A Trip to the Library

On a trip to the library Thursday, we brought home some books that speak a lot to where we are and where we’re going.  Our list of books includes:

Build a Classic Timber Frame House

The Art and Craft of Stonework

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Living

The Craft of Modular Post and Beam

The Antique Tractor Bible

The Scythe Book

You can probably guess that the timber frame, stone and post and beam books relate to our house/cottage/whatever to be started and hopefully enclosed this fall.  Truth be told, we’ve read these books before and are now re-checking them to clarify some points.  We also own books (yes, plural) on these subjects that have been referenced and re-referenced and are now being re-read for the third or fourth time in some cases.  It pays to be prepared when taking on a project of this size!

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Living is more for pure review.  We often talk to people who are interested in learning more about the kinds of things we do (growing food, being more self-sufficient) so we keep our eyes out for good general reference books for beginners.  We’ll look through this one and see if it makes the list.  Carla Emery’s original Encyclopedia of Country Living is a reference we go back to often, so if this one lives up to that it will surely be on the list.

The antique tractor book is more of a concrete guide at the moment.  We have a 1949 Ford 8N tractor on our driveway that needs a little bit of work to get going again.  Specifically, it needs a new battery, new front tires and new brakes.  We’re hoping that we can glean some key details from this book to help us bring it back to life.  It will then become a great help on the farm as we start building.

Lastly, the Scythe Book.  This, more than some of the others, tells about where we want to be.  The scythe in many ways represents a return to a different kind of farming.  It is an elegant and multipurpose tool that requires attention and care.  It repays its owner with the kind of elegance that few tools can match.  It is also the anti-tractor, anti-engine, anti-hurry-up-and-go-go-go tool.  You cannot speed a scythe.  You can only step through the grass as fast as the scythe can cut it.  You can only do the work at its own pace and let the rhythm of the tool and the job take over.  It is farming the way it used to be.  It is also farming the way we want it to be again.  We have 2 scythes on order (shipped on Tuesday, should be here any day now).  With these tools, we hope to take a very concrete step toward our own independence as well as gain some key functionality we are currently lacking (i.e. we have no good way to cut down the 8 acres of weeds and overgrown grass on the farm).  I’m sure there will be other posts about the scythes when they arrive and as we use them.  For now though, we are reading up so that we’ll be ready when they get here.

So in case you’re wondering what we’re up to when we aren’t working on the farm, we’ll be curled up with one of these deep in thought about how to apply it to our soon-to-be lives!