Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2012 - January 2013 i MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Hello, Whole Grains! Whole grains are the whole package: inexpensive, super-nutritious and vastly versatile, bringing to the table a range of flavors and textures that complement dishes both sweet and savory. You can make healthful whole grains the star of any meal, or tuck them into supporting roles in your favorite recipes (even gluten-free fare). They work as marvelously in breakfast muffins and hot cereals as they do in sides, casseroles and as popped snacks. Our Guide to Whole Grains will introduce you to the wide, wonderful world of whole grains — from amaranth, barley and bulgur to millet, quinoa and wild rice — and equip you with the know-how to choose and use these ancient foods to their best advantage. Recipes include Creamy Squash and Millet Soup, Quinoa-Zucchini Cakes,…

Big thanks to everyone who held events as part of International Homesteading Education Month last September. The Event Listings and Speaker Finder will be available year-round at www.MotherEarthNews.com/Homesteading-Month to help you continue to connect with your neighbors. — MOTHER Our New Autumn Tradition Last winter, when MOTHER EARTH NEWS challenged us to hold a Homesteading Education Month event, we decided to plan an open house, but figured it would be a day just like any other. As soon as the magazine came out in spring, we received our first inquiry. A radio station called to learn more about us. Then a local reporter heard us talking about our event on the radio and wrote about it in the paper. Starting early on the morning of Sept. 15, guests began to…

As a reporter covering green cars for the past six years, I can say with some authority that the documentary Revenge of the Electric Car does a tremendous job condensing the ups and downs of the electric car industry into a fun 90 minutes. Director Chris Paine and his team managed to get great behind-the-scenes footage, plus coverage of the world of plug-in vehicles between 2007 and 2011. Anyone who watches the movie will gain an understanding of how electric vehicles (EVs) are situated in the auto industry today and understand how quickly things keep changing. Since the film’s release, Tesla has introduced the Model S, and Ford and Mitsubishi have brought their EVs to limited markets. The film focuses on four dynamic and charismatic industry pioneers: Bob Lutz of…

As the global population grows, we are using more and more water. Humans need water to survive. The Earth needs water to support its ecosystems. So far, we’ve had underground reservoirs thousands of years old at our disposal. But our current consumption is surpassing the supply. A global analysis of groundwater depletion recently published by the international science journal Nature reported that nearly a quarter of the planet’s population lives in areas where available groundwater is being used faster than it can be replenished. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Ogallala or High Plains Aquifer supplies 30 percent of the groundwater used for U.S. irrigation. USGS estimates that the aquifer’s water levels have declined by more than 100 feet since predevelopment in areas with densely irrigated acreage. This…

Eggplant contains fiber, potassium and folate. Become a culinary star by learning how to cook eggplant in caponata and ratatouille. Eggplant slices can be grilled or breaded. When fried, they make delicious veggie sandwiches or casseroles. To make a spread called baba ghanouj, grill or bake whole eggplants that have been pierced with a fork until they cave in. Purée the cooled pulp with garlic, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil. Raw eggplant starts browning immediately after it’s cut, so work quickly. Many recipes involve salting eggplant slices before cooking to remove bitterness, but this step is seldom necessary with young, garden-grown eggplant. The best way to preserve eggplant is to freeze slices that have been blanched, pan-fried or grilled.…

You Have to Try This Amazing Recipe Photos by Tim Nauman Most of us know that homemade loaves taste far better than supermarket fare. And we know that whole-grain breads are much more nutritious but sometimes suffer in the flavor and texture departments. With this versatile recipe, we’ll show you the best of both worlds: how to make breads that taste even better than white-flour homemade breads and are super-nutritious. If you want to jump straight to the recipe, simply turn to Page 30. When the editorial staff tested it, everyone was blown away that 100 percent whole-grain bread could taste this good. Not only does it have exceptional flavor and texture, but it delivers more fiber, vitamins and minerals than store-bought breads. After you’ve made the basic homemade whole-grain…

When you save your own seeds, you are joining a chain of farmers, gardeners and seed savers that dates back to the Stone Age. All domestic crops were once wild plants that early humans selected to feed themselves or, later, their livestock. Today, gardeners save seeds for many reasons. 1. Money Savings. Every time you buy a seed variety, you invest in your future. For example, I just bought some expensive ‘Midori Giant’ soybean seed, and I feel better about the high price tag because I know I’ll have the variety as long as I continue saving seeds from my plants. (With soybeans, you simply let the last picking dry on the plant and you have next year’s seed.) 2. Seed Security. Hundreds of excellent plant varieties have been discontinued…

Although we’ve used the words “pig” and “hog” more or less interchangeably in this article, it helps to know the technical difference. Here are some of the terms used by experienced swineherds. Piglet: term for baby swine that is rarely used by folks who raise pigs Pig: a young swine — something you might be tempted to call a piglet Shoat: an adolescent pig that has been weaned but has not yet hit 120 pounds Hog: a maturing swine that has passed the 120-pound mark Boar: an intact male Barrow: a castrated male Gilt: a young female before her first litter Sow: a mature female hog after her first litter Weanling or Weaner: 8- to 12-week-old pig that has just been removed from its mother Feeder Pig: a young animal…

Illustrations by Elayne Sears Using a broody hen to raise your chicks provides several additional benefits to both the chicks and you. The mother forages natural foods — mostly insects — for her chicks, keeps her young ones warm even while ranging on pasture and through cooler weather, and provides devoted protection from predators. The flock-keeper who chooses to foster broodiness (the inclination for a hen to hatch her own eggs) will be rewarded with a healthy, self-sustaining flock. Modern Breeding vs. Broody Hens Commercial hybrid breeds lay lots of eggs, but they aren’t a good choice if you want hens that will go broody. In today’s era of mass production of chicks via artificial incubation, broodiness is considered not merely an unnecessary nuisance but an economic calamity. After all,…

Cedar-Sided Poultry House Two seasons ago, I was planning to build my first urban chicken coop and was scratchin’ my head about how to do it cheaply. We lived in the inner city and at the time there happened to be a large construction site two blocks away. With a borrowed pickup truck and a friend in tow, I asked the site manager if we could dig through the scrap pile. Construction sites can be fantastic sources of free material if you ask and are willing to shape your plans around what you can find. The only building costs for this coop were for nails, a bit of used vinyl flooring and some weathered cedar shingles from the local cedar mill. Tara Bambauer Cornwall, Prince Edward Island Pallet-Perfect Coops We…

The Foreverness Fallacy A thousand thanks to Bryan Welch for his perceptive article on the fallacy of the modern quest for personal foreverness, which is both selfish and Godless (“What’s Wrong With Living Forever?” October/November 2012). Mr. Welch spoke out clearly and deserves our thanks. David and Edith Moody Ulster Park, New York Joining the Life Force Thank you, Bryan Welch, for your article on living forever. I share your perspective on this topic, especially your sentiments in the next-to-last paragraph: “But given a choice, I think I would prefer an afterlife in which I’m utterly transformed by death, transubstantiated by biology. I think I’d like to be a part of the world from which I sprang — part of the dark earth and the bright flowers; embodied by doodlebugs…

This year’s Mother Earth News Fairs in Washington and Pennsylvania were better than ever, with a combined attendance of more than 25,000. We are pleased to announce that next year we expect to add a third Fair in the Midwest. To follow details on the schedules and programs, all you need to do is subscribe to the Fair e-newsletter at www.MotherEarthNews.com/Fair. Also, we have begun plans to eventually offer a DVD series so readers unable to attend the Fairs can learn from the experts who offer workshops. Fairgoers had an almost insatiable interest in attending the workshops (there were more than 200 in Pennsylvania), buying books (the Fair bookstore offered more than 450 items) and visiting the 250 exhibitors’ booths. There is no doubt that the Modern Homesteading and Real…

GE has refused to add a warning to their bulbs’ packaging even though it has been known for many years that, when heated, Teflon-coated “nonstick” cooking pans can release a compound that kills birds and causes flu-like “polymer fume fever” in humans. On Page 90 of our October/November 2012 issue, reader Lynn Chong detailed her efforts to convince GE to add a warning label to their light bulb packaging after a bulb killed 19 birds in her coop. Chong’s story prompted us to research the history of Teflon and other perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs). Turns out there’s a great deal more to the story of DuPont’s Teflon than the deadly danger it presents to birds. Here’s the timeline we compiled from reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post…

Surely you’ve heard reports about birds that are threatened by environmental changes. But it’s not just far-off rainforest species or pole-dwelling penguins that face an uncertain future — many less exotic North American birds are experiencing significant drops in numbers. In fact, 20 common North American bird populations have been cut in half in just four decades, according to the latest installment of the Audubon Society report Common Birds in Decline. These birds have earned the unfortunate distinction of a spot on Audubon’s list: American Bittern, Black-throated Sparrow, Boreal Chickadee, Common Grackle, Common Tern, Eastern Meadowlark, Evening Grosbeak, Field Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Greater Scaup, Horned Lark, Lark Sparrow, Little Blue Heron, Loggerhead Shrike, Northern Bobwhite, Northern Pintail, Ruffed Grouse, Rufous Hummingbird, Snow Bunting and Whip-poor-will. Every bird’s situation is different,…

It can be difficult these days to find hard-hitting investigative reports on the urgent issues we face involving food, agriculture and environmental health. The Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN) is a new independent, nonprofit news organization that is producing some outstanding articles. Recent FERN stories include “Whose Side Is the Farm Bureau On?”; “If Food’s in Plastic, What’s in the Food?”; and “How Your Chicken Dinner Is Creating a Drug-Resistant Superbug.” If you want to help build a better food system, we highly recommend you follow FERN’s reports. You can subscribe to their newsletter at www.TheFern.org. — Amanda Sorell…

Photos by Tim Nauman Sweet, fine-textured shallots are a secret of great cooks the world over. Shallots’ mild flavor echoes that of both garlic and onions. The authors of The Silver Palate Cookbook, a beloved cookbook from an influential 1980s gourmet food shop, refer to these “lusty members of the lily family” as the cornerstone of good cooking. Take heed, they say, for “a pantry without the onion and its cousins isn’t considered well-stocked.” Shallots are especially prized in France and Asia, where they are used in sauces, dressings and compound butters, and to add flavor to simple dishes. Shallots are mild enough to eat raw, but robust enough to stand up to intense heat. In France, they are chopped into vinaigrettes and stuffings, and baked whole in tarts. In…

Makes a 1-pound loaf. Here we are following the time-tested method of creating pre-doughs that is discussed at length in Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads (see Page 81 to order). The recipe is rather adaptable. A little extra fat creates a soft, airy crumb and slows staling; honey sweetens; buttermilk adds acidity and a pleasant tang; and orange juice tempers the faint bitterness in whole wheat without adding orange flavor. None of these things, however, is necessary for good bread. To keep things super-simple and super-cheap, omit everything except the flour, yeast, salt and water, and substitute water for the other liquids. If you’re not accustomed to eating 100 percent whole-grain foods, you may want to substitute unbleached bread flour for a portion of the whole-wheat flour. Keep in mind…

If you’re interested in selling seeds that you produce, contact a seed company’s purchaser to inquire about which crops the company needs grown. Specify your areas of expertise. Most seed companies contract for specific strains or varieties one to three years ahead of time. If you pitch your favorite variety to a seed company, the representatives will want a seed sample so they can trial or observe it for a year or two. Then, if they’re interested, they will contract with you. Some seed companies have tight legal contracts and deadlines. Some use just verbal commitments, however, and you can provide a contract if you want more insurance in such cases. Prices paid vary with each seed company, and certified organic seed commands higher prices. My experience selling organic seed…

The Payout From Pigs Most beginners feed their pigs a bagged “complete” grain and protein ration. A $50, 50-pound weaner pig might require about 585 pounds of feed to reach a slaughter weight of 250 pounds. At current (2012 pre-drought) prices, that would cost roughly $155 for conventional feed or $235 for organic. If your pigs are on good pasture, you could reduce your feed costs by about $22 for conventional or $40 for organic feed. You can lower costs if you provide supplemental dairy products, stale baked goods, or fruit and vegetable waste. Pigs are far more efficient than cattle in converting feed into meat (but not as efficient as poultry). Your 250-pound hog should yield about 140 pounds of meat cuts. Custom slaughter and cutting prices vary, but…

The telltale scratchy throat. Miserable nasal congestion. Lethargy tinged with aches and chills. We all know the signs of a cold or flu settling in, about to derail us — however temporarily — from our day-to-day lives. If your first thought when cold or flu symptoms arise is to reach for an over-the-counter formula, consider this: In the United States, we spend billions every year trying to knock out these maladies, but most of that money goes to treatments that only suppress symptoms and do little to spur healing. With the following preventive measures and simple, natural cold and flu remedies, you can save money, take control of your health, and trim your time spent feeling under the weather this cold and flu season. Cold and Flu Prevention Strategies Colds…

Central New Mexico, where my parents grew up, is arid and empty. Runty forests of piñon and juniper trees cover small mountain ranges. Dozens of miles of dry shortgrass prairie stretch between the hills. To support a herd of 100 cows, you’d need at least 5,000 acres of that arid land. My grandparents moved to New Mexico around 1915 to homestead. They intended to raise cattle and grow pinto beans, and that’s mostly what they did for three decades while they also raised their 10 children. My father was their last child, and when he was in grade school, climate change altered their lives: The rain stopped. Around the world, the history of agriculture is tied to the history of climate. Everywhere on Earth, temperatures have periodically risen and fallen.…

Firsthand Stories About Home-Based Businesses. Have you turned a skill, hobby or passion into a work-from-home enterprise? We’re looking for reports from people who are self-employed (full or part time) in a home business of their own creation, whether it’s selling homegrown or handcrafted products, offering lessons, or providing a service. Tell us what you tried and how it turned out — for better or for worse — along with any tips you would offer others. We plan to use your reports in an upcoming article, and we’ll pay $50 for each story we include. See Page 92 for our contact information.…

Earning a Living on a Family Farm In your review of the Farm Bill (“Fight for Your Food,” August/September 2012), the authors define “mega-farms” as those that gross more than $250,000. I would like to point out that most family farms for which the primary income comes from farming easily gross $250,000, or much more. My father and uncle farmed together on a typical Kansas family farm of their era. My father’s 1955 tax return shows their farm grossed $248,000, which would be more than $2 million today, but their net income for that same year was only $5,400. I think many people have skewed ideas of what a family farm looks like these days and what it takes for a family to make a decent living farming. John R.…

Most of us long for the authenticity of old-fashioned recipes, in which farm-fresh ingredients contribute honest flavors. Free-range eggs, with their sunny, orange yolks; freshly churned butter sparkling with the last drops of its briny whey: This is the way food ought to taste. Thoughtful shoppers can resurrect some of those flavors by shopping carefully at farmstands and farmers markets. But one great heritage ingredient missing from most tables today is lard. Used in kitchens for centuries, lard (rendered from pork fat) has a unique mix of different types of fats that give it wonderful qualities, especially for baking and frying. If you’ve never eaten foods cooked with lard, you’re in for a lovely surprise when you do. Like most animal fats, lard is higher in saturated fat than most…

Humane Farm Animal Care, a national nonprofit organization, is working for the welfare of animals with its Certified Humane Raised and Handled program. The program prioritizes animals’ care above their commercialization and sets standards that producers must meet for their products to receive the program’s label. The standards include prohibiting growth hormones and antibiotics; sufficient, clean and nutritious feed and water; and compliance with food safety and environmental regulations; among others. The program is concerned with animals’ welfare regardless of the farming system involved, meaning the animals aren’t necessarily free-range or organic, but they are comfortable and cared for from stable to table. To learn more, go to www.CertifiedHumane.org, where you’ll find a full list of standards and certified producers, as well as a Take Action page that can help…

Illustrations by Keith Ward Growing eggplant is easy where summers are long and warm. Where summers are short, varieties that mature quickly and produce medium to small fruits can easily be grown in containers. If you grow peppers, you can grow eggplant. The fruits may be purplish-black, white or all shades in between — some varieties even bear orange or green fruits. Types to Try Eggplant varieties differ in size, shape, color, growth habit and even maturation time. Oval to oblong eggplants produce the large, oval-shaped, purplish-black eggplants seen in most supermarkets. Most varieties produce best in warm climates. Japanese eggplants mature faster than oval eggplants, producing numerous long, slender fruits. Small-fruited eggplants are the best type for compact spaces. Some varieties produce fruits in attractive clusters which may be…

Homemade bread has everything going for it: It tastes better than store-bought; it’s cheaper; and it’s better for you. Mill your own flour from wheat berries, and you’ll bump up both nutrition and flavor. But if you really want to make great bread, add sprouted grains or a variety of flavorful whole grains. Our master recipe for Exceptionally Delicious Whole-Grain Bread (see Page 30) is infinitely adaptable. Increase the healthfulness of a single loaf of bread significantly by swapping out some of the flour in the ingredients list for a variety of cooked, uncooked or sprouted seeds, nuts and grains — including sprouted wheat berries. Get Your Sprout On Sprouted-grain breads taste fuller and more complex. Bread chemistry expert Emily Buehler, author of Bread Science, says sprouted breads have a…

You can see it in your mind’s eye: that perfect house, a snug cabin nestled in the woods alongside a pond shimmering in the sun’s slanting rays. You’ve held that image in your head since you were a teenager, and now you’re finally ready to build it. You’d love to build it all by yourself, but you’re not sure you have the necessary skills. Or perhaps you know that you have the skills, but the time and effort of finding all of the materials seems daunting. Maybe a kit house is the answer. Kit houses can be grand or tiny, sophisticated or rustic, traditional or ultra-modern. Kit homes can offer efficiency in construction as well as in energy use after the house has been built, and many kit home companies…

As if raising your own Sunday bacon weren’t enough, allow us to outline even more reasons for keeping pigs. The ultimate recyclers, hogs can take kitchen and garden scraps — or just about any edible “waste” — and convert them into healthful, delicious meat, plus nutrient-rich fertilizer. Evolved to root and dig, pigs enthusiastically unearth tasty treasures, plowing and composting as they go about their piggish pleasures. For firsthand experience with a system in which nothing is wasted, try raising pigs. Until the industrialization of agriculture, pigs were a welcome addition to virtually every farm. Keeping pigs was a way to store essential protein until it was needed. After slaughter, the pork could be preserved without refrigeration when made into ham, bacon and sausage. In addition to being sources of…

Heating our homes and businesses is expensive, and doing so is getting more costly each year. As costs rise and climate change complications increase, more and more of us are searching for cleaner, greener and more affordable home heating options. Fortunately, there are many. Choose carefully, however, as not all options are equal. Some greener home heating options rely on nonrenewable fuels, such as natural gas. Moreover, some are ideally suited for new construction while others work best for retrofitting existing buildings. Efficiency First Before you start shopping for a home heating system, remember that significant gains in comfort and energy savings can be achieved quickly and inexpensively by making your home or business more energy-efficient. Doing so requires a series of relatively simple steps — most important, sealing leaks…

I began growing my own vegetable seedlings more than 30 years ago, and I still remember my sad first attempts. Many seedlings keeled over and died, and some seeds never germinated at all. Experience has taught me how to prevent these problems, and every year I deepen my garden’s diversity, save money and share favorite varieties with friends by starting seeds indoors. Thousands of superior crop varieties are rarely available as seedlings in garden centers, and the same goes for wonderful culinary crops, such as red celery and seed-sown shallots. If your gardening goal is to fill your table and pantry with an array of homegrown organic food, then starting plants from seed can help you achieve that goal. Starting seeds indoors under controlled conditions, with no aggravation from weeds…

Introduce a Rooster to Your Flock Including a rooster (cock) in your flock is beneficial for several reasons. A rooster will act as caretaker, keeping the flock together and protecting it from predators when the hens roam outside the coop. With a rooster in charge, bossy hens will become more mellow. Keeping a rooster also means you’ll have fertile eggs from which you can raise chicks if you’d like (see “Raise Your Best Flock Using Broody Hens,” Page 56). Whether you’re adding a new rooster or hen to the flock, the process is essentially the same, says Harvey Ussery, author of The Small-Scale Poultry Flock. Introduce the newbie to the flock at midday inside a large, enclosed space that provides plenty of room for the rooster to retreat if attacked.…