The Home And Happiness Botanical Handbook

by Pip Waller

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Home And Happiness Botanical Handbook is a technique and recipe collection for plant based cleaning and health products by Pip Waller. Due out 12th Jan 2021 from Quarto on their Leaping Hare imprint, it's 144 pages and will be available in paperback format.

There's (rightly) been a lot of focus on limiting consumption and exposure to harsh household chemicals. This book has a lot of good gentle advice and ideas. It's logically formatted and written in an accessible and understandable style. I was also glad to see useful recipes with zero pseudoscientific emphasis. The book is full of safe and natural suggestions for everyone, no matter what lifestyle they're in. (Not all of us are Martha Stewart, thank goodness). Some of the techniques are more involved and require acquiring/borrowing/bartering some more advanced equipment, but a lot of the tutorials will be achievable by anyone.

The recipes include ingredients which are relatively easy to source and should be easy to find in most places. Recipe ingredients are listed with both metric and American standard measures. The recipes are arranged thematically: household products, room sprays, potpourri, eco-laundry, garden & houseplant helpers, on the road, pet items, inks paints & dyes (spiffy oak gall ink recipe can be found here), and oddities.

The author has also included an herbal, a resource/bibliography list for further reading,and a cross referenced index. The book throughout, including the recipe sections is well illustrated with clear and attractive tutorial and recipe graphics which add a lot of nostalgic retro vibes.

All in all it's a good beginner to intermediate handbook for natural DIY products (including some wood stains which I haven't had the time to try out yet).

Five stars. I would highly recommend this one to SCAdians, re-enactors, calligraphers, maker's groups, library acquisition, homesteaders/smallholders, self-sufficiency fans, and the like.

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