Ideas for Gifts

All our books make fine gifts, but a few of them are particularly suitable.

If you're having a tough time choosing, we have a few collections to suggest.

• Of general interest, we have The A-Z Sewing Collection, The Child Sewing Projects Collection, The Cookbook Collection, and The Preserving Food Collection.
• For Eric Sloane, we have The Complete Eric Sloane Collection, The Best of Eric Sloane, The Eric Sloane Americana Collection, The Eric Sloane Early American Architecture Collection, and The Eric Sloane Weather Collection.
• For Wendell Berry, we have The Wendell Berry Essays, First Series, The Wendell Berry Essays, Second Series, and The Wendell Berry Fiction Collection .
• For our other agrarian writers, we have Joel Salatin on How to Farm, Joel Salatin on the Farming Life, The Eliot Coleman Collection, The Gene Logsdon Collection, The Whizbang Plucker/Scalder Combo, All Three Whizbang Gizmos, The Herrick Kimball Collection, and The Sir Albert Howard Collection.
• For fiction please take a look at The Janice Giles Ridge Collection, The Janice Giles Kentucky Collection, The Little Britches Collection, and The Wendell Berry Fiction Collection.
• Some other good writing will be found in The C.S. Lewis Collection, The Neil Postman Collection, The Elisabeth Elliot on Family Collection, and The Jacques Ellul Collection.

• A Foxfire Christmas. This captivating book of recollections celebrates the holiday traditions of Appalachian families as passed from one generation to the next. Based on Foxfire students' interviews with neighbors and family members, the memories shared here are from a simpler time, when gifts were fewer but perhaps more precious, and holiday tables were laden with traditional favorites. More than just reminiscences, however, A Foxfire Christmas includes instructions for recreating many of the ornaments, toys, and recipes that make up so many family traditions, from Chicken and Dumplings to Black Walnut Cake, and from candy pulls to corn husk dolls and hand-whittled toy cars.
• The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery. A 352-page, 500-recipe hardback cookbook for $9? Yes. More than simply a cookbook, The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery combines unpretentious, delectable recipes with the wit and wisdom of those who have prepared and eaten such foods for generations. Drawn from the wealth of material gathered by Foxfire students, this engaging volume evokes the foodways of a southern Appalachian community. Illustrated with photographs of the kitchens, people, and foods of Appalachia, this captivating collection contains more than 500 recipes.
• The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook. In the fields of America’s finest pasture-based farms, cattle, pigs, bison, goats, sheep, and poultry roam free, eating what nature intended them to eat. In this book, Cornell professor of sustainable agriculture and community development Shannon Hayes presents 125 recipes spotlighting the unique flavors and distinct characteristics of foods that come from animals raised on pasture. Discover how meat and dairy products are meant to taste through mouthwatering recipes for a wide range of pasture-raised meats and dairy products, including beef, bison, venison, veal, lamb, goat, pork, poultry, rabbits, and cheese. Hayes also discusses the nutritional, environmental, social, and animal-welfare benefits of pasture-based farming as well as simple strategies for finding and preparing grassfed and pasture-raised foods.

• The A-Z Handwork Instruction Books . We carry three excellent introductions to handwork: A-Z of Knitting, A-Z of Quilting, and A-Z of Embroidery Stitches.
• The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love. It is a good thing to revisit the traditions of yesteryear, to study and ponder them, and to revive the ones that can provide a valuable legacy for future generations.For example, A hope chest can provide not only a repository for a growing dowry but a treasure chest filled with memories of the past and hopes and dreams for the future. If you think it would be good to center your daughter’s training on the creation of a hope chest, Rebekah Wilson’s book The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love is a very good place to turn for ideas and inspiration on how to proceed.
• Mrs. Wilson has also written three books that center around projects for hope chests: The Running Rooster, Lucie's Snowflakes, and The Button Jar. And we sell kits containing the materials needed to make the projects described in these three books.
• Laura Ingalls Wilder Country. his is a very nicely assembled picture tour of the places and times described in Laura Ingalls Wilder's series of Little House books. A mixture of drawings from the various editions of the books, old photographs of the Ingalls family, and new photographs of places mentioned in the books as they exist today. Because Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote so plainly and evocatively about her life and times, these pictures will enhance rather than distort the images that are formed in the mind's eye as you read her books. Still, it is probably best to look at this book after having read the series; chances are good that time and again you'll say to yourself, "Yes, that is how I thought it would look."