Innholdsfortegnelse for April - May 2014 i MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Seeds sown are just the start of the adventure! Let our Garden Know-How series be your trusty companion all season long as you navigate the parade of post-planting endeavors necessary to cultivating healthy, tremendous-tasting food. In this online guide, browsable by topic, you’ll find comprehensive, authoritative information on watering, weeding, mulching, crop rotation, season extension and dozens of other tasks, all with an eye toward sustainability and efficiency. Explore the ins and outs of new skills and strategies, including making your own fertilizers and coaching climbing crops into vertical spaces. Glean gardener-to-gardener, tried-and-true tips for troubleshooting peak-season challenges, such as relentless heat, pernicious plant diseases and even keeping up with overabundant harvests. You’ll also learn how to enlist the services of other inhabitants of the natural world to benefit your…

As we celebrate Earth Day this April, we salute some of our favorite environmental nonprofit organizations protecting the health of people, wildlife and our planet. 350.org (www.350.org). An international campaign dedicated to fighting climate change, 350.org gets its name from the maximum level of atmospheric carbon dioxide — 350 parts per million (ppm) — that climate scientists agree will maintain our planet’s long-term ecological health. Now, the level is 400 ppm, and it’s rising by 2 ppm each year. This group organizes in 188 countries and strives to revolutionize the climate movement. Cornucopia Institute (www.Cornucopia.org). This plucky nonprofit, headquartered in Cornucopia, Wis., supports sustainable agriculture and often challenges Big Ag and even the USDA — and wins. On Cornucopia’s website, you’ll find the latest updates regarding toxic pesticides, genetically modified…

The idea of Earth Day began as a seed in U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson’s mind, firmly planted after he witnessed the destruction left by the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, Calif. Nelson appointed environmental activist Denis Hayes as the day’s first coordinator to bring the idea to fruition. Bold and bipartisan, Earth Day debuted on April 22, 1970, with 20 million participants taking to U.S. parks, streets and auditoriums to publicly push back against unsustainable practices and rally for environmental protection. The events brought together two key branches of environmentalism for the first time on such a large scale: conservationism and environmental health. According to Hayes, the first Earth Day was at least five times larger than any anti-war rally and 20 times larger than any civil rights rally…

Members of the Green Sports Alliance, an organization of more than 200 professional teams and venues committed to greening their facilities, vie each year to take home awards for top environmental improvements. Managers of basketball arenas, hockey rinks and baseball fields are competing to install solar panels, source ballpark franks from local farmers, and achieve a 100 percent recycling rate. The results have been impressive: The National Hockey League diverted more than 105 tons of food waste from landfills in 2011; Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants won the 2013 Green Glove for achieving an 86 percent recycling rate; and the sustainability program for this year’s Super Bowl champs, the Seattle Seahawks, installed solar panels on CenturyLink Field Event Center that meet 30 percent of the facility’s energy needs. You…

For the most consistent roast, you can’t beat a home coffee-roasting machine. Next best is the hot-air popcorn popper: It’ll keep the beans in constant motion, preventing scorching. However, a simple stovetop setup can turn out reliable roasts with just a few pieces of equipment you likely already have: a cast-iron or heavy stainless steel pan (preferably with tall sides, such as a Dutch oven), a wooden spoon or a whisk, and a large colander. Coffee beans smoke while roasting, so if you don’t have a powerful kitchen exhaust fan, you’ll want a portable fan to direct smoke out an open window. Alternatively, perform this process outdoors on a grill. 1 Gather 11.2 cups of green coffee beans as well as a few roasted beans to use as a comparison…

Loosen well-drained soil to at least 12 inches deep. Mix in a 1-inch layer of mature compost and, if you have it, a spadeful of soil from a bed where the same species of beans or peas grew the year before (to help inoculate the soil with nitrogen-fixing bacteria). Plant seeds 1 inch deep and 3 inches apart. Do not thin soup peas, as these grow best when crowded. Thin bush beans to 4 to 6 inches apart; thin pole beans, limas and semi-vining cowpeas to 10 inches apart. Dry beans and peas bear all at once on spreading branches, so they need wider spacing than snap beans do. When growing dry beans up cornstalks or sunflowers, wait until the support crop is 18 inches tall, and plant bean seeds…

For 10 years, I obsessed about the threat of climate change on an intellectual, theoretical level. But it wasn’t until the personal implications of climate change began to dawn on me — how it would disrupt my daily routine and the world I took for granted — that the full horror of our situation finally sank in. And in early 2009, a realization hit me, right in the stomach: I didn’t have the first clue about my food supply. I didn’t know where it came from or how it was grown. Isn’t that a way of life that’s just asking for trouble? I decided to make a change. Or, rather, many small changes. Inklings of a Neighborhood Plan Although I’d toyed with the idea for years, buying some land and…

Liberating the grain of an einkorn, emmer or spelt crop doesn’t end with threshing. North Dakota State University’s Steve Zwinger, who has done research on emmer for 20 years, says, “Hulled wheats are actually the easiest to thresh. But for small plots, it’s hard to come up with an effective, inexpensive way to dehull them.” Because hulls adhere tightly to the relatively soft kernel, they can be difficult to rub or knock off without also cracking the kernel. The GrainMaker company will offer a Homestead Huller Kit as an accessory for its Model No. 99 mill later this year (shown in photo at left), priced at $275 per pair of dehulling disks. With interest in hulled wheats growing fast, Zwinger says, we can expect growers themselves to come up with…

The cool, moist and dark conditions of a root cellar make it the perfect place to keep many fruits and vegetables crisp and delicious for weeks — even months — of storage. And while there are myriad ways to store vegetables, our innovative plans show you how to build a root cellar by modifying a new, precast concrete septic tank. By following the plans, you’ll cut an entrance, install a door, add a pair of vent pipes and cover the tank with soil to bring an old-fashioned, walk-in cellar into your modern life. Think Tank You’ll want to buy an unused septic tank for this root cellar design, but look for a deal to avoid paying full price. A percentage of all precast concrete tanks end up with small manufacturing…

Passive House: Beyond Passive Solar What’s the difference between a “passive solar” home and a home built to “Passive House” standards? Is one better than the other? “Passive solar” is a design approach that was popularized in the 1970s and in which heat from the sun is strategically captured to warm homes. Passive solar’s low-tech approach doesn’t abide by any established standard, but the design principles are consistent: Passive solar homes capitalize on solar heat that radiates through south-facing windows (north-facing windows if the home is in the Southern Hemisphere). As the sun warms the house, the heat is retained via insulation and by use of thermal mass — such as concrete, stones or tile — that stores and slowly releases it. About 20 years after the popularization of passive…

Every day, we hear from you about how Mother Earth News has helped you change your life. Now, we’d like to help you assist your friends in changing theirs. Some of you write about planting your very first garden. Some report on raising your first flock of chickens or hive of bees. Many of you describe how you’ve found new common ground with your neighbors as you share skills and work on projects together. You tell us how excited you are to have discovered Mother Earth News — and you tell us you feel empowered and happier as your lives become more sustainable and self-reliant. We share your lifestyle and we know the joy it brings. Wouldn’t it be rewarding to share some of that joy with people you care…

Grant Wood’s iconic American Gothic painting portrays an austere farming couple, the man with pitchfork in hand as the woman gazes on. But as current trends in farm ownership reveal, we need a revised painting wherein the wife wields a wheel hoe. A 2013 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows the percentage of farms and ranches where a woman fulfills the role of “principal operator” has nearly tripled over the past three decades — from 5 percent up to nearly 14 percent of all U.S. farms. In 1982, women-operated farms totaled 121,600; by 2007, that number had climbed to 306,200 farms. (Read the full report at http://goo.gl/hV6DKX.) If you add in the women who are “secondary operators,” the sum of female farmers reaches beyond 1 million. This growth…

Globally, 1.3 billion people live without electricity. At night, they have to burn costly, dangerous, dirty fuels just to generate light. Enter Nokero. Its name a portmanteau word of “no kerosene,” Nokero manufactures solar products at prices that make them accessible to impoverished communities, and it works with nonprofits around the world to solve energy poverty. Its N180 Start is a simple light bulb with a builtin solar charger, and, at $6, the Start quickly pays for itself. The N222 Huron solar light bulb offers up to 15 hours of light on one charge and has outlets to charge devices. Nokero also makes affordable solar-panel chargers and high-output bulbs designed with both recreation and emergency preparedness in mind. Go to www.Nokero.com.…

Learning to create fresh cheeses is an art that is far easier than aging cheeses — and you won’t have to wait months (or years) to taste the results of your alchemy. Three versatile cheeses that you can create in your own kitchen are paneer, mascarpone and fromage blanc (called chèvre when made from goat’s milk). You can save 20 to 70 cents per ounce by producing these cheeses yourself, even if you start with premium milk from grass-fed animals. The elementary science for turning milk into any of these delightful cheeses is the same, so below are the main steps for concocting fresh cheeses in detail. Look at the next page for the recipe variations required to turn out each specific cheese. 1 Heat the milk. In a heavy-bottom,…

Dry beans and peas provide as much protein per serving as well-known protein powerhouses, such as eggs and cottage cheese, with the added benefits of fiber and an array of minerals. You could eat the dry seeds from any green bean or pea, but certain bean and pea varieties grown for their higher yields of flavorful, nutrientdense seeds are a better use of garden space. Many beans can be planted later than spring crops such as lettuce or peas, and this delayed planting means the pods will mature in the drier fall weather when they’re less likely to rot. Legume flowers attract beneficial insects, and because of legume plants’ ability to obtain much of their nitrogen through partnerships with soil-dwelling bacteria, beans and peas remove fewer nutrients from the soil…

The perfect garden — free of all pests, weeds and weather surprises — does not exist. Nor does the perfect place to garden, because every climate is friendly to some crops and hostile to others. Thankfully, tackling gardening challenges, while frustrating at times, is part of what makes growing your own food such a lively adventure. Smart garden troubleshooting is often crucial to successful food production, and working out the best solutions may require years of trial-and-error experimentation. To help you get a jump-start, we asked more than a dozen longtime organic gardeners to share their expertise on tactics for solving common organic vegetable gardening problems. Following is a roundup of their collective wisdom. Critter and Pest Patrol Dealing with insect pests, rabbits, deer, voles and other critters is perhaps…

We love this new term “homestead hamlet” — it has such a friendly, cozy sound to it. And we bet quite a few of you are doing similar things all across the country. Send us reports on your local homestead hamlet projects, and we’ll share them in the magazine or online. We invite all hamlets to schedule open houses and workshops for this September’s International Homesteading Education Month (go to www.MotherEarthNews.com/Homesteading-Education for details). If you want to develop a hamlet in your neighborhood, why not let this article be a conversation starter with your neighbors?…

Searching for equipment for small-scale grain growing and processing? Browse these resources to locate what you need, plus acquire more know-how. PLANTING AND HARVESTING Ferrari: http://goo.gl/enfzKS Push seeders: http://goo.gl/S8F8P2 Scythes, serrated harvest sickles and sickle-bar mowers: http://goo.gl/EpNXbJ Using a scythe: http://goo.gl/nyxMwX THRESHING, DEHULLING AND MILLING All kinds of equipment: http://goo.gl/Z8Cq2r Thresher: http://goo.gl/tNQ6sz Hand-operated dehuller: http://goo.gl/PDbYbA Small flour mill: http://goo.gl/5EHFQj Hand-cleaning screens and pans: http://goo.gl/Dd83mA Countertop grain mills: http://goo.gl/nqtc38…

Illustrations by Elayne Sears To ensure that your garden crops make the most of the rich, organic soil you create, you need to understand your soil’s pH. The pH describes the relative acidity or alkalinity of your soil’s makeup, and it has important implications for plant health and growth. Soil pH impacts beneficial fungi and bacteria in the soil and influences whether essential minerals are available for uptake by plant roots. What Is Soil pH? A solution’s pH is a numerical rating of its acidity or alkalinity. All pH is measured on a logarithmic scale from zero (most acidic) to 14 (most alkaline, or basic); 7.0 is neutral. The pH scale is used by chemists to measure the concentration of reactive hydrogen ions (H+) in a solution. Most food crops…

Schoolchildren’s Urban Oasis I am a teacher at a K-through-12 school in Bangkok, and in the past year we have transformed our concrete rooftop into a thriving vegetable garden. The rooftop garden gives our students the opportunity to learn valuable gardening skills. We also sell our organic produce to the parents and staff, which provides income to buy more seeds and supplies. Students have been involved in the process from the beginning. One of our first priorities was to build about 50 raised garden beds. We were able to do this thanks to a donation of 100 wood pallets. Staff and students dismantled each pallet one by one and rebuilt them into 62.3-by-21.3-foot beds. The gardening crew lined the beds with old plastic sheeting that had previously been used for…

Pickin’ Heritage Chicken Seeing the cross section of breeds featured in your story about heritage chickens (“Heritage Backyard Chickens,” February/March 2014) was terrific! I was amazed to realize that, at one time or another, I’ve owned practically every fowl profiled in the article. Raising poultry can become addictive, and it’s an addiction that is practical and so satisfying and fun. I’d like to add, though, that some of the breeds highlighted, while being great-looking novelty breeds, are just that — a novelty. Campines, Dorkings, Hamburgs, Minorcas and Polish aren’t traditionally raised for high egg production, and — if feed prices are a concern — these breeds may not be practical for homesteaders looking to cost-effectively maximize their supply of farm-fresh eggs. Carolyn Schuster Port Orchard, Washington Ready to dive into…

How can one not be enthralled by a fluttering flock of monarch butterflies landing in a hedgerow full of flowering milkweeds nestled on the edge of a farm or garden? But these butterflies’ annual migration — one of the greatest spectacles in nature — has become an endangered phenomenon. The number of monarchs reaching their overwintering grounds high in the oyamel fir forests of central Mexico has hit a record low. One of several factors that has contributed to the monarch’s steep, decade-long population plummet is the loss of milkweeds — the monarch’s host plant — as a result of herbicides used on fields of genetically modified crops. Some scientists suspect the largest contributor to the milkweed die-off is the herbicide glyphosate (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup brand, among…

On the first Earth Day in 1970, cars on U.S. roads averaged just 13 miles per gallon. Thankfully, we leave that number further in the dust each time Congress enacts new fuel-efficiency standards. The 2012 Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations dictate that cars and light trucks must operate at an average of 54.5 mpg by 2025. The mandate applies to all models sold by an automaker, although an automaker can offset its less-efficient machines with higher-mpg electric vehicles and hybrids. Thirteen major automakers negotiated with the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to produce these new standards. Vehicle prices will likely rise, but consumers should save trillions at the pump. Even better: Greenhouse gas emissions and foreign oil imports will decline as the industry meets…

Try your hand at coffee roasting for the best cup of joe you’ve ever sipped. When I went to work on a coffee farm in the Kona Coffee Belt of Hawaii’s Big Island, I already knew how great freshly ground coffee could be. What I didn’t know until I learned how to roast coffee on the farm was how much more interesting freshly roasted coffee could be. Coffee tastes best 12 to 24 hours after the beans are roasted — numerous flavor compounds begin to dissipate just a few days after roasting. Your entry to roasting your own can be as low-tech (a cast-iron pot) or as sophisticated (roasting machines start at $100) as you like. Judging the Java Determining coffee doneness strictly by timing is difficult, because many factors,…

Dry beans and peas share an impressive nutritional profile: A 1-cup serving of cooked dry legumes provides about 15 grams of protein plus lots of manganese, fiber, B vitamins and iron. Rinse dry beans well in cool water before cooking. If using a pressure cooker, cook the rinsed beans for 15 to 30 minutes. If you plan to cook dry beans on the stovetop, soak them in room-temperature water for 6 to 12 hours, depending on size. Drain, then cook at a low simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Season slow-cooked beans generously with garlic, bay leaf or thyme. Cooked beans can be simmered for a warm soup or chili, marinated for salads, puréed into dips or spreads, or mashed for filling burritos or enchiladas.…

If you live in a city and dream of someday being able to work the land and become a modern homesteader, consider this: There’s no need to wait — you can easily do many homesteading activities in the city. You may not have enough garden space to grow your own wheat or corn, but you can harvest an amazing amount of many crops from a collection of containers. Owning your own milk cow is likely not an option, but keeping backyard chickens certainly is. Plus, in the city, it can be much easier to build a community of like-minded neighbors who can share tools, knowledge and friendship. Here’s what it can look like: In a single year, six households working with the organization Daily Acts in Petaluma, Calif., produced more…

Pretty much anywhere in North America, growing wheat is easy if you have a modest-sized plot of unshaded ground, the right seed, and the help of a few small implements. Depending on your weather conditions and your growing practices, a small plot of wheat — say 500 square feet — should yield 15 to 50 pounds of grain. Yes, that’s a pretty wide range, but soils, rainfall, temperatures, storms, diseases, pests and plain luck can vary from place to place and year to year. Those forces dramatically influence wheat’s yield and quality. But your yield starts with your choice of which varieties of wheat to sow. Choose a Variety After you’ve decided to grow wheat, you’ll need to make three initial choices: winter or spring type, red-grained or white-grained, and…

We all have a taste for good food, but quality groceries can come at a high price. Whet your appetite with this moneysaving advice: Purchasing bulk food is a highly effective way to cut expenses and eat locally. You may already shop the bulk department of your co-op or grocery store, but cutting out the storefront altogether can offer even more financial, environmental and gastronomical benefits. Besides making your food shopping easier and less frequent, bulk groceries are often of higher quality than packaged supermarket products. And the money savings will wow you: See our chart on Page 57 for specific savings on 20 items. If you choose to eat organic, the savings from buying in bulk can be even more staggering: A 2012 study by the Food Industry Leadership…

By today’s standards, some aspects of my upbringing would be considered parental negligence. Those were the best parts of my childhood. I grew up less than a half-mile from the border between southern New Mexico and the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The border was calmer then, but our neighborhood wasn’t quiet. Smugglers and undocumented immigrants streamed back and forth across the ragged barbed-wire fence that marked the boundary. From our yard we could watch hundreds of illegal crossings in a day. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials staked out the hilltops and patrolled the sky in their aircraft, but they couldn’t hold back the tide. Crime rates were high, primarily because the wealth differential across the border made mundane U.S. possessions immensely valuable if they could be smuggled south. Then…