Food dehydration is not just for prunes and raisins any more; a recent U.S. study revealed that the dried and dehydrated food industry made more than $6 billion in revenue in 2009 alone. Thanks to advances in technology, dehydrating foods at home has become easier than ever, allowing you to lock in food s nutritional value while eliminating the water content that causes foods to grow bacteria and mold. Drying foods also gives you a source of raw, nutrient-rich food that is easily available and requires no additional preparation. The Complete Guide to Drying Foods at Home provides you with all the information necessary for drying fruits, vegetables, meats, herbs, grains, and even dairy products. This book will provide you with instructions on how to dry foods using a food dehydrator and will also offer you simpler alternatives for how to dehydrate foods using an oven, microwave, or even the sun.

You will learn what equipment you need to get started and how to properly store your food to ensure optimal freshness. This book also provides you with recipes for any meal of the day, whether you are looking for an easy breakfast alternative or a quick soup you can prepare for lunch. You will even learn how to prepare foods for young children and pets. Drying your foods will not only provide you with timesaving options for ways to prepare your meals, it will also allow you to reduce the amount of food you throw out each month. Researchers at the University of Arizona found that the average family wastes 14 percent of their food purchases; learning how to dehydrate and store dry foods can ensure the money you spend on groceries will not be thrown out with the trash. We have spent hundreds of hours interviewing dozens of experts who will provide you with all the information you need to start dehydrating your foods. We ve spoken with nutritionists and busy parents who advocate drying foods as a way to save time and still prepare healthy meals. This book is filled with delicious recipes and practical tips to help you and your family enjoy the economic and health benefits that dehydrated foods offer. Whether you are looking for money-saving dinner options or a quick recipe for a high-protein trail mix, The Complete Guide to Drying Foods at Home offers you all the information you need to start cooking and eating smarter. #9781601386021 $21.95 

In today s economy, homeowners are looking for a way to increase the value of their houses in a unique and cost-effective way. According to HGTV, the popular home and garden cable television station, water features are currently among the hottest landscaping trends in the United States, offering a way to increase a home s resell value and providing a creative outlet for homeowners. Whether you are looking to create a lush outdoor paradise, complete with waterfalls and fish-filled ponds, or you simply want a conservative balcony fountain, this book can show you how to build your own backyard escape no matter your budget. According to the Atlanta-based National Pond Society, there are approximately nine million pond hobbyists in the United States today.

 Water features provide a calm oasis for homeowners to visit after a hectic day. Many new in-ground swimming pools are designed around a waterfall or fountain, and homeowners are adding these features to older pools. If building a pool is beyond your budget, consider adding a small stand-alone fountain to partake in this trend. The Complete Guide to Building Backyard Ponds, Fountains, and Waterfalls for Homeowners provides step-by-step instructions and design plans for building a variety of water features. This book provides you with a brief history of how water features have been used in the architecture of past civilizations and how you can assess your design preferences based on these styles. The book will show you how to appraise the size, shape, and topography of your yard to decide which features will work best in your space.

You will be questioned on how you intend to use your yard on a regular basis so that you can pick a feature that works with your lifestyle. Once you have assessed your style and space, you will be given a variety of design plans for various basic and complex water features, complete with step-by-step instructions, dimensions, and supply lists. You will learn about pumps, filters, and supplying electricity to your water feature, including safety standards for working with electricity and water. You will learn which tasks you are capable of completing yourself and when you should call a licensed professional. Once you have installed your water feature, you will be given advice on adding those special touches to your landscaping project. Tips for adding rock structures, plants, and fish to your water features help complete the project. Finally, you will learn how to care and maintain your water feature to keep your backyard looking beautiful. We have spent hundreds of hours interviewing landscaping artists and homeowners just like you who can offer tips and tricks for completing your backyard makeover. Whether you are looking to increase the value of your home or just want to find your own little piece of paradise, this book can help you build a backyard oasis that you can enjoy for many years to come. #9781601385987 $24.95

Interested in promoting your business and/or Web site, but don’t have the big budget for traditional advertising? This new book will show you how to build, promote, and make money off of your Web site or brick and mortar store using the Internet, with minimal costs. Let us arm you with the knowledge you need to make your business a success! Learn how to generate more traffic for your site or store with hundreds of Internet marketing methods, including many free and low-cost promotions.

This new book presents a comprehensive, hands-on, step-by-step guide for increasing Web site traffic and traditional store traffic by using hundreds of proven tips, tools, and techniques. Learn how to target more customers to your business and optimize your Web site from a marketing perspective. You will learn to target your campaign, use keywords, generate free advertising, search-engine strategies, learn the inside secrets of e-mail marketing, how to build Web communities, co-branding, auto-responders, Google advertising, banner advertising, eBay storefronts, Web-design information, search-engine registration, directories, and real-world examples of what strategies are succeeding and what strategies are failing. #9781601384409 $24.95 

Herbs have been the centerpiece of natural healthcare since before the dawn of medicine in ancient Greece. With more than 50,000 strains of herb from around the world currently catalogued by various botanical societies and a small percentage of those serving solid, universally recognized medical purposes, it is no wonder that many people have taken up the hobby of growing their own herbs at home to help with basic things like healing burns or relieving headaches.

This book will guide you through the step-by-step process of learning about and growing your own healing herbs, starting with the basics of what each herb can do and proceeding to show you everything you need to cultivate them yourself. The first things you will learn in this guide are the basics of all healing herbs, starting with a complete breakdown of the numerous healing herbs known to be easily cultivated in temperate climates. Matching the right herbs to your region, you will then be able to start learning about how herbs grow, what they need from the soil, water, the weather, and feeding. You will learn which pests are most likely to appear with each herb plant and which planting conditions are best for your herbs, from indoor potting to outdoor containers, or in ground fields. You will learn which plants grow best together and which style of herbs are going to be best for selling and which are best for personal growing. Experts in the field of healing herbs have provided their insights into issues such as how to harvest the healing herbs best and how to dry or preserve them for use as healing materials. Learn how you can make a number of common treatments for various ailments with your herbs and how you can benefit best from your new found gardens. This book is a complete guide for anyone who has ever wanted to try something different and grow it themselves. #9781601383518 $24.95 

When it first developed in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP was considered a great advancement in psychotherapy and was widely studied as a means by which to subjectively study language, communication and personal change. Today, it is a highly successful means by which individuals such as yourself can not only get better in touch with yourself and how you interact with the world through language and other forms of communication, but to better understand those around you and make enhanced decisions, provide advice, and boost yourself image through understanding.

This book was written to assist every individual who ever wanted to become more in tune with their minds and their interactions with peers, family, and friends. You will learn what NLP is and when it was first developed along with the basic studies originally published in the early 1970s. You will learn how to start reading through and understanding maps and filters, the basics of learning, unlearning and relearning and how communication and language are the fundamental basis for essentially every action you take in life. You will learn how to control pacing and leading in communication, what perception involves and how to understand the various representational systems described by NLP. You will learn how to recognize predicates of conversation and eye accessing cues as well as how to recognize and work with various physiological states and emotional freedom. You will learn the basics of elicitation and anchors, including resource anchoring, collapsing anchoring, and future pacing.

Top psychologist and therapists have been interviewed for this guide, with dozens providing information on which aspects of NLP are most effective for each individual. Using their advice as a map, you will learn how to use loops and systems and understand the different levels of learning. Everything from how language sets limits on your experience to how meta model patterns control you life will be discussed in detail to help you take control of your life through understanding of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. #9781601383822 $24.95 

Your lawn is a representative of you and your home – it shows your neighbors and visitors how much time and effort you are willing to put into keeping your home looking good. But, in these fragile times, many people also want to ensure their lawn care does not endanger the environment or any of the pets or children that might play on that lawn. Organic lawn care is becoming much more prevalent for many home owners, but knowing how to effectively plant a grow a lawn, keep weeds away and kill bugs without using chemicals and unnatural law products can be complicated and downright confusing in many cases.

This book was written with these things in mind, guiding every lawn care enthusiast through the steps needed to continue caring for a lawn without letting the concerns that develop because of unnatural products overwhelm you or your lawn. The keys to organic lawn care, starting with how to create a low maintenance lawn are laid out in great detail in this book, providing the essential details you need to enjoy your yard while not endangering the environment, your pets, or your children. You will learn how to keep your lawn healthy with the right soil, seed, sod, and feeding without using any chemically enhanced products and how you can start caring for your lawn by mowing, watering, fertilizing, edging, and trimming with organic fertilizers and tools. Finally, learn how to change your existing lawn so that it is both environmentally sound and just as beautiful as it has always been. The final step in the process will show you how to deal with pests, disease and weeds in your lawn organically. Lawn experts in every field have been interviewed for this book and their advice has been included to provide specific, top tips for organic lawn care. Anyone looking to maintain their lawn and stay eco-conscious need look no further than this book. #9781601383679 $24.95 

Pigs are a very special breed of animal in that they can be almost as much a pet as they are a potential source of meat and income. The proper raising of pigs is much disputed for this reason and there are multiple ways to go about it. To be an effective pig farmer, you must not only understand the various different perspectives on the raising of pigs, but be able to adjust to the breeds you select and the method by which you decide to raise each of them. From how they are fed to how you treat and handle them as babies, pigs are a very special and unique breed of farm animal.

This book provides every necessary detail you need to start raising pigs immediately, from selecting the breed of your pigs to how they will be fed. You will learn the difference between pigs that are raised for meat and those that are used for disposal of compost or as pets. You will learn how the process of home butchering and processing is completed and what you can do to start fitting and showing your pigs in competition. You will learn the ins and outs of the pig raising business, including the breeds you will encounter, the expectations of you by other pig farmers, and the details you need to see to when you purchase your first pigs. You will learn how to start breeding your own pigs by creating a breeding herd and selecting the best of your pigs for breeding stock.

Dozens of interviews with top pig farmers and experts from around the country have been gathered for this book and provide a detailed look at how the industry is run, including the management of a pig herd, the health care of your pigs, and the daily operations that must be completed in caring for your pigs, including day to day life, feeding the pigs, and their time both indoors and outdoors. If you are interested in the process of breeding and raising pigs, this book will provide every bit of information you need to get started.  #9781601383792 $24.95 

Raising cattle in the 21st century can be a complicated process. Starting with the way you feed your cattle, you need to know exactly what is best both for your animals and the milk and meat they produce. With the public conscious slowly turning more toward organic food choices (with as much as a 15 percent boost in organic beef sales since 2005 according to the USDA), there are numerous reasons why deciding to grass feed your animals can be not only an effective means of feeding your cattle, but also a way to make more money in the long run.

This book will guide you through the process of knowing exactly how to switch your methods to effectively raise your cattle on grass feed. You will learn the essential basics of raising your cattle with natural feed and care sources, including how the farming shift in this millennium has changed how things are done. You will learn the various differences between raising cattle for milk and meat production and what you can expect from your cattle. You will learn how to improve your overall farm efficiency while ensuring natural feeding, and how to start analyzing your soil to better improve your livestock and their lifestyle. You will learn the basics of breeding, heredity, the environment you should raise your livestock, and what feed requirements your animals all require.

Dozens of interviews have been conducted with top small farmers and cattle experts and their insight have been included here to help you learn how to properly house your cattle and rear their young, as well as the vital minerals, vitamins, and nutrients your cattle need to be healthy and produce high-quality meat and dairy. You will learn the basics of cattle health care and what you can expect from your livestock. Finally, you will learn some of the most common misconceptions about raising cattle and how you can overcome them. This book, for anyone seeking to raise cattle on grass, is ideal for getting a small farm started or renovating an existing farm.  #9781601383808 $24.95

Today’s health conscious society has redefined how many people look at small business in the food and health industry – you must not only greatly understand how to provide the newest and most effective herbs; you must understand how to differentiate, provide information, and most of all reach your customers before anyone else. Competition is fierce and success can be short lived if you do not understand how the market operates. Herb businesses operating on the Internet alone have increased by more than 1000 percent since 2002 according to PEW Internet Research and that means a whole lot of people have tried their hand in this market.

That means you need the kind of head start that only something like this book can offer — a full review of the various intricacies of the herb business and what new customers and old customers alike are looking for that you need to be able to provide. You will learn everything you need to know before you start your business, first and foremost being the basics and details of the different herbs that you will be using and how they grow, what they do, and what they need. After learning the basics of herbs, you will learn how to structure your business, what you will need to operate an herb business and what is involved in the inner operations of that business as described by other businesses and herb experts. You will learn how to start setting goals and looking to the future for your business and how to start marketing your business and talking to the public.

Whether you will be operating out of your home or you are looking to buy or rent office space, this book can help you with a wealth of start-up information, from how to form and name your business to deciding if this will be a joint venture or if you would rather work solo. Valuable information on forming a Partnership, LLC, Corporation, or becoming a Sole Proprietor, the four types of business formations, is included, and also the legal implications of each.

This complete manual will arm you with everything you need, including sample business forms; contracts; worksheets and checklists for planning, opening, and running day-to-day operations; lists; plans and layouts; and dozens of other valuable, timesaving tools of the trade that no business owner should be without.

While providing detailed instruction and examples, the author leads you through every detail that will bring success. You will learn how to draw up a winning business plan (the companion CD-ROM has the actual business plan you can use in Microsoft Word™) and about basic cost control systems, copyright and trademark issues, branding, management, legal concerns, sales and marketing techniques, and pricing formulas.

You will learn how to hire and keep a qualified professional staff, meet IRS requirements, manage and train employees, generate high profile public relations and publicity, and implement low cost internal marketing ideas. You will learn how to build your business by using low and no cost ways to satisfy customers, and also ways to increase sales, have customers refer others to you, and thousands of excellent tips and useful guidelines.

The world of herb businesses is booming, but there are still only a handful of experts and success stories, and for this book they have been contacted and their expertise added to the pages within to help you understand what works and what doesn’t. You will learn how to develop your product and your brand and how to start creating special events and services that can boost your herb business and get your name out. Learn how to expand your business and enter the market effectively and what you need to do to take advantage of new and popular herbs as they are introduced to the market. This book is a compendium of everything a potential herb salesman needs; don’t let it pass you by. #9781601383297  $39.95

The painting, faux painting, and mural business is one of the most lucrative small business opportunities around, with more than $100 billion spent annually according to the International Franchise Association. The need for skilled, qualified painters for everything from the family home to other businesses or the side of a new building has made those with the right skill set highly sought after. For anyone seeking to start their own painting or mural painting business, it is only a matter of knowing where and how to get started and what is needed by them to both open a business and be financially successful in running it.

This book was written with all of those expert painters in mind, ensuring that everyone who has ever been interested in starting their own painting business gets every possible resource they need to successfully run that business. You will learn what the basics of the career entail and how to go about running your business. You will learn the fundamentals of what equipment you will need and how to go about acquiring it for a decent rate. Learn how to find partners to help you or hire employees. Also learn the basics of your recordkeeping and how you will keep track of your finances. Additionally, you will learn about how to find and maintain professional contacts and build a portfolio that will help you find new work in the future. You will learn how to meet clients and dress properly and how to scope out the walls at your potential work sites so you can bid and work effectively. You will learn how to bid on a job and get paid for your work and finally how to start painting the walls, including the types of wall surfaces you may have, the paints you might use, how to load up and setup, and how to finalize a project.

Dozens of the top faux and mural painters in the nation were contacted and interviewed for this book, their expertise compiled into a series of tips and tricks that will help you both understand how to run a business and be a successful painter. Everything you need to become a faux painter, from the first clients to the expansion of your business is included in this guide; the beginner’s only needed resource. #9781601383327 $39.95 

A cluttered home can be a nightmare. It makes your things hard to find, it creates stress in your family, and it can even cause injuries if it becomes too overrun with clutter. But, it doesn’t have to remain that way. There are countless resources available to help every individual organize, put away, store, and even recycle their old possessions to get them out of the way and where they belong.

Through hours of careful research and personal experience, this book was compiled to show even the most vociferous of packrats how to start sorting through their possessions and putting aside everything that just doesn’t need to be in the way anymore. To start, you will learn how to stop and assess your situation – how much clutter can you afford to have, why does it happen at all, and what does it cost you to have such a mess in your home. You will learn how to start changing your fundamental way of living to reduce clutter and how to recognize your accomplishments in keeping a clean house. You will learn how to lighten your loads by throwing away what you really don’t need, donating what others can use, and knowing how to make a little extra money by cleaning things up a bit. You will learn the basics of effective storage and how to organize your things. You will learn how to recognize clutter zones and renovate them to cut down on clutter in entranceways, closets, children’s rooms, bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, family rooms, offices, basements, attics, garages, and cars.

Organization experts were interviewed and their expertise has been compiled here to provide you with details on how to simplify your systems with lists and schedules, filing systems, proper meal and recipe planning, group cleaning, and constant organization. You will learn how to ensure clutter never comes back by reducing your shopping, following a daily schedule to clean, and occasionally going through the same above motions. Regardless of how severe your clutter problem is, this book will help you to recognize and start dealing with it right away.  #9781601383389 $24.95 

Every cat deserves the best possible food in their diet, but knowing exactly what cat food and treats are best can be hard – especially with limited nutritional information for many brands and so many of those brands to choose from. For these reasons, many people have turned to creating their own cat food, using naturally healthy recipes and foods over which every cat will salivate.

This book has been carefully researched and compiled to provide you and your cat more than 100 healthy recipes that will help your cat live the best possible lifestyle. You will learn how to recognize the nutritional needs of your cats, including what good health entails in their lives and how to change their diet accordingly depending on their exact breed. You will learn what various normal cat foods contain and which nutritional necessities they meet or do not meet accordingly. You will then learn what artificial preservatives might currently be in your cat’s food and what that can do to them.

Dietary experts for pets and cats in particular have been interviewed and their insights have been included in this book to provide detailed information on how to best feed your cats at home. You will learn how and where to buy what you need for your cat’s new diet and how to slowly and effectively make the change without disrupting their health. Finally, you will learn more than 100 different recipes, with specific tips in each one for ensuring your cat’s utter and complete health both in their everyday meals and in the special treats you may give them. This book, for anyone who has considered the importance of their cat’s dietary health, is ideal for starting down the path to your own home made foods. #9781601383983 $24.95   

Everyone dreams of bringing home a new puppy and watching them romp around the living room. But, for some households this can be a complex process – especially when you already have cats in the home that are used to their own space and way of doing things. Teaching your puppy to play nicely with existing cats and the cats to treat the puppy like a new member of the household can be nerve-racking in those first few critical days – for this very reason, every family should have the necessary tools in hand to help make the transition.

This book has been written to provide the guided, carefully outlined approach every family needs when bringing a puppy home into a cat family for the first time. You will learn how cats approach other species and what warning signs to look out for in both your cats and your puppy. You will learn about how to handle your puppy’s playful tendencies, especially for larger breeds that might hurt a cat. You will learn what you can do to separate your animals when needed and how long to allow them to interact each day. You will learn all of the basics of multi-pet care, from the essentials of their daily needs with water, food, and outdoor care to their attention related needs each day.

Hundreds of hours of interviews have been conducted with experts throughout the pet field and their advice has been compiled here to provide a comprehensive perspective on how you should approach your multi-pet home. You will learn what it takes to choose the right puppy to get along with your cats and what specific issues might arise between the two. You will learn the 10 most common myths that are propagated about dog/cat relations and how some of them can come true if you are not careful. For anyone looking to bring home their first puppy to join one or more cats, this book is for you. #9781601384010 $24.95