Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and With (Almost) No Money

Dolly Freed

“A back-to-the-land classic” (Garden & Gun) that will “inspire you to embrace a simpler life” (O, The Oprah Magazine).

In the late seventies, at the age of eighteen and with a seventh-grade education, Dolly Freed wrote Possum Living about the five years she and her father lived off the land on a half-acre lot outside of Philadelphia. At the time of its publication in 1978, Possum Living became an instant classic, known for its plucky narration and no-nonsense practical advice on how to quit the rat race and live frugally. In her delightful, straightforward, and irreverent style, Freed guides readers on how to buy and maintain a home, raise and grow their own food, cope with the law, stay healthy, save money, and more, all in the name of self-reliant, independent living. 

Forty years later, Possum Living remains an essential guide to going off the grid. This updated edition includes an introduction by Novella Carpenter, and new wisdom from Freed on aging, used cars, emergency funds, and how to get back in touch with yourself. Possum Living, says Freed, is about how to cook; to go fishing; to be with family, friends, and neighbors; to forage for wild berries; to enjoy a hobby; to relax; or, even better, to do nothing at all. Some of the best living, she reminds us, happens in possum time.

Shake ‘Em Up

Virginia Elliott and Phil D. Stong

An essential addition to the library of any cocktailian, entertainer, nostalgic, or anyone who just likes to relax with a cold beverage, Shake ‘Em Up! delivers all the joy of a Jazz Age cocktail party, without the fear of temperance officers knocking down your door.

As the authors say: Shake ’Em Up! is “for People Who Fling Parties, People Who Go to Parties . . . People Who Don’t Really Drink but Feel That a Cocktail or Two Enlivens Conversation―in short, for the American People,” and that’s as true today as it was upon the book’s original publication in 1930. Virginia Elliott and Phil D. Stong created a handbook for polite―if not entirely legal―drinking during the height of Prohibition, and the advice remains sound, the voice charming, and the cocktails strong. Need ideas as to how to catch up with your already inebriated guests, or guidance on what to do when said guests end up a little too inebriated? Shake ’Em Up! will point you in the right direction. Whether you’re looking for the proper way to mix a Brandy Punch, what you ought to serve alongside a Bijou Cocktail, or a dependable hangover cure, Elliott and Stong have you covered. With a lively introduction from bestselling author Amy Stewart (The Drunken Botanist), this fully illustrated time capsule will inspire with buzzy cocktails and recipes from another era, making it the perfect gift for the hosts and entertainers of today.