Innholdsfortegnelse for February - March 2018 i MOTHER EARTH NEWS

To cut through the confusion, The Cornucopia Institute, a farm- and food-policy research group, has developed a comprehensive guide that equips shoppers to do a background check on vendors. The guide provides a list of key questions to ask vendors about their farming philosophies and daily practices, inspired by the questions asked by organic-certifying agents during their inspections. The questions are designed to unearth detailed information about market goods. Cornucopia hopes to educate shoppers on how to avoid farmers market fraud while also increasing their comfort level in discussing food directly with farmers. The questions in the guide fall into three main categories: Where the food came from, how it was grown, and how it was raised. In one example, shoppers are encouraged to ask vendors how they control for…

All greenhouses use the sun for heat during the day. At night, most greenhouses quickly lose that heat because of the poor insulating quality of their materials. The reason for this inefficiency has to do with some basic principles of traditional greenhouse design that focus on maximizing light. Glazing materials, such as glass or clear plastic, are good at letting in light, but they’re terrible at retaining heat. Solar greenhouse design takes a different approach, finding a balance between glazing and insulation to create a structure that naturally resists overheating and overcooling without reliance on fossil fuels. Instead, the sun provides the energy, and the greenhouse collects and stores that energy to provide its own heating when required. The use of thermal mass materials is the oldest and simplest strategy…

Fencing and shelter are two of the most important factors to consider on a farm. Both can keep your livestock healthy, safe, and where it belongs. But fencing is also one of the most costly upfront investments you’ll have to make for your livestock, and it’s not wise to pinch pennies. Cheap fencing can fail after a couple of years and could cost you livestock; expensive fencing will last a decade, if not longer. Goats in particular will benefit from sturdy fencing. They will climb on a fence, try to stick their heads through a fence, rub along a fence, and try to run through a fence. A fence will be the one barrier between your goats getting out or a predator getting in. A fence will prevent your goats…

I like buildings to “fit in” like they’ve always been a natural part of the landscape. I build walls out of natural materials, such as mud and straw, and use posts and ceilings made from local wood, with the bark left on when possible. My favorite foundations are stone with the mortar you can’t see. It bothers me when the biggest, most visible part of a house — its roof — sticks out of the landscape glaringly, as modern materials tend to do. Maybe there’s something to my grandmother’s claim of being halfhobbit — and not just because I’m short and plump and like to go barefoot. In my opinion, there’s no more pleasing way to cover a shelter than with living flowers, vines, and grasses. A lot of roofs…

Sweeping with a handmade broom can connect you with the long history of brooms made out of natural materials, from improvised brooms crafted from broken branches to rural artworks featuring decorative stitches. I’ve been making brooms for several years, and one of the most common questions I hear while demonstrating my craft is, “What plant material is used for the bristles?” The answer is broom corn (Sorghum bicolor, also called Sorghum vulgare), which is a variant of the sorghum grown for sorghum molasses. Broom corn is an annual and looks like sweet corn from a distance. Upon close examination, however, you’ll notice there are no cobs along the stalk — just a large tassel on top with a swollen knuckle at the intersection with the stalk. That tassel is what…

A WEEKEND WITH MOTHER! Plan your visit to an upcoming event at www.MotherEarthNewsFair.com. You can also learn about chickens, bees, herbs, and more by listening to some of our FAIR presenters via podcast at www.MotherEarthNews.com/Podcast.…

“Your fine article brought back fond memories of when I was a farm boy.” The Value of Barn Cats I really enjoyed reading the Ask Our Experts response on “How To Keep Your Barn Cats Healthy” in the October/November 2017 issue and I hope others follow the advice. When I was a young boy growing up on a farm, we had two feral cats living in our barn. Nobody knew where they came from — they just showed up one day. One had black and gray stripes and the other was all gray. My grandfather named them Snookums and Smokey. Although they wouldn’t let us get close, they were unconcerned with us working in the barn or the noise and movements from the livestock. They were the greatest pest control.…

In 2006, my wife, Wendy, and I purchased an abandoned 40-acre farm in Vermont and brought it back to life by starting a micro dairy. We were driven by a passion for the slow food movement and a desire for communities to enjoy locally produced, farm-fresh milk. My long-term goal has been to refine my management practices and gradually reduce the amount of time and effort required to successfully run a micro dairy. How you achieve this same goal will at least partially depend on how much work your cows do for you — and which cows you choose. I’ve milked just about every type of common dairy cow, including Holsteins, Guernseys, Brown Swiss, Ayrshires, Dairy Shorthorns, Holstein-Jersey crosses, and other Jersey crosses. Of all the breeds I’ve milked and…

Like any roof over a living space, a living roof needs insulation under it. On the cheap end, I’ve insulated with used carpet and cardboard. Builder Tony Wrench keeps his cottage cozy with entire straw bales tucked under the membrane. It works, but when he had to go in for repairs 20 years on, he noted that condensation under the membrane had caused some decay in the outer 2 inches of the bales. Some types of insulation, such as straw bale, fiberglass, or cellulose, need to “breathe,” so the inside of the roof has to be vented to allow condensation to escape. Foam insulation doesn’t need to breathe and is thus far more effective per inch, but it’s also expensive and has a high environmental cost.…

I’ve noticed that some of my chicks have droppings stuck to their backsides near their vents. Why is this happening, and how can I handle it? “Pasty butt,” or “pasting up,” can happen for a number of reasons, including suboptimal temperatures in the brooder and poor-quality chick feed. Chicks are also more prone to developing pasty butt during their first week of life. It’s important these dried droppings don’t cover their vents — a chick that’s unable to properly eliminate its waste may die. If chicks are hatched and raised by a broody hen, their mother will take care of the issue. However, if you’re the “parent,” you’ll need to remove pasty butt by following these instructions: • Hold the chick firmly in your hand. With a bit of warm…

Desktop Diffuser $19.99 at www.MountainRoseHerbs.com We editors work in an open environment — noisy, and sometimes smelly. Many of us deploy a variety of essential oil diffusers to help calm us during deadline (lavender), energize us when we’re dragging (peppermint), and improve our moods when work isn’t going quite as expected (sweet orange). Editor Casey Marshall enjoys the Aromatherapy Fan Diffuser offered by Mountain Rose Herbs. The unit is small — just 33⁄4 inches wide and 13⁄4 inches tall — with muted LED lights that change color during operation. Casey keeps the diffuser on her desk, where she can plug it into her computer with the included USB cable. The cable is long enough that she can move the diffuser to different locations on he To operate the diffuser, simply…

These days, many folks are keeping chickens in the suburbs, on homesteads, and even in city-based coops. If you don’t have a few chickens of your own by now, you probably know someone who does. A lot of us have a desire to reconnect with our food’s production, and one way to accomplish this is to keep a few farm animals around. But not many people keep ducks, even though these feathered friends have plenty to offer. Tasty Eggs and Meat The average duck egg is larger than the average chicken egg, and some breeds of ducks can lay quite consistently. Duck eggs are cherished for baking and can also be a viable alternative for people who have developed an allergy to chicken eggs. Raising ducks for meat takes about…

When we first moved onto our land in September 2015, we had grand plans for immediately building our home. At first, we thought we’d have a basic structure up in just a couple of months, but we quickly realized we weren’t ready to start construction. We decided we might as well find a way to provide long-term comfort for ourselves while tackling a building project that could take years, so we came up with the not-so-crazy idea to set up a hot tub on our property. Because we were living in a 19-foot travel trailer on land without utilities, we wanted to expand our living space into the outdoors and create something to enjoy immediately and remind us why we moved to a remote location. A hot tub satisfies those…

Architect Sigi Koko recommends consulting with an experienced designer or engineer, especially on bigger projects. A living roof can add 10 to 50 pounds per square foot to your roof load, so you must find out whether your roof can handle the additional weight. Existing cottages or sheds with small roofs and small spans may take a living roof with no additional structure. If you’re planning such a building, boosting your roof sheathing from 1⁄2-inch to 5⁄8-inch and your rafters and beams from 2-by-6 to 2-by-8 may be enough.…

I live on a small urban plot in the heart of downtown Reno, Nevada. Even though I live within walking distance of a grocery store, I pride myself in growing fresh food for my family. Winter has always been my most challenging growing season, but now I grow an abundance of fresh salad greens in an unheated greenhouse, and I’d like to share my story with you. My greenhouse journey began with patience. I knew glazing would be the most expensive part of my project, so I made a decision to wait for free windows. One day, I was talking to a neighbor who told me she was replacing her original 1953 single-pane windows, and I found myself blurting out, “Can I have your old ones?” She happily brought them…