greenguru.org

The most complete resource on solar design for single-family dwellings. Accessible but authoritative. You don’t need to master all this if you simply hire a good solar contractor, however! But, it is good idea to get up to speed on the subject before you dive in, if you have the time.

An accessible, up-to-date introduction and reference. This book will take you all the way from beginner to power generation!

Many people talk idly about “getting back to the land,” growing their own food, and being “self-sufficient.” John Seymour did it, and is still doing it more than 20 years later. In this beautiful, fun to read book, he shows anyone how to do it, as well.

This is a winsome, inspiring book about home as healing space. As such, it is less a manual and more a meditation on elements of home design that foster nurture, sanctuary and healing. The pictures aong are worth the price of the book.

Post and Beam construction can be very “green;” it’s all depends on your wood sources, and what is chosen to construct the walls after the timber frame is erected. This is a time-tested, durable, artful way to build, and deserves consideration if you are contemplating a building project.

This is the book that “started it” for so many people. We frequently hear stories like ours about this book; how it stays out on the coffee table - fascinating, informing, challenging and finally provoking action. It is chock full of amazing information which has been refined and tested by mavericks and pioneers who have taken this road before us.

A must-have sourcebook on everything related to green building supplies and materials. If you are getting ready to build, you need this book. Even if you are planning to use a general contractor - even a “green builder,” this book will help you sort throught the maze of options from SIP’s to insulation, to windows, flooring, heating and cooling . . .

This may not be for you, but the greenguru is inspired by people and technologies that see new uses for old materials, especially when those uses involve simple, locally available materials, save money, and solve significant building problems. This is very interesting and very cool. If you use this information, please let us know about it. Better yet, post your papercrete story on this website!

Simple alternatives to the cleaning chemicals that we all buy at the store. You know, the ones we know are toxic, and that we say we are going to learn to live without someday. This book tells how to make a simple, relatively nontoxic substitute for most any common, commercial household chemical product.

If it can be grown in Texas, this book will give you the facts about how to do it. More an encyclopedic reference than a how-to manual, though. Worth having on the shelf if you love plants like the greenguru does.

With the help of this book, a few odds and ends from the hardware store, and an afternoon, you too can make high-quality biodiesel. You will feel empowered in the process; another green pioneer discovering that the solutions to most of the pressing problems of our time are within our grasp, if we would only educate ourselves and take action. If you don’t want to make it yourself, you are still a revolutionary if you drive over to Eco-Wise or (starting in April, 2006) King Feed in Wimberley, and fill-up your vehicle with zero-net-carbon emiting, home-grown-soybean based, farmer supporting, war preventing goodness!

This book explains rainwater collection so that anyone can understand it. We have the original edition, of which this is an update. It was part of the impetus for us to “go all the way,” and live in a rainwater-only house.

One of the common retorts about rainwater collection is that, uness you have a huge roof and huge tanks, you can’t collect enough to garden in texas. The greenguru says, “eau contraire;” you must simply learn to garden in a new way - with graywater systems, permaculture mulching techniques, careful use of shading and shadecloth - this book is about some of those ways that we must adapt and learn to live abundantly with our seasonal water allotment.

What a wonderful book! Equal doses of inspiration and information; this book will make you want to trade in your gasoline engine car and find a new or used diesel. Joshua Tickel is a true revolutionary and the greenguru is proud to include his wonderful book in her booklist.

In the “old days,” people were actually able to store vegetables and fruit between growing seasons, without any energy input. Root cellars were one of the secrets that made this possible. This book expains the rationale for their use and details construction plans, too.

Many consider this the essential guide to “bio-intensive” gardening. If you don’t know what that is, you should probably read this. As those in the know are now aware; you can grow lot’s more vegetables in a small area than you thought you could, using no chemicals and minimal fertilizer, if you simply heed some basic techniques of garden layout and soil management. This is a classic and should be in any gardeners library.

This book covers the essential information regarding virtually every sort of livestock one might care to raise. There is a movement afoot, not just in “the country,” but even in places like Austin, Texas; people are raising chickens, rabbits, sheep and goats and more - because they want to be more involved in, and have more control over their food choices. When you raise your own food - even part of it - you join an ancient tradition of taking control of and responsibilty for what you eat. Furthmore, children in households where animals are raised for food learn about stewardship of our planetary abundance, and a very deep sense of responsibility that probably cannot be developed in any other way.

A profound book about a growing movement; people choosing a simple (and sustainable) lifestyle, instead of the much-hyped, frenetic, dead-end lifestyle promoted by popular culture and the media.

While we did not become vegans, this book changed the way we look at food, our neighbors around the world and life in general. This book has changed a lot of folks’ minds about food and individual and societal choices. This is a great book-report book for high-school students.

This book has, in the relatively brief period since its publication, started a movement which is quickly gaining momentum. This movement is really a bridge between technologists and environmentalists and it aims to make peace between these factions so that we can harness all our creative power, together in the service of saving this planet and creating an “ecotopia” in the future.

The greenguru’s husband says, “if you read only one book this year, this is the book to read.” Says he, “this is the seminal book of the first decade of the twenty-first century.” Nuff said!

The permaculture movement is perhaps the most important in the world today in terms of assuring that there will be a viable planet for our grandchildren. The really wonderful thing is that permaculture is also incredibly fascinating to anyone who has ever gardened or landscaped. Fascinating, and also practical in ways that old-style gardeners never dreamed of. Imagine a truly lush and productive garden that takes care of itself!

The author of this book has courage in spades, and has probably written a book that is as scientifically correct as it is politically incorrect. This book taught me more about compost than I ever thought I wanted to learn, and I am the better for it!

Solar power is an elegant and ancient solution to so many problems. This book explores one of the simplest ways to make use of the free and abundant energy of our favorite star; preserving food with a solar food dehydrator.

Ever wonder “how they did it back then;” how folks made a life in the country without a modern King Feed store chock full of tools and labor saving conveniences. This little book, 75 years old and nicely reprinted, gives all the details, from creating carpenters tools to raising a barn, building farm implements and even constructing myriad labor saving devices for country life. What a neat little book!