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Welcome to Whizbang Books Whizbang Books is a homestead-based business dedicated to providing you with inspiration, information, and tools for living a more wholesome, down-to-earth, self-reliant, and fulfilling lifestyle. Much of the inspiration and information is absolutely free. This page is a portal to everything Whizbang, and to the many internet essays of Herrick Kimball, who is the founder and developer of everything Whizbang. Please take a few moments to scroll down and click on the links that interest you.
Backyard & Small-Farm Poultry Processing If you want to learn how to easily “process” your own home-raised poultry, you’ve come to the right place. Herrick Kimball invented the homemade Whizbang poultry plucker in 1999 and shortly thereafter published the book, Anyone Can Build a Tub-Style Mechanical Chicken Plucker. A Whizbang plucker is much less expensive to build than a “storebought” tub plucker. The Whizbang is also easy to build using commonly available materials and basic handyman skills. Your Whizbang will automatically pluck one or more chickens at a time, in about 15 seconds. All you do is turn the machine on, drop your dead and scalded birds into the tub, and watch the show. If you have to see it to believe it, go to: You can see pictures of the Whizbang Plucker, learn all about it, and read testimonials at this link: The Whizbang Plucker Story. For some real poultry processing inspiration, take a moment to read this photo-essay: Backyard Poultry processing With My 11-Year-Old Son. Questions? You can find answers here: Frequently Asked Questions About The Whizbang Chicken Plucker. The Whizbang Plucker plan book sells for $19.95, postage paid. CLICK HERE to purchase a copy. After you’ve plucked your birds you’ll need to butcher them. Butchering can be a little intimidating if you’ve never done it before. But it’s not that hard if someone shows and explains every step. Herrick Kimball explains exactly how to butcher a chicken (after you’ve plucked it) in this step-by-step internet tutorial: How to Butcher a Chicken. When you get to the point of building your own poultry plucker, Whizbang Books makes it super easy to do by providing you with many of the harder-to-find-or-make components. Click this link for full details: Whizbang Plucker Parts. Also, be sure to stop by the Yahoo discussion group, Whizbang Chicken Pluckers (there are over 1,800 members!). After you’ve built your own Whizbang Plucker, you might want to consider building your own Whizbang Automatic Chicken Scalder. The scalder is ideally suited for people who are looking for maximum processing convenience and efficiency. You can read a photo-essay about the scalder and its many great features here: Introducing My Deluxe Automatic Chicken Scalder. The Whizbang Chicken Scalder Plan book sells for $23.95, postage paid. CLICK HERE to purchase a copy. Herrick Kimball has written several other poultry-related essays for the internet. Titles include: FREE Chicken Feed, Talkin’ Bout My Chicken Tractor, Me and My Turkeys, and more. You can access all the essays here: Herrick’s Internet Poultry Essays
Build Your Own Whizbang Garden Cart The most versatile and useful homestead tool you can own is a good garden cart. A good garden cart is strong and durable, well balanced, easy to operate, and provides plenty of cubic-foot carrying capacity. That description describes the Whizbang Garden Cart. The Whizbang Garden Cart is a homemade version of the classic Garden Way Model 26. Now you can easily build your own classic cart for less than a ready-made unit. And you’ll end up with a far better cart for the money. You can see pictures and read all about the Whizbang cart at this link: Build it easy. Work it hard. Love it forever… The Whizbang Garden Cart. The Whizbang Garden Cart plan book sells for $14.95, postage paid. CLICK HERE to purchase a copy.
Growing Great Garlic & Making Great Garlic Powder Have you ever tasted homemade garlic powder from gourmet garlic varieties? If not, you’re missing out on a culinary delight. No store-bought garlic powder can compare to that which you’ve grown and processed yourself. When Herrick Kimball discovered this truth, he wrote and published the 40-page book, The Complete Guide to Making Great Garlic Powder. When Herrick sent a sample jar of his homegrown garlic powder to Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of the NPR radio program, “The Splendid Table,” she interviewed him on the show. At the end of the interview she opened the jar on-air and tasted it for the first time. Her response: “Holy Cow! Wow!” (she liked it). You can make your own awesome-tasting garlic powder by following the directions in Herrick’s book. The Great Garlic Powder book sells for $7.95, postage paid. CLICK HERE to purchase a copy. If you’d like to see how Herrick plants his garlic, and harvests it, and makes pickled garlic scapes, and more, click here: Herrick’s Internet Garlic Essays. Homemade garlic powder can be a profitable little homestead business. You can find out more about this unique niche idea by reading A Garlic Powder Profits Report: The Herrick’s Homegrown Story. Here’s a link to more information about this Whizbang Books publication: Garlic Powder Profits.
Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian Herrick Kimball has a blog titled, The Deliberate Agrarian. it is subtitled, One Man’s Ruminations About Faith, Family & Livin’ The Good Life. The blog led to a book: Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian. Herrick’s book is part memoir, part declaration, and total celebration of a grassroots movement known as Christian-agrarianism. You can learn more about the book, read the first chapter, and purchase a copy at this link: Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian. You can get to Herrick’s blog at this link: The Deliberate Agrarian Past essays of “The Deliberate Agrarian” have been categorized and archived. Here are some of the categories (click to go to the archive):
More Down-to-Earth Blogs Herrick is also the author of two other blogs that you may find of interest:
Whizbang Books Online Catalog The most up to date and specific information about all Whizbang books, project parts, and other products can be found at this link: Whizbang Books Online Catalog Thanks for visiting this Whizbang Books portal page. If you would like to contact Herrick by e-mail, you can do so at: hckimball@bci.net |
Whizbang Books PO Box 1117 Moravia, NY 13118 US 315-497-9618 E-mail: whizbangbooks@bci.net |