Innholdsfortegnelse for August-September 2013 i MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Learn, Share Self-Sufficiency Join us this September in harnessing the power of neighbor-to-neighbor connections for our second annual International Homesteading Education Month. Last year’s inaugural event sparked skill-sharing festivities across the continent that were focused on a gamut of self-sufficiency topics, from composting workshops to hands-on draft horse demonstrations. (Read reports from many of last year’s event hosts online at http://goo.gl/m9tcf.) We want you to take part in this year’s 30-day celebration of “Neighbors helping neighbors — building more self-reliant communities,” and everything you need to participate is at www.MotherEarthNews.com/Homesteading-Month. There you’ll find the full listing of events (searchable by location, date and subject matter) as well as our Speaker Finder (if you’d like to invite an expert to give a presentation). Don’t be shy! All types of activities are…

Moo-ved to Milk My husband and I have been reading MOTHER EARTH NEWS for about seven years, and we love it. I can name each article that gave us a “we can do this” idea. The greatest one we implemented was raising our own cow for meat and milk. It really was easy when we followed the article, and we have been milking now for five years. Thanks to articles on backyard chickens and the best chicken breeds, we now sell eggs at the farmers market. Thanks to an article on growing your own grains, we have wheat ripening now, and an old Allis Chalmers All-Crop pull-type combine ready to harvest it — just to name a few successes. When an organic transitioning consultant came to create a plan for…

1. Beekeeping, Goat-Raising or Bread-Baking Bloggers. We’re looking to increase our pool of community bloggers in these areas. If you have expertise and would like to share it with others, apply by sending an email to Letters@MotherEarthNews.com. Bloggers interested in writing about other topics are also welcome. 2. Homesteading Month Reports. If you attend or host an International Homesteading Education Month event (see Page 6), drop us a line letting us know how it went. Don’t forget to include a photo! Find our contact details on Page 92.…

Obesogens. Their name says it all. Identified in 2006 by Bruce Blumberg, professor of developmental and cell biology at the University of California, Irvine, obesogens are part of a larger group of synthetic chemicals known as endocrine disruptors. Similar in chemical structure to the hormones that control body functions, obesogens disrupt normal cell development. The new and developing science of obesogens took a surprising turn earlier this year with a study coauthored by Blumberg in Environmental Health Perspectives, a prestigious publication of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences. The study exposed pregnant mice to low levels of tributyltin, an antifungal chemical added to some paints and plastics. The exposure resulted in increased body fat and liver fat in three generations of mice, even when the second and third generations…

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., is the world’s largest museum and research complex — but few objects in its vast collection ever go on display. Those that do have been chosen because of their influence on U.S. society. That’s why we’re excited that the first-ever issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine is part of a new exhibit. “Food: Transforming the American Table: 1950-2000” explores the politics of mass-produced food during the last half of the 20th century, when public debate began to rage over what we in the United States should be eating, and why. Volume 1, No. 1 of THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS (as it used to be called) from January 1970 is featured in the section on 1960s and ’70s grassroots movements. The magazine is lauded as…

Growing turnips and rutabagas is easy, and these earthy-tasting vegetables are among the most dependable cool-weather crops. Chilly temperatures make turnip greens sweeter and enhance the crisp texture of turnip and rutabaga roots. Harvested turnips and rutabagas will store for months in the refrigerator, lasting well into winter. Types to Try Salad turnips (Brassica rapa) quickly grow into robust plants, making them a good choice for both spring and fall plantings. They produce a uniform crop of sweet, crunchy roots the size of golf balls, ideal for eating raw or pickling. Salad turnips also produce delicious greens. All-purpose turnips (B. rapa), which include purple-top varieties, take longer to mature than salad turnips but yield larger roots. Young greens that have been exposed to frost are a special fall treat, and…

Oven-Dried Tomatoes You can make these delicious morsels in an oven, in a food dehydrator, or out in the sun on a dry, sunny day. If using your oven, preheat it to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and dry ripe tomatoes. Cut paste tomatoes and cherry tomatoes lengthwise in half. Cut slicing tomatoes into quarters. Arrange the prepared tomatoes — with the cut sides facing up — on baking sheets that have rims to catch any juices. Sprinkle with sea salt. You can season the tomatoes with fresh herbs and a light drizzle of olive oil. Place in the oven for 1 hour, then reduce heat to its lowest setting. Dry for 2 more hours, or until the tomatoes flatten and the edges pucker. When using a dehydrator, dry the tomatoes…

Watching a large house roll down the road on a truck is enough to make most of us do a double take. We tend to think of houses as being stable and stationary. With the right equipment, though, almost any house can be moved to a new location. Relocating a house is recycling on the largest scale many of us can achieve, and in addition to saving resources, this option may save you money, too. Buying and moving a house is a possibility for anyone who finds the perfect piece of land that doesn’t include the perfect house. This scenario is especially common for homesteaders — if you’re interested in gardening, farming or raising animals, you’ll probably have to look long and hard to find land that meets your needs.…

Efficient home design will never go out of style because of a condition that prevails in most households: The amount of stuff coming in exceeds the amount of stuff going out. Clutter is especially problematic in small homes or apartments, where it can build up rapidly and defeat the efficiency of smallspace living. The solutions are to reduce the number of objects you own and use specially designed small-space furniture to better organize what you keep. The following five-part plan is based on my years of experience finding extra storage space for clients, most of whom were challenged by tight budgets. Every one of these steps can help declutter your home and solve your storage and organization problems. 1. Multiply Your Multipurpose Rooms Getting double duty from a single room…

The planet’s best pollinators are in big trouble. Wildflower meadows where native bees once gathered nectar and pollen have turned into shopping malls, and dead trees where these ancient insects nest are getting harder to find. The native bees that do manage to survive are imperiled by Big Ag’s pesticides — unless they can find safe haven in diversified organic gardens. The Fruits of Their Labor Gardeners can reap huge benefits from hosting helpful pollinators, which tend to stay put when given food and a place to live. Native bees — including bumblebees, sweat bees, mining bees and others — pollinate many crops more efficiently and completely than honeybees do, with strawberries, blueberries and the entire squash family reliant on local pollinators to produce their best crops. Tomatoes visited by…

Seventeen years ago, my husband and I planted what we called old-timey ‘October’ beans. When cooked, these beans were larger than other soup beans and had a much stronger and better flavor that we really appreciated in hearty dishes. At harvest time, we carefully separated the beans from the pods, dried them in trays, and then measured them into baggies and placed them in the freezer. We ate most of the beans during the first couple of years. But we held back two small bags of dried beans, just in case we could plant them later. When our family moved from Virginia to Tennessee to Kentucky and then back to Virginia, we also moved the bags of beans, taking care to keep them frozen. In 2010, when we moved back…

As I carried a pile of broccoli and cauliflower leaves toward the compost pile, my husband asked whether they were edible. I’ve been gardening for years but didn’t know, so I looked online. I was astonished to discover that just about all parts of the plants are edible! The leaves can be stir-fried, roasted, used as wraps or made into nutritious snack chips. To make chips (you may be familiar with kale chips) from broccoli or cauliflower leaves, cut out the central rib, which can be chopped and used in other dishes. Cut the remaining leaves into chip-sized pieces, then toss and massage the pieces in a bowl with a splash of soy sauce and enough olive oil to coat. Spread the coated leaves evenly on a cooking sheet lined…

In fall, I often have an abundance of green tomatoes on my vines, and don’t want them to go to waste. What are some uses for green tomatoes? You can ripen your green tomatoes by wrapping them in newspaper (read more at http://goo.gl/5rUV4), or savor green tomatoes in all their glory with these flavorful green tomato recipes collected from the online MOTHER EARTH NEWS Archive. Green Tomato Pickles. When you’ve run out of uses for green tomatoes, try pickling them! By preserving them, you’ll be able to enjoy their goodness in every season. Go to http://goo.gl/SfTf9. Green Tomato Relish Recipe. This green tomato relish is tasty and simple, and requires only a few ingredients. Go to http://goo.gl/YM439. Green Tomato Mincemeat. This mixture is a great base for baking projects, including…

Genes form the building blocks of all life. Genetic modification — the technological shuffling of those building blocks among unrelated species — has been heralded since the 1990s as a potentially powerful agricultural tool. But pretty much all the genetically modified (GM) foods that have come to market so far have been crop varieties engineered to resist herbicides or produce insecticidal compounds (so farmers could, theoretically, apply fewer chemicals), and milk from dairy cows given a GM growth hormone that forces them to give more milk. Some countries have adopted these products, but others have banned them because the actual benefits of GM varieties remain unclear, especially as pests adapt to the traits upon which the technology relies. Both benefits and downsides for consumers are controversial. In 1992, the U.S.…

I recently had a puzzling experience and wonder whether you might be able to shed some light on it. Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly unable to eat wheat without experiencing significant gastrointestinal distress, and I’ve been eating a gluten-free diet for about two years as a result. A couple of weeks ago, I traveled to Hungary and succumbed to the temptation of eating some irresistibly fabulous, crusty bread. I figured I’d pay the price but that it would be worth it. However, nothing happened. By the end of the trip I was feasting on croissants, thin-crust pizza, layer cake and giant pretzels, and though my clothes are tighter, my digestive system was completely unaffected. In fact, it felt better than it had in a long time. A…

I found the article about garden beds by Cheryl Long interesting (“How to Make Cheap Garden Beds,” April/May 2013), and would like to inform you about my garden addition. I will be 87 next May, with arthritis, and I have a hard time standing up after working in my garden on my knees. This last winter, a friend helped me put together six garden beds measuring 4 feet wide by 8 feet long and 3 feet high. We screwed three-quarter-inch plywood to 4-by-4-by-3 posts, and covered them with 6-mil black plastic. We made them in my garage and took them to the garden with a two-wheeled cart. We first started filling them with cardboard and newspapers, then grass clippings. The grass came from my yard, two neighbors’ yards, and a…

Ph.D. students in English, biology, history and dozens of other fields have long vied for fellowships that support them while they conduct research and work toward degrees. Now, the fellowship model has taken an exciting new subject under its wing. The Clif Bar Family Foundation (www.ClifBarFamilyFoundation.org) announced that it would be awarding the first fellowships in organic plant breeding granted in the United States. Funded through its organic seed initiative, Seed Matters, the foundation issued $375,000 in grants to fund three Ph.D. students for five years to study organic plant breeding. Seed Matters (www.SeedMatters.org) worked directly with university professors to select the fellowship recipients. The first three graduate fellows are conducting research to improve quality, sustainability and yield of organic crops, including barley, corn, broccoli, green beans, quinoa, wheat and…

Stories by Tabitha Alterman Photos by Tim Nauman Melon lovers are lucky they don’t live in the 15th century. Ken Albala, author of Eating Right in the Renaissance, writes, “Nothing in the Renaissance mind could be considered more delicious and dangerous than a sweet, ripe, juicy melon.” In Food: The History of Taste, Paul Freedman proposes that this fear of melons during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance may have existed precisely because melons are so sweet and delectable — an uncommon delicacy in a time when good health was equated with a balance of the body’s “humours.” If people did indulge, it was deemed important to also eat counterbalancing foods to correct the dangers of melon. For example, one Renaissance writer suggested combining melon with salty meats, such as…

Freezing is a fast and easy form of food preservation, and most crops, such as asparagus, broccoli, green beans, peppers, summer squash, dark leafy greens and all types of juicy berries, will actually be preserved best if frozen. Part of the beauty of freezing fruits and vegetables is that you can easily do it either in small batches — thus making good use of odds and ends from your garden — or in one big batch of your homegrown harvest or peak-season, discounted crops from the farmers market. Unlike with canning, you don’t have to pay attention to acidity or salt when freezing vegetables. Instead, you can mix and match veggies based on pleasing colors and flavors — for instance, using carrots for color, bulb fennel for texture, and green-leafed…

Building Self-Reliant Communities The Mother Earth News 2013 Homesteaders of the Year embody the learning-by-doing ethos by providing opportunities for others to adopt new self-reliance skills through hands-on experience. These six families are dedicated to community-building — they open their doors to share the fruits of their labors and the knowledge needed to complete those labors. Through workshares in community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs and on-farm workshops, these families inspire their neighbors by giving them an example of modern homesteading in action. Our second annual call for nominations of modern homesteaders was met with a response nearly double the number from last year (“Our 2012 Homesteaders of the Year: Living the Good Life,” August/September 2012). To select our finalists, we eagerly paged through stories of plowing with draft animals, photos of…

DIY House Moving in Montana In Montana in the early 1940s, the Work Projects Administration was big into building wooden grain bins. They were built strong, with hardwood floors and walls. We have moved three of these buildings, thus reusing structures that would otherwise have been burned down. We jacked the structures up and set the backs of the buildings down on two telephone poles, then used our 1-ton, four-wheel-drive pickup to slide the buildings down our gravel road. We put them on concrete pads and put tin on the outsides and roofs. Mark Geiger Glendive, Montana Country Cabin After years of exploring options for building a small home on our rural Alabama property, we decided to repurpose an old, unused hunting cabin. We had it moved the 30-plus miles…

Humans have used fermentation for centuries to preserve food. Today, we know that fermentation also makes some foods more nutritious. Like artisanal cheeses? Surely you’ve enjoyed a hand-crafted wine and a fine loaf of wholegrain bread. Cheese, beer, wine and bread are all fermented foods — as is a range of other foods. Fermentation serves a variety of purposes in food, as people discovered thousands of years ago. One is functional: Fermenting preserves foods. Another purpose is to improve or change food’s flavor. Less obvious, however, is that fermented foods contribute to good health. Following is an article about this age-old technique by Sandor Katz, one of the world’s leading fermentation experts. — MOTHER Fermented foods and drinks are quite literally alive with flavor and nutrition, and are more common…

I remember watching my dad drill a hole in our floor with a brace and bit when I was about 3 years old. As he turned the brace, I listened to the sound of the bit chewing through the lumber. A wooden tendril curled up and away from the plank, and I remember how intensely Dad concentrated on the task. It’s one of only two or three memories I have from that time, and the moment feels solemn and almost ceremonial to me. My family has never been the kind that passes along tracts of land or rooms full of antique furniture. Our family legacies take shape in more subtle ways — through skills, stories and tools, and through working with our hands. The first installment of my inheritance arrived…

We asked members of our Facebook community (http://goo.gl/a7LtK) to tell us their favorite ways to incorporate herbs into foods to add an extra depth of flavor. Their creative responses made us all hungry. Herbed Butter: We mix minced herbs (sage, rosemary, chives, etc.) into softened butter, roll the mixture into a log inside parchment paper, then store the paper-wrapped logs stacked in a freezer bag within a plastic container. Having this compound butter to spread on biscuits, potatoes, bread and steaks is a luxury all year long. — Angela Clouse Johnson Herbed Vinegars and Salts: I make herbal vinegars and dry as many herbs as possible for use later in the year. My favorite way of using herbs in everyday cooking and baking is to grind up a blend of…

How the #@!*% do I get rid of fire ants in my vegetable garden without using heavy-duty chemical pesticides? Are there any home remedies that work? Shelve the grits, baking soda, club soda, vinegar, molasses, plaster of Paris, aspartame, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and coffee grounds! In scientific testing, none of these home remedies worked worth a lick against the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) — a nasty, non-native species that’s invaded the South, from Florida to Texas, and is expected to spread westward into California. Although most ant species are neutral or even beneficial, this one can ruin a garden in no time by devouring germinating seeds, tunneling into potatoes and tomatoes, and girdling young fruit trees — and they’ll bite and sting you, too. Drought makes these ants…

Here are some “favorite things” from attendees of the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR this June in Puyallup, Wash. We have two more FAIRS coming up this year — Sept. 20 to 22 in Seven Springs, Pa., and Oct. 12 to 13 in Lawrence, Kan. Go to www.MotherEarthNews.com/Fair to learn more. Hope you can join us! — MOTHER Now I’m Complete It was an awesome experience. It was inspirational. I felt like I had regained a part of me that had been missing. Kudos to all! Christine Gregorich Worth Every Penny The FAIR was absolutely excellent all the way through, with a ton of fabulous information. My favorites were definitely Joel Salatin and Andrew Morrison (a leader in straw-bale building education). These two presenters clinched the deal on my ticket purchase,…

GI Joes: Now Even Greener As an avid reader, I was thrilled to see the summary of the Army’s continuing net-zero efforts in a recent issue (“The U.S. Army Net-Zero Initiative,” April/May 2013). The Army is indeed making significant investments in sustainability and renewable energy, driven by the awareness that such investments contribute to our mission effectiveness, enhance the quality of life on our installations, and improve relationships with our various community partners, whether at home or abroad. Richard G. Kidd IV Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Energy and Sustainability Washington, D.C. Positive About Poultry I recently received a gift subscription to your magazine and devoured my very first issue. I would like to thank you for the article on broody hens (“Raise Your Best Flock Using Broody…

Your publication has changed my family’s life in a major way. I grew up with a mindset that “more is better,” and “convenience is easier” — that life is about finding timesavers so you can run more of the rat race to keep up with the Joneses. Fast-forward to me reading my first issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS. I just recently turned 37, and over the past four years, my family and I have done an about-face thanks to reading your magazine. It was your publication that started opening my eyes to the fact that you can have less, consume less, appreciate nature, learn to be self-sustaining, and enjoy the little things in life that you can’t buy off a store shelf. I also learned to reduce my personal debt…

Farms that fit this bill turn out healthful food, guard against shortages, stabilize local economies and instill community camaraderie. As suburbs spread steadily across our continent, however, small farmers are continually facing problems with local zoning codes and nuisance complaints, even when their operations have not caused any injury to their neighbors. Although state Right to Farm laws are sometimes written to protect Big Ag, Right to Farm laws that support small-scale farmers can be a key aspect of creating a sustainable, local food system. Michigan is ahead of the curve when it comes to setting up legal protections for small-scale farmers, and the state’s Right to Farm laws are making a real difference. Case in point: Randy and Libby Buchler of Shady Grove Farm, who raise chickens and sheep,…

The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) maintains a Conservation Priority List that includes nearly 200 rare and endangered breeds of poultry and livestock. In 2012, ALBC launched an in-depth census of breeds on the list, as well as of the more common breeds found in the United States. It’s a long process involving hundreds of breeds, but the ALBC hopes to have the census complete by the end of 2013. During this process, several red flags popped up and resulted in unexpected additions to the list. The most surprising were two icons of U.S. history: the traditional Morgan horse and Texas Longhorn cattle, which are both in danger of extinction. Extensive crossbreeding has caused the original and genetically pure animals to become exceedingly rare, and it has only been through…

Good cream is tasty all on its own — in frozen form, it’s downright irresistible. The same is true of fresh fruit. The best ice cream and the best frozen fruit desserts are pristinely simple in their ingredients. Many commercial frozen desserts contain stabilizers and thickeners to enhance texture and body, preservatives for extended shelf life, and lowquality, industrial ingredients such as milk powder and corn syrup. It wasn’t always so. When ice cream was first introduced to the world in the 17th century, recipes called for cream, sweetener and whatever additional flavors were desired. The transition to an industrialized U.S. food system led to an emphasis on consistency, texture and volume — and, of course, additives. Some modern ice cream artisans are ushering in a return to frozen-dessert purity.…

A few summers ago, a visiting friend was aghast when I poured blackberry juice into a canning jar and screwed on a used lid before stashing the container in the freezer door. She said I had broken two rules: freezing in canning jars and reusing canning lids. But some rules can be carefully broken. You can freeze in clean canning jars as long as you leave plenty of headspace, because liquids expand as they freeze. I leave 11.2 inches in pints and 2 inches in quarts. Used lids should never later be reused for canning, as these can’t be trusted to form a sound seal. But you don’t want a seal when freezing in canning jars. I screw lids on loosely at first, and then tighten them after the jars…

I’ve spent the past 10 years combing through scientific studies for littleknown, but important nutritional information about fruits and vegetables. I’ve discovered a great deal of valuable research that has yet to filter down to consumers. Some of the findings are surprising — and incredibly easy to put to use. Who would have thought you could double the amount of antioxidants in lettuce simply by tearing it into bite-sized pieces a day or so before you eat it? Or that you’ll get even more of the bionutrient lycopene from a watermelon if you leave the melon on the kitchen counter rather than storing it in your refrigerator? You may need to learn a few new tricks and change some habits, but you’ll be well-rewarded for your effort in the form…

Small-scale farmers and homesteaders are in a powerful position to bring about the changes our food system desperately needs. By growing food locally and sustainably, farmers improve the physical, economic and ecological health of their communities. Today’s average farmer is in his or her late 50s. These farmers will need replacements, and their numbers need to be dramatically increased. Transferring their knowledge to future farmers is vital to the expansion of the emerging sustainable food system. Industrial agriculture is disastrous for the soil and environment, animal welfare, and local economies — not to mention human health. Most North Americans rely on this system for their food, however, and its sudden disintegration would be a catastrophe. Some experts argue that the collapse of the current food system is imminent because of…

Fermentation is a lot bigger than its food-transforming aspect. Fermentation also describes the process by which microorganisms digest dead animal and plant tissue into elements that can nourish plants. As the early microbiologist Jacob Lipman eloquently stated in his 1908 book Bacteria in Relation to Country Life, microorganisms “are the connecting link between the world of the living and the world of the dead. They are the great scavengers intrusted [sic] with restoring to circulation the carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulphur and other elements held fast in the dead bodies of plants and animals. Without them, dead bodies would accumulate and the kingdom of the living would be replaced by the kingdom of the dead.” This image helps me to accept death and decay. It is clear evidence on the physical…

We built this 10-by-10-foot greenhouse using rough-cut lumber from the local sawmill and recycled windows donated by folks in town. People who have more building know-how than I came out to help create a basic plan that would make the mismatched windows appear symmetrical in their layout. We needed a structure that was sturdy enough to withstand northern New York’s harsh climate of bitterly cold winters and windstorms that often gust up to 60 mph. The greenhouse door is from a local hotel that was renovated. The plastic that makes up the roof was a remnant from a local greenhouse that was re-outfitting its hoop houses. (After three years, we haven’t had so much as a tear in the plastic.) The screened top windows all open on hinges, and have…

We own a 60-acre farm outside of Ingleside, Ontario. My husband and I wanted to try our hand at raising a few guinea fowl this year, so when we saw an ad in our local newspaper for keets, we ordered five. We picked them up when they were 5 days old. I felt so guilty that these little guinea babies had no mommy to care for them; my heart broke every time I saw the keets huddled in a corner shivering. I had asked the breeder whether they could be integrated with a chicken, and she warned me that the chicken would probably kill them. It just happened that at this time I also had a young mama hen sitting on 12 eggs. She seemed overwhelmed by the task, so…

What’s the best tactic for catching chickens and moving them from one place to another? The easiest time to catch a chicken is usually at night, when it is sleeping. Approach it slowly, grab it firmly over its wings (expect loud squawking) and then carry the bird to wherever you want it. During the day in a coop or run, a poultry hook — a long metal rod with a hooked end that you can slip over a bird’s leg — can also come in handy for snagging stray chickens. You can buy one for less than $10 at an agricultural supply store or from an online supplier. Another good option is to train your birds to come to you for treats. If you feed them grain or bread treats…