The Weekend Self-Reliance Manual

I don't own a workshop. I own a drill. The photos show every step and every project tells you up front whether it's an afternoon or a month. I picked the afternoons. Three done so far.

After the boil notice last year I wanted a real plan, not a case of bottled water. The filter setup from chapter one took a weekend. It sits in the garage and I've stopped thinking about it, which is the whole point.

Every survival book I own tells you what to buy. This one tells you what to build and what it'll cost before you start. Root cellar is next spring.

She used to call it my doomsday shelf. Then the power went out in a storm and the fridge stayed cold because of the setup in chapter three. She asked what else was in the book.

I'm 58 and not remotely handy. The greenhouse frame took me two weekends with my son-in-law. Seedlings in it now. The parts list saved me three trips to the hardware store.

He just bought his first place with a bit of land. Easier to hand him this than explain it all myself. He's already done the rain catchment.

I have a shelf of these. Most are drawings and vague advice. This one has a photo of every step and tells you it'll cost sixty dollars, and it costs sixty dollars.

I'd been scared of pressure canning for years. Followed the pages exactly. Forty jars of green beans and tomatoes in the basement now and I didn't poison anyone.

Cabin has no line power. The small stove install and the heat shield from the heat chapter got us through February. Book was open on the stool the whole time.

Content is excellent and the photos are clear. It just doesn't lie flat on the bench, so I keep a brick on it. Still five stars for what's inside.

I'd watched hours of videos and still didn't get it. The book walks through a small panel, a charge controller and one battery, with photos of the actual wiring. Mine's running the chest freezer.

The first chapter is the simple builds and that's exactly where I started. Four done. Confidence is a real thing and this book builds it.

He's seventeen and glued to his phone. We built the rain barrel together and he did most of it. Best forty dollars I've spent this year.

Two outages last year. I'm done being the family that's out of water by day two. The water and food chapters are the plan now. Nothing dramatic about it.

Cost, difficulty and time on every page. I planned a whole season off that alone. Cheap ones first, the root cellar when I've got the weekends.

Read one project a night with coffee. Then built three. The book doesn't try to scare you, it just shows you what to do.

Took it to the property and worked straight out of the tailgate. The parts list on each project is exact enough to shop from.

I'm not handy and I've never built anything. The cold frame took me an afternoon. Lettuce in November. Nobody is more surprised than me.

A few projects assume you already have things like a bench vise. Otherwise every build I tried came out like the photos.

Wanted a backup for the freezer. Got that. Then built the drying rack and the smoker. Now the neighbors ask about it.

My eyes aren't what they were. The photos are large and the steps are numbered. I built the herb drying rack from the kitchen table.

I used to bookmark videos I never watched. This is the same knowledge in order, on paper, with prices. Doesn't need a signal.

That's the pace we settled on. One project, one weekend, once a month. Six done. The book makes it easy to pick the next one.

Fast shipping, well packed, exactly as described. Started the rain diverter the same weekend.

My mother knew all of this and never wrote it down. This is the closest thing I've found. Buying two more for my kids.

Some projects are marked hard and they are hard. I appreciate a book that doesn't pretend. Did the easy third first.

No lectures about the end of the world. Just here's the barrel, here's the parts, here's what it costs. Refreshing.

Compared to the price of one useless gadget this is nothing. Built the water filter for less than the book cost.

The coop project is good but I'd have liked more on keeping birds. Everything else was exactly what I needed.

That's the honest review. Built the two water projects and the freezer backup, and now when the wind picks up I don't think about it.

He built everything himself and never wrote a thing down. This is the book he'd have written if he had.

Followed the small system build exactly. Runs the lights and charges everything. The wiring photos are what made it doable.

Thick pages, color photos, nothing flimsy about it. Already smudged with dirt from the garden, which is how it should be.

Seventy projects and every one of them is something you'd actually build. No filler chapters. No history lessons.

He's retired and was bored. Now he's got a rain barrel, a cold frame, a drying rack and a smoker, and he calls me about each one.