Advance Review: “Making It” by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen

The publisher of Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World was kind enough to send Grown in the City a pre-release copy of Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen’s new book. After reading through, I’m happy to report that it’s a worthy addition to any urban homesteader’s bookshelf, especially those who are just getting started.

While Knutzen and Coyne’s previous book, The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City (which was also at the heart of the Dervaes trademarking controversy) covered many of the basics of the urban homesteading lifestyle, Making It takes a different approach – it’s a detailed “recipe book” of sorts for those looking to reduce their impact on the environment, use less consumer products, and (as they claim) even save some money. I can’t attest to the saving money part, because although I’ve dog-eared some pages, I haven’t tried any of the projects yet.

Making It is organized in a user-friendly manner – there are five sections, each of which is organized by timeframe:

• Section 1: Day to Day
• Section 2: Week to Week
• Section 3: Month to Month
• Section 4: Season to Season
• Section 5: Infrastructure

Here’s an idea of some of the types of projects in each of the five sections:

• Section 1: Day to Day – olive oil lamps, alternative toothbrushes, hair rinses, and her and fruit infusions
• Section 2: Week to Week – vegetable stock, homemade condiments, and one-bowl meals
• Section 3: Month to Month – DIY cleaning products, salting for preservation, indoor gardening, and herbal medicines/beauty products
• Section 4: Season to Season – home gardening projects (seed starting, espaliering trees, planting beds) and fermentation (making vinegar, mead, and beer)
• Section 5: Infrastructure – large projects such as composting, building a dry toilet, and bee keeping

Koyne and Knutzen open the book with five principles of “making it”, which I think is a pretty good indication of the laid back and conversational – yet authoritative tone that the book takes: Start by trying one project in this book and build from there, slowly; laugh at your mistates; follow your intuition; trust nature; and keep learning. The conversational tone is sprinkled throughout the book with back and forth conversations (they resemble a gchat…or AIM chat for those of us who remember that) between Kelly and Erik about various topics, which I found endearing — for example, where Kelly ribs Erik about how obsessed he is with his sourdough starter.

Positives: I think one of the best things about this book is the simplicity and variety of the “recipes.” I’m calling them “recipes” because that’s how the projects are presented, which I think is quite a good move. Each project has an overview paragraph, a section called “You’ll Need” (which I would equate to the ingredients), and a section called “Putting It Together” (the instructions.) Each project is presented this way, which makes for quick reading and comprehension (I finished the entire book in about 3 hours).

In addition, the book’s design is a nice balance of commerically produced (nice acid-free, sturdy, paper, and a nice perfect binding) with simple hand-drawings. I’m not sure who Tiera Johnson, the illstrator is – the drawings are extremely well suited to the book, but you may think your child can do just as well…and maybe that’s the point – it’s a very accessible book.

Negatives: I love the blue ink that they used in printing, but I couldn’t find anything in the folio about its toxicity. I am going to trust that it’s a good quality non-toxic ink because Rodale says that they make the effort to use recycled paper.

In addition, it would have been great if this was spiral bound so you could lay it flat as you’re working on a project, although I understand why they chose not to (it looks much more professional as a perfect-bound book).

Finally, while there were many projects I’m itching to try (homebrewing, making kimchee, pickling, etc.) there are some projects I probably won’t ever use (making shampoo) or already know how to do (baking bread). Your individual mileage may vary, so it’s worth checking out the table of contents to see all the projects.

Verdict: This one’s a keeper. Great information, well presented, from good people!

Info and Availability: $19.99US, $22.99CAN, from Rodale.  Available from Amazon.com for $13.59, or at most local bookstores.

Tags: homesteading, urbanag
Posted in Reading List, Reviews