Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2022 i MOTHER EARTH NEWS

What’s the best fruit to grow for food sustainability? Perhaps, in your growing zones, oranges or peaches win. Hot, dry climates might call for dates or raisins. But for me, it has always been apples. Perhaps that’s because they grew well in rural Idaho and its chill hours. Or perhaps it’s because my community knew more about growing and preserving apples than any other fruit. “It’s not that bad. It’s organic. Just cut the worm out.” I laugh even as I type this. For us, “organic” was how we grew apples, but it did mean carving good fruit away from crumbly black worm tunnels. Modern techniques include moth traps, fruit barriers, and organic insecticides, like bacterial toxins that only target caterpillars. But for us, apple season meant getting a call…

The building of my tiny house began during a particularly bad week when I was 28 and suddenly found myself single after a brief marriage. It was more a distraction than a plan; I was simply miserable, and my mother insisted we start the cabin I had talked about building. She dragged out some 2x6s from my father’s inventory and pounded them together. When my father came home, he made a few suggestions, and for the following year, he worked with me every Sunday, sharing everything he could about building. It’s a wonderful thing to have your father all to yourself every Sunday. We measured and sawed and nailed; we took breaks to eat cookies; we listened to “A Prairie Home Companion” — all this while we built my future…

Imagine if the trees lining your neighborhood streets provided delicious food, free for the taking. Now, consider if that food was versatile to use and rich in unsaturated fats, fiber, and minerals. Lastly, think if that food required minimal human input, fertilizers, or pesticides to grow, and it created wildlife habitat, reduced erosion, and sequestered carbon. If you live in temperate North America, that food is likely already available in the form of native acorns and other nuts. In fact, there’s a bounty growing all around us, largely untapped by humans. But if you’ve ever processed nuts—cracking, dehulling, leaching, and grinding—you know it’s an arduous process that can deter many from taking advantage of this free food source. That’s why Asheville Nuttery, an innovative nut foragers collective in Asheville, North…

As a young boy, I loved walking through my grandfather’s huge hothouse, admiring all the cool and exotic plants. I’ve wanted one of my own ever since, so I finally made it happen. Having a limited budget, I was fortunate to find materials either free or repurposed from thrift stores and Craigslist, including the shower doors I used as windows, storm windows, and a door. My neighbor milled the cedar planks and fir posts from windfall trees out of the forest in our backyard—a service he offered free. I scrounged the curved aluminum struts for the ceiling from an old dish TV antenna, and I found the exhaust fan and the 12-volt battery that powers it from a Honda at a local wrecking yard. Among the new items I had…

What should I consider when assessing trees on my property or adding new trees to the land? Not only are trees useful for basic necessities, but they also add considerable value to most properties through their energy savings and aesthetic appeal. These basic maintenance tips will help you care for your treasured homestead vegetation. Keep in mind that no two properties are alike; every homestead is different regarding its plants, trees, soil, and climate. When considering tree care on a typical homestead, look at how the property functions or will need to function in the future. Begin by subdividing your property into manageable zones. Within each zone, consider the location of crops, animals, trails, roads, fencing, structures, and activities that regularly occur within each zone. Consider how plants, animals, and…

I’d like to learn how to tan hides and furs. What will I need to get started? Tanning hides and furs is a valuable skill to learn for anyone looking to responsibly use normally discarded hides. The following tools will get you started. Gambrel. A gambrel is used to hang the animal and raise it up and down during the skinning process. These are also important in saving your back when skinning. Some are a metal bar that require a cut that separates the leg tendon from the bone, and the ends of the gambrel are inserted through this opening. An easier style will use chains or cables that tightens around the leg without the need for cuts. Skinning knife. This sharp knife is used to start your cuts and…

“Don’t pass on the old stuff; using it makes work fun.” EDITORS’ PICK Leaf Litter Success Upon receiving my latest issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS, my eyes were immediately drawn to the cover article about using leaf litter as organic fertilizer (“Leaf Litter to the Rescue: Free Fertilizer from Your Backyard,” August/September 2022). I’m not allowed to have a regular garden where I live — though I have had a container garden — but I do have a few camellia shrubs planted by the previous owner. I love the flowers that bloom every late February and early March. (I live in north-central Georgia, so they probably bloom later the farther north they grow.) The plants stayed small until I raked leaves to the bases of them. I have sweet-gum and…

Mari: One of the challenges to the wider adoption of locally grown nut-based foods is the lack of cultural knowledge around harvesting, processing, and cooking with nuts and acorns. How do you address that challenge? Justin: Working to align our cultural values and practices with trees and perennial agriculture is more important to me than planting trees. Sure, it’s important to be out there planting the trees and developing the infrastructure, but what matters to me most is engaging our community about this. That’s what has made it feasible for us to do what we do now. We are able to access land because we’ve negotiated leases with landowners, and we get such a large supply of nuts because we’ve involved the community in foraging nuts. Community engagement is in…

It all started with an unlikely partnership between a pastry chef and a doctor. A national bestselling series of cookbooks resulted, featuring delicious and easy-to-make bread recipes with instructions simple enough for even a self-proclaimed “so-so” baker, such as myself. Jeff Hertzberg’s and Zoë François’ differing backgrounds marry flavor, ease of preparation, and balanced nutrition to produce artisan bread creations that can be prepared in minutes and baked fresh daily. Even better, the duo’s latest installment adapts the beloved quick and delicious creations into recipes that can be enjoyed by individuals who have long since assumed tasty bakery treats are a thing of the past: those on a gluten-free diet. As a person diagnosed with celiac disease, my diet is barren of doughy treats, buns, loaves, and most bakery goodness.…

SHOW US! Share your unique perspective with our community by submitting photos of inviting gardens, nutritious foods, wild animals, and more to the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Photo Group on Flickr www.Flickr.com/Groups/MotherEarthNewsPhotos/Pool. We’ll feature our favorites here and online!…

The Supreme Court made the decision while reviewing an Obama-era rule, the Clean Power Plan, that had already been revoked—blocked by the court and then later scrapped altogether by the Trump administration. Prior to this ruling, the Biden administration said it wouldn’t revive the Clean Power Plan, but the court still took it up. Many conservatives are touting the ruling as a major victory for coal producers. However, it’s unclear what this will do for the ailing industry, which declined even after the Clean Power Plan was scrapped. Many analysts emphasize market forces, not regulation, playing the decisive role in coal’s decline. Even so, coal remains a potent political symbol in election after election. The majority opinion of the court allows, “Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will…

The new cob code requires builders to test their cob mixes for shrinkage, compressive strength, and, in some cases, modulus of rupture. The shrinkage test is the most straightforward and can easily be done onsite by the builder. All you need is a box made out of 2x4s. The inside dimensions of the box should be 24 inches long, 31 ⁄2 inches wide, and 31 ⁄2 inches high. The box can have a wooden bottom, or it can be left without a bottom and placed on a flat surface. Line the box with thin paper or plastic sheeting before filling it completely with cob, screeded flat and troweled smooth on top. Leave the cob in the box to dry, a process that will take a couple of days to weeks,…

Environmental advocates who blame invasive species for disrupting native ecosystems can take heart in a new Delaware law. The legislation, which took effect July 1, 2022, bans the import, export, sale, transport, distribution, and propagation of 37 non-native invasive species, and puts other potential invasives on a watch list. The law is in response to research showing Delaware is losing many native species of plants, insects, fish, reptiles, and birds. “An Ecological Extinction Task Force identified the causes of this decline as habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, climate change, and the presence of invasive species,” Sen. Stephanie Hansen told Delaware General Assembly colleagues when she presented the bill in 2021. “Research by the U.S. Forest Service and the University of Delaware has found that almost 60% of the plants in our…

Some people love to cook, but many people don’t take the time to cook a complete, hearty meal every day. That’s why a friend of mine and I started a cooking club. One day each week, members cook extra food and share it with other members. The club started small, with just our two households cooking double and providing extra food to the other household just one day each week. Soon, a third friend joined in, and I learned it doesn’t take any more effort to cook a meal for three families than to cook for one. At least three nights a week, we relish knowing we’ll have a meal cooked at home by us, and two nights a week, we don’t have to do anything but heat up meals…