My real reason for putting the lunchtime series on hold so early this year is that a week of weeding cleared my mind enough that I realized I had six ebook ideas and I wanted to give myself time to work on them. With so many ideas, I don't quite know where to start, so I was hoping you'd chime in with a comment to let me know which of these top three would float your boat:

• The Short, Sweet, and Self-sufficient Guide to Growing Backyard Mushrooms.  When Cat emailed me a few weeks ago to see if I would write an introductory post to growing edible mushrooms for her blog, I realized that the bits and pieces of information I've presented over here don't really make a coherent whole.  I tend to send people to books by Paul Stamets when they ask me for advice about getting started with mushrooms, but his books (although inspiring) make the process seem a lot more difficult than it really is.  I'm thinking of a short (maybe 20 to 40 page) ebook giving a brief explanation of mushroom biology, telling which species are easy to grow, introducing the simplest methods of growing them, and then covering home propagation.  My focus would be on tasty, cheap, and simple.
  
• Chickens in Permaculture.  I don't really feel like I'm ready to write a definitive book about chickens in permaculture, but the great thing about ebooks is that you can put together the best information currently available, sell it for 99 cents so that lots of people will get inspired and start experimenting, then revise it later.  I'm envisioning this ebook being as short as the mushroom one and talking about the pros and cons of pastures, tractors, and deep bedding, which plants you can grow to feed your flock, other alternatives for making your own chicken feed, and types of chickens to consider when starting a self-sufficient flock.
• The Weekend Homesteader --- Darren had the great idea of writing an ebook full of short projects that people can use to dip their toes into the vast ocean of homesteading without getting overwhelmed.  I stole his idea and Mark and I soon came up with a series of projects that would walk a beginner through planting their first lettuce bed, making an under-the-sink worm bin, scrounging supplies at the dump, and much more.  This ebook would be longer than the previous two and geared toward a generalized beginner rather than than to the more experienced homsteader.
  

One of my goals with focusing on ebooks rather than on lunchtime series this summer is to reach more potential homesteaders.  I adore preaching to my choir, but my father pointed out that if I put ebooks up on Amazon for 99 cents, I'll find lots of new readers who might not have considered the homesteading lifestyle before they downloaded my ebook.

With that in mind, I hope I can ask you for another favor.  We currently have two ebooks up on Amazon, and although some random folks have found them, no one has left a review on either.  If you've bought Microbusiness Independence from us, please consider dropping by to leave a review.  And, if you're into butchering chickens, perhaps you'll consider our newly updated Eating the Working Chicken ebook, complete with dozens of photos to walk you through the entire process from coop to table.  I really appreciate you taking the time to help me with my ebook project!

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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