Our Homestead Story: The First Years [Paperback]

STEPHEN B CASTLEBERRY (Author), SUSIE CASTLEBERRY (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Castleberry Farms Pr; First Edition edition (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891907026
• ISBN-13: 978-1891907029
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,978,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read!, March 16, 2009

By 

Sherry L. Grant - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Our Homestead Story: The First Years (Paperback)

This is a great book! Especially if you are just starting your homestead. But even if not, it will help you to realize that everyone makes mistakes and it's best to learn from them and not give up on your dream! It will make you laugh. I just finished it and my 14 year old son grabbed it and is half way through it already. He couldn't wait for me to finish after hearing me tell our other homesteading friends about it. Pick this up and many of the other books by the Castleberry's. This kids mystery series is awesome and we will be starting the courtship series with our older children soon too. I can't wait to start the sequel to Our Homestead Story!

1.0 out of 5 stars Superficial and Sloppy, November 28, 2011

By 

HomeSchoolMom - See all my reviews

This review is from: Our Homestead Story: The First Years (Paperback)

This book is superficial. What the Castleberrys call a 'homestead', I consider a hobby farm. Even though other people may think this book is great, I found it only to be a casual journal of their indiscriminate foolishness, with no imminent solutions.

It's as if this book is the result of trying to milk the most out of the author's 'homesteading' experience (Steve's real job is in marketing: it says so in the book). Sure, you may get a few laughs from it, but if homesteading truly is how it's described in this book, then I'm not keen on it. I did not buy this book for entertainment, but for serious and practical homesteading education.

I think that a more suitable title would have been 'Our Hobby Farm Story'. The Castleberry family's livelihood doesn't depend on their hobby farm. It is as if city dwellers decided to see what calamity they could trigger if they had a smallholding! They lack a sensitivity to the land. They do not consider how to responsibly care for their animals and the best way of running things, but use the 'jump off a cliff and see where we land' approach, and do the whole thing without any forethought whatsoever.

My opinion is that this book is badly written and does not have a suitable title. It doesn't say anything about genuine homesteading. I did not learn anything from it.

If you are hoping to use it as a study guide or an informative book about homesteading, it'd be better to do your own research or find another book. If you're looking for one volume, I recommend instead ' The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It ' by John Seymour. I have found James Herriot's humorous books much more informative, and have discovered a few gems in Pat Coleby's and Juliette de Bairacli Levy's books (available on Amazon). Sorry to disappoint, but this piece of trash just isn't worth it.

The punch line: I dislike this book.