John and Martha Storey,
Authors, Cooks, Founders, Gardeners & Massachusetts Residents

John and Martha Storey founded Storey Communications, Inc. in 1983. Storey's Basic Country Skills has no one specific author, it is a compilation of the best of Storey's projects, plans, and sage advice. John and Martha's experience rings loud and true throughout the book. Their vision, combined with the editorial expertise of Deb Burns (also a Storey author!) brought this treasury of country wisdom to fruition.

Martha also lent her party-planning advice to Keeping Entertaining Simple. She has mastered the art of relaxed hostessing, whether giving small dinner parties for close friends or large corporate picnics, and she shares her secrets and inspiring ideas with readers. John and Martha have three children and five grandchildren. They live in western Massachusetts.

Here you’ll find simple, mouthwatering dished with the country soul, potluck-supper recipes that are never out of style, and family favorites that you will hand down to your children and grandchildren.

Recipes include Mimi’s Sunday Pot Roast, Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes, Daddy’s Banana Pudding, Perfect Grilled Vegetables, Peach Cobbler Ring, Aunt Ina’s Relish, and hundreds more!

Martha also shares techniques for such things as making cheese, reserving food, pulling taffy, baking bread, and making pies and ice cream.

You'll find out how to heat your house with wood or by the sun and how to de-skunk a country dog. You'll learn the proper way to put in a water system, rewire an old house, stack a cord of wood, and grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Yearning for a more self-reliant life? You'll find the answers in Storey's Basic Country Skills.