The holidays are right around the corner so we have worked with some of our valued partners to come up with gift ideas for gardeners and anyone interested in self-reliance and traditional living. We have included everything from books and online classes to thoughtful stocking stuffers to help you with your holiday shopping. Your purchases will help these small, independent creators.
Books
National bestselling book “The Modern Pioneer Cookbook” by Mary Schrader of Mary’s Nest is a must-have for anyone interested in traditional recipes and cooking methods. It includes 85 original, from-scratch recipes for bone broths, cultured dairy, ferments, home-baked breads, including sourdough and baking with ancient grains, as well as recipes for chicken, meats, fish, vegetables, desserts, and much more. Mary explains with easy-to-understand explanations for techniques like canning, fermentation, drying to preserve food, and more.
For someone interested in cultivating herbs and plants to stock a home apothecary, “A Beginner’s Guide to Growing A Medicinal Garden” by Jill Ragan and Kaylee Richardson of The Honeystead is the perfect book to help them get started. This guide informs you about gardening supplies, and seed-starting, and includes detailed information on 20 beginner-friendly medicinal herbs.
“The Rooted Life: Cultivating Health and Wholeness Through Growing Your Own Food” is an excellent guide for survival gardeners, written by Justin Rhodes, a permaculture expert and host of a popular homesteading YouTube Channel. It’s filled with beautiful and inspiring photographs from the Rhodes homestead. It’s chock full of resources, including gardening plans, everything you need to know about raising chickens, tips for getting kids involved, and even recipes for serving up your home-grown goodness.
Classes
“Fearless Fermenting” by Carolyn Thomas will teach you how to create healthy fermented vegetables for your family. The course includes step-by-step video instruction on the safe preparation of fermented foods. Learn all about the probiotic health benefits of fermentation and traditional recipes.
The HomeGrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine is one of the most comprehensive online courses on Herbal Medicine there is. Taught by Dr. Patrick Jones, this serious in-depth course covers herbal medicine history, herbal formulas, anatomy, physiology, and herbal interactions.
For the homeschoolers and aspiring homesteaders on your gift list, check out the homestead-focused curricula available from The Homestead Education shop. There are courses and curricula for the entire family that will help you and your children learn about farming, food, and traditional skills.
Anne of All Trades is known for her popular YouTube Channel about permaculture farming, furniture building, and sustainable living. She offers some handy building plans on her website. One of our favorites is the solar raised planter plans. This would make a great gift for the gardening do-it-yourselfer on your gift list.
Gifts
There is nothing like fresh-baked sourdough bread! One of the hardest parts of baking sourdough is developing a healthy starter. The Stivers Homestead makes it easy with its dehydrated sourdough starter from a batch that is more than 100 years old. It comes with complete instructions. They also offer a handy Sourdough E-book for more in-depth education.
Don’t let winter weather run you down. Be prepared with traditional Fire Cider. With ingredients like garlic, chili pepper, and ginger, Fire Cider is a natural expectorant and immune-supportive tonic. Whispering Willow Farm offers a handy Fire Cider ready-to-go kit so you can infuse your own Fire Cider.
Give them a complete garden in a bag! We’ve specially curated seed collections to help even beginning gardeners grow a successful garden. Our three main collections include 30, 50, or 100 packets of vegetable, herb, and flower seeds to grow a well-rounded, healthy garden. Expand their self-sufficiency with our Ultimate Medicinal Herb and Functional Flower collections that contain 36 packets of herbs or flowers that are not only beautiful but provide useful benefits.
Stocking Stuffers
We mentioned the amazing herbalism class from The Home Grown Herbalist above, but you can find lots of great herbal remedies to add to their stockings. Choose from tinctures, oils, teas, and supplements.
Esther’s Eden offers her Idaho Pine Salve that will soothe dry winter hands with pine resin and natural oils.
They will love the bright citrus scents and soothing smoothness of the Facial Tallow Balm from Simple Gifts Farmstead.
What about some adorable, garden-themed stickers? Add them to your gift wrap or stick them in a stocking. Grab a mystery bag of stickers from Roots and Refuge Farm.
We hope you’ve found some inspiration for your holiday shopping. With these thoughtful gifts, you are sure to find something that will delight the gardener in your life. Whether they are a seasoned veteran or a beginning gardener, these ideas can help inspire them, expand their knowledge, and most importantly, bring them joy.
Happy Holidays from Survival Garden Seeds!
