{"title":"Food Systems Guides","description":"\u003cp\u003eGrow it, keep it and feed the soil: gardens, preserving the harvest, compost and the animals and plants that come next. Each numbered guide takes one off-grid system and shows you how it works, sizes it with real numbers, prices three builds part by part and walks you through building and running it, with every fact sourced and checked. Listed in series order, followed by a few standalone field guides made the same way.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"systems-food-preservation","title":"Canning and food preservation: Water bath, pressure, drying, fermenting and more · Alt Ordo Systems Guide","description":"\u003cp\u003eFood preservation turns one summer's harvest into a year of meals. There are five main tools: canning in a boiling-water or pressure canner, fermenting, drying, freezing and cool storage. Each one stops spoilage a different way, and each food suits some methods and not others. The rule that matters most is simple and strict: low-acid foods such as green beans, corn and meat must be pressure canned, using a tested recipe, the right pressure for your altitude, and the full time. Get that right and the rest is practice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you pick the right method for each food, size a year of jars for your household, and can, ferment, dry and freeze the harvest on an off-grid kitchen, following tested USDA methods to the letter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 18 pages in 9 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Set it up and can, Run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 8 numbered figures drawn for this guide. You also get a worked example with a fill-in worksheet, 10 numbered steps, a year-round calendar, and a troubleshooting table.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThree builds, costed line by line\u003c\/strong\u003e (typical US prices, October 2026):\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBare-bones: $148–$227\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStandard: $731–$1,074\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eComfortable: $3,591–$4,594\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSourced and fact-checked.\u003c\/strong\u003e Facts and figures are cited to the 27 sources listed at the back, and the whole guide was fact-checked before release. General guidance, not engineering advice: your county and a qualified pro have the last word on your site.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePairs with\u003c\/strong\u003e other Alt Ordo Systems Guides: The off-grid vegetable garden; Root cellars; Generators, propane and fuel; Off-grid solar; Food forests; Backyard chickens. For your county's permits and rules, see our county and state guides.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInstant PDF download.\u003c\/strong\u003e After checkout you get a download link by email. Letter-size pages, made to read on screen or print at home.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alt Ordo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48361169617067,"sku":"AO26-SYS-09","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0615\/4718\/4299\/files\/AO26-SYS-09.jpg?v=1792839815"},{"product_id":"systems-vegetable-garden","title":"The off-grid vegetable garden: Beds, soil and a year of food · Alt Ordo Systems Guide","description":"\u003cp\u003eA vegetable garden is the friendliest system on an off-grid homestead: it needs no power, few tools and no permit in most places. What it does need is sun, steady water, good soil, a fence, and someone who walks out to it most days. This guide builds narrow raised beds you never step on, fills them with a measured topsoil and compost mix, waters them by gravity from a rain tank, and plants them on a calendar keyed to your frost dates. Be honest with yourself about one thing from the start: a garden gives you vitamins, flavor and savings, not most of your calories. Chapter 4 shows why.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you choose a sunny spot, test the soil, fence it, build and fill raised beds, water them by gravity from a rain tank, and plant a calendar of crops that keeps two people in fresh vegetables from early spring to the first hard frost.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 25 pages in 9 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Build it, Run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 12 numbered figures drawn for this guide, including a fit map of every US county. You also get a worked example with a fill-in worksheet, 11 numbered steps, a year-round calendar, and a troubleshooting table.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThree builds, costed line by line\u003c\/strong\u003e (typical US prices, October 2026):\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBare-bones: $380–$510\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStandard: $1,570–$2,360\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eComfortable: $5,140–$5,710\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSourced and fact-checked.\u003c\/strong\u003e Facts and figures are cited to the 17 sources listed at the back, and the whole guide was fact-checked before release. General guidance, not engineering advice: your county and a qualified pro have the last word on your site.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePairs with\u003c\/strong\u003e other Alt Ordo Systems Guides: Roof rainwater catchment; Composting; Backyard chickens; Hoop greenhouses; Canning and food preservation; Root cellars. For your county's permits and rules, see our county and state guides.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInstant PDF download.\u003c\/strong\u003e After checkout you get a download link by email. Letter-size pages, made to read on screen or print at home.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alt Ordo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48361170862251,"sku":"AO26-SYS-04","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0615\/4718\/4299\/files\/AO26-SYS-04.jpg?v=1792839819"},{"product_id":"systems-composting","title":"Composting: Bays, piles, hot compost and compost teas · Alt Ordo Systems Guide","description":"\u003cp\u003eCompost is what microbes make when you give them a mix of wet, nitrogen-rich \"greens\" (kitchen scraps, manure, fresh weeds) and dry, carbon-rich \"browns\" (leaves, straw, wood chips), plus air and water. A big enough pile heats itself to 130–160°F, kills most weed seeds and germs, and turns a year of scraps and leaves into dark, crumbly soil food. On an off-grid homestead it is the cheapest fertilizer you will ever buy, and the end of hauling trash. The work is a weekend of building and a few hours of forking each month.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you build a three-bay compost system from pallets, size it to your kitchen, flock and garden, run a hot pile that reaches 131°F, know when the compost is finished, and brew the two liquid feeds worth your time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 19 pages in 9 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Build it, Run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 8 numbered figures drawn for this guide. You also get a worked example with a fill-in worksheet, 12 numbered steps, a year-round calendar, and a troubleshooting table.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThree builds, costed line by line\u003c\/strong\u003e (typical US prices, October 2026):\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBare-bones: $48–$65\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStandard: $285–$464\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eComfortable: $868–$1,102\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSourced and fact-checked.\u003c\/strong\u003e Facts and figures are cited to the 29 sources listed at the back, and the whole guide was fact-checked before release. General guidance, not engineering advice: your county and a qualified pro have the last word on your site.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePairs with\u003c\/strong\u003e other Alt Ordo Systems Guides: The off-grid vegetable garden; Backyard chickens; Composting toilets; Food forests. 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They need four things from you: a dry, airy, predator-proof house for the night; a safe run by day; a complete layer feed and clean water; and someone who checks on them every single day. The building is the easy part. Most flocks are lost to raccoons, wet litter or a frozen waterer, and most of this guide is about not letting that happen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you work out how many hens your household needs, build a raised 4 × 8 ft coop and an 8 × 12 ft hardware-cloth run from our plans and cut list, raise chicks to layers, and keep a small flock healthy, safe and laying all year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 26 pages in 9 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Build it, Run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 11 numbered figures drawn for this guide. 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That modest shelter is enough to plant tomatoes weeks earlier, pick greens through winter and keep rain, hail and many pests off the crop. It is the cheapest square foot of protected growing space you can build.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you pick, size, build and run an unheated hoop house that puts tomatoes on the table a month early and keeps salad greens coming through the dark of winter, on a budget from a few hundred dollars up.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 19 pages in 9 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Build it, Run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 9 numbered figures drawn for this guide, including a fit map of every US county. You also get a worked example with a fill-in worksheet, 11 numbered steps, a year-round calendar, and a troubleshooting table.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThree builds, costed line by line\u003c\/strong\u003e (typical US prices, October 2026):\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBare-bones: ≈ $400–$550\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStandard: ≈ $1,520–$2,290\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eComfortable: ≈ $5,100–$7,300\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSourced and fact-checked.\u003c\/strong\u003e Facts and figures are cited to the 21 sources listed at the back, and the whole guide was fact-checked before release. General guidance, not engineering advice: your county and a qualified pro have the last word on your site.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePairs with\u003c\/strong\u003e other Alt Ordo Systems Guides: The off-grid vegetable garden; Roof rainwater catchment; Composting; Canning and food preservation. 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Its foragers also pollinate your garden, orchard and berries for two miles around. In return you check it every week or two in spring and summer, count its mites, leave it enough honey for winter, and accept that colonies die: US beekeepers lost about 40% of their colonies between April 2025 and April 2026, and backyard keepers lost more than commercial ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you choose a site, set up two Langstroth hives, start them from packages or nucs, keep the mites in check, get them through winter, and take honey and wax in year two without taking what the bees need.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 18 pages in 9 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Set it up, Run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 6 numbered figures drawn for this guide. 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You plant it once, water it hard for three summers, and then it gives you fruit for decades with a few days of work a year. The planting is a weekend. The waiting is the real cost.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you choose a site, pick trees that fit your winters, plant your first fruit guilds the right way and keep them alive through the first three summers, so they feed you for the next thirty years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 18 pages in 9 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Plant it, Run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 6 numbered figures drawn for this guide. 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For your county's permits and rules, see our county and state guides.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInstant PDF download.\u003c\/strong\u003e After checkout you get a download link by email. Letter-size pages, made to read on screen or print at home.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alt Ordo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48361961914539,"sku":"AO26-SYS-21","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0615\/4718\/4299\/files\/AO26-SYS-21.jpg?v=1792813060"},{"product_id":"systems-root-cellar","title":"Root cellars: Store the harvest all winter · Alt Ordo Systems Guide","description":"\u003cp\u003eA root cellar is a cold, dark, damp room that uses the steady temperature of the earth and cold night air to keep living vegetables alive and asleep through the winter. Potatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage and apples can keep for months with no canning, no freezer and no electricity. The cellar does three jobs: it holds the produce near freezing without letting it freeze, it keeps the air damp so roots do not shrivel, and it lets out the warmth and gases the produce gives off. Everything in this guide serves those three jobs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you work out how much cold storage your harvest needs, pick the right kind of cellar for your site and budget, build it with working vents and a dry roof, and keep potatoes, roots, cabbage and apples sound from fall to spring.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 17 pages in 9 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Build it, Run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 9 numbered figures drawn for this guide, including a fit map of every US county. 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The business is in the weighing, the cleanliness, the cold chain and showing up with the same greens every week.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you build a shelf farm under LED lights, grow a dozen crops from seed to harvest in one to four weeks, keep them safe and cold, and sell them to chefs and neighbors with honest numbers on cost, power and profit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 19 pages in 10 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Build and grow, Run it, Sell it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 7 numbered figures drawn for this guide. You also get a worked example with a fill-in worksheet, 12 numbered steps, a year-round calendar, and a troubleshooting table.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSourced and fact-checked.\u003c\/strong\u003e Facts and figures are cited to the 28 sources listed at the back, and the whole guide was fact-checked before release. General guidance, not engineering advice: your county and a qualified pro have the last word on your site.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePairs with\u003c\/strong\u003e other Alt Ordo Systems Guides: Portable power stations; Off-grid solar; Composting; DIY Worm Tower Plans; Backyard chickens; The off-grid vegetable garden; Hoop greenhouses; Safe drinking water. For your county's permits and rules, see our county and state guides.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInstant PDF download.\u003c\/strong\u003e After checkout you get a download link by email. 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One mature tree's pruning can become dozens of trees for your land, your neighbors or a small spring plant table.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you turn one winter pruning into a table of young fig and elderberry trees: take and store the right wood, root it three ways on a simple heated shelf, grow the trees on, and plant, give or sell them legally with honest numbers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 20 pages in 10 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Build it and root it, Run it, Sell it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 7 numbered figures drawn for this guide. You also get a worked example with a fill-in worksheet, 23 numbered steps, a year-round calendar, and a troubleshooting table.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSourced and fact-checked.\u003c\/strong\u003e Facts and figures are cited to the 36 sources listed at the back, and the whole guide was fact-checked before release. General guidance, not engineering advice: your county and a qualified pro have the last word on your site.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePairs with\u003c\/strong\u003e other Alt Ordo Systems Guides: Food forests; The off-grid vegetable garden; Hoop greenhouses; Composting; Portable power stations; Microgreens on a Shelf; Roof rainwater catchment. For your county's permits and rules, see our county and state guides.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInstant PDF download.\u003c\/strong\u003e After checkout you get a download link by email. 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This guide covers where the tool came from, how and when to use it, the Fork Fit workout, and two designs a local welder can build to your height: the AO-5 with straight round-bar tines and the AO-5C with curved plate tines cut from our DXF file. There is also a bolted version for anyone without a welder.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis guide helps you loosen deep beds without a tiller, train your whole body while you do it, and have a broadfork built to your height from our drawings and CAD files, or bolt one together with hand tools.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat's inside.\u003c\/strong\u003e 19 pages in 10 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Parts and cost, Build it, Run it, The Fork Fit workout, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 9 numbered figures drawn for this guide. 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