Gretchen’s Reading and Listening List

Below you can see my top books and podcasts related to homesteading as well as books that have helped to form my homesteading mentality and systems. I’ve gained so much insight, knowledge and inspiration over the years from these books and podcasts. Enjoy! You can also find my own ebooks that are not included here.

Some of these may be affiliate links.

Homesteading Books

• The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!
• Backyard Farming on an Acre More or Less
• Mini- Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 acre
• Backyard Homesteading: A Back to Basics Guide to Self Sufficiency
• The Homesteading Encyclopedia: The Essential Beginner’s Homestead Planning Guide for a Self-Sufficient Lifestyle 
• Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Homescale Permaculture
• The Holistic Orchard: Tree Fruits and Berries the Biological Way
• Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living
• Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills 
• The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals
• The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency

Real Life Homesteading Stories

• The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing’s Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living
• Old-Fashioned on Purpose: Cultivating a Slower, More Joyful Life
• A Bold Return to Giving a Damn: One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food
• Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
• The Growing Season: How I Saved an American Farm–And Built a New Life
• Finding Turtle Farm: My Twenty-Acre Adventure in Community-Supported Agriculture

Personal Growth and Development

• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Carol S. Dweck
• Atomic Habits – James Clear

Podcasts

• The Urban Farm Podcast by Greg Peterson
• Simple Farmhouse Life
• Pioneering Today with Melissa K. Norris
• Figuring Out Homestead Life

I add to this list consistently as I read new books and find new compost, so check back for updates.