Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2023 i MOTHER EARTH NEWS

“Why are you so woke?” I just answered yet another reader who wondered what diverse cultures have to do with homesteading. While many readers thank us for covering all people within “can-do communities” and the long history of farming in all cultures, we also receive complaints. Many complaints wield the word “woke” and accuse us of being “political.” These subjective terms seem to refer to anything or anyone they don’t like. But our goal is to include varied cultures with multiple solutions for self-sufficiency. Further, the topics we publish transcend the politics of the day—no political party or platform has the sole claim on caring for people and the planet. Since 1970, we’ve included stories on people who start farms, run community gardens, or create food initiatives. Some of those…

I sit and write this piece at the end of February 2023. After a mild winter, nature is returning with a fury. Many people have been caught off-guard and unprepared. I’ve been there. Until you experience a winter storm, you have no idea what it’s like. I’m talking snow, ice, and freezing cold; storms that paralyze entire regions. My wife and I bought our home in New England in the late 1980s. Our goal was to be semi-self-sufficient. The purchase of our home and the birth of our daughter made our budget a bit tight, so we had to put off some purchases, including a generator and the fuel to run it, which would’ve made a big difference during our first major storm during the winter of 1993-1994. Winters in…

We live in extraordinary times, with a dazzling array of salts that are smoky, volcanic, or kissed by the subtle flavors of seaweed and minerals. Herb-infused finishing salts are a delightful alchemy between earth and sea, plant and mineral. Herbal salts are surprisingly easy to conjure up and make a nice way to preserve fresh culinary herbs. In early fall, I prepare big batches of salts from the herbs I harvest before the first frost. If your love language involves homemade gifts, as mine does, you’ll appreciate having a pantry full of finishing salts in pretty little jars ready for birthdays and holiday gift-giving. Finishing salts get their name from their kitchen use, traditionally added to a dish after it’s prepared. But you needn’t be held back by this convention—as…

Choosing Chicken Eggs The breed of the chicken is what determines the color of the egg. White eggs aren’t bleached. In fact, all eggs start as white inside the chicken. It takes over 24 hours for an egg to fully form within the hen’s reproductive system, and only during the last step of the process does a pigment deposit on the egg to determine its final color. The pigment pro-toporphyrin is responsible for the brown color, and it’s more or less “painted” on the outside of the white shell late in the shell’s formation. That’s why brown eggs are only brown on the outside of the shell but white on the interior. In the case of white eggs, no pigment is added at the end, because that particular breed of…

“My thought was a homestead would be an off-grid home where you have to do everything. …I garden, but is this a homestead?” EDITORS’ PICK Rainfall in Oregon After publishing Mark S. McNutt’s article about living on solar power in the Pacific Northwest (“Off-Grid Living in Western Oregon,” Firsthand Reports, August/September 2023), several readers wrote to us to challenge his claims of receiving 100 inches of rainfall a year. We confirmed with weather reports that he didn’t exaggerate. Mark says, “All weather is local. While Oregon averages about 30 inches of rain per year, most of the state is ‘high desert.’ Most people live in the ‘oak savanna’ with 60 inches per year, and I live in the ‘temperate rainforest,’ which pulls in the marine air through prevailing westerly winds.…

Tools and Materials • Hanks of #4 medium-weight, 100% hemp yarn, each about 3½ ounces and 219 yards• Circular knitting needle, U.S. size 6 (4 mm), or size needed to obtain gauge, 24 inches in length• 1 stitch marker• 2 stitch holders This handmade, reusable bag is a great sustainable choice for hauling produce from the farmers market or your garden. The pictured bag was made with three balls of Java yarn, #106 Desert Rose color, from Universal Yarn, an American company based in North Carolina. You can substitute any medium-weight worsted yarn that’s 100% hemp, linen, or cotton, but be sure to check the gauge first. Not only is hemp yarn sustainable, but it’s also especially durable and strong, which makes it well-suited to shopping bags. Finished measurements will…

Waste management of pasture-raised animals is generally simple. When your herd is frequently moved around on a vigorous patch of perennial grasses, manure and urine spread thinly and evenly, making it easy for the ecosystem to absorb them. Unfortunately, in a temperate climate such as ours in Québec, animals that are kept all year long can’t be raised solely on grass. Handling the waste of animals housed in closed-up buildings is somewhat of a chore. Stalls require daily additions of fresh bedding material, generating copious amounts of litter that’ll eventually need to be moved out and composted. I’ve always found keeping my laying hens penned up inside a small coop all winter long was less than ideal. On top of managing a lot of bedding and litter in a cramped…

Making your own paper is easy and a great way to recycle materials that might otherwise go to waste. I tear up newspapers, magazines, and used envelopes to produce pulp for my homemade paper. I especially like to use the colorful ads from the local grocery store. Lint from the clothes dryer can also be an interesting addition. The only specialized equipment that’s needed for papermaking at home is a deckle kit. I bought an inexpensive deckle set online for $9.99. It came with three pieces: a wooden frame, a plastic grid about an inch thick that fits inside the frame, and a fine screen. During papermaking, you’ll pour the liquidy pulp over the screen, and excess water will seep through. The plastic grid supplies support for pressing out additional…

Earthworms do hibernate, burrowing as much as 6 feet down to escape frozen soil, but if you’re digging in your garden, I’m going to assume it’s not frozen. Many things can lead to earthworm decline, including ecological degradation, over-tillage, and overuse of chemical fertilizers. But this isn’t the case for most organic gardeners who practice no-till methods. How often do you add compost? Earthworms are valuable for gardens specifically because they consume this organic material, and their digestive process frees up nutrients so they’re bioavailable to plants. Earthworms also turn the soil and help compost degrade faster so plants can use it sooner. Since you’re probably not doing anything to actively kill the earthworms, they may have left to find food somewhere else. Several practices, some of which you’re already…

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!…

Now, about one year later, the Norfolk SunWise Community Solar program is going strong, according to Steven Rames, public works director and city engineer with the City of Norfolk. Rames says the solar power produced in the 8.5-megawatt facility is not only delivering renewable energy to residents, but also delivering it at about 10% less than the normal retail price of energy from the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD). NPPD is a publicly owned utility, and its community solar programs are set up as power purchase agreements (PPA); a private solar developer installs, owns, and operates the solar facility. There’s no upfront cost to the City of Norfolk except the city-owned land the facility operates on. The PPA states NPPD will purchase the energy from the developer at a fixed…

I remember as a child riding in the truck with my father and counting the bugs that hit the windshield. Bright greens, reds, and yellows splattered like a Jackson Pollock painting. Very few insects hit my windshield today when I drive that same stretch of road. Where have all the bugs gone? I realize my observation is not scientific proof of a bug apocalypse. I could’ve conducted a more methodical experiment over the years, recording the species of bugs hitting my windshield after a specific number of miles on the same stretch of road, traveling a designated speed, and so on. My scientist friends might be impressed by my rigorous “bug windshield” experiment, but I’m not certain any journal would publish the findings. Still, the drop in insect numbers is…

Welcome to our series answering reader questions and concerns about how to cut the utility company cord. Hoss Boyd is founder, president, and CEO of TeraVolt Energy. Kerena Reese is an independent engineer. They’re recognized solar and energy-storage experts. Learn more about TeraVolt Energy at http://TVNRG.com. My husband and I have lived off-grid since 2012. Regarding your advice on battery backup systems (see “Off-Grid, Grid-Tied, and Battery Backup Systems,” Gone Off-Grid, June/July 2023), we’ve discovered you have to make sure your grid-tied system can be islanded* if you want to stay up and running during power outages. That’s because when the grid shuts down, power companies shut everything down to protect their utility line workers. Our neighbors have solar panels and batteries, but they lose power during outages. Off-grid isn’t…