Discover essential, hype-free steps to become more resilient for everyday living and common emergencies. Whether you are buying land and embarking on creating a homestead or living in an urban setting, Common Sense Preparedness will help you understand the basics of self-sufficiency. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of homesteading and preparedness, combining the best of old and new skills and modern technology. From growing your own food and medicine, to food storage and preservation, to planning for emergencies and more, you can feel confident facing common challenges such as natural disasters, rising food prices, and supply chain disruptions. Preparedness is more than survival--it's about freedom, responsibility, and resilience. It's not stockpiling for the end of the world, but instead building a life that's steady in a world that's not. Laurie Neverman of Common Sense Home shares her experiences, insight, and tips and tricks from her family's homestead so that you can create a life of abundance wherever you live. Chapters cover: Gardening and permaculture basics Food preservation and building a deep pantry Wildcrafting and foraging for food and medicine Collecting, storing, and purifying water Maintaining a disaster-resistant home Emergency hygiene, first aid, and waste disposal Developing a prepared state of mind And more!
Laurie Neverman is the creator of Common Sense Home (formerly Common Sense Homesteading). She was raised on a small dairy farm in northwest Wisconsin and worked in the family catering business as her summer job through high school and college. She has a BS in math/physics and an MS in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in renewable energy. Before coming home to raise her family, she operated the world's largest solar water heating system. Her gardening adventures include companion planting, wildcrafting (using weeds for food and medicine), vertical gardening, herbalism and permaculture. She hasn't found a wild edible she wouldn't try (including quackgrass wine) and grows over a hundred varieties of fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in her garden each year. She lives with her husband and two sons on their homestead in northeast Wisconsin. Visit her online at commonsensehome.com.
"Beyond survival, Laurie's deep dive into self-sufficiency will help you understand how to create a homestead that will thrive during any disaster--whether natural or manmade. I especially loved her information on ensuring that your home itself would be there to support you in hard times. So often, we look at what we are filling our pantry with, what we are growing or raising--but ensuring that our home systems are properly set up is also crucial!"--Victoria Pruett, author of Creating a Modern Homestead: Traditional Skills for Real, Everyday Life and creator of A Modern Homestead "I've known Laurie as a trusted online friend and advice-giver for many years--she knows what she's talking about. Her decades of experience coupled with her truly common-sense ways of creating a practical, functional, and prepared homestead make her the perfect author for this book. Now, more than ever, we need to attend to becoming as self-sufficient as we can. Not out of fear, but out of responsibility, community, and care for others in our respective circles. This book is a perfect place to begin your preparedness efforts. Choose one or two topics, and just start. Then continue making progress. Slow is better than none. There's no time like the present to get our homes in order. Plus, it's a great read!"--Heidi Villegas, author of The Homesteader's Guide to Natural Wellness; founder of Healing Harvest Homestead and the School of Botanical Arts & Sciences "In a world full of noise, it can be hard to sort out what's real and what isn't, or who's actually living this life versus just talking about it. I read this book with confidence because I personally know Laurie, and her entire family truly lives what she teaches. They walk the walk and generously share what they've learned so others can be better prepared for the 'what ifs' that come up along the way. This book is a great addition to your prepping library--not just for worst-case scenarios, but for real life. It's practical and focuses on skills you can actually use."--Amber Bradshaw, My Homestead Life "You don't have to be a 'prepper' to want a life that holds steady when the world doesn't. In Common Sense Preparedness, homesteader and educator Laurie Neverman shares a grounded, step-by-step framework for securing what matters most: food, water, shelter, sanitation, and peace of mind, without fear, gimmicks, or overwhelm. From building a better pantry and preserving the harvest to storing water, hardening your home, and creating a calm, capable mindset, this is preparedness you can use every day and depend on when things get rough."--Mark and Krista Lawley, creators of Practical Prepping
