d and \u201creal value,\u201d and about how it is rarely money, per se, that we need.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Vernon\u2019s view was that by letting fear control our lives, we are eternally cut off from the real magic of the world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by our contributing write Christopher Nyerges, \u00a0What an awesome book with commonsense details on living small in the big city. Worth a read! Of all the books I\u2019ve written, one of my favorites is still \u201cExtreme Simplicity, Homesteading in the City,\u201d which I wrote with my late wife \u00a0Dolores. Christopher Nyerges The book is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-survival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}