Customer Reviews

Living on the Earth: Celebrations, Storm Warnings, Formulas, Recipes, Rumors, & Country Dances

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After waking very early this very morning, I started to read Living on the Earth and was halfway through by breakfast. While I had considered a hand-lettered book to be more difficult to read, I could not have been more wrong.

The hand lettering brought a sense of comfort and the contents reminded me of my childhood in Africa. If you lived in a rural area during the 60s and 70s, many of the items in this book will be very familiar. If you love handwritten letters from friends, then this book will quickly find a place in your heart.

So, there I was stirring a 5-grain oatmeal mixture for breakfast and I looked down and caught a glimpse of my painted toes reflecting in the glass oven door. Suddenly I was transported to the years of my childhood where we build our own tree houses, watched carrots grow, milked cows, raised chickens, learned how to sew, experienced tick bite fever and snacked on friendship cake while walking barefoot on the warm earth.

Living on the Earth is an enchanting read filled with lyricism and whimsy. It is written in a spontaneous style and the topics range from soap making to building rocking cradles out of barrels. Alicia Bay Laurel has illustrated the entire book and it is a completely personal experience.

Some of the highlights include backpacking tips, making hammocks with macramé, making your own soaps, sewing peasant blouses, making your own moccasins, and building a kiln for making pottery.

There is also information on how to make candles, bamboo flutes, bean bags, clothing, rose petal jam, organic diet soda, vanilla extract, dried fruits, nut butters, ice cream, sunflower milk, miso, roasted soy beans, smoked fish, bread, beef jerky, sour dough starter, steamed acorns, plum pudding and herbal tinctures.

As I sit here with my lovely cozy heated blanket and fluffy slippers I can dream about living out in the wild as my washing machine swishes about with the Seventh Generation laundry soap I recently found at a health food store. This book has many ideas you can incorporate into your normal home life. You don't have to live in a commune to enjoy the information about essential oils, nature-inspired products or environmental issues. The author recommends things like hemp paper and explores the many uses of apple cider vinegar and pumpkin seeds.

To say the least, I was intrigued. This is definitely a must-read book for everyone interested in natural remedies. There are recipes for making herbal tinctures and you may find yourself looking for "myrrh." If you love to cook you may be intrigued by the recipe for Plum Pudding.

Alicia Bay Laurel is writing a modern sequel for the global family. "Still Living on the Earth" will be published in 2005. This book was updated in 1999 and is filled with useful addresses and websites. I loved the list of "more books that are still valuable 30 years later!" A helpful index completes this fun guide to living on the earth.

I loved reading this book! While reading you may find yourself becoming nostalgic, enthusiastic about hiking or even making lists to buy a variety of herbs.

~The Rebecca Review

While the 60's are often represented as a time of turbulence and decadence, there are glimmerings of peaceful co-habitation that rise to the surface like cream on an old fashioned bottle of milk. "Living on the Earth" is one of the positive representations. This book is FULL of information; from ways of worship to dealing with your fellow man - and in an era when politics and religion are taboo subjects! I am deeply reminded of Henry David Thoreau's "Walden", with one exception. Philoshophy aside, Alicia Bay Laurel"s book puts it all into practice! For God's sake: somebody reprint this book!

This book is illustrated by the author in simple line drawings. She draws knowledge about communal hippie living from many individuals and acknowledges them in her book. They give specific directions on how to build your own shelter, dig a proper latrine, grow your own food, sew your own clothing, and live harmoniously on the earth with your fellow humans. These lessons taught by Alicia Bay Laurel and her friends should become part of our American oral tradition. People of all generations can benefit from the author's childlike perspective on simplicity.

What an amazing book. I found it at a used book store a few years ago. The line drawings are beautiful,and the recipes and crafts on each page are easy to make. This book makes me want to go live in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere every time i read it! It's a definite YES for anyone who is into making their own "stuff".

i found this book as a young teenager up on a shelf. it was my mother's, left over from HER hippie days. i took up the reading as well as practicing of the book and have become a better person for it. this book should be read by all. it is so simple and yet beautiful and eloquent. i highly recommend it.

I discovered this book in a book store about a week ago. It was $18.95 and sold out! I went home to Amazon and found them here for $5.99!! I bought 15 copies for X mas presents and a few just to have for emergency purposes. This book is not only filled with amazing ways to live a better life here its also filled with beautiful illustrations. This is one book I will use forever and pass on for generations to come. No matter if its 1969 or 2069, this hippie bible will always come in handy!

Amazing to think that she was a teenager when she began writing this "Bible" of natural living. Not only does it still hold up after 30+ years...but it makes even more sense now in the 21st century.
I would give it to my children or grandparents with equal enthusiasm.
Alicia Bay gets the ultimate hippie chick award!

I have found this book to be a very charming book and one that any person who really cares about the earth, and the possiblity of living at one with it in harmony should indeed read. From making your own soaps, to making your own shelters, it covers topics of living in peace and harmony. Many forgotten things are covered and tips and hints for cooking and canning that might be lost otherwise. The handwritten pages and wonderful drawings are beautiful, and just lovely to cherish for years.

This is one of the best books EVER written. It has helped me to survive and thrive on this Earth and gives me advice on practically anything I need to know! Perfect for those who need to settle down and be more in tune with their bodies and Mother Nature. Alicia Bay Laurel is an amazing artist, activist, and author that I look up to much indeed.

I was on my way into Toronto and my car over heated leaving me stranded for some time to look at secondhand bookstores, i started looking for the bell jar, they didnt have it so i went to the occult section i found a book called Being of the sun, by Alicia as well... very interesting, talking about appreciating foods, choowing your food, i bought it and found that it was a sequal, so the same day i headed to the store to get Living on the Earth,,,, i am sure that this is a great bible for the earth! a must read if interrested in bohemian life, wicca, or just hippy sensations,