Innholdsfortegnelse for Fall 2021 i The New Pioneer

When we asked Heidi Diestel how she balances her career with raising two young children, her answer was short: “I had a really good role model—my mom.” Joan Diestel is a registered dietician, and Heidi worked with her growing up, both on the farm and visiting markets to explain the benefits of eating nutrient-dense food. Heidi admits that she is very lucky. She and Jared live a minute or two from her office, and Joan helps a lot with the children. Heidi enjoys working. “We are small enough that I can be flexible. It’s a huge advantage to have the farm and a family business because if I have to do something, I have my folks nearby to help. For me, work is very rewarding—I think it’s necessary for my…

If the idea of a forest garden intrigues you, Scott Goode suggests you start by planting what he calls “a climate victory garden.” Once the trench has been filled, you continue the same annual cycle, replacing the sunflowers with food crops. Step 1: Plan your garden. A 9.5 foot by 14-foot area can be divided into two beds, each 4-feet wide by 14-feet long, leaving an 18-inch walkway between them. Step 2: In summer, if possible, mow down the weeds. Whether mowed or not, water the area well and cover with black landscape or agricultural fabric; two pieces, each 6-feet wide and 14 feet or longer work well for this. When the weeds have died, expose the area, water, and let the weeds grow until just before they flower, or…

THE BREAKOUT MOMENT FOR YAKS in the United States came during Denver’s National Western Stock Show in the late 1990s. Their reputation as an easy, more docile alternative to the rowdy bison caught on there. The interest died out some, but now Melodee hopes to attract more budding ranchers to yaks. It helped that this past April Clear Spring Farm and its record steer, the late Jericho, was featured on the FarmHer show. FarmHer was founded in 2013 to change the image of agriculture, depicting women taking an active role in the industry through photographs, film and online stories. And FarmHer could not have chosen a better ambassador than Melodee. “I’ve wondered why more people aren’t into yaks. I have a vision for them to become the new farm animal.…

“Hey, Dave, come in the kitchen. You’ve got to see this!” The summons from my wife, Becky, didn’t include a request for a fire extinguisher or a first-aid kit, so I assumed that the cat was doing something unbelievably cute again. Oscar was asleep in a patch of sunlight, serving his primary function as a semi-mobile passive solar absorber—hardly noteworthy. “Listen,” she whispered. There was a distinct buzzing sound coming from the north kitchen wall. We watched in fascination as thousands of bees filled the air just outside the kitchen window, covering the branches of the mulberry tree. Oscar awoke, but finding himself not the center of attention and no food nearby, yawned, stretched and wandered off to find a quieter patch of sunlight. In a few hours, the bees…

Making Wild Hot Dogs In this issue, I hope you have perused my article on hunting wild hogs for meat. In it, I shared one of my favorite ways to prepare wild pork for the table. In this piece, we’ll look at another favorite method. My wife, Becca, and I made 23 pounds of hot dogs using wild meat. Here’s how we did it. Tools, Ingredients & Processing: To begin, we ordered the Original Hot Dog Kit from Hi Mountain Seasonings. It’s an MSG- and nitrate-free seasoning mix that includes collagen casings and detailed instructions. As the instructions suggest, we used 11 pounds of venison and 12 pounds of wild pork to reach 23 pounds. We ground it all in an electric meat grinder with a fine grinder plate. Then,…

It was a pivotal moment. My wife and I were exploring a home situated on nearly an acre. It was built in 2001, but already needed updating if it was to become our home. Decisions, decisions. The layout—an open-concept kitchen and living area—was the selling point. We knew that with lots of cosmetic help, the existing structure could become a stunning home. We made an offer and, after some negotiating, settled on a price that worked for both the seller and us. Then, the countdown until the closing date began. Upon closing, we immediately installed a new roof. Once that was finished, we renovated the kitchen, then the living room and bedrooms. With those projects completed, we rolled up our sleeves and took on the bathroom. Since I’m a full-time…

Jessica Hanners uses these light and delicious biscuits for her breakfast sandwiches and explains, “I like this recipe because the biscuits turn out crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle, a classic Southern-style biscuit.” Serves 20. Ingredients: • 8 cups all-purpose flour • 4 Tbsp. baking powder • 4 tsp. salt • 1 tsp. baking soda • 12 oz. or three sticks of very cold, unsalted butter, grated • 4 cups of buttermilk Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix together dry ingredients first (flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda). Add the grated butter. The dry ingredients need to coat the tiny pieces of butter, but don’t work the mixture very much with your hands to keep from heating up the butter. Pour in the buttermilk. Mix with your…

Throughout history, most humans have not had the luxury of letting anything go to waste. Every item, edible or otherwise, was used, reused or reimagined to its full potential. “Use what you can gather and combine ingredients that seem like they’d be tasty together.” Without industrialization and what our grocery stores would have us believe are seemingly endless supplies, it wasn’t an option to forget food or to toss any part of it for any reason. In recent years, there has been a growing effort to end food waste, not only in fields, factories and restaurants but also in our own kitchens. Enter vinegar, perhaps the world’s oldest and most ubiquitous condiment. Fermenting your own vinegar gives you the opportunity to glean enchantingly flavored acid from food scraps that were…

It started as one of those typical Oregon snowstorms. A makes-everything-pretty-for-a-day-then-melts-away sort of snowstorm. But though the snowfall was brief, the freezing cold hung around, and the rain kept coming. Within hours, everything outdoors in most of the upper Willamette Valley was glazed in a thinness of ice. And still the rain came, and the ice coating thickened. And thickened. And thickened until, in places, trees and power lines and roofs began collapsing beneath the unbearable burden of inch-thick sleet. The ice storm of Sunday night, February 14, 2021, was the worst in memory. Falling trees and branches decimated woodlands and landscapes, downed 4,000 power lines, cut power to 730,000 homes and rendered many city streets and country roads impassable for days. The following morning, I arose to the sound…

Thousands of gadgets are available that promise to simplify your life. If you could somehow narrow them down to those that are truly useful, practical and convenient, the list would shrink. I tested the Mini Dragon torch by Flame Engineering against those three metrics, and it proved to be a winner. Here’s why. Useful To consider something useful, I must identify at least one ongoing application where I’ll use it to produce results. Flame Engineering’s Mini Dragon has multiple applications in which it blazes (pun totally intended). Currently, I’m cleaning up a property that was neglected for more than 15 years. I’m burning up brush constantly. Even when dealing with damp wood and twigs, I’m able to get a fire roaring—difficult and sometimes nearly impossible for most people to do…

If you’re not familiar with malt, don’t worry. For many years, it has gone mostly unrecognized even though it is a vital ingredient in beer and spirits. Malt is the source of the primary fermentable sugars in these drinks, meaning that they couldn’t exist without it. To produce alcohol, a brewer or distiller needs yeast and a fermentable sugar for the yeast to ferment. In malt the sugars are housed inside the kernels of small grains like barley, wheat and rye, which are harvested while in their prime. The starches stored inside the endosperm of each kernel are intended to feed the plant when it begins the process of germination. Through various stages of moistening, heating and drying, maltsters harness this process for their own designs to modify the grain…

Fall is a bustling time before everything cools down during the winter. Gardening in the fall is easier than in spring or summer because there are fewer insects and weeds. If you haven’t already planned to harvest carrots or broccoli long past those first few frosts, now is the time to do one more planting. There is always something you can do to simplify the tasks as the seasons change. Pick the tips that work for you in this article to wrap up the season as easily as possible. PRESERVE THAT ZUCCHINI INSTEAD OF DUMPING HEAPS OF ZUCCHINI on your neighbor’s porch, freeze or dehydrate it. You’ll appreciate having it on hand in the colder months. For those who love to bake zucchini bread or cake, freezing works absolutely fine.…

“We would not be able to solve problems such as disease, mental health, poverty and problems of education if we did not recognize our connection to the land . . .” Like most parents, Michael and Lucretia Woodruff dreamed of raising a family in a healthy environment—a farm filled with wholesome food. And so it began: life inside an organic utopia embracing holistic practices, working together with a community of like-minded farmers, many of them women, dedicated to biodynamic farming. Lucretia acquired her love of farming when she learned biodynamic agriculture at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. The couple moved to Maine after college, hoping to find an affordable piece of land, and they worked together for a while at Bowdoin College in downtown Brunswick. Michael continues to work…

Thinking about bantam chickens brings to mind sayings like “small but mighty” and “do more with less.” These are great sayings both for life and for keeping bantams. What Is A Bantam Chicken? First things first, a bantam is simply a small or miniature chicken, not just a large fowl chicken that didn’t grow very big; it’s a chicken that is intended to be small when full-grown. You may also hear them referred to as banties. On average, a bantam is one-fourth to one-fifth the size of a large fowl chicken. Within the bantam class, there are true bantams that are solely found as a small chicken and there are bantams that are a miniature version of their large-fowl counterpart. According to the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection, bantams…

HERE ARE SOME MORE YAK TIPS from the International Yak Association, whose mission is to preserve, promote and protect North America’s yak herd. • Yaks need salt and minerals, including copper, year-round. Calves need 3 pounds of forage a day, adults 15 pounds a day. Trim hooves about once a year, depending on terrain; calf births are generally easy, owing to their small size. • Coarse, long yak guard hair used for rope and bags is sheared from the animals. • Yaks need to be wormed. Ivermectin worm medicine is the most popular but should be alternated to prevent parasites from developing resistance. Pour-ons are effective; an injectable is more certain. • Adult cows normally make good mothers; however, first-time mothers need to be watched the first week or so…

When COVID19 hit, the customers of the Homecoming Café had to stay at home. Many restaurants shut down, let their employees go and went out of business. However, Jessica Hanners did not. “We closed our restaurant down for two months,” Hanners says. “I worried about how the restaurant and the people who worked there would survive. Later we encouraged people to call in, order food and pick it up at our take-out window. Next, we started delivering meals to our call-in customers. Then we expanded by preparing and delivering family meals.” Hanners knew she wanted to prepare food for people who couldn’t come to her restaurant. She developed the idea of a food truck, which wouldn’t involve much overhead, and planned to prepare the food at her café, a designated…

I LEARNED TO PLAY IN THE MUD with Atlanta-based Abdala Faye and Julia Skinner, who teach mudcloth making on a new virtual learning platform. The Fermentation School rose out of the pandemic when gathering ceased and the usual class setting went away, leaving teachers and learners high and dry. As the school developed, it became a teaching collaborative sharing knowledge and skills to empower, transform and heal. The school is built on the idea that the world needs a new model for soil-building, cooking and eating—a model that honors complex relationships, cultural and individual wisdom and the natural resources upon which the planet depends. As the school continues to expand, students will have the opportunity to make connections that they may not have thought of before. The information shared is…

“Each of us has to be a jack-of-all-trades, able to pitch in wherever needed.” “We do a very simple thing: We raise turkeys and market them. So far, we have been successful working together as a trio,” Heidi Diestel said when I called to ask her how it felt to be VP of Marketing at the family’s turkey ranch in Sonora, California. “Simple” brought to mind all the people I know who want to escape the city and try farming on a small scale, thinking it will be a cinch to earn a living, and her mention of a trio piqued my curiosity. I met Heidi and Jason, her brother, six years ago when The New Pioneer visited the ranch. I was thrilled then to meet the people who raised…

If you want to raise a few turkeys, follow these Diestel guidelines. 1. Enrich pastures with high-quality compost to improve soil. 2. Rotationally graze your birds and let the pasture lay fallow. For every three days that a pasture is being grazed, let it rest for 21. 3. Grow your birds slowly to develop flavor and lower the stress level. Do not give them feed designed to promote fast growth. 4. One type of feed does not fit all turkeys. The content and quantity of feed vary depending upon their age. 5. Buy good-quality organic or non-GMO feed. 6. Be sure that a clean source of water is always available. 7. With proper farm management, you can eliminate the use of antibiotics, hormones and growth stimulants. 8. Cleanliness is critical…

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in January, 2021, the five warmest years on record have occurred since 2012. And climate scientists believe that the global rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide is the reason for the warmup and the resulting weather extremes. Some may argue that climate change isn’t real. Or that even if it is real, rising temperature is a natural occurrence and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. But citizen-scientist Scott Goode would say otherwise. For him, farmers—even those with limited acreage—can help reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide both efficiently and cost-effectively by burying it. “I agree with Dr. David C. Johnson and others that, by engaging the right crop management and soil biology, we can capture on the order of 50 tons of carbon dioxide…

AS I WAS WRITING THIS ARTICLE, a fierce March blizzard shut down our solar array and knocked out power for thousands of people in northern Colorado. Being off the grid, we thought we’d be exempt. With a powerful wind turbine and a 15kW propane-fired Generac EcoGen, we could easily keep our off-grid batteries charged. But things don’t always go as planned. The morning the blizzard hit, I turned on the wind turbine only to discover that the blades had iced up during the freezing rain the night before. They were so unbalanced that the entire tower shook. I immediately turned it off. No problem, I thought. I’ll just fire up the EcoGen. It had weathered blizzards before without a hitch. And as usual, it started right up. But then it…

At the consumer level, commercial water filters are rated by national standards set by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). These are the most common standards. Code Removes/neutralizes 42 Chlorine, chloramine, dissolved solids, tastes and odors 53 Some heavy metals (lead, chromium), cryptosporidium, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as paints and solvents 401 Some modern contaminants such as prescription and over-the-counter drugs, herbicides, pesticides and chemicals used in detergents and flame-retardants…

“I wanted to c eate comfo t food that was inte esting, diffe ent, inspi ing and fun.” “You can take the girl out of the country and move her to the bright lights and big city, but her heart will always be in the country.” This statement defines Jessica Hanners, today of Langston, Alabama. After working in top farm-to-table restaurants in Oregon, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina and Atlanta, Hanners has returned to the land where she was raised—at South Sauty Creek on Lake Guntersville, a nationally known bass-fishing destination. She’s brought her education, talent, culinary skills and experience with her to create what she calls “eclectic Southern cooking,” which draws people from around the country to her Homecoming Café and Country Store. The Road So Far As a…

• 4 red onions • 1 qt. water • 1 qt. apple cider vinegar • ¼-cup sugar • 2 Tbsp. salt • 2 Tbsp. Indian masala pickling sauce (be generous with the amount of each tablespoon) Slice four red onions very thin on a mandolin, and pack the onions into a quart Mason jar. Heat the pickling mixture (water, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt and Indian masala) on the stove, until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Pour the pickling mixture over the onions in the Mason jar, return the lid to the Mason jar, and refrigerate the jar overnight. By morning, the onions will be pickled.…

When considering homestead security, many imagine that the country-living experience excludes “big city crime.” Rural America is not crime-free. Burglaries, robberies and home invasions have increased in rural areas as criminals seek “greener pastures.” With rural response times for law enforcement being significantly longer than their city counterparts, home security becomes the responsibility of the homesteader. Firearms add an additional layer of defense to strong locks, security lighting, alarms, physical barriers and signage. You must know your state and local laws pertaining to possession, concealed carry and lawful use of force. And you absolutely must practice with each firearm you deploy for security. Owning a firearm is not a solution unless you can use it effectively. Self-defense on the homestead often involves handguns for a myriad of legitimate reasons. They…

Wild hogs are known to carry a microscopic parasite called trichinella, and consuming undercooked pork from a hog that carried the parasite can inflict a disease named trichinosis. The U.S. Department of Agriculture states that 145 degrees Fahrenheit is the minimum internal temperature for safe pork consumption. Be equally careful while butchering a wild hog. Wear heavy-duty latex gloves and, at all costs, avoid cutting yourself. Because of trichinella and other possible parasites, you could contract a dangerous disease should a parasite enter your bloodstream. Use utmost care and be sure to dispose of the gloves when butchering is complete and to disinfect all butchering tools with bleach or another disinfectant.…