Innholdsfortegnelse for #255 i The New Pioneer

Chucking it all to pursue a life in the country appeals to many, and for good reason. Paved-over, traffic-clogged suburban and urban life challenges even the most grounded among us. The idea of a quiet life in the country, with more wildlife sightings per day than vehicles? That enchants. Christopher and Kirsten Shockey followed their passions and convictions more than two decades ago when they moved their family of six from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where they had a house on an acre, to a 40-acre homestead in remote southwestern Oregon. At the time, in 1998, Christopher was working in product development for Hewlett-Packard in Corvallis, OR and the couple lived nearby in Albany. When HP assigned Christopher to a Bay Area team, the company let him work remotely, saying he…

FOLKLORE: Blackberries have been around for thousands of years and grow throughout the world. During this time, folklore has also grown around these delicious plants. Some say that their thorny stems were used as Christ’s crown of thorns with the dark red of the berries representing his blood. It’s also said to be bad luck to eat blackberries after September 29, a date known as Michaelmus or National Poisoned Blackberries Day. Legend has it that the archangel Michael fought with and banished Lucifer from heaven on this date. When Lucifer fell from heaven, he landed on a thorny blackberry plant in Hell. Naturally, he hated that plant, so he spat on it and cursed it. On the other hand, while raspberries have been around for a long time,too (their seeds…

DORPERS were developed in South Africa by herders looking for a sheep that could thrive in the area’s harsh, arid climate. The two different types are Dorpers, which are white with a black head, and White Dorpers, which look similar but are all white. The breed is a top meat breed, as lambs are long, strong and squarely built. Mature ewes can weigh nearly 200 pounds, with mature rams reaching about 230. That’s a big sheep in anyone’s book! Dorpers are one of the most popular hair breeds in the United States. The other extremely popular breed is the KATAHDIN . Also large, meaty sheep, though not as big as Dorpers, Katahdins originated in Maine near Mount Katahdin, the highest peak in the state. They’re easy-going sheep that are easy…

Friendly and willing to share his knowledge and bounty, Andrew is serious about being prepared for possible difficult times ahead. “We lived off-grid for two and a half years with the goal of finding out just what we could do without and what we could provide ourselves. We canned more than 200 quarts of our own fruits and vegetables on an outdoor cookstove in one growing season, dried deer meat and put it in the deep freeze. A couple hundred pounds of salt is one of the things that we would stockpile. We had 6,000 watts of solar panels and 28 golf-cart batteries and a 12,000-watt inverter that could run even an air conditioner. Solar panels are great, but you could lose your electronics to an EMP [electromagnetic pulse] if…

Checklists can be as informal as a list on the back of an envelope or as detailed as a multi-page spreadsheet. The important thing is that you know where the checklists (and the backup checklists) are. Here’s a sample checklist to get you started. EMERGENCY VEHICLE CHECKLIST • tire pressure (including spare) • engine oil • fuel • transmission fluid • coolant ESSENTIALS • water and food • first-aid kit • medications • tools, duct tape, rags and cleaners • spare batteries • money and trade goods • toilet paper and paper towels • communication devices • field stove and fuel • firearms and ammunition • tent or tarp • pads • sleeping bags EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT • fire extinguisher • tow ropes • road flares (reflectors) • self-rescue gear (including…

Stone Barn Brandyworks, located in the Distillery Row of Portland, Oregon, is a true farm-to-table distillery. Launched in 2009 by Sebastian and Erika Degens to produce European-style brandy and liqueurs made from premier Northwest fruits, each bottle of Stone Barn’s spirits has been fermented and distilled in their small Southeast Portland distillery. They also produce single-barrel whiskeys, sourcing their grain and oak locally. Each bottle of their spirits is an ephemeral experience, as they source their ingredients seasonally and produce multiple small batches. This means that each batch will have a unique flavor, with many being available only once. Because the characteristics of the fruits change with each season, their brandies don’t follow a consistency model; rather, they’re focused on achieving a quality product based on what’s available at the…

Appliquéing is a technique that involves combining smaller pieces of fabric and other decorative elements into patterns or pictures. Appliqué designs have been popular throughout the history of quilting. Most pioneer girls filled their hope chests with at least one embroidered quilt top to show off their needlework skills. Appliqué designs are often used as decorative centerpieces or in squares on quilts. Increasingly, they’re also being glued or sewn onto jeans, shirts or other clothing, and these may include studding and embroidery. Designers often use lace, buttons, studs, fabric cutouts, sequins, purchased lettering and sayings in their creative appliqués. Designs are available at quilting and hobby stores and on websites that cater to crafters and quilters.…

1. Pick a piece(s) of bark you like, then size it to cover your backboard, white side up, then nail or staple it on to flatten and attach. 2. and 2a. Nail twig border on before or after gluing figures, either way. Drill small holes in twigs to prevent splitting them during nailing. 3. Draw figures with a pencil on bark, brown side up, then cut them out using a utility knife or whatever works, depending on bark thickness. 4. Place all the figures to suit, leaving space for a twig border.. 5. Glue figures on, applying a weight if needed, until glue dries.…

GREEN APPLE ART WAHM: EMILY HARTLEY Emily started Green Apple Art by accident, she says. She started making Christmas presents for her many nieces and nephews one year, crafting a wooden growth chart for each of them with their names painted on it and different designs to match their personalities. Next, she made them each a little personalized step stool. For her own daughter, she made little hand-painted wooden peg dolls along with painted wooden alphabet clocks. She posted the photos on Facebook and got a barrage of comments and messages from others asking her to make something for them as well. Soon enough, these first customers had posted Emily’s creations online, and their friends began wanting things custom made, too—thus, Green Apple Art was born. Emily’s husband hand-cuts all…

TNP is now on Instagram at Instagram.com/thenewpioneer . Be sure to stop by our page, give us a follow and share your photos with us by using #thenew pioneer or #thenewpioneermagazine. Keep your helpful Facebook comments and emails coming so we can provide the information you crave. Your letters prompt us to order feature articles. We do read your comments. If you know a family who might be a good cover story , let us know. We also want more of your helpful “It Worked For Me” stories. Cut and paste your 350-word manuscript into an email and attach a high-resolution photo (between 1 and 5 MB) or two for illustration purposes. We’ll pay $100 upon acceptance. Please email us at editdesk @athlonoutdoors.com.…

Rinse cabbage or other vegetables in cool water and prepare according to the recipe directions; transfer to a large bowl. Add half the salt in the recipe and, with your hands, massage it in, then taste. You should be able to taste salt, but it should not be overwhelming. If it’s not salty enough, continue adding small amounts and tasting until it’s to your liking. The vegetables will quickly look wet and limp. Some liquid will begin to pool in the bowl. Let them stand, covered, for 45 minutes, then repeat the massage. Transfer them to a crock or jar and press them down with your fist or a tamper to release even more brine. Some should be visible on top when you press. (Don’t worry if the brine “disappears”…

Summer is a busy time, which is why it’s important to make the most of it. There’s nothing better than homemade pizza and ice cream on a dark night when you can watch the shooting stars from your back porch without light pollution ruining the show. Since this is the time to be outdoors as much as possible, it pays to be proactive about insect control by taking such steps as bringing backyard birds to your aid and protecting yourself against ticks. PUT UP BIRD BOXES If you want your very own winged pest patrol, encourage birds to nest in your yard by installing bird boxes. Speak with your local Audubon Society to determine the size and configuration of the hole in the box, as well as where and when…

When I bought my homestead 11 years ago, I made a five-year plan that included fencing in half an acre, establishing a miniature orchard, digging a quarter-acre garden and planting raspberries and blueberries. I finally got the berry patches planted about four years ago. They died out by the following year. At first, I blamed it on the weather. But I soon came to realize that the cause was my own lack of common sense. I had chosen two spots for my raspberry/ blueberry patches—one down by the road near the pine trees, the other up by the orchard. I planted the blueberries by the orchard and the raspberries by the road. Little wonder that they died. I should have reversed where I planted each type. Blueberries need acidic soil,…

A typical day in the distillery involves a lot of, well, distilling. “We’re a working craft distillery,” says Sebastian. Often, they’ll go through multiple small-batch distillations in a day. The amount of spirits they produce in one running can vary quite a bit. For instance, a single distillation could produce six bottles of grappa or as many as 30 of whiskey. Each distillation starts with fermentation, with yeast converting sugar in the mash into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This process can produce either a beer (if the mash is made from grains) or a wine (if made from fruit). The resultant low-alcohol product is then run through the still, which separates the alcohol from water to produce high-alcohol spirits. These are then usually cut with water to bring the alcohol…

Resins in birch bark make it very flammable. Keep it away from open flames unless, of course, you’re trying to start a fire! I sometimes wipe on a little linseed oil to bring out the colors of the brown (or reverse) side of birch bark. Don’t use oil on the white side, as it darkens the white and causes it to separate. Use a little paint to dot in eyes, noses or other details on your figures if you’d like. I keep my figures large. It’s harder to cut small figures and details using birch bark. Experiment! On the howling wolf piece, I let the right side of the tree overlap the Adirondack border a little instead of cutting it off so it was even, and it looks nice. I…

Author Kirsten Shockey spent years telling people that her passion for fermentation began when her mother put a crock full of sauerkraut under the Christmas tree. But recently, she came to understand that the crock was not, in fact, the first spark that ignited a decades-long devotion. As a young homesteader she made cheese with her family’s dairy animals. Nobody referred to the task as fermentation, but that’s exactly how gallons of cows’ milk get turned into pounds of cheddar. “The vocabulary around fermented foods was not in place back then,” Kirsten says. “You thought wine. Beer. Sauerkraut. But cheesemaking is fermentation.” Now, however, fermentation is part of the national zeitgeist, with slews of workshops, shelves of new books and artisans from Oregon to Maine diving deep into the mysteries…

Like any project, it helps to gather all your materials before beginning. To build a solid H-brace for a standard wire fence, you’ll need the following materials. • 2 posts (8 inches at smallest) • 1 cross-brace post (4 inches at smallest) • 18 to 24 inches of cranking rod (wood or metal) • 10 feet of smooth wire • 4-inch wood screws • Fencing staples • Post hole digger • Tamping bar • Wire stretcher • Fencing pliers • Hammer • Drill with appropriate screw head • Saw • Axe/hatchet • Pencil/pen…

No one just stops by Andrew and Erin Poor’s place by accident. You have to know exactly how to navigate the maze of back roads and trails in southwest Missouri just to find it. The first thing you notice when walking into the house is a large cherry pillar that looks like a tree growing in the middle of the house supporting a huge beam. “That post and the beam came from the two biggest trees that had to be removed when we built the house,” Andrew explained when I visited. “We felt that as long as they had to be cut, they should be part of the house.” Their home is an open design with large windows to the south that overlook a wooded valley. Samples of Erin’s fabric…

Since the best way to learn how to build a rocket mass heater and other DIY projects is through hands-on experience, consider spending a few days at Wheaton Labs. Paul Wheaton offers space in his Permaculture Bootcamp Program, which brings all hands together on projects related to subjects ranging from alternative energy to permaculture systems. Whatever you want to learn, this is the ideal classroom! There are limited spaces per month. For more information and to reserve a spot, go to wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp/.…

Upcycled clothing is the must-have style of 2020. Most items feature quirky patterns, lace and designs in material decorating a basic shirt, pants or jacket. These clothes often sell for $150 or more on high-end websites and in trendy boutiques. But, even if you have no sewing machine and little sewing experience, you can make a personalized quilted scrapbook for your back for less than the cost of buying a new denim jacket. The upcycling trend in clothing makes out-of-style items into something new, according to designers on YouTube, Etsy and Pinterest. To upcycle a garment, you first need to rediscover some forgotten clothes buried in the back of your closet, then add decorations and turn them into refreshed styles. If nothing in your closet seizes your interest, buy a…

ANNEALING: The process of slowly cooling glass after it has been created by an artist. ANNEALER: An oven used for annealing. BENCH: The glassblower’s workstation. It has a place for the glassblower to sit, an area for handheld tools and two rails that the pontil rests on while the artist works the piece. BLOWPIPE, MOUTH BLOWER: A hollow metal pipe with a mouthpiece on one end and an area on the other end where the molten glass sets. It is used to blow air into molten glass. CRIMP: A tool used to add decorative elements to glass by squeezing hot bits of glass between the textured surface. They’re available in various patterns and textures. GATHER: Molten glass collected on the end of a blowpipe. GlASSBLOWER,GAFFER or GLASS-SMITH: An artist who…

Birch bark is a legendary material in human history. Vikings used it for letters and record-keeping. A thousand birch-bark scrolls have been found near Novgorod (yes, the Vikings helped settle Russia), some dating as far back as the 11th century. Native Americans used birch bark to make canoes and lodges and gleaned syrup from its sap. Modern campers use it to start fires. In recent years, birch poles have become popular centerpieces in home decorations (sometimes poachers decimate entire birch stands in pursuit of the iconic wood). Because of its many attributes and the extraordinary beauty of the paper birch tree, it has become a genuine icon of the world’s north country. There’s another use for the birch and its beautiful bark: silhouette art for hanging in your home or…

Times they are a changing, especially in light of the recent Coronavirus pandemic. Americans are now fully aware how quickly a crisis can turn into an economic meltdown. I am proud to be a work-at-home mom. When I became pregnant with our second child, I was working full time in an office as well as working from home. We knew as a family that it would be best for us if I was able to stay home with our son after he was born. Our older daughter was just starting first grade, so it would be just the baby and me at home during the day. With this arrangement, I thought I would have all the time in the world to work, but instead, I was exhausted and consumed with…

Vintage campers are hot stuff right now.Many people are choosing them over newer models because of their charm and personality, which they have in abundance. But these campers aren’t just for camping. You see them used as small mobile businesses at fairs (think food trucks, produce and farm stands and mini galleries for art and homemade wares), as bug-out shelters on wheels for disasters, for extra housing on the property for guests, as “she-sheds” and even as giant, fancy chicken coops. They’re appealing because they’re both useful and nostalgic. Best of all, they’re ideal for do-it-yourselfers who enjoy fixing and learning. The Happy Place My own vintage camper adventure started a few years ago when I needed a camper to live in for a summer while I was transitioning between…