This is a really neat book! There's recipes are very simple and the photos are beautiful. If you like the country life aesthetic and are interested in gardening and homesteading, this is a great beginner book! Special Thank You to to Annette Thurmon, Quarto Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Simple Country Living is a great book if you are looking at simplifying your life and wanting to start living more off the land.
It has information on gardening, perserving, cooking, and home care.
I love how Annette broke down Chapter 2 into seasons, with fun activities and recipes for each. As someone who wants to prep for a garden next year, there is so much usable information in this book from garden layout to seed selection. I really love the recipe for stovetop potpourri, which makes my house smell absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend this book!

Stars: 4/5

Thank you to the Quarto Publishing Group, Cool Springs Press, Annette Thurmon, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I've been looking for something similar to help expand my skills and this was absolutely perfect to achieve my goals.

Book Review: Simple Country Living Techniques, Recipes, and Wisdom for the Garden, Kitchen, and Beyond by Annette Thurmon

Rating: 5 Stars

Simple Country Living by Annette Thurmon is a delightful guide that beckons readers to embrace a simpler life through homesteading techniques, practical recipes, and insightful wisdom. Thurmon, a homesteader and founder of Azure Farm, invites us to reconnect with nature on a deeper level and adopt sustainable practices that can be applied regardless of where we reside.

The book covers a wide array of topics, from creating a natural-inspired home to cultivating a thriving garden, preserving seasonal harvests, and mastering the art of home cooking. Thurmon's approach is not only informative but also engaging, offering tips, tricks, and family activities that promote waste reduction, cost savings, and the development of new skills.

One of the standout features of Simple Country Living is its visual appeal. The book is adorned with stunning photographs that exude a vintage charm, making it a joy to peruse. Beyond its aesthetics, the content is equally captivating, providing readers with practical advice on everything from DIY cleaning products to garden layout and seed preservation.

Personally, I found the section on preserving the harvest to be particularly helpful. The assortment of recipes, including the dark chocolate mint truffles and Lemon Maple Blueberry sauce, were just divine. The emphasis on creating lasting memories through family involvement in homesteading activities resonated with me deeply.

In conclusion, Simple Country Living is more than just a guidebook—it is a source of inspiration for those seeking to lead a more sustainable and fulfilling lifestyle. With its wealth of information, beautiful imagery, and mouth-watering recipes, this book is a valuable investment for anyone looking to cultivate a deeper connection with nature and embrace the simplicity of country living. Whether you are a seasoned homesteader or a novice enthusiast, Annette Thurmon's work is sure to enrich your journey towards a harmonious coexistence with the natural world.

⚠️This review was written based on personal opinions and experiences with the book. Individual preferences may vary⚠️

A beautiful housewarming gift. Great tips, tricks, and recipes for a simple country home. Delightful information and perfect for a coffee table.

This is such a beautiful, peaceful, and charming book. It's filled with advice, recipes, and activities. I really enjoyed it and I will be purchasing the hard copy.

Simple Country Living is a great resource for anyone interested in living off the land and learning self sufficiency. The book has great advice and a few great recipes. I really enjoyed it.

Such a wonderful tool for anyone interested in starting a homestead!

Filled with gorgeous pictures and invaluable information, Simple Country Living offers just enough basics to help you get started without all the filler information that can overwhelm you. Gardening, preserving, natural cleaning products, and so much more can be found within these pages.

There’s recipes and family activities and so much advice on how to live a simple country life.

beautiful book with a good amount of recipes and nice advice.

it’s fantastic for beginners but also good for people looking for some simpler recipes.

it’s a beautifully done up book and would definitely make a stunning gift!

I didn’t know anything about this author before reading the book but I am interested in self-sufficiency and thought it would be an interesting read. It contains a lot of useful information about topics such as natural cleaning, canning, gardening. The only downside to me would be that the author appears to be a vegan. If you’re also a vegan I’m sure you’ll get more from this than I did. But that aside, this is a brilliant introduction to homesteading and living as clean and unprocessed a life as possible, with lots of useful tips that I plan on trying out.

I stumbled upon SIMPLE COUNTRY LIVING by Annette Thurmon quite serendipitously, and I'm grateful for the incident because it proved to be an utterly charming read. Within its pages, I immersed myself in a world of fascinating discoveries.

The anticipation of trying out those recipes once the bounty of fruits and vegetables is in season fills me with excitement. And oh, the vinegar-lemon all-purpose cleaning spray! It's become nothing short of a lifesaver, a revelation I fervently advocate to all in my circle.

In the pages of this book lies a trove of treasures awaiting those who seek solace in life's elemental rhythms and the manifold gifts tendered by our earth, steadfast in its cycles, unwavering in its generosity. It unfolds as a lyrical ode, akin to a gentle whisper urging one to embrace the richness of a more nuanced existence, where the mundane becomes profound, and the quotidian transforms into the extraordinary.

With each turn of phrase, it is as if the author pens a love letter to the very essence of simplicity, inviting readers to partake in the abundance that surrounds us, often overlooked in the frenetic pace of modernity. Through prose that flows like a gentle stream, they illuminate the beauty inherent in the mundane, the significance embedded in the seemingly trivial.

It is a volume that beckons, promising a sanctuary where one can retreat to commune with the essence of life itself. For those who long to reclaim a sense of connection with the natural world, it stands as an indispensable companion, offering wisdom gleaned from the earth's timeless wisdom, bestowed season after season, in an unceasing cycle of renewal.

To possess a hardcover edition of this tome is to secure not merely a book but a cherished artifact, a vessel through which to revisit its wisdom at leisure to savor its insights with each successive reading.

Needless to say, I eagerly await the day I can claim a hardcover copy as my own, ensuring the luxury of revisiting its wisdom at my whim.

Each and every image is a masterpiece of nature, soothing to the spirit!

This was such a beautifully written and beautifully designed homestead book that just simply makes everything so dreamy, yet achievable. And by achievable, I mean by ways if you have a lot of time and patience, but in a good way. Because we all strive to make time to reward ourselves, right, and by that is being better to our mind and body, and if this is one way to do it, then bravo!

Honestly most of the items in the book are a bit outrageous, but we're so hopeful and ecstatic to do them and we hold onto books like this in hopes of one day being very much like the author. This is a dream vision-board type book and even if one can do ONE thing from it, we feel like we've succeeded. The title suggests simple, to live simply, but it also have time and money to really do so. But boy, can we dream through these pages!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC. in exchange for my review!

Simple Country Living by homesteader Annette Thurmon is an inspiring and enchanting book containing information on how to simplify life by (re)connecting with nature and the countryside. She, her husband and young daughter moved from a fast-paced stressful environment to the tranquility of the countryside where they founded and live their best lives on Azure Farm. Her words and passion really resonate with me as this is precisely what my husband did with our move to the country (on a different continent!). Simple country living doesn't mean life is easier; the opposite, in fact. Caring for and maintaining animals, country house, gardens, trees, etc. isn't for everyone. But the simpler way of life pays dividends on a daily basis and has changed our lives deeply and meaningfully. We wouldn't have it any other way.

Thurmon describes family projects all ages can enjoy, how to learn more about nature and clean living and also how to grow, harvest and preserve produce in recipes. She includes a few recipes for homemade household cleaners as well. She lists her favourite plants to grow and briefly describes gardening zones. One of my favourite activities she mentions is communal outdoor meals. We practically live outside and always have wildflowers spilling out every nook and cranny. What a beautiful way to connect with others in a relaxed way!

You needn't move to the countryside to simplify your life. The simple act of reading this book is relaxing! But we can all incorporate little changes if we desire to. The author offers encouragement in a conversational manner, like having tea with a friend. This book covers the basics and doesn't offer much new material for the experienced. But still a treat to savour!

My sincere thank you to Quarto Publishing Group, Cool Springs Press, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this lovely and enriching book.

I lived on a farm for a couple years and one of my pipe dreams that cannot be = homesteading (I have black thumbs and would likely starve). I love that this book introduces so many different recipes and ideas for you to go "all in" or to sprinkle your own life with as much as you want/can.

From gardening/composting to preserving food to delicious recipes, this has something for everyone, and if you have kids, she's even included activities on have them help out while having fun! There are some religious references so it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

There are so many recipes that look amazing in here, but I'm especially looking forward to trying out the winter baked pears + the blueberry lemon sauce + waffles!

Very beautiful book! I enjoying seeing her farm, the animals and the fan family activities. The recipes are also very nice, not just recipes for food (bread, pizza, spices, salsa) but for cleaning supplies, bath salt and other stuff. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Small ideas that allow you to embrace the spirit of country living, even if you are in the heart of an urban environment.

I enjoyed reading this book about the author embracing a simpler life in the country, although anyone can benefit and enjoy small changes wherever you live, as the she states. The book has beautiful photos (darling animals!) and has so many helpful and cost saving ideas to embrace from gardening, canning, baking, and much more. A very nice focus on involving and spending time with the family too.

A relaxing walk through the life of the author, Annette Thurmon, and her family's choice to move to the country and live a simpler life. Choosing doing over electronic consumption of entertainment. Being closer to nature and the earth, living seasonally.

The author explains you have to know you "why", why are you making the choice. This is a hard choice to make on a whim. You are moving away from the city life you had, the convenience of having things close at hand, ordering supper to be delivered if you don't feel up to cooking. Living in the country you are far from many stores others regularly visit, some favorite items may only be available through mail order. The benefits though are many. You get to see where your food comes from, grow you own veggies, free from pesticides. Meet the farmer who gives you milk, eggs and meat. Build relationships with your kids that don't involve screen time.

If you have ever dreamed of making a choice like this, read Simple Country Living it is a delightful read full of recipes, photographs and great advice.

I loved this book and I bet the hardcopy of this book is beautiful. I loved the photography in this book and all it stands for. Unfortunately, I am not in a situation where I can do some of the things in this book but I'm all about the lovely food recipes!

I appreciate getting an arc copy of this!

This is a beautifully designed and extremely aspirational book - so much so that the title "simple country living" seems to be some kind of cheeky joke (it's certainly not simple living that is described). However, this book would make a beautiful gift or serve well as a coffee table book for anyone interested in dabbling in homesteading.