Innholdsfortegnelse for April - May 2020 i MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Across the United States, communities are forming innovative partnerships and projects to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The American Association for the Advancement of Science featured 18 such communities in its 2019 report “How We Respond,” including Sheridan County in Kansas, one of the eight states that draws water from the rapidly depleting Ogallala Aquifer. To address the loss of this essential resource amid intensified drought, Sheridan County’s Groundwater Management District 4 (GMD4) decided to restrict water usage for crop irrigation by 20 percent starting in 2013. Manager Shannon Kenyon says the GMD4 gathered public input on how to proceed, but that its decision was met with resistance at first. After five years, however, the amount of water saved surpassed the GMD4’s targets, and production and profits in the…

Rugged, Comfortable Women’s Work Pants I’ve spent a good chunk of my life wearing men’s work pants for farm and outdoor work, putting up with bunching fabric and a blocky silhouette in exchange for durability. When a pair of Dovetail Workwear Freshley Overalls (www.DovetailWorkwear.com) came into my life recently, a new day dawned. These overalls have the rugged toughness of the men’s pants I’ve always relied on, with a fit and comfort I never imagined possible. The super-strong but spectacularly soft fabric and the stretch in the straps allow for a complete range of movement with no tugging or pulling. Pockets are sized and placed just right for all the tools I need when I head out for the morning’s chores, from my pocketknife and gloves to my phone and…

School districts love to brag about statistics that prove they’re giving your children a great education. You’ve probably heard more than once about student-teacher ratios, the number of computers per child, and exceedingly high test scores. But has anyone at your child’s school ever mentioned how much land they manage, or how they make use of it? “Probably not, and that’s a shame,” says Sharon Danks, founder and executive director of Green Schoolyards America. This national nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, seeks to change how educators design, use, and manage public school grounds. Too many schoolyards are mostly treeless, open spaces in suburbs, or seas of asphalt in urban areas, making them ecological dead zones. As a result, this land remains an untapped ecological and educational resource. An accomplished schoolyard…

Readers, to mark our 50th anniversary as a magazine, we’re reprinting some of the more notable stories from our archive. This interview was originally published in the March/April 1973 issue. Wendell Berry is a poet, farmer, and cultural critic who was born and raised in Kentucky. He has lived and worked the land on his farm, Lane’s Landing, since 1965, and he was awarded the 2010 National Humanities Medal.— MOTHER Mr. Berry, for some time now, you’ve been writing about the meaning of farming in your own life and its importance to the modern world. It seems more and more people are coming around to your point of view. Do you think small-scale farming is finally being reaccepted as a viable and necessary contribution to the stability of both urban…

Once you become a shepherd for sheep, goats, or other fiber animals, you’ll have a renewable source of raw product every year. However, the fleece shorn from the animals will stack up if you don’t process it. Thankfully, you don’t need to process fleece every year. You may only raise three animals and not meet the minimum weight requirement for incoming fleece at the mill. In that case, storing fleece for up to two years and then processing it is a good option. If stored correctly, fleece can be kept for years and still process nicely. Cloth, paper, and canvas bags — even pillowcases — are all preferable over plastic bags for storing fleece, though plastic bags are convenient for collecting wool at the time of shearing. Any bags made…

Surprisingly, recreational boating has only been around since the mid-19th century. Until then, most small craft — including canoes and kayaks — were simply tools to make a living with. The popularity of sport kayaking likely dates to the publication of London barrister John MacGregor’s book A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe. Inspired by Native American canoes and skin-on-frame arctic kayaks, MacGregor commissioned a wooden, 15-footlong, decked version of the Rob Roy with a double-bladed paddle — simple, seaworthy, and short enough to fit into a railway carriage for overland travel. In 1865, the irrepressible MacGregor, bearing little more than his straw boater hat and writing tablet, set off in the Thames to the English Channel and beyond, touring European lakes and rivers. His diminutive vessel drew enthusiastic…

BUTTER MAKING STARTER KIT Make homemade butter in as little as 10 minutes with this Butter Making Starter Kit. The kit includes a Butter Churn, a Butter Keeper Crock, two Butter Paddles, and the tips found in the book Making Cheese, Butter, & Yogurt. Please allow two weeks for delivery. Available for shipment to continental U.S. addresses only. #10068 $64.99 $61.74 TRADITIONAL STYLE PASTA MACHINE Make fresh, homemade pasta just like your grandmother used to with this vintage-style pasta maker. Simply prepare your dough, feed it through the rollers to make a sheet, then feed it through the cutter to shape your noodles. This stainless steel, traditional-style pasta machine comes with a fettuccine-and spaghetti-cutting attachment and has seven thickness settings. Please allow two weeks for delivery. Available for shipment to…

Answer: a Mother earth News Fair on a farm! For some 20 years here at Polyface Farm, we held a tri-annual national field day, and when it grew to nearly 2,000 people, it was too much. We realized we couldn’t continue until we had a professional event partner that could share the logistics burden. Almost a decade since making that decision, we’ve found our partner in the Mother earth News Fair team, and boy howdy, do we have a shindig taking shape for you. We’re capping attendance over the two days so we don’t overrun our headlights, but the truth is, we can do things out on a farm that are really hard to do in a public space: cut trees, move cows, gather eggs, burn stuff. And we can…

This technique allows you to plant parallel rows confidently, and circumvents the need to constantly remeasure. I use a string and the type of line blocks used by bricklayers as an aid to keep my planting lines straight and equally spaced. It’s fast and simple to set up and align the next row of plantings. A line block is a small L-shaped block with a groove down the middle to run and secure the string After winding the string around one of the line blocks, secure the short end of the line block to one end of the garden. Adjust the location of the block so the string is at the desired distance from the side of the garden. Secure the short end of the second line block to the…

Accessible Transit In late 2019, the Kansas City, Missouri, city council and Mayor Quinton Lucas unanimously voted to make transit free to ride, becoming the first major U.S. city to pilot free fare. Their decision aims to make transit accessible to all who live in the city, and they believe that the policy will have an especially profound impact on passengers living paycheck to paycheck. Previously, 25 percent of passengers, including veterans and students, were riding free of charge; now, all riders will have more guaranteed access to jobs, education, and health care farther from home. The move could reduce congestion and emissions from private vehicles, and, according to the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, research shows local tax revenue will increase from the boost in economic activity caused by…

New cultivars of compact edible plants are released onto the market every year. An increasing number of gardeners have growing space that’s limited to a small area, such as a patio garden, a raised bed, or containers. Because of this, plant breeders and seed companies have dedicated much effort toward increasing the number of pintsized fruits, veggies, and herbs available to home gardeners, while also paying careful attention to flavor, disease resistance, and productivity. All the plants on the following list require a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of full sunlight per day, so select a planting site that receives plenty of sun. You’ll also want to avoid a location near large, established trees with extensive root systems that may out-compete your veggies. (Obviously, this won’t be a factor…

Sharon Danks of Green Schoolyards America offers ideas for several simple outdoor school projects, one of which involves igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks that elementary students might study in a geology class. “In an indoor lab, students might have small rock samples they could hold in their hands. However, with a green schoolyard, they’d have rocks the size of boulders. The children can see striations in the rocks, or even use a hammer to do their own hardness test. This is a more dramatic teaching lesson that resonates with kids on a deeper level than holding a tiny rock in a classroom.” Planting trees in a natural landscape could allow younger children to do leaf rubbings to examine leaf shapes, or older students to study the trees from a local…

Regrowing vegetables from kitchen scraps can sound like a gimmick. But I’ve found that the more I look to my kitchen as a seed and plant catalogue, the more varied my vegetable garden becomes. In many cases, harvesting cycles for many of the plants in my garden are now much longer than they were when I was stocking my vegetable garden the usual way — with seedling six-packs and seeds from packets. I think of it as a “garden of rebirth” — a garden based on creating something out of almost nothing. The seeds you scoop out of cantaloupe are viable, as are the seeds in red bell peppers, tomatoes, and dried chili peppers. Basil, rosemary, sage, and other herbs will easily root in water to create young herb plants…

Here’s an easy DIY project you can make in very little time: a 1-inch wire-mesh table for sorting and skirting fleece. Setting the wire top on two sawhorses will position it at a good height for skirting and sorting. This will also keep the skirting table portable and easy to store. 1 Form a rectangular frame with the boards. 2 Place the braces on each corner of the frame. Mark where the brace holes fall, and drill a pilot hole on each mark. Align the braces with the pilot holes, and attach with wood screws. 3 Place the wire over the frame. Wrap the overhanging wire around the edges. 4 Use small nails or a staple gun to secure the wire to the frame. 5 Set the frame over two…

Everyone who keeps poultry sooner or later experiences the heart-stopping moment of realization that a predator has come to call. A typical first reaction is to rush in, assess the damage, and clean up the mess. But stopping to carefully survey the scene can give you valuable clues toward determining what type of predator was involved, and therefore what precautions you can take to prevent a future recurrence. Poultry Predation Each predator species has a typical way of killing and consuming its prey — “typical” being the operative word. Not all animals within a single species work in exactly the same way. Further, younger members of a species may work in a different way than the older, more experienced members. Still, certain clues can point you in the right direction.…

We’ve experimented with various natural paints over the years. We wanted a paint we could apply once, that wouldn’t dust, and that would have a consistent matte finish (and, of course, that could be made using natural materials). At last, we’ve found our recipe. We knew wheat paste could be added to a clay paint, or even just pasted over the top to make the wall durable. We mixed a poster paste recipe with our own clay paint. The paint we made was incredibly durable, gave a beautiful consistent color, and barely dusted, even right after drying. Here’s the recipe. • 18 parts cold water, divided, for flour/sugar mixture• 6 parts white wheat flour• 2 parts sugar• 18 parts cold water for clay mixture• 20 parts fine filtered clay• Color…

I needed a gate for my driveway. I live in Florida, and wood doesn’t last long here, so I wanted to make a gate out of PVC pipe. I found some PVC fencing at Lowe’s, but it was only 3 feet high. So I cut the crowns off the top, and inserted a 2-foot piece of ¾-inch PVC pipe on the top of the fence, and 1 foot of ¾-inch PVC pipe on the bottom. Then, I put the crowns back on top of the PVC pipe. I now have a 5-foot PVC gate, and it’s lasted eight years so far without any paint. Dan Weston Hastings, Florida…

The nonprofit North American Butterfly Association (NABA) runs a butterfly garden certification program to encourage gardeners to cultivate and protect butterfly habitats. To qualify for certification, gardeners must grow at least three different caterpillar food plants, or host plants and at least three different native butterfly nectar sources. In both cases, NABA prefers the use of native species, and more than one plant of each species, but neither is a requirement for certification. Gardeners seeking certification are discouraged from using pesticides in their plots, which NABA says can inadvertently kill butterflies and other pollinators. Owners of certified gardens can purchase weatherproof signs to display. The NABA site has guides on choosing regional plants, an archive of tips from other NABA members, and gardening brochures that provide information on starting or…

When my wife, Cara, and I moved to a small town in a new area in 2015 and wanted to start homesteading, we felt rather alone. Many people starting a homesteading journey have a network of nearby family or friends to rely on. What could we do? We frequented the local farmers market to spend time with like-minded people. It was great to meet a wide variety of farmers who knew how to grow food in this area. We’d previously met a homesteading couple who sold food at the market, but because they were trying to sell their wares, it was a bit awkward to just hang out and chat. While attending the local Earth Day Fair one year, we met an experienced homesteader, Jim, who was talking about root…

America is crisscrossed by thousands of miles of hiking trails, deep within national parks and forests and peppered around state public lands. Often, these dirt paths can take you far from any roads for a true wilderness experience. Some of my most memorable moments in life have been deep in the backcountry, having snaked through the mountains on a well-maintained trail. A few weeks on the Appalachian Trail gave me new friends. Weekends in the secluded San Juan Mountains in Colorado taught me the importance of slowing down when life starts to get too hectic. For many other Americans, too, these sorts of public land hiking trails represent the best way to explore the outdoors. State and federal agencies, as well as trail club partners, have worked tirelessly to build…

Natural ink isn’t that complicated. You can throw almost any pigment-rich base ingredient into an old pot with vinegar and salt, boil it, and then add a couple of drops of gum arabic binder, and voila! You’ll have ink. Think of ink as any colored water that’s permanent on paper. No matter which recipe you use, the final amount of ink you make will depend on how long you cook your ink and how much liquid your foraged material contains. However, your goal shouldn’t be a set amount of ink, but rather a color and consistency that feels right to you. If your ink is too thin, keep cooking. If your ink gets too thick, add a bit more water. Ruining an ink is pretty hard, and sometimes an overly…

Chicks are a favorite food for snakes and rats. Both of these predators can slip through holes smaller than you’d expect. Check your coop and brooder area thoroughly for holes, even ones as small as a dime. If the holes can’t be patched easily, try plugging them with steel wool. Burying hardware cloth under the soil around the coop can help deter rats and other burrowing animals. Keep the area around the brooder clear of brush and other hiding places for predators, which will go a long way toward keeping your newly hatched chicks safe.…

Learning how to make mozzarella cheese at home can be much easier and quicker than you ever thought possible. Quick mozzarella is truly a miracle process, but one that may not work perfectly every time if the milk you use varies a lot. It’s one of those recipes that seems foolproof when demonstrated to beginning cheesemakers, but it’s not. Traditional mozzarella takes all day to make, uses starter culture bacteria for flavor and acid, and can be aged. Quick mozzarella, on the other hand, has added acid, more rennet, and can often be made in under an hour. The longer method definitely produces a more complex cheese with better texture, but the trade-off is about five hours of your day! It’s best to use store-bought whole cow’s milk the first…

MUSHROOMING WITHOUT FEAR Novices eager to collect tasty, wild mushrooms will find this unique guide invaluable. Unlike other mushroom guides, this book focuses on those mushrooms that are both safe to eat and delicious. #4722 $14.95 $12.71 SHIITAKE MUSHROOM FRUITING KIT Shiitake mushrooms are some of the easiest mushrooms to grow on logs outdoors, and this kit makes it even easier for indoor cultivation! Just add water and place anywhere in the house that is room temperature (60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit), misting frequently to produce flushes of beautiful fleshy caps. Because each mushroom kit is freshly packed to order, please allow five days to ship your order. This product is only available for shipment in the continental United States. #8649 $25.00 $23.75 COMPOST TEAS FOR THE ORGANIC GROWER In…

When I told my mother about the used Speed Queen wringer washer I’d bought, she remarked that it was the Cadillac of washers when it first came out. You could set a timer for the number of minutes you wanted your wash to agitate. A bell would ring when it shut off. To house my used “Queenie,” I put up a rough framework, attached it to the well house, and stretched a tarp over it. Not a pretty sight from my bedroom window, but it sufficed until I couldn’t stand the eyesore any longer. With a $100 budget in mind, I accumulated some recycled materials to repurpose for my project. I found bark in the woods. I acquired two windows from a neighbor, which were just the right size. Some…