Books by Laura Lawrence
Old-Fashioned Skills for Real, Everyday Life
These aren’t the kind of books that sit untouched on a shelf looking pretty.
They’re meant to be opened in the kitchen, carried into the garden, written in, splattered on, and used again and again.
After more than 24 years of growing food, cooking from scratch, preserving the harvest, raising animals, and learning plenty of lessons the hard way, I created these books to help you build practical skills and greater confidence in your own home.
You don’t have to know everything.
You simply have to start.
Seed to Plate: A Homesteading Gardening Guide & Cookbook
- Learn how to garden
- Use the garden goodies in easy recipes
- Learn skills for homestead
“I love her book! She is so informative and gardening and cooking, I love her!” Charlene
Sourdough for Everyday Life: From Starter to Artisan
- Over 45 recipes
- Learn everything you need to know about sourdough
- Easy everyday recipes
“Tried a new recipe, chocolate sourdough muffins, so yummy. Thank you and her new sourdough cookbook” Kim
Seed to Plate
A Homesteading Gardening Guide & Cookbook
Grow it. Harvest it. Preserve it. Cook it.
Seed to Plate walks you through the entire journey of growing food—from deciding what to plant to figuring out what in the world to do with it once it takes over your kitchen.
This book was written especially for gardeners dealing with shorter growing seasons, unpredictable weather, and real-life limitations.
Inside, you’ll learn:
- What and when to plant
- How to start and care for your garden
- How to grow vegetables, herbs, fruit, and staple crops
- How to harvest and preserve what you grow
- How to save seeds for future gardens
- How to turn your harvest into practical, family-friendly meals
- How to become more confident and less dependent on the grocery store
You’ll also find recipes, growing information, preservation guidance, and lessons gathered through more than two decades of hands-on experience.
This is not about creating a picture-perfect garden.
It’s about growing food that actually feeds your family.
From Starter to Artisan
Sourdough for Everyday Life
Real sourdough for real people with real schedules.
Sourdough does not have to be complicated.
You do not need expensive equipment, a perfect schedule, complicated formulas, or a degree in bread science.
You need a healthy starter, clear instructions, dependable recipes, and someone willing to explain the parts that other people tend to overcomplicate.
That’s exactly what this book does.
Inside, you’ll learn:
- How to create and maintain a sourdough starter
- How to understand what your starter is actually doing
- How to make sourdough fit into everyday life
- How to use discard instead of wasting it
- How to make sandwich bread, artisan loaves, and family favorites
- How to shape, score, ferment, and bake with confidence
- How to troubleshoot common sourdough problems
- How to bake without commercial yeast
With more than 45 recipes, this book goes far beyond making one beautiful loaf of bread.
You’ll learn how to use sourdough throughout your kitchen for practical everyday meals, snacks, breads, and treats.
Because bread existed long before social media made it complicated.
Softcover — $45.99
[ORDER FROM STARTER TO ARTISAN]
Great for:
Complete beginners, discouraged sourdough bakers, busy families, from-scratch cooks, and anyone who wants sourdough to become a normal part of everyday life.
Which Book Is Right for You?
Choose Seed to Plate if…
You want to grow more of your own food, improve your garden, preserve your harvest, learn seed saving, or confidently cook what you grow.
Choose From Starter to Artisan if…
You want to create a sourdough starter, finally understand sourdough, bake without commercial yeast, or use sourdough for more than one fancy loaf.
Choose Both if…
You are ready to build confidence from the garden all the way to the kitchen.
One book helps you grow and preserve the food.
The other helps you turn simple ingredients into breads and meals your family can enjoy every day.
Together, they create a practical foundation for greater food freedom at home.
These Books Were Written to Be Used
There are already plenty of books filled with perfect photographs and advice that sounds good until you try to use it in real life.
These books are different.
They were created from years of actually doing the work:
- Gardening through Northern Michigan weather
- Growing food in a short season
- Feeding a family from the garden and pantry
- Preserving hundreds of pounds of food
- Making mistakes and trying again
- Learning how to work with what you have
- Teaching beginners who need clear, practical answers
You’ll find real experience, straightforward instruction, plenty of encouragement, and probably a little dirt or flour along the way.
Perfection is not required.
Participation is.
Meet the Author
Hi, I’m Laura Lawrence
More than 24 years ago, my homesteading journey began in Michigan with one small garden box and a few tomato plants.
Back then, I was a vegetarian who once imagined living in New York City and becoming a model.
Clearly, things took a turn.
Today, my husband Justin and I raise much of our family’s food on our Northern Michigan homestead. We garden, preserve, bake, raise animals, keep bees, homeschool our children, and continue learning old-fashioned ways in a modern world.
I don’t teach these skills because I believe everyone needs to live exactly as we do.
I teach them because knowing how to grow, cook, preserve, and create something with your own hands changes you.
It gives you confidence.
It gives you options.
And it helps you become the kind of person who knows, “I can do this.”
Start Where You Are
You do not need a large homestead.
You do not need years of experience.
You do not need to change your entire life overnight.
Begin with one seed.
One loaf.
One new skill.
Then keep going.