Book Review
“How can I be prepared with Self-Sufficiency and Survival foods” by Isabell Shipard
Review time! I've just finished reading "How can I be prepared with Self-sufficiency and survival foods?" as an ebook by Isabell Shipard.
Isabell Shipard was a well known and respected herbalist who lived in the beautiful Sunshine Coast region not too far from me. I recently borrowed two of her books from a family friend, so I was delighted when Shipard's Herb Farm reached out and offered me the chance to read the newly released e-book "How can I be prepared with Self-sufficiency and survival foods?" in exchange for a review.
E-books allow you to search for every time specific plants are mentioned through the books, making it easier to find information relevant to your harvest.
Firstly the format, I *love* e-books. I have astigmatism in both eyes which means being able to adjust font size is a game changer for me while reading. I also love the ability to search for specific words (in this case mostly plant names) to find every mention within the book as well as have the ability to easily get definitions at the touch of a button. I love that if I fall asleep while reading (let’s face it, pretty probable!), I needn't worry about loosing my page.
The downside to e-books, particularly in a book about self sufficiency; it uses electricity... which means a prolonged period without power relegates an e-book as useless. I personally would love to see the ability in the future to get both books (hard copy and digital) together in a bundle, negating the disadvantages whilst still allowing the ease of use when power usage isn't of concern.
Now to the content... The whole basis of the book is about what sort of unexpected situations could lead to needing to rely further on our own ability to sustain ourselves and what plants and methods could be best to do that both nutritionally and medicinally. It's fascinating and somewhat disturbing reading through a book written in 2008 that makes references a few times to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic whilst we are currently living through a worldwide pandemic into its 2nd year. At times Shipard hit the nail exactly on the head, particularly in references to toilet paper scarcity (turns out current toilet paper hoarding may hark back to toilet paper shortages during WWII!) and grocery prices ever increasing. However I really struggled with reading some of the early chapters in the book, feeling them to be a bit too anxiety inducing for my tastes personally. While you could say that may be the whole point as to why we should be doing our part to maintain some semblance of self sufficiency, that isn't it for me personally as I am driven more by ecological and nutritional (and taste!) benefits of growing my own foods.
Two further minor aspects I didn't enjoy with the book, firstly Shipard was clearly devoted to her religion. That’s fine, I have no issue with that however I don't agree with her view and I would have preferred not to read it, but it's easy enough to skip past.
The second issue irked me a fair bit more, which was the approach to modern medicine. I'm a strong believer that modern medical advice and traditional herbalist advice can for the most part work hand in hand. I do agree that at times modern medicine can be over-prescribed and it annoys me at times when traditional medicine is shunned by Doctors (although if they're shunning for insane prices charged, then that is completely justified in my opinion). Shipard is clearly anti-vaccine which is again another area I don't agree on, and while I'm all for 'to each their own' on that, a line is crossed when scientifically debunked statements such as linking autism to vaccines are brought up. I do give Shipard the benefit of the doubt in this specific book considering it was written 2 years before such research was entirely debunked as a fraud.
Criticism aside, this book is actually pretty amazing. Reading it gave me so many ideas on ways of utilising and storing our crops and inspires me to track down a few new plants. There is a large portion of the book that relates to aspects of her other well known books ("How can I use herbs in my daily life?" and "How can I grow and use Sprouts as living food?") but I find "How can I be prepared with Self Sufficiency and Survival Foods" to be a bit more of a overview of the other two books with some extra emphasis on the most beneficial aspects in terms of survival. So almost like a starter course for self sufficiency. The other two books clearly go into much further depth on information limited to Herbs and Sprouts.
My overall feel is there are plenty of practices mentioned in this book that can be adopted into everyday living, along with a few that may not be introduced unless it were absolutely necessary to do so. Sort of like a Bug out/emergency bag, you hope to never need it but it's good to have the knowledge prepared for just in case. Like anything it's up to you as a reader to take what you find beneficial for you and your circumstances and leave what isn't to the wayside. There is no real right or wrong way to be self sufficient and that journey will look different for everyone. It's great looking at resources like this book to inspire and educate you into informed choices.
I rate this book 4 out of 5 blooming flowers
The e-book “How can I be prepared with Self-Sufficiency and Survival foods” by Isabell Shipard can currently be purchased through Apple Books.
