I enjoyed how the books give simple looks on how to do everything tasks that you would find on a ranch. Although it felt like there was parts missing because paragraphs would stop without finishing. It could be because I had a PDF version of the book though.

I loved the homesteading activities, but I did expect more horsey stuff - I think that is my misinterpretation of the cover and perhaps being a Brit I equate ranches with horses so totally not the fault of the book itself. I suspect it doesn’t have a big market in the UK tho.

This book is super informative and interesting! I'm a person very interested in things like bushcraft, and I was thrilled to read this. I also appreciate how this book covers certain things that other similar books wouldn't, like knot-tying, animal husbandry, and the like.

The Hands on Ranch Book is a good introduction to life on a ranch. It’s written with kids in mind so it could be appropriate and helpful for kids and adults alike. The book has helpful hints about things that aren’t necessarily common knowledge unless you lived around farms or animals. It’s basic enough that a beginner wouldn’t be lost. Recipes are also included that would be easy enough for a kid to do.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion.

I'm in my cowboy era so i was really interested in this book because apparently i believe I can make it on a ranch...

i feel like this book wasn't made with eBooks in mind. as I'm reading it it felt like i as missing something from the physical book. the information was there but it was lacking. the contents were written very vaguely, almost as if the authors expected you to know a certain amount prior to picking up the book. the thing is, a lot of the topics were are very niche, knowing how to use a compass for example. like i said i was reading on my kindle so maybe in the physical book there are elements that help further explain these topics?

i did however, enjoy the recipes section of the book. I'm a big foodie and love attempting new things in the kitchen. ive taken some screenshots to try my hand at a few of them so well see how that goes.

If your child or teen has any interest in ranching, this is a wonderful book. It covers topics including general ranching, farming, outdoor survival, crafts, some cooking, self reliance, and animal husbandry. It doesn’t delve too much into any one subject, but still covers a lot. As an adult, I enjoyed reading it, though it’s written for kids. It’s the type of book you can skip around and read what you’re interested in and return to it for reference. Perfect for Girl Scouts, too.

The Hands–On Ranch Book is a useful and accessible collection of practical advice and tutorials for daily tasks indoors and outdoors. Released 26th Sept 2023 by Baker Publishing on their Revell imprint, it's 160 pages and is available in hardcover, flexi-bound, paperback, and ebook formats.

The book is short, but it's well arranged and there are lots of good sensible tips included. The chapters are arranged thematically: country living (reading clouds, finding and purifying water, building fires, making a fishing pole + hook, and more), DIY (dyes, cooking, candlemaking, leatherworking, and more), animal husbandry (arranged by animal type), and some business/entrepreneurial advice aimed at young readers.

The illustrations are very simple and line drawn in black & white, but they are useful and illustrate the points well; for example with animal tracks.

Three and a half stars. It's a nice collection of useful tips. It seems to be mostly slanted toward younger reader (tweens to young adults), but all-ages will find useful info. It would make a good choice for public or school library acquisition, makers' groups, scouts, community gardens, small homesteaders, and similar.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I found this book while looking at the craft and hobby books on NetGalley, and I the title and cover alone had me smiling. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, I thought it was fantastic. The book is geared towards kids and young adults, so it is meant to be a great introduction to a lot of different topics. That being said, it doesn't go into great depths on any of them. It isn't a textbook or a wilderness guide, so much as an introduction to all sorts of topics. And, it does that job very well.

The book is broken down into four different segments, detailing Country Living, Do It Yourself skills, Animals, and ways to make your talents profitable. Each of those sections are then broken down into at least a dozen sections on everything from building a fire and finding water, to making maple syrup, and caring for common ranch animals. The sections on how to make wild earth dye and possible careers were my favorites. The recipes in the cooking section also looked delicious and the pie crust one is very similar to the one my Grandmother used to make.

The main reason I'm not giving it five stars is because this book would be infinitely better if it were illustrated or had photos. I'm hoping that the hardback version does - I read the ebook. But the section on tying knots and the sewing instructions would have been a lot better with a few illustrations or photos.

However, if you have a child or teen who is interested in ranch life, wilderness skills, or that sort of thing, I think this book would be fantastic for them.

This is marketed as a middle grade book but I as an adult loved learning all of this. How to make soap, garden tips, how to take care of different animals, how to make candles. This book is an absolute must for everyone. We all need to know this stuff.
I just reviewed The Hands-On Ranch Book by Mary Heffernan. #TheHandsOnRanchBook #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

This is a review for The Hands-on Ranch Book by Mary Heffernan, which I received in return for my honest review on NetGalley.  It will be released on September 26. I think this book is a great resource, especially these days, because many people nowadays weren't raised knowing how to do many of these things described in this book, but need to know how to do today.  This book is well written, easy to understand, and is filled with basic instructions on how to do many things like start a garden, basic canning directions, even how to saddle a horse, but you don't need to live on a ranch to benefit from the things she writes about here.  There's a recipe for a sour dough starter, which I was excited about, how to purify water, basic irrigation info, how to tie knots, some recipes, and so much more.  I highly highly recommend this book, and look at it as a starter book, and am excited to try the things she talks about.  I give it 5 out of 5 stars, and with the way our world is going, I think her sharing her ideas and know-how of how to be self sufficient is a huge win, and she wrote the instructions in a very easy to read format, with pictures included! So I highly recommend it, and look forward to trying many of these ideas. I grew up on a ranch, and know some of these things, and can't wait to try the things I don't know how to do, and share them with my family.  Love this book!!!
 
#thehandsonranchbook #maryheffernan #netgalley #Amazon

As a person who owns acreage and as a farmer and an educator who teaches a large portion of the topics in this book I am going to be honest here this book needs to go back to the drawing board and literally also. The book covers VERY brief instruction and some of it is not accurate.

Also, the only thing visually appealing is the cover of the book. Not even the knot instructions have drawings or photos. This book needs at least drawings. This book's publication date is less than a month away and I know this was a not-ready text but I was shaking my head at how poorly the execution is of the topics. It feels like let's just get a book out here and capitalize on the interests of these subjects and not cover it well.

The gardening part of the book has so much wrong information and I really don't understand why they thought a paragraph on some topics for a "hands-on" ranch book is enough. Truly this is a one-star book for me. The book is baffling and oh-so poorly done.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the concept of this book, but the execution was lacking for me. There's a lot of information and how-tos packed into this book, but they're all fairly short. Each how to is approximately a page, sometimes just a few paragraphs. While some skills like trying a knot aren't super complicated, some of these others really require more explanation or information for people to learn the skill accurately. It's a helpful guide to flip through, but not what I'd go to to learn it all.

Very light on actual details of how to do all the things it lists. Looking at some of the things I already know how to do, the descriptions really don't give much practical advice at all.

I follow Five Marys Farms on Instagram, and was interested to read another one of her books. This is a great book to pick up at any point and read a passage; you don't have to read it straight through. I felt that some parts where she tries to educate the reader about science fell a bit flat, but I really liked the how-to sections on animal husbandry, craft, gardening, and other tips and tricks she has picked up since starting ranching.

While this reads as a jack of all trades type manual, I think it's a lot of fun for fans of her instagram account and children interested in the life of a hobby rancher.

4 Stars! This was a good book with plenty of useful information. I’ve never been interested in ranching but thought a lot of the things taught in this book were useful to know. This book is broken down into parts. Part 1 is titled ‘Country Living’ and has topics like predicting the weather, reading a map & a compass, building a fire, purify water and tons more. And that was just part 1.
Part 2 is ‘Do it yourself’ and has topics like how to make wild earth dye, bread making/baking, cooking/grilling with a few good looking recipes, simple sewing fixes, creating an irrigation system and so much more.
Part 3 was ‘Animals’ with topics on horses, chickens, cattle, sheep, rabbits and working dogs. The author takes you through everything you’d need to know on each of these animals, not only how to care for them but their anatomy, terms and the definitions, different breeds, and all the basics.
Part 4 is ‘For Young Entrepreneurs’ with topics like putting your talents to work, raising animals for profit and interesting careers.
A lot of good information throughout this book that everyone really should know. I’m probably going to get a copy for my nephew since he’s always looking to make money and loves animals. This book will interest him 100%! I definitely recommend this book for everyone since it’s all really useful information.
*I received this book at no charge & I voluntarily left this review.*

3.5 🌟

I don’t see myself owning or living on a ranch anytime soon (you never know tho!) but I thought this sounded really fun. There are some useful tips in here that can be taken and used in many different situations even if you aren’t on a ranch. Some great outdoor tips including how to use a compass, build a fire, find water etc and also some cooking and baking recipes and lots of other info. I did feel like the layout and information was a bit random and all over the place without much rhyme or reason. All in all, I always appreciate learning new things and I think anyone could pick up some useful tips from reading this.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the arc!

This had some really great ideas in it! I enjoyed going through this. I would have loved to have pictures with each page. Mine could have been messed up but there was drawings in the back of the book. But actual photos would have been great. But overall great info!

Thank you netgalley and the publishing company for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I loved everything about this book! I am personally a hands on person so for me this book was an eye opener and it really helped as well as gave perspective as to what it takes to have a ranch.