Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2023 i MOTHER EARTH NEWS

This past March, I moved my family from Nevada to Kansas. While this put us within walking distance of the MOTHER EARTH NEWS headquarters, this wasn’t our primary motivation. We moved because of rainfall and the ecosystems that thrive in it. That magical elixir that falls from the sky is key to vegetative growth that becomes compost and builds soil. It provides for so many plants and animals — whether wild or farmed—that sustain us. I’d grown proficient in desert gardening in my 25 years living in Nevada, but everything has limits when water is scarce. When I asked my daughter what she was most excited about, she said, “Foraging.” She specifically meant foraging for mushrooms, since those don’t grow in Nevada without a lot of effort, but she also…

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks This October, I’ll turn 70, and I’ve been reading MOTHER EARTH NEWS since the beginning of time. When I receive each issue, I usually read it immediately, and then I pass it on to a young couple I know. Sometimes, due to my years of experience and experimentation, and my attitude, I get impatient while reading the magazine and think, “Well, I’ve known that for years.” But there’s almost always one article per issue with information that’s new to me. Then, I think, “Okay, Boomer, you can teach an old dog new tricks.” Thanks for the years of education and entertainment. Frances Thompson  Via Email…

I am a farmer with a black-and-blue thumb and a science writer who’s terrible at math. I embrace a science-based understanding of climate, but sometimes I still pray for rain. And over the coming months, I’ll share in this new column some of the most pressing challenges facing how we feed ourselves and our communities, along with the most promising solutions I’ve come across for ensuring a food-secure future. Scientists have sounded the alarm about serious problems impacting agriculture, including more frequent and severe floods and droughts, rising input costs, and dwindling water resources. Through conversations with a few of these scientists, along with executives and investors in the AgTech and sustainable-food sectors, I’ll aim to illuminate innovation happening across the food-supply chain. If you find yourself suspicious that technological solutions…

If you’re a chicken owner, you likely know that predators can pose a major threat to your flock. Until you see something try to make a meal out of one of your birds, though, you may not realize just how vulnerable your feathered friends can be. Chickens are at risk for all manner of predator attacks—from both aerial and ground-based threats—which is why providing them a safe and secure home is essential. We prioritized safety when building our back-deck coop and attached run for our bantams, knowing that they’re small birds and especially vulnerable to predators. And I’m sure glad we did, because we’ve seen all kinds of unwanted creatures here, including raccoons, weasels, coyotes, and bobcats—all of them in broad daylight, and all of them closer to the coop…

Technically, the “garden maiden” I created from reclaimed material isn’t a topiary, since she grows over an armature I built. She isn’t pruned into a specific form from the usual evergreen shrubs, such as cypress, juniper, and box honeysuckle. Instead, she’s studded with hundreds of clippings snipped from drought-tolerant succulents. I used a metal tomato cage as the base. Turned upside down, the cage’s structure was the perfect form for a bell-shaped skirt. The cage’s pointed ends that are usually shoved into the ground extended upward and became the main part of her body from her waist to her shoulders. I then pieced together scraps of chicken wire and wrapped the wire around her upper body. I wired two plastic orange juice containers (89 ounces each) onto the top ends…

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!…

Several chemicals on board, including vinyl chloride, have been found to cause irritation and neurological symptoms in humans. On Feb. 6, officials decided to burn off the remaining vinyl chloride in five train cars to prevent a possible explosion due to rising temperatures inside one car. The reaction that occurs when burning vinyl chloride creates other harmful chemicals. Officials insist the two-day evacuation was able to mitigate the risk to residents, though locals are still concerned over the toxic plume of particulate matter traveling over parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Thousands of aquatic animals have died in the area, prompting unease about overall water quality after the disaster. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found sediment contamination as far as 6 miles from the derailment site. Farmers…

Nestled in the bustling streets of London, a network of people dedicated to saving and sharing open-pollinated seeds is growing. The London Freedom Seed Bank began after a call to action in the early 2010s by scholar and activist Vandana Shiva (see Shiva’s story on agroecology on Page 38). Once its members realized the importance of food freedom and diversity, the FOOD from the SKY permaculture community decided to live out its values and created the London Freedom Seed Bank. All the seeds members share have been grown right in London, giving the plants unparalleled adaptation and acclimatization to their local environment. And this community is far from the only group prioritizing food sovereignty. In the United States, Seed Savers Exchange is on a mission to protect America’s food-crop legacy…

What if your fence was alive? As typical pressed-lumber and chain-link fences certainly aren’t beacons of life, a living fence may seem like a magical notion. What a marvelous way to incorporate yet more life and diversity into the garden! Yet, despite the concept sounding revolutionary, in truth, “living fences” can be found on many residential streets in the form of hedges. What’s a Composting Fence? A composting wall or fence, on the other hand, is more unconventional and adventurous than a hedge. A composting fence is essentially a solid non-compostable structure, usually two fences with mesh walls built side by side with a pocket between them made to envelop compost. This compost-containing structure can be casual or a fancy latticed pergola-type structure. You can then fill your “hollow fence”…

What’s the difference between grid-tied, off-grid, and battery backup solar photovoltaic systems? Lee New Braunfels, Texas I hear from a lot of people who are concerned about the reliability of electric service when severe weather strikes their area. This is a good question to get folks thinking about how (or if) they want to be energy-independent. Costs are involved whether you’re energy-independent or getting your electricity from a power company. Grid-tied is just another way of saying a property is plugged into the local power company’s line and is also using solar energy to offset the electric bill, but is still dependent on the company’s service. A grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) solar system is a good way to reduce your electric bill, but with the added fees and taxes, you probably…

Start at a farmers market, talking to farmers who sell meat. Chances are if they sell cuts of meat, they’ll also sell half- and whole pigs if you order in advance. (Because only a limited number of slaughterhouses handle meat from small-scale farmers, the farmers must reserve slaughtering and butchering time well in advance.) For the half-pig I reserved last August, the only slaughter dates still available were at the end of December. That allowed me plenty of time to organize my freezer. Choosing a Farmer, and Whole-Pig Prices I chose a farmer based first on trust, and then on price, breed, the pig’s diet, and whether I could fill out my own cut sheet. The price for my half-pig—in Vermont, where prices tend to be high—was $6 per pound…

Think you have the world’s hottest pepper? Now you have a place to submit your scorcher. Dremann’s Heat Search sprung up in 2022 to fill in the gaps when Guinness World Records increased its rules for submission in 2017. With a few simple rules and a routine lab test, Craig Dremann of Redwood City Seed Company is looking to streamline the search for the World’s Hottest Pepper. “You could find a goldmine in your backyard,” says Dremann, who’s hoping to increase economic opportunities for home growers and gardeners. The pungency, or “hotness,” of a pepper is determined by measuring the amount of pure capsaicin contained in that pepper. These measurements are rated using the Scoville Scale. For reference, pure capsaicin measures 16 million Scoville heat units (SHU). Dremann’s hottest pepper…

“I hope you hear from lots of Southern gardeners. I look forward to reading about ideas that are adaptable to my gardening situation.” Deep-South Gardening Solutions I’m a longtime reader of MOTHER EARTH NEWS, and I saw the request for ideas on Deep-South gardening (“Not Much for the Deep South,” Dear MOTHER, April/May 2023). It’s hard to cover all the gardening regions in the U.S. in a single magazine; Texas alone has four hardiness Zones and 10 ecoregions. One of the great things about gardening here is the opportunity for three distinct garden seasons: spring, fall, and winter. Notice the absence of summer. In June and July, when many U.S. gardens are really coming into production, parts of the South are unbearable for most veggies, except okra, melons, and peppers.…

Many blooms and berries are more than just attractive—they can also be delectable. I particularly like to preserve common blue violet blooms, redbud tree blossoms, elderberries, and autumn olive berries. Luckily, I can forage for them near where I live. Most can be found growing wild in many parts of North America and are plentiful enough to be harvested sustainably. One of my favorite ways to preserve their beauty and flavor for winter is to make jelly. If you, too, want to put up these vibrant wild preserves, first be certain you can properly identify them, and know which parts are edible. If in doubt, get a good identification book, or ask an experienced friend to accompany you on a foraging excursion. Wild Violet Viola sororia plants bloom with delicate…

There was a time when the only place you could find jaw-dropping photos of wild animals was in the work of professional photographers published in National Geographic. That’s changed with digital cameras and technology. Now, almost anyone has access to the equipment necessary for creating wildlife photography. But it takes more than just equipment to be a skilled—and thoughtful—wildlife photographer. You could make the claim that there’s no better way to enjoy wild animals than by photographing them. But is this engagement mutually beneficial? It should be. Far too often, the wild animals we love to capture with our cameras end up on the losing end of a bad bargain. Unfortunately, I frequently read news about poachers targeting a rhino or an elephant after a photographer took its picture and…

In 2018, we expanded and remodeled our house in Montana. After deciding on a floor plan and arranging contractors and materials, we started the remodel in late March. We wanted to do as much of the work ourselves as we could, not only to save money, but also for the sense of fulfillment. We decided to use structurally insulated panels (SIP) for the house remodel, as that’s what the original house was built with. While demolishing the old living room, I found that the shed-style roof was constructed with 10-inch-thick SIPs. Throwing the panels out seemed like a waste of good material, and we didn’t want to add that much plastic foam to our local landfill. So, we kept all the SIPs that were large enough to use. We wound…

I’m a beginning gardener, and I’m anxious about the upfront costs. What are some ways I can save money on getting my garden started? If you’re creative, flexible, and water-wise, you can grow food for almost no money. Here are some of the things I’ve found free of charge in the past year, with the approximate prices if purchased new, and my sources. Water can be a big expense in gardening, especially if you’re supplied by city water. However, water can also be “found.” We have a small bucket in the kitchen sink that collects hand-washing water, water from rinsing produce, and water left over in drinking glasses. We have a 5-gallon bucket in the shower that catches water as the shower warms up (over a gallon per shower). And…

When I say the word “cucumber,” perhaps your imagination conjures up a cylindrical, dark-green, juicy, thick-skinned fruit that can be a bit bitter. Or, maybe you envision a long English or a thin-skinned Persian cucumber. But what if you could envision—and experience—something wonderfully distinct? That’s what your seeds have in store. While today’s standard cucumbers are the species Cucumis sativus, which originated in India, the Western world once defined cucumbers as a type of muskmelon (Cucumis melo). Originating from Africa, these cucumber-melons are picked in their tenderyet-crisp immature state, like zucchini, and then eaten as gourmet cucumbers. (“Cucamelons,” on the other hand, are Mexican sour gherkins, a different genus and species from cucumbers and muskmelons.) The most recognizable cucumber-melon today is a snake melon. Often referred to as “Armenian cucumbers”…