SCHOOL OF SELF-RELIANCE
"OTIS' GENERAL STORE"
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Here you'll find books, booklets, and DVDs on survival and self-reliance. Plus, we have fire-making tools, herbs, knives, knife-sharpeners, water purifiers and more. LET US KNOW IF YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC NEED!
You can call our office at (626) 791-3217, or mobile at (323) 605-7283
Please first check our SPECIALS, and then scroll down to see our other products. Thank you for visiting!
Click here to see items Christopher is selling on Ebay
SPECIAL OFFER THROUGH THE END OF DECEMBER:
Purchase the DVD called "Survival Foods,"where we see Huell Howser interview Christopher and Dolores Nyerges in downtown Los Angeles -- and choose a free copy of Enter the Forest book, OR a magnesium fire starter.
ALSO, any order over $100 will get a free copy of Shiyo Miller's "The Winds Erase Your Footprints,"the true story of life on the Navajo reservation during the Great Depression. (see description below).
BOOKS
Please let us know if you'd like Christopher Nyerges to autograph his books for you
THE SELF-SUFFICIENT HOME -- Going green and saving Money. This is Christopher's latest book, a treasure trove of information for living a simpler life. The book includes interviews from folks who live the life, folks who walk the walk. This book will provide you with more money saving tips, beyond his other popular book, "Extreme simplicity." Subjects include how to plan a home solar electric system, interviews with folks who've done it, collecting rain water, alternate toilets and methane digesters, how to make biodiesel, solar water heaters, permaculture, and more! Fully illustrated, with lots of practical ways for you to take action now.
$20
$20
HOW TO SURVIVE ANYWHERE: Your guide to better living – Your guide to prepare for the next earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, and other disasters A Guide for Urban, Suburban, Rural, and Wilderness Environments.Subjects include Water (finding, purifying, storing), clothing and shelter, health and hygiene, fire, alternate power sources, fibre from nature, food and food storage, wild soaps, first aid, further considerations of "survival," and more.
FORAGING EDIBLE WILD PLANTS OF NORTH AMERICA is Christopher's latest book, a wild food cookbook, fully illustrated with color photos and recipes for the most common greens that you can find anywhere in North America. In fact, many of these plants are found world-wide."I was really happy with the result, and the way the color photos turned out," says Christopher. The book is 211 pages full of wild recipes, and various ways to use wild foods, their nutritional value, and the ways to process the plants, with full color photos of every plant. There is an introductory chapter on how to prepare wild foods, and how to make your own wild spices. A chart at the end (based on the USDA's "Analysis of Foods") demonstrates the incredible nutritional value of wild foods.
It's true that not everyone cares for wild foods. The book includes comments from people who have tasted Christopher's dishes at his classes. Responses varied from those who have tried his "Earth Bread," based on lamb's quarter seed. Some have said it tasted "like dirt," and others said it was "virile,""amazing," "deliciously wholesome and sustaining." If you're one of those who likes to try wild foods, you"ll love this book. $22.95 [be sure to request if you want it autographed] $22.95 "Foraging California: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods in California," is a Falcon Field Guide by Christopher Nyerges, the latest of Nyerges' books, just released in late May of 2014. The 244 page book is full color, and is organized by plant family, according to the latest Jepson Manual ("Higher Plants of California").
"Foraging California," with a foreword by Paul Campbell (author of "Survival Skills of Native California"), is dedicated to Nyerges' teacher and mentor, Dr. Leonid Enari, who emphasized that the way to learn about plants was to understand their familial relationships. Based on the methods learned by Dr. Enari, this book tells that there are many safe families, and that there are many more foods beyond what is in this illustrated book.
The book includes a map of the state of California, showing the distribution of wild foods by environment. Also included are nutritional charts, a chart for wild bread and wild sugar sources, and Nyerges' wild food test which he uses in the classroom.
The book is useful for California and beyond.
$22.95 Newly Revised and Updated 2nd Edition. $20 This is a full-color book, 122 pages in length, covering the most common native nuts and berries of California. Foreword by Dr. James Adams, USC doctor of pharmacology, and author of "Healing with Medicinal Plants."
The book is divided between the native nuts and berries, and the horticulturally introduced plants (HIPs), which thrive in the cities and wilderness. The book includes some unique information on the processing of the buckeye seeds, details on processing olives, and recipes throughout. $18.95 Homesteading in the City by Christopher and Dolores Lynn Nyerges. This is the story of Christopher and Dolores Nyerges' "urban homesteading" in Los Angeles. Want to learn how to produce more of your food, generate some of your power, or cook with the sun? Do you desire to make your own compost and learn to create a wildlife sanctuary even in the city? Here is book that tells how we went about this, step by step, on a low budget. The "Economics and Self-Reliance" $16.95 $15 $15 WRITING FOR SURVIVAL: A step-by-step guide to getting published without going broke by Christopher Nyerges. This is the textbook that Christopher uses when he teaches writing classes at the local college. It is designed to get you writing and marketing your work. Topics include newspaper writing, magazine writing, book writing, keeping records, cover letters, press releases, marketing tactics, self-publication, and more. 8 ½ x 11 format, 51 pages. $15. $2.99 Click Here For more information about this Kindle Book and to purchase it. Note: You can purchase a .pdf file of this book which we can then email to to you. Cost is only $2. $2.99 Click Here For more information about this Kindle Book and how to purchase it. Note: You can purchase a .pdf file of this book which we can then email to to you. Cost is only $2. Also, don't forget that there are free kindle and e-book readers that you can download for free. $2.99 Click Here For more information about this E-Book in Kindle Format and to purchase it. Note: You can purchase a .pdf file of this book which we can then email to to you. Cost is only $3. $2.99 Click Here For more information about this Kindle Book and how to purchase it. Note: You can purchase a .pdf file of this book which we can then email to to you. Cost is only $2.
Note: A percentage of the proceeds from the above book goes to Dolores' favorite charity. $2.99 Click Here For more information about this Kindle Book and how to purchase it. Note: You can purchase a .pdf file of this book which we can then email to to you. Cost is only $2.
Also, don't forget that there are free kindle and e-book readers that you can download for free. EARTH PIGMENTS AND PAINTS This is Paul Campbell's second book, a hard-cover in full color, which covers his quest for the elusive red ochre, descriptions of how pigments were mixed with other substances so they lasted for cenuries, and so much more. Though there is much "how-to" in this book, the variety of rock art depicted is clearly worth the price of the book. There are also old California Indian photos showing body art, as well as face art, bow and arrow art, etc. Every museum and school should have a copy. Retail is $30, but we sell for $25. Paul Campbell's book is a dream-come-true for anyone interested in the specific skills used day in and out by California’s pre-mission people. Included is how to make sandals, rope, nets, arrows, bows, hunting skills, plant information, soap plants, and more. Campbell takes you through it all step by step, with lots of photos. $40.00 By Paul Campbell
This is the latest by Paul Campbell, released September of 2013.
'The Universal Tool Kit' refers to taking a rock and turning it into a tool. Some of you may think this is not a very interesting subject, but believe me, it's an incredible insightful look at how ancient man survived. This is not the theoretical charts and arrows and categorization you might get in an anthropology class. Campbell brings it alive, and makes it relevant.
Just like his previous two books - "Survival Skills of Ancient California" and "Paints and Pigments" - Campbell thoroughly investigates his subject matter.
Campbell gives us a review of stone tools in primitive cultures around the world, and how extreme simplicity was the name of the game. This is not a book about fancy flint-knapping. Rather, this is a book that describes Campbell's personal research and experimentation in making quick and simple stone tools, and how he went about using those tools to make bows, atlatls, and other necessary products. It seems that too many people have made all the basic survival skills all so complicated. Too many folks are telling us you must have this huge knife and this big compass and that big weapon.
Why? Because for the people selling all the survival paraphernalia, it helps to put their daughters through college. But if you really want to get simple and get basic, then just GET THIS BOOK. A stone is the ultimate survival tool. And guess what? When you're done reading this book, you'll agree with Campbell that you really don't need the stone, per se. The greatest skill is your knowledge, and your ability to transform natural resources into the tools of everyday life and survival.
Campbell gives you a thorough background in the subject in a readable way. You'll know far more than the average anthropologist after reading this. He describes how to make one-day willow bow, atlatls and spears, flakers, and more. Fully illustrated with hundreds of photos and drawings, this is the book you will want when you do the research that matters.
Top quality hard cover, 316 pages. Suggested retail is $29.95
Click Here for a larger image of the inside of the book.
Introductory special: $22 by Tom Elpel. This is the best treatment of botany and taxonomy that we have seen. Learn how to recognize the major plant families, and how to understand some of the basic chemistry of plants. 8 ½ x 11 format, 196 pages. $30 “If you can’t beat ‘em, eat ‘em!” Peter Gail of Cleveland has written the book that contains everything you’d ever want to know about the common dandelion. His celebration of the dandelion is 151 pages that might surprise you if you’re one of the many gardeners who despise dandelions because they grow in lawns. But it turns out that dandelions are not trash -- they are treasures. Gail begins by telling us some of dandelions’ long history of food and medicine, showing us that dandelions have more nutritional content with other common wild and cultivated foods. We learn that dandelion is the richest source of Vitamin A and magnesium, in his study, as well as a rich source of most of the tested minerals. It is richer in beta-carotene than carrots. Despite these incredible health benefits, more people don’t eat dandelion because it’s bitter. So Gail gives us recipes for turning this bitter weed into a tasty dish. He tells us how to use the roots, leaves, flowers, and hearts. There are recipes for some very unlikely dandelion dishes, like dandelion ice cream, and also the standards, such as dandelion wine and coffee. Spiral bound for easy-use. $13.95 by Cecilia Garcia and Dr. James Adams. This remarkable book was the collaboration of Dr. Adams, a professor of pharmacology, and Cecilia Garcia, a Chumash medicine woman. When Dr. Adams got the idea to write a book on the medicinal use of plants, he sought out a native medicine person, and finally found Cecilia Garcia. After she accepted him, they collaborated on this book, and nearly a hundred walks and lectures. People have been very impressed with their presentations, sensing that "this is the real deal."
The book is 266 pages, fully illustrated with color photos, and the details of each plant delineated with identification characteristics, primary and secondary uses, active compounds, and many of Cecilia's recipes for how to use the herbs. (Cecilia passed away May 15, 2012 in Mexico).
The book is a real treasure! It`s a unique blend of science and spirituality. $17.95 This book, written by Shiyo Miller (mother of Dolores Lynn Nyerges), is the true story of a young newly-married couple (one White, one Navajo) who move back to the Navajo reservation. You really feel the daily challenges of what it normally takes to live on the reservation, not to mention that this was during the Depression when work and money were scarce. There is a subtle backdrop of Navajo witchcraft, as well as the colorful scenery of the Southwest. Shiyo started writing this book in the 1940s. Shiyo died in 1983, and due to her daughter's dillegence, the book finally got published in 2002. Illustrated by Chester Kahn, it is 335 pages long. $17. BOOKLETS by NYERGES ANIMALS AS ORACULAR MESSENGERS, transcript of a Halloween night lecture by Christopher Nyerges. Includes symbolic interpretation of animals in daily life. $7. WHOSE CHILD IS THIS?, transcript of a Christmas lecture given to Philosophical Research Society by Christopher Nyerges. An exploration of the many symbols of Christmas (and Hannukah), and their practical meanings. A real eye-opener, especially if you never considered the origin of the diverse symbols we now associate with Christmas. $7 GUIDE FOR SURVIVAL IN CATASTROPHES. Transcript of a lecture presented by Christopher Nyerges and John Watkins to a Mensa meeting in February 1986. What would it REALLY be like if modern society collapsed? What would you ACTUALLY do to live in strength after such an event? 8 ½ x 11 format, 17 pages. $7 SURVIVING DROUGHT, ECONOMIC CALAMITY, AND OTHER WOES VIA THINKING. Transcript of a six-hour workshop by Christopher and Dolores Lynn Nyerges, given at Philosophical Research Society. See how we create all our problems. Learn the tools necessary to analyze what you can do better in your own personal life. 8 ½ x 11 format, 17 pages. Other Booklets SOLAR COOKING. Plans are provided for making two different types of solar cooker from inexpensive materials. After a few hours on a weekend, you can take scrap materials and make a simple device for cooking from the sun. $7.50. POOR MARSHALL'S MANUAL: The Individual Economics of Living on $99 per Month Written in his own hand, Marshall Greenwood tells how he live (circa 1979) on $99 a month. Reads like a modern version of Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac. Full of practical tips and information. 51 pages, spiral bound. $12. WHAT CAUSES GAS? by Dolores Miller Nyerges This has been one of our most popular booklets over the years. We recommend it to anyone who is considering buying epazote, or who has problems with indigestion or gas. Includes some unusual information, including When you are eating, How you are eating, Where you are eating, and more. 20 pages. $5. 
FORAGING CALIFORNIA: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods in California
Current retail is $24.95; we're selling it for $22.95 for a limited time.
GUIDE TO WILD FOODS AND USEFUL PLANTS
This is an ideal book for beginners and experts to get to know some common wild foods and their uses. Fully illustrated with color photos, many original references, and pictorial keys (for Leaf and Fruit) to all the plants included. Most of the plants included are found all over the United States. Each plant's identification is described, as well as edibility, medicinality, and other practical uses. Very useful Appendix on Safe Families, and an insightful Appendix on Why Eat Wild Foods?
Current retail is 24.95; we're selling it for $20 for a limited time.
NUTS AND BERRIES OF CALIFORNIA:Tips and Recipes for Gatherers. A Falcon Field Guide by Christopher Nyerges, 2015.
EXTREME SIMPLICITY 
TESTING YOUR OUTDOOR SURVIVAL SKILLS by Christopher Nyerges. Chapters on identifying plants, primitive fire-making, food in the wild, navigation by sun and stars, water (finding, purifying, storing), clothing, first aid, weapons (primitive and modern), and more. Designed as the text that Nyerges uses for a semester course, the book is also used to test and improve your own skills and knowledge. This is the classroom textbook which became the foundation for "How to Survive Anywhere." 8 ½ x 11 format, comb-bound, fully illustrated. 
URBAN WILDERNESS: A Handbook to Ecological City Living. This edition focuses on simple, low-cost ways to "do more with less," even in the city. Think of it as a basic manual of urban survival. (This is a revision of Christopher's 1979 book of the same title.) Sections includes food storage, water storage, alternate power sources, communication section, hygiene (what do you do when there is no toilet?), community and safety issues, emergency preparedness, and more!. 
TUNNEL 16. eBook by Christopher Nyerges: Tunnel 16 is a fictional tale about a teen in the foothill community of Altadena, California, who accidentally falls into a tunnel near the Angeles National Forest. He discovers that a race of invisible beings live there. The teen, Rick Jasper, meets his underworld mentor, the holographic ghost of Jack Parsons, who guides Rick in the underworld. The tunnel system is near the famous Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Pasadena, and JPL security engineer Frank Landry becomes enmeshed in this underworld drama in his effort to improve security at JPL. Though fiction, many real names and real locations are used, and the book includes much of the myth and folklore of the Pasadena area, including Parsons, JPL, tunnels under Los Angeles, L. Ron Hubbard, and more.
Sinkhole 102 (The Tunnel Series) [Kindle Edition] eBook by Christopher Nyerges:
A young adult fiction, Sinkhole 102 is a sequel to Tunnel 16. Five years after the Tunnel 16 adventure, Rick Jasper is a freshman physics student at Caltech when he is called upon to resolve an underworld conflict, this time in the tunnel system below Malibu Canyon. Rick agrees to do it only because he is promised gold as payment. A sinkhole opens near the beach in Malibu, and an Indian who says the sinkhole is an opening to a sacred site, jumps in and disappears.
California Department of Transportation works to seal the hole and hold back the media throng that appears after the Indian disappeared. Meanwhile, upcanyon, Rick and his Indian guide enter the tunnel system and interact with the Invisibles to assist them in resolving their differences.
Ancient Writings On Rock. eBook by Christopher Nyerges: Evidence for Pre-Columbian European Presence North of Los Angeles.
This is an e-book by Christopher Nyerges, where he documents his discovery of two inscribed rocks in the Angeles National Forest, and how these rocks were eventually translated. One boulders reads as a funerary epitaph, and the other is the name of a Celtic goddess. He also documents numerous other unique rocks on the site, which are consistent with a European ceremonial site. Yes, controversial, and Nyerges gives tells you how he came to his conclusions, and presents the arguments both from those who agree and disagree with this thesis. The book can be purchased from Amazon in Kindle format, or from us as a pdf download. $3.00
Til Death Do Us Part? eBook by Christopher Nyerges: The Story of How Dolores and Christopher Dealt with Death. How can we deal with death in an uplifting -- even positive -- way? This book covers some of the lessons about death from the life of Christopher and Dolores Nyerges. Included are lessons about how to support those whose spouses have died, having animal funerals, how to prepare for the inevitability of death, how to 'be with' your loved one when they die, and more. There are sections about dealing with 'ghosts', and the possibility of an afterlife. 
Squatter in Los Angeles:Living on the Edge eBook by Christopher Nyerges: For a year and a half, Christopher Nyerges took and occupied a hilltop home on one acre whose ownership was being disputed in probate court. During this time, Nyerges was able to experiment and practice many of the skills that he later used in his ongoing classes, and books ("Urban Wilderness," "Extreme Simplicity," etc.). This book describes how this all came about, some of the specific experiences during that time, and practical lessons about gardening, use of resources, self-reliance, recycling. how we relate to our land, etc. This is a wild ride which includes lawyers, a ghost, a near-death experience, dowsing, a rain dance, and lots of other great topics for your next dinner party.
This is not a how-to guide to squatting, nor does it glamorize homelessness, squatting, or any illegal activity. The purpose of this book is to show that it is very possible for anyone to live better with less.
Available on Kindle from Amazon. Or, we'll send you the book as a Word document for $2.
SURVIVAL SKILLS OF NATIVE CALIFORNIA
THE UNIVERSAL TOOL KIT out of Africa to native California
BOTANY IN A DAY
DANDELION CELEBRATION
HEALING WITH MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE WEST (3rd edition)
THE WINDS ERASE YOUR FOOTPRINTS
$7 
