The Hands-On Home: A Seasonal Guide to Cooking, Preserving & Natural Homekeeping

I'm so impressed - not surprised - being a follower of nwedible.com as Erica does a wonderful job with her blog. I guess I just wasn't expecting it to be so big and beautiful and inspiring given that I thought I was well on my way to happy homesteading. Lots of amazing recipes and new things to add to my list of DIY stuff to try. My husbands first response when he started perusing the book was "quick - get the post-its - there's a ton of stuff in here we will want to cook". Actually, now that I think about it - he was the one that introduced me to nwedible.com in the first place when he bought me a stick blender for my birthday a few years ago so I could make Erica's "magic mayonnaise" with our chicken eggs. BTW - it IS magic - it got him off of the hook for buying me an appliance for my birthday! The look and feel of the book is just lovely - the pictures are gorgeous, the cover is yummy, and of course Erica's words of wisdom are extremely helpful, easy to follow, a pleasure (and a crack-up) to read. I am thrilled to have this in my homesteading library and I might add that I can't believe the price on this book. I'd have gladly paid $35 for it without batting an eyelash if I came across it in a bookstore and wasn't already a huge fan who, of course, pre-ordered it. The quality of the binding, photos and content are more than worth it - it's a steal at Amazon's price. Now I better take those tamworth pork steaks out of the freezer and get started on post-it number one - Pork Porterhouse with apples, sage and Dijon-bourbon pan sauce - yum!! or maybe the Moroccan-spiced lamb shoulder chops braised with quince. Decisions, decisions... (Oh, and in case you were wondering why I took so long to review it having pre-ordered the book - it was a gift from "Santa" - *wink *wink)

This is the best book I've read in a long time, in part because its full of tips that are not "old spouses" tales. Rather, Erica has done the work to explain the science and logic of the tip. And she is very vocal about tips that really dont work or are not true. For example I had always thought that browning all the sides of meat prior to roasting or slow cooking locked in moisture... turns out that's not true at all and its solely a flavor technique. Whats great about this book also is that it gets me excited to try new things and has opened my eyes to things I didn't even think about before. And frankly I am a pretty experienced homesteading type of person! But every single page of this book is packed with information. And its not just beginner stuff... its practical useful information for the experienced home keeper. She also had a lot of recipes which look delicious. Erica is a former chef and it shows. What I like about the book also is that its separated into seasons so you dont have to hunt for current seasonal recipes. The other thing i love is that the book itself feels great. Its thick and has a wonderful feel to the cover. I can tell this will be a book I go to time and time again. I haven't felt this excited about a book in a long time!

I have been a long time reader of Erica's blog, Northwest Edible Life. I live in Seattle, so it was great to read a blog about gardening and cooking from someone in my area. I too am a former professional cook, so every recipe she ever posted was a real treat to me. When she announced she was going to be writing a book I was super excited. I knew she would include some of the recipes from her blog, and she did, but there are a ton more in this book that are new, and sound amazing. Erica knows what she is doing and what she is talking about when it comes to cooking and preserving. As a former kitchen professional myself, I can spot a newb a mile away. Erica is for REAL. I have personally made her easy mayo three times in the last three weeks, (divine) I have made the Green Herb and Peanut Pork Meatballs (SO GOOD), and the Grilled Strip Steak with Chimichurri. Wow, chimichurri, why has it taken so long for you to come into my life?! I have also made the Lacto-Fermented Pico de Gallo, also very good, and very easy recipe. But this book is about more than cooking, it has a ton of information and recipes for personal and home care products. I recently got "into" essential oils, and have always hated using harsh chemical cleaners. I love how Erica explained the science behind what type of cleaner you want for what mess you are cleaning, getting into the ph and acid qualities. LOVED IT. I love how it just all makes sense. I am going to be making up bottles of my own cleaners, as well as shampoo, etc. Next up will be Preserved Lemons so I can make the Moroccan Lamb dish. Heck yeah.

I do not follow Erica's blog, but I heard her interview on the Living Homegrown podcast, and shortly thereafter I purchased her book. I am interested in a more natural lifestyle, but I also live in a city - so I felt unsure if the book would be a good fit since she lives on a true homestead. However, I have found that I would be able to take advantage of about 75% of the recipes in the book with a limited investments in equipment/supplies. Looking at the sample pages provided in the preview will give you a good idea of what recipes are included. You will see that the book is divided by season, and each season is subdivided by cooking, preserving, home care, and personal care. There is also a year round staples section. I’m focusing this review of a few things that you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at the table of contents. Normally I skim introductions and just jump into the book, but not only have I read the introduction, but have referenced it several times afterwards. She provides a comprehensive how-to for canning, lacto-fermentation, soap making etc. I was already familiar with canning, but I definitely needed the tutorials for the more advanced techniques! A few "gems" that I have found in the introduction include her food preservation calendar and a long discussion about developing daily and seasonal cleaning routines. Bets are if you’re researching this book, then you are likely to enjoy these sections as well. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of what I would consider bonus items like the essential oil blend recipes, and several recipe charts for salad dressings (20), fruit fillings for crisps or pies (7), and infused vinegars (9). Throughout the book, you will find helpful explanations on why certain things work. For me, I found this really invaluable. It gives more credibility to the recipes when you know that she took into consideration the proper pH level for your scalp/hair when recommending a shampoo and conditioner, or the acidity needed to remove mineral buildup. I have two reasons for taking off a star. First, the reliance on working with lye for soap and shaving cream. This is certainly one method – but there are other methods as well so it would have been nice to have options that didn’t require proper ventilation, face masks, industrial gloves and the risk of acid burns (again, I live in an apartment, so this is definitely not an option)! To be fair, this method only includes 3 recipes - so I will simply have to look for shaving cream/soap recipes elsewhere. The second reason was the number of recipes that require a pressure canner. As I mentioned in the beginning of the review, this falls into the 25% category that would require a significant investment. Overall – I would consider this book perfect for a person who has experimented with diy homekeeping and wants to take their skills to the next level. Happy experimenting!

The Hands-On Home by Erica Strauss is more than a cookbook, more than a DIY guide, more than a collection of exceptional garden-to-table recipes. This beautiful book is at its core a philosophy of living a thoughtful life--less consumerist, more self reliant, more in balance with the natural world. Erica Strauss is a funny, witty, hip, and engaging writer. She has a lot to say. Other reviews have covered the clever seasonal organization of the book and the matrix of content covering food preparation and preserving, self care, home care, etc. But this book is almost unique in the depth of its content. There is so much information here, so well presented, that this is destined to become a classic reference for the modern home. I expect to turn to The Hands-On Home again and again. Highly recommended. I am updating this review, two years after buying this amazing book. I turn to Erica's book again and again, making pickles, beaking bread, fresh salsa...but Hands-On Home is more than the recipes. This is a guidebook to living a more sustainable less consumer-market plastic world driven life. This is a gentle, funny, insightful manifesto. Read her text. It will change your life. Five Stars are not enough. This is the classic guide to homekeeping.

Having followed Erica's Blog for some time, I was looking forward to the release of this book. I am happy to report that it is even better than I expected. True to the spirit of Northwest Edible Life, The Hands-On Home is a pleasant mix of food, home care, and personal care recipes. Erica's competent and fun voice shines through, keeping the book interesting until the end. Most important, the book manages to stand alone and never feels like a regurgitation of old ideas from the internet. This has not always been my experience with books that originate from blogger roots. The book is also well bound and very nicely put together. As others have noted, it is liberally sprinkled with recipe photos and pretty enough to leave out on a coffee table for curious guests to flip through. While I am normally a fan of kindle books, I highly recommend splurging on the hardcover version of this book, you wont regret it.

As a long-time fan of Erica's blog northwestedible.com, I was a little bit wary when picking up Erica's book. Could it possibly be as good as her blog? Would it be as informative? As authentic? And most importantly, as funny? I should never have doubted Erica. Honestly, I probably won't try most of the food recipes in her book. I prefer vegetarian food and Erica is an unabashed meat eater. But for me, that's not the point. Similarly, I've been an avid fan of her gardening blog for years, even though she's a Pacific Northwest gardener and I live in Arizona, a completely different climate. But it doesn't matter. Her book, like her blog, transcends such differences. What truly inspires me about Erica is that she's constantly experimenting, trying to figure out the best way to get things done and she's not afraid to make a few mistakes along the way. This book is not only a list of recipes for food, cleaners, and lotions based on her successful experiments, but a guidebook on how to conduct your own experiments. When you are canning, what will cause you to die of botulism and what can you experiment with? How can you get creative when trying to keep yogurt at 110 degrees for several hours during the yogurt-making process? What cleaners are the easiest to make? How do you avoid the frizzies when making your own shampoo? Even better, Erica goes at her experiments with her characteristic humility and humor. It's easy to be intimidated by all her knowledge until she tells the stories of the first time she canned a Costco pineapple or bought chemical cleaners by the truckload. She wasn't always an urban homesteading diva. There's hope for all of us.

My pre-ordered a copy of The Hands-On Home by Erica Strauss finally arrived last week. I regularly stop by Erica’s blog Northwest Edible Life because I enjoy her writing style and humour, so I expected I’d like her book. Well, this was not the books I was expecting! I thought I’d be getting a floppy cookbook, instead I got a tome like the fluid mechanics textbook I used for years to hold up my computer monitor, and it’s pretty enough to go on the shelf with my pretty cookbooks. Likely it’ll join the pile of cookbooks that live on my kitchen counter that I refer to all the time (a pile my neat-freak husband kindly hasn’t tried to put away). The Hands-On Home is more than a cookbook extending into preserving, cleaning and self care with recipes fitting into each category. The book is broken down by season, so I started by trying out a couple of fall recipes. Cambazola went on sale last week and there was a red cabbage in the fridge, so I decided to try ‘Red Cabbage with Cambazola’ first. I was perfectly prepared to try a new recipe by choosing a day my husband was late getting home from work and my toddler was grumpy and hungry (she snatched most of the apple for the recipe right out of the bowl before it even made it into the pot). I had no red wine, and if I did I likely would have poured myself a glass instead of cooking with it. The cabbage was quickly ready and served beside some left over pulled pork harmony was restored to my house. The second recipe I tried was ‘Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Caramelized Apple and Cider Cream.’ This soup was a simpler squash soup than I normally make (tomatoes and coconut milk tend to find their way into my invented squash soups). The recipe had curry in it, and I prefer my squash to be curried. Like the cabbage, the soup was quick and easy to make – and it was tasty enough that it will likely be making a weekly appearance in my house for the fall. Finally, I was impressed with Erica’s discussion of cleaners. I’m now clear on when to use an alkaline based cleaner or a acid based one and I’m likely to remember now. After I use up the cleaners already in the house, I’ll try making my own. Erica has even inspired me to start thinking about cleaning up the bug mausoleum that’s been amassing in the light fixtures – a couple of my lights magnify the silver fish within creating quite a horror show effect. my full review is here: http://jeannettebedard.com/2015/10/14/the-hands-on-home-book-review/

写真が綺麗。文章もわかりやすい！！オススメです。

I love everything about this book. Really informative

Love this book. My copy is dog-eared as I have used EVERY recipe in this book - extremely unusual for me. This has become an important resource that I now couldn't do without. The author's voice is no nonsense, intelligent, down-to-earth and encouraging. Love Erica Strauss ... I miss her blog terribly.

Love this book! It's well written and insightful as well as nicely laid out inside. I was not disappointed with my purchase in any way.

Bought this as a gift for a friend. She says it is just wonderful and helpful. She can't wait to try the receipes and the photos are beautiful.