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Secret Greenhouse of Survival: How to Build the Ultimate Homestead & Prepper Greenhouse: Volume 2 Paperback – 9 December 2013

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 143 ratings

This is the ultimate sustainable homestead and prepper greenhouse, but purposely doesn’t look like it.Imagine a greenhouse that heats your home in the winter; and heats your water; that grows five times more food per sq. ft. than a hoop house; that provides food for you and your family all year long; where your food grows in 3 dimensions; where you never have to use fertilizer; where you never have to use pesticide, and where you can grow exotic foods (i.e. citrus or coffee trees in New England); that allows you to start seedlings in the spring; that hides your solar electric system; and that can house your small animals or incubate chickens and ducks. All disguised to look like a porch on your home, so that desperate and hungry passersby would have no idea that you have food growing there. This greenhouse does all that.This book is a simple, straight-forward, step by step approach to creating your own Secret Greenhouse of Survival, and it’s easy and cheap to build!Written by Rick Austin, the Survivalist Gardener, the author of the #1 Best Selling book in Garden Design- The Secret Garden of Survival- How to Grow a Camouflaged Food Forest.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1st edition (9 December 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 138 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1494417103
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1494417109
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 0.84 x 22.86 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 143 ratings

About the author

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Rick Austin
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I used to be a traditional apple farmer. And just like every other traditional apple farmer, I had acres of apple trees planted in rows and rows, with nothing but grass growing in between.

And just like every other traditional apple farmer, I spent a fortune on fertilizer and pesticide - every 10 days and also after every rain. Yet I still had wormy, scabby apples, just like every other farmer around me.

Little did I know then, that the grass in between the trees sucked up the same nutrients that the apple trees needed. And little did I know then that the pesticide I was using was actually making my apples a bigger target for the pests I was trying to get rid of. That is because the predator bugs that would have taken care of the pests, were dying from the pesticide faster than the pests!

I knew there had to be a better way.

The Secret Garden of Survival is based on years of research, experimentation and first had experince on using permaculture concepts in a homestead orchard, vineyard and berryfarm.

These techniques work- amazingly well- because you simply let nature do what it wants to do, instead of trying to force nature to do what man wants it to do. All without using fertilizer, and without using pesticide.

I have been asked to speak at numerous conferences to talk about my success, and I have been teaching people how to do this on their own homesteads. Many people have asked me to write a book on the subject, so here it is.

I tried to make the book easy to follow, and easy to read. I tried to make it short and sweet, so people can get down to the meat of the subject. I used a lot of color pictures and illustrations, even though my publishers said this was going to be expensive- I knew it would be better for my readers to actually see how this is done, and with a picture being worth a thousand words, I guess I have saved you from reading over 100,000 additional words, by supplying you with these pictures.

Aside from having been a farmer, I have also been a “survivalist” and a “prepper” -- long before they coined the terms.

So this is the perfect garden for someone who wants to grow food for their homestead, but doesn't want the world to be able to see it.

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
143 global ratings

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Top reviews from Australia

There are 0 reviews and 2 ratings from Australia

Top reviews from other countries

  • Happyolecamper
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on 9 April 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I found this book very inspiring, just what I need to do!
  • graham C
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2016
    Verified Purchase
    brill
  • koral
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very good for intermediate level
    Reviewed in Germany on 5 December 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Is a great book to motivate the skilled people. Not for beginners and not for advanced either.
  • a
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well-thought out process
    Reviewed in the United States on 20 November 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Superb book. Very practical, purposeful,and well thought out in his design of the greenhouse. Very good content. I appreciate being able to glean from another whom has already carried out the process. In fact, I too am currently building my greenhouse modeled after Ricks. Some ways to improve the book regarding layout would have been more of a "recipe list" format, (at least at the start of each chapter) that would make it easier to find the relevant details in each chapter, rather than in the conversation/paragraph format, when one is actually doing the building step-by-step.

    In some cases, he does explain the why he chose to use certain materials above others, whether sizes, quantity, or type. In other cases, he does not, and so that makes it difficult to know when I am having to substitute a material or thickness, how much will this make my greenhouse less efficient or more expensive/or less costly.

    Despite the fact that i am not typically a visual person, the detailed full color photos are an indispensable component of this how to book, since many of the materials to purchase, and layout of the greenhouse are not common like in a traditional greenhouse. So, I am glad to pay a bit more to have the critical photos to help me along in my building process. Rick, thanks for taking the time to put this book together to share your greenhouse idea.
  • Maui Nui
    5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding instruction and application
    Reviewed in the United States on 13 February 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Author explains in some detail how to go about construction of stealthy-ish G'house. If you have mid level carpentry skills, you can pull this off. This is an addition onto an existing home- not free standing. Excellent further advice regarding the planting phases too. No skills? Start learning now and/or make some friends!