Old-Time Country Wisdom and Lore for Garden and Trail

Covid 19 and all the unpleasantness surrounding it, has made many of us dream of being more self sufficient. Now, almost two years into a pandemic that seems to have no end, we are still suffering from breakdowns in supply chains that result in empty shelves at the grocery store. Here, readers will learn how to grow and preserve their own food, reducing waste, carbon emissions and pesticides. An informative and enjoyable read

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, fantastic tips to try, nature at her finest, along with memories of old wives tales and woodland advice., remembrance of bygone times. Long forgotten, but now remembered I will be trying them out again. A great collection.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

Such great information! It really helped my family with how we love to live.

I'm a fan of gardening and I loved old time almanac. This book was a pleasant read, informative and I loved the illustrations.
It was a bit hard to read in electronic format and I think I will buy a paper copy.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I loved this! It made me feel very much Barbara Good from the old BBC sitcom. I will definitely be buying these for my mother as a Christmas gift. So many fab hints & tips. Great book

Filled full of wonderful almanac information. Many old school hacks that I never heard of until now.

A book pretty much all about the outdoors (and about pretty much all the outdoors) that could easily leave you housebound with its welter of trivia, curious elements and esoterica. We start with weather lore, and despite lots of agreement about 'rain before seven, fine after eleven' and 'red skies in the morning' I cannot see this American book being dead accurate for the UK, or vice versa. Once we've been told what we can and can't plant, harvest or expect due to the phases of the moon and our star signs, and see a calendar of when migratory birds should turn up and leave, we get the feel this is a hunter/farmer's almanac, but we're soon back on the more historical side of things, being told the uses of all the trees and reminded of agrimony lemonade. Someone here has certainly considered the armadillo more than I ever would have expected (quails and small birds would thank you for them, as the ants the beasts eat only get on the gamebirds' nerves). This being such a sort-of Victorian advice book, there are no embedded links to buyanarmadillo.com, mind, so more fool me for not knowing a breeder of them.

All told this has to go down as a major success, however perfectly accurate (or not) all the advice is. How to make snowshoes, a large essay on water dowsing, and turtle soup recipes are all here – and that's the breadth you cannot mock.

Old-Time Country Wisdom and Lore for Garden and Trail is a reformat and re-release of almanac information from the 1970s originally written by Jerry Mack Johnson and edited/curated by Jeff McLaughlin. Originally released in the 70's, this re-release from Quarto on their Voyageur Press imprint 12th Oct 2021 is 176 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a wide-ranging collection of "Old Farmer's Almanac" type of wisdom and trivia. The tips and tricks are very roughly arranged thematically: nature trail (weather wisdom, moon lore, and water watching), flora & fauna (trees, flowers, creatures, birds, and bugs), and finally fishing hunting & leisure pursuits (fishing, hunting, and gear).

There are some good science based tips and observations included here but they are blended willy-nilly with old wives & farmers tales without regard to the veracity of any of the claims.

The graphics are simple with old fashioned monochrome illustrations and line drawings throughout. This would be a good selection for the smallholder's winter home library reading, allotments, fans of old farmer's almanac type publications, and similar.

Three and a half stars. It's of limited practical use, but will be enjoyed by people who remember the old almanacs fondly.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This has been an enjoyable books. All the different things they have put is very intriguing and things that will come to mind when needed. I appreciate the old-timers wisdom and being reminded of the simple living that was once here. Highly recommend to have for information you might not find anywhere else and all together.