Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Dec 19, 2007, at 5:25 PM, Robert Walton wrote:

> Funny that the last dates in that post are the 1970s. When I look at
> my library, I don't see anything written after the 70s. I guess my
> generation is conrtibuting by actions, but would be good to see some
> later contributions Maybe they are there and I am just misisng them.

It is far from an exhaustive list. The Whole Earth Catalog was  
followed by The Last Whole Earth Catalog, the Whole Earth Epilog, The  
Millenium Catalog and The Whole Earth Review magazine, which started  
life as CoEvolution Quarterly and became defunct in 2003.

My copy of Back To Basics: How To Learn And Enjoy Traditional  
American Skills, was published in 1981 by Readers Digest. Of note  
also are John Seymour's various books, including The Self-sufficient  
Life and How to Live It (2003). Those seeking helpful books will do  
well to look to Chelsea Books Publishing which, together with Rodale,  
is the publisher of many books related to self-reliance. Chelsea once  
published Gene Logsdon but he is now at Real Goods. His early books  
are most useful.

The Mother Earth News continues to be published, as does Backwoods  
Home Magazine, Countryside & Small Stock Journal and BackHome  
Magazine, which was founded by TMEN employees who were put out of  
work when Shuttleworth sold TMEN for such a high price that the buyer  
went bankrupt and when a big publisher bought it out of bankruptcy it  
was moved to New York City. One of my continuing favorites is  
Harrowsmith Country Life magazine, which is no longer published in  
the USA but continues in Canada. I get a pile of back copies when we  
visit our Canadian grandsons.

Poking around on my shelves I also find A Handmade Life: In Search of  
Simplicity, by William Coperthwaite, published by Chelsea Green but  
curiously without a title page. Amazon.com shows my hardcover edition  
as published 2003. It is modestly practical but highly inspirational.

So, Rob, do not lament the lack of new publications. We tend to be  
nostalgic for what spoke to us when we were finding our life plan  
but, while a diminishing portion of society, homesteading and its  
ideals persist in a large number of we Americans as well as many more  
around the world.