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The consummate home cheese making book, Home Cheese Making has been updated and revised to reflect the recently revived interest in artisan-quality cheeses and the availability of home cheese making supplies and equipment.

Discover 75 recipes for making your own cheese and other dairy products that require basic cheese making techniques and the freshest of ingredients, offering the satisfaction of turning out a coveted delicacy. Among the tested, step-by-step recipes in this cheese making book are farmhouse cheddar, gouda, fromage blanc, queso blanco, mascarpone, ricotta and 30-minute mozzarella. Recipes for dairy products include crème fraîche, sour cream, yogurt, kefir, buttermilk and clotted cream.

As the most comprehensive cheese making book on the market, Home Cheese Making also features recipes for cooking with cheese, including such treats as Ricotta Pancakes with Banana Pecan Syrup, Cream Cheese Muffins, Broiled Pears and Vermont Shepherd Cheese, Prosciutto and Cheese Calzones, and Grilled Vegetable Stacks with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.

Profiles of home cheese makers and artisan cheese makers scattered throughout this cheese making book share the stories of people who love to make and eat great cheese. Also included in Home Cheese Making is information on how to enjoy homemade cheeses, how to serve a cheese course at home, cheese tips, lore, quotes, a home cheese making glossary and more.

About the author:

Ricki Carroll is the founder of the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, in Ashfield, Mass., which has been offering cheese support and expertise since 1978.

Recommended Product for Wiser Living: Today, more than ever before, our society is seeking ways to live more conscientiously. To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, Mother Earth News is recommending books and products to readers. For 40 years, Mother Earth News has been North America’s “Original Guide to Living Wisely,” creating books and magazines for people with a passion for self-reliance and a desire to live in harmony with nature.

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For more than five years Stone House – A Guide to Self-Building with Slipforms has been the prime source for information on a unique method of stone masonry that affords everyone, regardless of their level of building experience, the opportunity to create walls and even homes of stone.

Stone House focuses on the story of author Tomm Stanley’s own experience of building his house with the slipform method. This book is certainly not your average “how-to” offering; it is more like a tapestry of information and entertainment interwoven with technical advice, diagrams and pictures, tales of the owner builder experience and as the title implies, plenty of guidance on how to build your own stone house using the slipform method of construction. It makes great reading for those that are on their way to becoming self-builders as well as the rest of us that dream of such adventures.

The book has now been revised with two new chapters, digital enhancement to the original images and new photographs.

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The Backyard Beekeeper, now revised and expanded, makes the time-honored and complex tradition of beekeeping an enjoyable and accessible backyard pastime that will appeal to gardeners, crafters, and cooks everywhere. This expanded edition gives you even more information on "greening" your beekeeping with sustainable practices, pesticide-resistant bees, and urban and suburban beekeeping. More than a guide to beekeeping, it is a handbook for harvesting the products of a beehive and a honey cookbook--all in one lively, beautifully illustrated reference. This complete honey bee resource contains general information on bees; a how-to guide to the art of beekeeping and how to set up, care for, and harvest honey from your own colonies; as well as tons of bee-related facts and projects. You'll learn the best place to locate your new bee colonies for their safety and yours, and you'll study the best organic and nontoxic ways to care for your bees, from providing fresh water and protection from the elements to keeping them healthy, happy, and productive. Recipes of delicious treats and instructions on how to use honey and beeswax to make candles and beauty treatments are also included.

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The Solar Food Dryer describes how to use solar energy to preserve your summer's harvest. With your own solar-powered food dryer, you can quickly and efficiently dry all your extra garden veggies, fruits and herbs with free sunshine and enjoy their goodness all year long! Solar food dryers perform amazingly well under a wide range of conditions, working effectively in almost any climate where you can grow fruits and vegetables. As a bonus, solar food drying is a great way to learn about solar energy and experience the incredible power of the sun — as well as being a great deal of fun! The Solar Food Dryer includes everything you need to get started:

• Complete step-by-step plans for building a high-performance, low-cost solar food dryer from readily available materials
• Solar energy design concepts
• Food drying tips and recipes
• Resources, references, solar charts and more

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This 241-page book helps you evaluate the housing needs of your animals and provides dozens of adaptable plans for sheds, coops, hutches, multipurpose barns, windbreaks and shade structures, as well as plans for essential equipment.

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Skilled lumberjacks Frank and Stephen Philbrick show you how to bring a tree from forest to fireplace. This is your complete guide to bringing in wood, from felling the tree, to splitting and drying the wood, to stacking and burning. The father and son duo will give you detailed instructions on managing a woodlot, felling and bucking, splitting and stacking, and even include fun facts on burning wood.

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Chicken coops come in all sizes and styles to meet the needs of every chicken family. Start a great DIY project, and build a chicken coop with these how-to drawings and conceptual plans for 45 different designs — from strictly practical to flights of fancy — guaranteed to meet the needs of every chicken owner. A 16-page color section shows detailed photos of many of the featured coops.

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We've assembled the 101 most-read DIY projects based on website traffic, and now we're making them available to you in an easy-to-use CD-ROM format, just like our popular Mother Earth News Archive on CD-ROM.

Selected from nearly 40 years of material, this collection provides enough fun, rewarding projects to keep you busy every single weekend for a full year!

Learn to build a:

• tomato cage
• solar food dehydrator
• solar heat grabber
• cider press
• hot tub
• pipe xylophone
• home office desk
• super-efficient fireplace
• And more!!!

• With an IBM-compatible computer: Microsoft® Windows 98 SE (Second Edition) or newer; with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 or newer. You also will need Java Virtual Machine (VM) version 1.3 (free download from www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp) or newer browser plug-in with Java enabled on your browser and computer.
• With an Apple Computer: Mac OS X with Safari 3.2.525.27.1 or newer and Java. Use the Software Update feature (available on the Apple menu) to check that you have the most up-to-date version of Java for your Mac.
• For Mac OS 9.2.2, this CD must be run in Netscape 7.0.2 with Apple MRJ 2.2.5. (Both available free from www.versiontracker.com.)
• A CD-ROM drive (auto-start should be enabled).

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In a tight economy, this book offers clear financial benefits by helping homeowners immediately cut their utility bills. Many of these smaller home improvements require only a modest investment, and give readers an edge when they sell their homes: Buyers are looking for energy efficiency, and they are also tuned into green health and environmental concerns.

The book's projects include quick and easy, low- or no-cost tasks — like insulating a water heater, sealing foundation cracks or painting with insulating paint — as well as bigger-ticket items, such as installing a new energy-efficient heating system, windows or green flooring. The more than 65 "Go Green" tips highlighted throughout the book give readers ideas to make their homes and lifestyles greener.

Projects include:

• Green flooring and paint options
• Environmentally friendly cabinetry and countertops
• Whole-house insulation and weather-stripping
• High-efficiency heating and cooling
• Water conservation
• Efficient lighting, appliances and plumbing fixtures, including Energy Star and WaterSense models
• Solar electric and water heating systems
• Eco-friendly roofing and siding
• Energy-efficient windows, doors and skylights
• Green materials for patios, walkways and driveways
• Landscaping and irrigation for water conservation and energy

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Mother Earth News: Guide To Home Energy Savings

You’ll save money on home energy bills for years to come with this convenient collection of recent articles from Mother Earth News! The Guide to Home Energy Savings filled with information on solar heating options, plus natural ways to cool your house. If you want to heat your home for free, you can find instructions for building a DIY solar heating system. And if you’re planning to remodel or build a new home, the Guide includes articles to help you make your home super-energy efficient by tapping the free energy of the sun.

Considering new, energy-efficient appliances or windows? Maybe even heating with a woodstove? Learn what you need to know to spend your money wisely. Including a 3-page directory of more resources related to solar energy and energy efficiency.

This is the downloadable e-book version of the Mother Earth News: Guide to Home Energy Savings Bookazine. To order a print copy by mail, click here.