B

CH DIY UIL
• PICK PA
DA
A EN LL
G
E C T
E
20 OO

EARTH NEWS
• P

APRIL/MAY 2022

Plant a
Lush Garden
WORK WITH NATURE TO INCREASE YIELDS, P. 56

Save Money on
Soil Amendments
MAKE COMPOST IN SMALL SPACES, P. 14

Turn a Profit with a

Nontraditional
Farm Plan
TAKE THE PATH LESS TRAVELED, P. 26
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Wildcrafted Basketry, P. 38
Identify and Prevent Hive Disease, P. 46
Chives & Oregano as Medicinal Herbs, P. 34
Install a Neighborly Little Free Seed Library, P. 50
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 Table of Contents
56 Journey to Eden
Cultivate your own piece of paradise by
introducing some lush disorder into your garden.
4 News from Mother
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ADOBE STOCK/RIXIE; STEFANIE KEELER; DOUG THALACKER; ADOBE STOCK/VADIM; ALEX WALSH; COVER: ADOBE STOCK/CHAR BECK
There is no blueprint.
7 Dear Mother
Reader letters of inspiration,
community, and more.
10 Green Gazette:
The Northeastern
Grain Race of 2022
Updates on wind-powered
shipping, neonicotinoids,
and more.
18 Mother-Tested: Make
Your Own Vegetable Powder
Turn your dehydrated garden
vegetables into multiuse powders.
20 Ultimate Pallet Coop
Suffering from champagne tastes
on a chicken-feed budget? Try
this “cheep” DIY shelter to
keep your birds in maximum
creature comforts.
20
April/May 2022
34 Chives and Oregano:
Herbal Health Allies
Access the array of potent health
benefits offered by these common
culinary herbs.
38 Weave a Wildcrafted Basket
Turn foraged fibers into a
rustic basket for everyday use.
46 Why Did My Bees Die?
Don’t despair over your dead
colony. Instead, identify the
problem and keep the rest of your
hives healthy.
50 My Little Free Seed
Library Journey
A dream of community and
empowerment sprouted into a hub
for seeds and food.
62 Craft Custom-Made Sandals
Walk in comfort with a pair of
handmade leather sandals.
46
SAVE MONEY WHILE LIVING WELL
14 Firsthand Reports:
Small-Scale Composting
Techniques and tips to make
recycling organic waste in cramped
spaces accessible.
26 Innovative Ways to Fulfill
Your Farming Dreams
Achieve your farming dreams in
nontraditional ways.
68 Outwit Hardworking
Beavers
Gently deter beavers from
modifying your pond.
82 Hometown Hacks:
Portable Field Kitchen
Build a customizable sink setup
for running water in your outdoor
work areas.
84 Country Lore
Reader tips on homemade tea,
recycled frost covers, and more.
93 Ask Our Experts
Expert advice on thrifty crops,
basement subfloors, and more.
108 Photos from the Field
Reader-submitted photos.
Stories with this logo are
available in audio form at
www.MotherEarthNews.com!
68
 News from MOTHER
There Is No Blueprint
I
was recently struck by how differ-
ent this past winter was from the
year before, and the year before,
and so on, and it got me thinking about
how when it comes to “making it” on
the land, flexibility is the name of the
game. And yet, we made plans for how
to handle the newborn lambs and how
to protect the garden next year, in light
of what we experienced this year. We
are definitely shaped by our immedi-
ate experiences, but we can’t cling too
tightly to the plans we develop as a re-
sult of them.
Recently, I was
asked for a blueprint
for developing a re-
silient group of sheep
by some inexperi-
enced folks who had
never raised sheep.
My advice was to read
everything they could
find about small ru-
minant husbandry,
pasture development,
fence building, etc.
Further, I suggested
that as much infor-
mation as possible
should be gleaned
from various com-
munities of small-ruminant and
large-ruminant raisers. And finally,
I suggested they file all that informa-
tion away in their brains and go ob-
serve the animals they’re interested in
under differing management practices.
From that work, they could build their
own framework for how they’d like to
begin to embrace their sheep project.
And in time, they’ll develop their own
dynamic and flexible non-blueprint for
raising sheep. This advice stands for
virtually every other homesteading or
small farming endeavor.
Writing this reminded me of a day,
maybe 40 years ago, when I was com-
pelled to embark on a free-range chick-
en project. I already had a few hens
4 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
and had observed their behaviors on
pasture and had seen what they ate. I
even planted alfalfa and red clover in
patches for them, because I had seen
that they relished those greens. When
researching for a blueprint for scaling
up, I came across a U.S. Department
of Agriculture publication relating to
the toxicity of certain plants to various
animals. By then, I’d watched enough
Western movies to know about the per-
ils of locoweed (and quicksand too), so
I eagerly skipped to the tables relating
to poultry. And you
guessed it: Red clover
and alfalfa were on
the list of toxic plants.
I chewed on this for
a few days and then
went back to see how
the study was con-
ducted. Essentially,
the scientists took a
list of known poultry
toxins and ran that
against a list of plants
known to contain
said toxins. So I let
my chickens eat the
legumes, and decades
later, when I read
Fred Provenza’s work,
I understood why my chickens thrived
on “toxic” plants.
With future uncertainty looming
large, flexibility, adaptability, and re-
silience are skills worth developing.
As comfortable as a blueprint or road
map might be, rigidity of thought
and action can lead to a brittleness
that will cause failures of all kinds. If
you’ve experienced the need to radically
change your plans due to externalities
you encounter, I’d love to hear about
them. Send me an email at HWill@
MotherEarthNews.com.
See you in June,
®
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IF WE DON’T
HAVE IT YOU
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DON’T NEED IT.
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only at your John Deere dealer. Of course.
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Circle #26; see card pg 85
 Dear MOTHER

“With those words of encouragement,

I’ve been contemplating trying out container
gardening on my roof in Brooklyn, New York City.
I’ve never grown anything in my life!”
Organic Encouragement
I just want to express that I found the
article “Unpacking ‘Organic’ ” (October/
November 2021) quite insightful. The word
“organic” can be ambiguous, and I found
it helpful to hear different perspectives on
what it means from people who are deeply
immersed in gardening. I found that it has a
richer, deeper meaning among the garden-
ers interviewed that goes beyond the generic
label we as consumers hold in high esteem.
I also took away that gardening is truly a
learning process, and there’s no one-size-
fits-all approach. “We should strive to grow
gardeners, not just gardens,” according to the
author. With those words of encouragement,
I’ve been contemplating trying out container
gardening on my roof in Brooklyn, New York
City. I’ve never grown anything in my life!
Jack
Brooklyn, New York

Breezy Workspace
We built two 10-by-10-foot stacked wall (cordwood) sheds from black locust split-rail
fencing. We joined the two sheds with a breezeway and a porch. The roof is salvaged metal
roofing from a chicken barn. The brick flooring for the porch and the breezeway is made
from salvaged bricks from a 100-year-old mill. The wood-pane windows and doors came
from a Habitat for Humanity ReStore. We built the cupola from salvaged materials, and we
found the weather vane on Craigslist. We incorporated bottles into the walls. We cut and
taped some bottles together to make glass logs, and we left others whole so the necks can

D I T O RS’ be used to hang garden baskets. We found an old sink for the garden shed, which is con-
E
PICK nected to water but not to the sewer. We catch the water to use in the garden. The other
shed is divided and houses our chickens and our 1950s-model Champion pecan cracker.
We hang garden tools on old crib bedsprings in the breezeway.
Fond Memories of Jul Beer When people see our shed for the first time, they’re surprised that we built it ourselves
Thank you for the article on Norwegian (with help from our sons) and that it’s made of wood instead of stone. It’s very functional
Jul beer (“The Deep Tradition of Norwegian and way cool!
Yule Beer,” December 2021/January John and Jodi Mount
2022). It brought back fond memories. Villa Rica, Georgia
When I was an exchange student in
Eidsvoll, Norway, in 1981, my host father
made a Jul beer. It was the first beer I’d
tasted that I liked the flavor of. The main
difference from the recipe you published
and his is that Far Helge ( “father Helge,”
my host father) added a juniper branch
to the mash and lingonberries to the boil,
making the beer extra festive. I recently
found that Norwegian kveik yeast is now
sold in the United States, so I’ll be brewing
my next Jul beer with this yeast. It casts
light fruity and farmhouse notes into the
beer, making it more akin to the beer I
MOUNT

fondly remember.
Alison Sheafor-Joy
AND JODI

Arlington, Washington
JOHN

WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 7
 Dear MOTHER

Shed Solutions
Several years ago, my husband, Don, saw
an ad on Craigslist for an old barn that was
free to whoever would come and take it down.
He bought a trailer and spent a few weeks
disassembling the barn piece by piece, sal-
vaging as much as he could. He then built us
what was intended to be a garden toolshed
in 2013 using the reclaimed beams, floor-
ing, siding, and tin roofing. The colors and
design were inspired by photos of historic
homes and outbuildings taken near my great-
grandfather’s ancestral home on the Swedish-
speaking coast of Finland.
The next year, we decided to raise chick-
ens. We fitted the back one-third of the
garden shed with a wire divider wall, and
we added reclaimed nesting boxes and an

Working Around White Birch

I built this shed for my wife about
seven years ago. It’s actually a pole
building, and it only has two sides. It
has an open side adjacent to the house,
and the rear opening is tucked under a
large cedar tree.
The diagonal boards are salvaged
short pieces of live-edge cedar. We
couldn’t bear to remove the white birch
trees, so we built around them. The
roof is made of cedar slab wood, which
is normally a waste product. I left the
bark on, and the roof doesn’t leak. The
stained glass and ironwork are salvaged
items and yard sale finds. I built the
steel gate, and the bench workspace is
salvaged granite.
DAVID E. GRANT

David E. Grant
Via email
 Patty and Don Anderson’s garden and poultry sheds form a perimeter around their garden beds.

antique screen door that we picked up at an
estate sale. We also added a chicken run.
We let the chickens hatch and raise baby
chicks, because why not? Within a year, the
flock grew large enough to take over the entire
shed, requiring the use of an antique bead-
board storage cupboard for additional nesting.
With his garden shed now entirely my
chicken coop, Don built a second shed using
reclaimed windows, siding, and roofing to
house his garden tools and lawn mower. The
next year, I wanted to raise a few ducks, so
he kindly added a smaller building to the left
end of his toolshed for our small flock. We
designed all the outbuildings around the pe-
rimeter of our kitchen garden to emulate the
historic Swedish Finn homes and barns that
are situated around protective courtyards.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve de-
creased our chicken flock back to the point
where they comfortably fit in the original
rear coop space. This spring, we reclaimed
the front two-thirds of the coop as a potting
bench and greenhouse. We gave the old bead-
board cupboard we’d once used for nesting
a fresh lease on life with traditional Swedish
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 96)

Community Collaboration
DON ANDERSON; JACKIE SMITH

Our garden shed was a collaborative effort by six or seven Master Gardeners and was built
at our teaching garden on the Scott County Fairgrounds in Minnesota. We used donated,
recycled, and reclaimed materials whenever possible, including incorrectly sawn lumber that
was originally intended for a playground, remnant shingles, and water-permeable recycled
AND

rubber pavers for the front patio. We also used entirely recycled materials for the pathway
PATTY

along the back fence, which honors past members of our group.
TOP:

The teaching garden is made up of 20 or so different garden beds, each of which illus-
FROM

trates various gardening practices, and many of which are changed yearly. The garden also
includes several other types of patio pav-
ers and a large composting area behind
the shed. The entire garden and the open
area of the shed are used several times
each year to host environmental education
events, known collectively as “Evenings in
the Garden.” The porch shades our mem-
bers during the days of garden Q&A at our
annual county fair and local tree sales.
We feel our garden, and especially our
shed, are prime examples of what can hap-
pen when people work together and share
for the common good.
Jackie Smith
Belle Plaine, Minnesota
 Green Gazette By Joe Scott; Feature by Steven Woods
The Northeast
Grain Race of 2022
Have you heard of the #FoodMovementMovement? This May,
you can see it in action as sailing vessels, solar-powered
boats, and more will be racing to deliver the largest amount
of grains over the longest distance with the least possible
use of fossil fuels. Popcorn, malted barley, and flour are
all being considered as cargo for these voyages,
moving between mills, malt houses, breweries,
and bakeries with an absolute minimum of
environmental impact.
Hosted by the Hudson River Maritime
Museum, Northeast Grainshed Alliance,
The Center for Post Carbon Logistics, and
Schooner Apollonia, the Northeast Grain
Race brings attention to the low-to-no-carbon
movement of food from farm to table in New
England, New York, and New Jersey. Any vehicle or
combination of vehicles can enter a single voyage in the month
of May, and contestants in four capacity-based categories will
earn one point per ton-mile of grain they move, but they’ll lose
five points for every liter of fuel they burn or every 10 kilowatt-
hours of power they take from the grid.
Ensuring sufficient cargo capacity to keep cities fed in
a carbon-constrained future will be a significant challenge
for sustainability advocates, governments, and humanity in
general. For example, the inhabitants in the New York metro
area require 50,000 metric tons of food per day to stay alive,
and much more for optimal health. To supply this volume of
Apollonia is a carbon-neutral schooner
that uses wind power to ship goods
sustainably in the Hudson Valley.
food without carbon emissions is possible; New York City has
a port, and thus could be supplied principally through sail
freight, the maritime movement of cargo by primarily wind
power. With a mere 10,000 small ships and 65,000 sailors,
this zero-carbon fleet could be created and crewed with trained
sailors within 20 years if we put the resources behind sail
freight as part of a comprehensive climate change policy. We
could drop 220,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions
annually by doing so, when compared with all of
New York’s food arriving via massive container
ships, the next most efficient means.
Sail freight has already proven practicable
for supplying cities. It has been used for
more than 40,000 years in the South Pacific,
and evidence suggests highly advanced trade
networks existed that moved cargo by sail
in the Mediterranean more than 4,000 years
ago. The last sail freight vessels only stopped
trading grain from Australia to the U.K. in 1949.
Small-scale revivals are currently underway in Europe,
the South Pacific, the Caribbean, and the Hudson Valley of
HUDSON RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM; STEVEN WOODS
New York.
While electric trains, trucks, cars, bicycles, and other electrified
means of transportation are coming online and critical in
supplying landlocked areas, the use of sail freight to reduce fuel
use and stress on the grid by getting the shipment as close as
possible to the food’s destination will help bring economical and
ecological benefits.
Find the full rules for the Northeast Grain Race, a series of
TOP:
blog posts, and more at www.HRMM.org/NE-Grain-Race.html.
FROM
— Steven Woods
 Green Gazette

Military Bases Fail to Inform

Farmers About Toxic Contamination
The Environmental Working Group
(EWG) reported in October 2021 that
United States military bases have been
contaminating farms across the country
with PFAS — a group of compounds dubbed
“forever chemicals,” because nothing in
the natural environment (including the
human body) can break them down. In a
Bloomberg Law news report, Kay Fritz, a
toxicologist with Michigan’s Department of
Agriculture & Rural Development, said that
PFAS are taken up by plants and animals
exposed to contaminated water, and
thereby pass them on to consumers. Often,
farmers with PFAS-contaminated land and PFAS have contaminated some farmers’ properties, unbeknownst to the farmers.
water opt to halt operations (though no
laws require them to do so), but the EWG calling PFAS “the most insidious pollutant that when PFAS runoff enters the ocean,
found at least 30 military bases that failed since PCBs.” PFAS have been linked to it easily transfers into the atmosphere via
to notify nearby farmers of contamination. cancer; hormone and immune system sea spray aerosol. Researchers suspect
Evidence of the dangers posed by PFAS interference; and negative effects on the chemicals are dispersed far and wide
has been growing since the 1970s. In growth, learning, and behavior in infants inland. Soon, the “forever chemicals”
1999, a whistleblower at the chemical and children. Last year, Stockholm could earn a new nickname: “the
company 3M wrote a resignation letter University released a field study showing everywhere chemicals.”

Green Groups
Sue EPA to Combat
Bee-Killing Pesticide
Two groups are suing the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to demand the
labeling of seeds coated with neonicoti-
noids — insecticides known to kill bees.
Without federal regulation, farmers cur-
rently decide whether to use neonicotinoids,
ADOBE STOCK/MAKSYMOWICZ; ADOBE STOCK/RAWF8
the three most common neonicotinoids.
Meanwhile, their use in America has gone
on unabated, despite a 2014 report from
the EPA that noted, “[Neonicotinoid]
seed treatments provide negligible overall
benefits to soybean production in most

but, as the Center for Food Safety and situations.”

Pesticide Action Network allege, many seeds
escape labeling requirements. So, how’s a
farmer to know what they’re using?
Neonicotinoids have been a flashpoint in
the fight between chemical companies and
environmentalists for more than a decade.
In 2018, under pressure from activists and
TOP:
The causes of bee population declines
are myriad, but the scientific evidence is
abundant and clear that neonicotinoids play
a role. It’s been shown that plants take up
the insecticides and incorporate them into
their stems, fruits, and flowers, thereby
threatening anything that eats those parts of

amid growing evidence of harm to bees, the the plant. It goes to show, even for plants, Neonicotinoids have proven toxic to
FROM

European Union banned all outdoor use of you are what you eat. bees and threaten other pollinators.

WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 11
 Green Gazette
New Discovery
on the Natural
Resilience of
Plants
Plants remember droughts, according to a dis-
covery published in Food and Energy Security. That
is, crops that experience drought early in their
growing season adapt to better handle drought later
on. This is the first time this effect has been shown
outside of controlled lab settings. Researchers drew
on data over a 20-year period, covering soybean
and maize crops in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa, a
region expected to experience more extreme wet
and dry seasons because of climate change.
This discovery is important for understanding
the impacts of climate change on crops, but it also
presents an opportunity for creating new plant
cultivars. If certain crops have the innate capacity to
become more drought-resistant, researchers suspect
that trait can be enhanced through breeding.
But beyond breeding for resilience, these findings
could also justify the overreach of genetic engineer-
ing. The group behind the research, Realizing
Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE),
formed in 2012 with a $25 million grant from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. RIPE’s stated
goal is to help food production “keep pace with
this century’s population growth” and “usher in the
next Green Revolution.” So this may set the stage
for the conflict of the century: Midwest weather
versus engineers.
Drought resistance may prove valuable to plants’ survival
in the coming years because of climate change.
12 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
New Website Helps
California Farms Fight Climate Change
As part of California’s Healthy Soils Initiative, a new website is helping farm-
ers plan and implement composting. The initiative, started in 2015, has been
providing technical and financial assistance to California farmers who want to
compost on their farms. This year, the state is looking to award $67 million
in funding to qualified applicants. As of this writing, they’ve received just over
1,000 applications and awarded $25 million. With growing demand for com-
posting, the website “provides a single location to show … producers how to
put it all together in compliance with California environmental regulations.”
The website is simple and intuitive, with links to regulatory documents
and videos showing the ins and outs of real composting setups. By making
composting more accessible, California regulators are hoping to curb
greenhouse gas emissions and improve food security. They also see it as a
potential blueprint for other states to follow. Explore the site at www.CDFA.
CA.gov/HealthySoils/OFCWG.html.
Federal Program Retooled to Fund Car-Free Transit
In 2009, Barack Obama called it “TIGER” (Transportation Investment
Generating Economic Recovery); then, Donald Trump renamed it “BUILD”
(Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development); now, President Joe
Biden calls it “RAISE” (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability
and Equity). Currently, it’s a $1.5 billion grant program for infrastructure, and,
under its new name, most of it is being disbursed to cities for projects such as
transit planning and bike and pedestrian safety improvements.
These grants could be an opportunity for cities to fund creative programs
that reduce inner-city pollution while connecting communities. Last year,
the program gave out just under $1 billion, but this year, it’s up by $500
million because of popular demand. Those interested can apply at www.
Transportation.gov/RAISEGrants; applications are due April 14.
Climate Change Podcast Looks to Walk the Talk
Looking for a place to put all that pent-up environmentalist energy? Look
no further than the “Green Dreamer” podcast’s directory. The directory is a
ADOBE STOCK/DZIEGLER; ADOBE STOCK/TIM GLASS
digital map of “healing and regenerative projects,” so you can find one local
to your community. On it, you’ll find projects such as Virginia Free Farm,
which practices responsible land stewardship while providing free food to
people in need, or D-Town Farm, an urban farm in Detroit “working to build
self-reliance, food security, and justice in Detroit’s Black community.”
“Green Dreamer” is a podcast committed to a grassroots vision of fighting
climate change and ecological breakdown. Often, the topics are fairly
academic, but this directory is where ideology can turn into action.
TOP:
The map still has gaps, such as the entire state of Kansas. Projects can
FROM
apply to be listed at GreenDreamer.com/Directory.
Circle #38; see card pg 85
 Firsthand Reports
Small-Scale
Composting
A longtime composter offers techniques and tips that make recycling
organic waste in cramped spaces not just possible but also accessible.
Story and photos by
Jennie Mae Ong
C
omposting in a city without a
yard is a challenge. I’ve always
lived in an apartment but loved
the idea of composting, so I’ve tested
many methods to find one that ticks
all my boxes: compact, pest-
proof, and low-maintenance.
Luckily, home composters
have honed techniques to
meet these needs, including
the Bokashi method, hot com-
posting with buckets, compost
tumblers, and worm hotels.
The two biggest issues with
small-scale composting setups
are odors and pests, so let’s ad-
dress those issues before diving
into the many composting op-
tions available to a city dweller.
Pests, such as cockroaches,
flies, and rodents, are the most
common problems. But these
two tips alone can eliminate the
problem: First, don’t put meats,
oily foods, or cooked foods in Hot composting in buckets will give you finished compost quickly,
your compost bin. Second, keep after only 2 to 3 months.
your bin closed at all times.
Managing bad odors is much harder.
Even experts will occasionally end up with
a stinky compost bin. The most crucial
steps for managing odors are sufficiently
aerating the pile and adding enough shred-
ded paper or shredded cardboard.
Aerate your compost frequently to
prevent bad odors. To aerate, turn your
compost every three days if it’s still fresh or
14 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
still contains a lot of identifiable kitchen
scraps. This is the game changer that will
spell the difference between having bad
odor or not. If the compost is a bit mature
or you can’t identify the scraps you put in
it, you can just turn it every five days.
Another reason a compost pile can smell
bad is that it’s too wet, because kitchen
scraps naturally produce a lot of liquid as
they break down. To address the wetness,
add a lot of absorbent materials, such as
paper and cardboard.
Bokashi Method
The Bokashi method involves ferment-
ing or pickling your kitchen waste in an
airless environment using bacteria, which
turns the scraps into pre-compost. It’s not
compost, so you’ll still have to process it to
become compost. This method can handle
meat, oil, and cooked food. Just don’t put
seafood in there; it’s guaranteed to smell.
Be warned that odors are an issue with
the Bokashi method, even when you get
things right. Every time you open your
Bokashi bucket, a strong, sour
smell will come out. I like to
open mine quickly and turn on
the exhaust to dissipate the smell.
To begin, you just need a
sealed container with a spigot and
Bokashi bran.
To use the Bokashi method:
1 Put your food scraps or food
waste into the Bokashi bucket.
2 Cover food waste with
about 1⁄2 inch Bokashi bran.
3 Wearing plastic or rubber
gloves, press down on the waste
to pack it in and remove air, and
then close the lid.
4 Drain the liquid through
the spigot every 2 to 3 days to
prevent liquid buildup.
5 Let the bin cure undis-
turbed for 2 to 3 weeks. Start
counting from the last time you
put anything in your bin.
The best way to process your pre-com-
post is to bury it. (If this isn’t possible,
send it to a municipal composting ser-
vice or give it away to a recipient who
can handle Bokashi.) In a large wooden
box, bury the pre-compost in soil. Layer
it with soil, then shredded paper or card-
board, then Bokashi compost, and repeat

The Bokashi method involves fermenting waste in an airtight environment (left) to produce pre-
compost (right) that you can break down in your yard or garden.
as needed. Use a sackful or two of soil;
the pre-compost won’t break down if you
don’t use enough soil. Turn this every
three days. It will finish curing in as little
as one month.
Tips: If you put in a lot of meat or oily
foods, dump in a 11⁄2-to-2-inch-thick layer
of Bokashi bran to head off odor prob-
lems. If you underdo the Bokashi bran,
the entire bin will reek of rotting garbage.
White molds growing on your food
scraps means the method is going well.
Black molds mean you need to throw out
the contents of the bin.
Worm Hotel
For the most no-fuss composting, opt
for a low-maintenance worm hotel com-
posed of stackable trays. All you have to do
is feed the worms scraps and add a tray ev-
ery time the top one that holds the worms
gets filled up with their castings.
To set up a worm hotel:
1 Buy a worm bin with a built-in spig-
ot at the bottom to allow you to collect the
“worm tea.” Assemble your bin with two
tray layers. Place your bin in a dark, quiet
place that’s not too warm or cold.
2 Source your worms. I use African
nightcrawlers or red wrigglers. These
worms work best because they have a vora-
cious appetite and can work through your
kitchen scraps quickly.
3 Line both trays with paper for bed-
ding; make sure to moisten it first.
4 Toss your scraps into the trays.
5 When your first two trays are filled
with castings, add a tray beneath and start
Composting in a worm hotel is the most low-maintenance method. Worms will transform your
kitchen scraps into castings, a potent fertilizer.
placing your kitchen scraps there so the
worms will burrow down to feed.
Your worm hotel will produce one of
the best fertilizers: “Vermicast,” or worm
poop, is sought by many organic garden-
ers and farmers. Harvesting this fertilizer
is doable even for the fainthearted. Open
the worm hotel and shine a powerful light
on it for at least 30 minutes. This will drive
the worms to burrow down. You can then
harvest the castings they leave behind.
Carefully remove any worms left in the
vermicast and place them back in the bin.
Tips: It’s better to underfeed than over-
feed. Feed only when half the kitchen
scraps from the last feeding are gone.
Keep their home moist, like a wrung-
out sponge. If you put in a lot of kitchen
scraps with high water content, there’s no
need to moisten their bedding.
Keep the spigot of the worm hotel open
so any runoff can drip down. Put a bucket-
ful of soil underneath the spigot to catch
the runoff and keep it clean and odor-free.
Go easy on the onion peels, garlic peels,
and citrus fruits. Your worms don’t like
these and will escape their hotel if you
overload it with these foods.
Compost Tumbler
Make sure to position your tumbler in
an outdoor area so that if it gets messy, it
won’t be too hard to clean. A small patio
or balcony is ideal.
To use a compost tumbler:
1 Put in your kitchen scraps and cover
the scraps with shredded cardboard or
WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 15
 With the hot composting bucket system, you This aerates the mixture and allows it to
move materials from one vessel to the next. cure into compost.

paper. Make sure to add three times
the volume of paper than of kitchen
scraps. (So, if you put in 1 bucketful
of scraps, add 3 bucketfuls of paper.)
2 The best way to add to your tumbler
is in batches. To do this with the above
measurements, you’d add 1⁄3 of the kitchen
scraps followed by 1 bucketful of paper,
and then repeat as needed.
3 Turn your tumbler a few times every
time you add to it.
Tips: Shred your paper and cardboard
before adding to make them break down
faster. If the content gets too wet, add
more paper or cardboard.
Hot Composting in Buckets
This method gives you compost faster,
in about 2 to 3 months. You can normally
fit three small buckets on a patio to do this.
To hot compost with buckets:
1 Follow the same steps as for the com-
post tumbler.
2 Instead of tumbling the bucket,
when the materials in the first filled-up
bucket have begun to decompose, turn
out the contents into an empty bucket to
mix. This will aerate the compost and pre-
vent bad odors. From there, refill the first
bucket with fresh materials, move the con-
tents from the second bucket into a third
bucket for curing, and repeat the process.
Tips: When turning out the contents,
remember to add shredded paper or card-
board between each layer of compost.
Though all of these systems work well
in a small space, the easiest to maintain
is a worm hotel. My least favorite is
Bokashi, so although I still use all
four of these composting methods, I
mainly use the Bokashi method to handle
cooked food and meat. As an environmen-
talist, I love keeping my kitchen waste out
of the landfill. I’ve been able to compost a
lot of kitchen scraps quickly by combining
these composting methods. And the best
reward for my efforts is when I harvest my
compost and give it to the plants in our
building’s garden so they can thrive.
Jennie Mae Ong is into the zero-waste
movement, home composting, and
engaging her community to love Mother
Earth. Follow her on Instagram @Jean.
EcoLover_United.

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Keep your food scraps neatly contained with the 1-Gallon
Ceramic Compost Keeper. It features a ceramic finish that will
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includes an attached carry handle. From vege-
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and more, what you place inside this odor-
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outdoor compost pile, and then use the com-
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The compost keeper works best as a temporary
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16 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

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Circle #27; see card pg 85

 MOTHER-Tested
Make Your Own
Vegetable
Powder
By Renee Pottle
V
egetable powders are a great
way to use up a dwindling
garden harvest when there aren’t
enough ripe vegetables to can or freeze.
Making your own powders is also a good
idea when your garden is producing
a food avalanche and you already have
more canned tomatoes, green beans,
and cabbage than you could ever use.
Vegetable powders don’t take up much
storage space, and they add extra flavor to
many dishes and food mixes. Although
the thought of using powdered
tomatoes or powdered cabbage
18 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
Turn your dehydrated garden
vegetables into multiuse powders.
may seem unusual, I’m sure you’re
already familiar with a few commonly
used powders, such as onion and garlic.
Almost any vegetable can be dehydrated
and turned into powder. Some of my
favorites include beets, carrots, sweet
potatoes, tomatoes, corn, zucchini,
spinach, cabbages, dry beans, asparagus,
onions, garlic, and celery. Dehydrated
vegetables can be safely stored on the
shelf, though I like to keep them in the
freezer. Vegetables stored in the freezer
retain more nutrients, since they aren’t
exposed to light, and the freezer keeps
dehydrated vegetables crisp, making it
easier to turn them into powder.
Use a high-speed blender to powder
dehydrated vegetables. You can also use a
standard blender, a food processor, or an
old-fashioned mortar and pestle. Add de-
hydrated vegetables a little at a time, and
process until you’ve created a vegetable
powder. You may want to sift the pow-
der and put the large pieces through the
blender again until completely pulverized.
Vegetable powders have many uses.
Once you start making your own, you’ll
ADOBE STOCK/MARA ZEMGALIETE
find yourself adding new powder and
flavor combinations each harvest.
Seasonings. Good-quality onion and
garlic powders are often expensive to
purchase, but they’re inexpensive to make
Carrot powder can
enhance a number
of dishes, such as
yogurt and pasta.
 Dehydrate your vegetables, pulverize them into powder, and use them to boost and season a host of dishes.

at home! Dry sliced onions, leeks, shallots,
or garlic for your own seasoning mixes.
Broth powders. It’s next to impossible
to find low-salt, high-flavor broth
powders or bouillon in the commercial
marketplace. Find a recipe to make your
own broth powders by searching “make
your own vegetable powders” at www.
SeedToPantry.com.
Salt mixes. Want a flavored salt that’s
more flavor and less salt? Make your own
using celery, onion, or garlic powder.
Pasta. One year, I experimented by
drying beets for homemade beet pasta.
It was delicious topped with home-
made, low-fat Alfredo sauce. Squash
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ADOBE STOCK/F2,8; ADOBE STOCK/АНДРІЙ ПОГРАНИЧНИЙ; ADOBE STOCK/SMSPSY; ADOBE STOCK/IVOLODINA
powder, carrot powder, tomato powder,
and spinach powder will also enhance
pasta dishes.
Protein boost. I like to cook dry
beans and then dehydrate them for
powder. Adding bean powder to red
sauces and casseroles boosts the protein
level, especially for meatless dishes. It
can also be a good way to sneak some
protein into a meal.
Nutrient boost. Adding vegetable
powders of any kind to meals boosts their
vitamin content. Just be aware of poten-
tial color changes. Don’t try to sneak beet
powder or spinach powder into a child’s
macaroni and cheese, because the color
change will be obvious. Use carrot pow-
der, squash powder, or sweet potato pow-
der to add more “cheesy orange” color as
well as a good dose of vitamins. Powder
made with spinach or beet greens is a
good addition to your morning smooth-
ie, and carrot or squash powders taste
great mixed with Greek yogurt and nuts.
Soups and sauces. Vegetable powders
add flavor to both homemade and
commercial soups and sauces. Strongly
flavored powders, such as cabbage,
rutabaga, or fennel, are especially nice
additions to vegetable soups.
Food mixes. Several of the recipes in my
book Mixes in a Jar use tomato powder,

onion powder, and broth or bouillon

powders. Others include ingredients that
could be turned into powder if your family
doesn’t care for certain textures, such as
mushrooms or garlic.
Have fun and experiment with your
vegetables to make a variety of tasty,
nutritious powders. You may be surprised
what catches your family’s taste buds!

Renee Pottle is a freelance writer, au-

thor, and serial side-gig entrepreneur.
She has written several cookbooks, in-
cluding Mixes in a Jar. Renee is passion-
ate about food preservation, gardening,
cooking, and real food, and she believes
the best gifts come from the heart — and
the kitchen.
Add vegetable powders that complement your kids’ meals for an added nutrition boost.

Whip Up Convenient, Healthy Meals

In our busy world, the value of a convenience meal can’t be overstated. Homemade convenience meals are a safe, nutri-
tious, and delicious alternative to commercial products that your family will love and ask for. Mixes in a Jar is the culmina-
tion of a years-long search for the perfect convenience food. You’ll find recipes for award-winning chili; breakfast favorites,
such as Buckwheat Pancakes; and desserts for every sweet tooth. Mixes in a Jar has a recipe for every taste and occasion!
This book is available at Store.MotherEarthNews.com or by calling 800-234-3368. Mention promo code MMEPAMZ5.
Item #11145.

WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 19
 Ultimate
Pallet Coop
Suffering from champagne tastes on a chicken-feed Story and photos by Alex Walsh

I
budget? Try this “cheep” DIY shelter to keep your f you strolled through a big-box home
improvement store during the past
birds in maximum creature comforts. two summers, you probably noticed
massive lumber price increases spurred by
a series of events related to the pandem-
ic. This was especially untimely for new
chick owners like us, who had seven fluffy
friends in the basement needing a perma-
nent home in a few weeks.
Our finances didn’t allow for the pur-
chase of a pre-manufactured, move-in-
ready coop, and we discovered that many
are designed more for aesthetics than for
functionality. The used coop market didn’t
look much better. My girlfriend, Elaina,
and I decided to build the best coop we
could dream up on a budget. We’re both
mechanical engineers by degree, so we
began by doing our homework on which
characteristics make up a top-notch coop,
and then we jotted down some chicken
scratches (pun intended).

Planning for Success

We ranked our design criteria in de-
scending order, with chicken needs first,
followed by chore functionality and acces-
sibility and, finally, aesthetics. We ranked
looks last, because we knew most designs
The author and his girlfriend, Elaina, are pleased with their sturdy, yet inexpensive, coop build. could be jazzed up later.

How to Effectively Delay Incubation

If you aren’t able to get your eggs into an incubator right away, they can be stored for 7 to 10 days prior to
incubation. To prevent the embryo from developing and losing too much moisture, keep the eggs at a temper-
ature of 55 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit and 75 percent humidity. Place them with their large ends pointing
up on a flat or in an egg carton. If you won’t be starting incubation for a week, tilt the carton or flat once
or twice daily. Eggs stored more than 10 days will begin to decrease in hatchability.

20 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022


Nesting boxes project from the coop’s exterior (top) to provide humans easy access to eggs.
The first functionality detail we con-
sidered was floor height. Pre-made coops
and many DIY builds place the floor
just a foot or so above the ground. This
sentences humans to a lifetime of walk-
ing in excrement to sweep up shavings
and having to bend down to scoop them
up. Instead, we designed our floor to be
about kitchen-table height and the front
wall of the coop to swing open via two
pallet-sized doors. This enables us to roll
a wheelbarrow up to the coop front and
rake shavings directly in. We also liked
the idea of a coop on legs to create space
underneath where our birds can dust
bathe, enjoy shade, and stay out of in-
clement weather.
We sized our coop’s interior for 10 to
12 hens, although at the time we only had
seven chicks. This gave the girls shoulder
room while allowing us to grow the flock
in the future. Ventilation is provided by
open eaves and three operable windows
on the high front wall. Placing ventilation
high in the coop keeps the wind off the
birds at night, as they’re perched on roosts
about 18 inches below. On the back wall,
we lined up three projecting nesting
If a hen could
choose…
Brinsea the world leading incubator
manufacturer has a full line of
incubators, brooders, egg candlers,
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boxes that are accessible from outside a
fenced run. This gives us access without Hatching your
entering the run, saving our slippers from
the mud on pre-breakfast egg collections. own chicks is fun,
The structure is topped by a simple shed
roof covered in metal for longevity and
easy and reliable
heat reflection. with Brinsea
As for amenities, we hung a gutter on
the back to collect rainwater into a barrel
that feeds a gravity watering system and
provides a nearby water source for our
birds. Two 4-inch J-bend PVC tubes are
stationed on the side wall and can hold
about two weeks’ worth of feed for our
flock. A gutter downspout connector at Free
the end of each J-bend tube keeps food Color
from spilling onto the ground and attract- Catalog
ing rodents. My college roommate built us
a low-budget automatic door opener using
his 3D printer and an Arduino micropro-
cessor. By far the most convenient feature Incubation Specialists
of our coop, the opener manages the
flock’s coop access based on the amount of
daylight. The birds are safe inside at night,
and we’ll never forget to open or shut the
For more information
door again! Many commercial automatic
doors on the market will serve the same www.brinsea.com
purpose as our budget model. or call 1-888-667-7009
Circle #7; see card pg 85
 Our coop design allows
3 to 4 square feet of inte-
rior floor space per bird, 1
square foot of ventilation
per bird, and one 12-inch-
cube nesting box per 4 to 5
birds. We positioned roost-
ing bars 20 and 24 inches
off the coop floor.
You can scale your own
coop’s design to suit your
flock’s needs.
Tools and Materials
This coop can be built
with basic power and hand
tools usually used for fram-
ing carpentry. These include
circular and miter saws; a Upcycled EPAL (aka European or EUR) pallets form the coop’s walls and base.
jigsaw; an air compressor; a
pneumatic framing nailer and staple gun;
a drill and bit set; an impact gun; a socket
wrench and set; a tinsnips; and a paint-
brush or a roller and tray.
We creatively sourced materials for our
coop project. Nearly the entire build is
made from upcycled pallets and shipping
crates that a local manufacturing busi-
ness typically pays to dispose of. Nine
like-new EPAL block pallets (also known
as “EUR” or “European” pallets) make
up the floor, walls, and doors. We used
1⁄2-inch and 1⁄4-inch plywood cut from
the sides of large shipping crates for ex-
terior sheathing and internal paneling.
The roof is made from three sections of
a large crate that had 1x8 sides. The 6x6
legs, a bunch of 12-inch lag bolts, and a
box of 2 ⁄2-inch framing nails were left
1 • Door hinges: $28
From left: Highly placed windows enhance air circulation, while roosting bars are fixed low enough to keep birds out of direct drafts.
22 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
over from previous projects on our farm,
as was exterior paint and an old piece of
acrylic sheeting that we used for make-
shift windows. For smooth flooring, a
co-worker gave us a roll of old linoleum.
For reference, here’s our list of purchased
items, making our total cost only $250.
You may be able to further reduce the total
by using upcycled or leftover materials.
• 2x4x8s (12): $40
• 2x6x10s (4): $38
• Metal roofing: $95
• Roofing screws: $12
• ⁄2-inch staples for pneumatic stapler:
1 bolts, you could make the connection by
$4
• 2-by-5-foot rolls of ⁄2-inch hardware
1 techniques.
cloth (3): $25
• Window hinges (6): $8
Build Details
Base. Our coop’s base
is three pallets butted to-
gether on their long edges,
reinforced by two full-length
runners (approximately 4 by
3 inches, scavenged from a
long pallet) inserted through
the fork openings and nailed
in place. A great feature
about EPAL pallets is that
three pallets arranged with
long edges together are the
same length as two pallets
with their short sides togeth-
er — important for creating
walls and doors later.
The legs are simply four
6x6 posts cut 24 inches long.
They’re connected to each
corner block with a long lag bolt driven
through the block and leg, plus a pair of
2x4 knee braces nailed on at an angle. The
result is the largest and heaviest table we’ve
ever built.
Walls and doors. Six more EPAL pal-
lets make up the three fixed walls and two
doors on an openable front wall. The side
walls are a single pallet sitting on the base,
with the outsides flush. This aligns the
pallets in the side wall and base vertically,
so lag bolts could be driven through each
pair of blocks. To keep from buying lag
using toenails or other creative fastening
For the back wall, I nailed a 2x6 ledger
board across both long sides of the base to
give the wall and front doors something
 ®
to rest on. This also improved aesthet-
ics, because it blocked off the pallets’ fork ®

pockets. I set the back-wall pallets on top

of the ledger and temporarily clamped
them to the side walls, drove lag bolts
through the middle pallet blocks, and
nailed a 2x4 across the inside to tie them
together. I completed the connection
with a single 2x6 top plate that laps onto
the back wall.
The last stationary wall is a short 2x4
header wall that spans the front and rests
on the side walls. The header making up
the base of this wall is a pair of laminated
2x4s turned on edge. On top of the header
are short 2x4 cripple studs with mitered
tops to match the roof pitch, which we ar-
bitrarily mocked up using a long straight-
edge. The front doors of the coop are
made from one pallet each. They sit on a
ledger much like the back wall does, but
they’re connected to their respective side
walls with three heavy-duty strap hinges P R O PL AN IS
screwed into the pallet blocks.
Finally, everything is closed in with 1⁄2- ALWAYS ADVANCING
inch plywood sheathing on the exterior
and 1⁄4-inch on the interior. To simulate
NUTRITION
the look of tongue-and-groove paneling, I
ran a V-groove router bit vertically on the
door exteriors at regularly spaced intervals.
Be diligent in blocking off gaps that will
allow mice to sneak inside the coop — ask
us how we know!
Roof. A simple shed-style pitched roof
is easy to construct and an efficient use of
material in today’s world of hyperinflated
building products. (Metal roofing was
the most expensive item we purchased
for this project.)

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 Custom amenities include large front doors for coop cleaning access and a rainwater collection barrel at the bottom of the roof slope in back.

The roof’s structure is seven 2x4 rafters
spaced evenly across the top and toenailed
to the front and back walls. The rafters are
cut plumb on both ends, and they seat
onto the top plate with a birdsmouth cut.
You could use plywood for the roof deck-
ing; ours was in three sections constructed
from 1x8s. After nailing the decking into
the rafters, we trimmed the metal roofing
to length, slid it into place, and fastened
it with roofing screws, which have rub-
ber washers to seal off leaks at the holes.
We salvaged 1x4 fascia boards from a large
crate and nailed them across the exposed
rafter ends and side edges of the roof deck.
We covered the tops of the front wall’s
pallet doors by making a tiny pitched
roof with some scrap plywood and 2x4
cutoffs, capped by a piece of leftover
metal roofing. This looks great and sheds
water from what would otherwise be
an exposed horizontal surface. We also
covered the rear wall’s projecting nesting
boxes with a hinged piece of plywood and
leftover metal.
Finishing Up
Our original plan was to enclose the
header wall above the front doors with re-
movable plywood ventilation panels, but
Elaina suggested making these operable
windows — and this looks much better. I
cut rectangular holes into the panels and
screwed on a salvaged acrylic sheet to form
a homemade window. Small hinges on the
top allow the windows to swing upward,
and basic wooden latches keep them open
or closed. The windows are always open
except in the dead of winter, when we
close the panel above the roosts to guard
against nighttime drafts. Coop ventilation
is important, even when it’s cold!
Because we live on a historic farm with
several original outbuildings painted white
with hunter-green trim, we felt it was only
proper for the coop to match. We used
leftover exterior paint to make the coop
white and the fascia and windows green.
Finally, we enclosed all interior openings
with 1⁄2-inch hardware cloth and stapled
salvaged linoleum to the floor. The lino-
leum makes cleaning the coop a breeze,
since shavings don’t stick to it.
We also screwed a pair of 2x4 roosts on
the flat to the back wall, installed 20 and
24 inches off the floor. On the side wall, a
12-by-12-inch vertical sliding door allows
the birds to enter and exit.
As you might imagine, this structure is
heavy; I estimate it weighs 1,000 pounds.
I built the coop inside our barn, thinking
my old Ford tractor with clamp-on pallet
forks could move it. Wrong! Luckily, a gra-
cious neighbor lent me his skid steer to get
the job done.
Shortly after moving the chicks out of
the basement and into their new abode,
we built an enclosed run around the coop.
Then, we added creature comforts, such
as automatic feeders, a rain barrel water-
ing system, a chicken swing, a dust bath,
and the automatic opener built by my
friend for the side-wall door. This coop
project is explained in detailed construc-
tion videos on our “Raising Chickens”
YouTube playlist at www.YouTube.com/
MasonDixonAcres. Feel free to comment
there with any questions.
Alex Marsh and his girlfriend,
Elaina Ripepi, have a hobby farm
in Pennsylvania called Mason Dixon
Acres. Besides their YouTube channel,
you can follow them on Instagram and
TikTok @MasonDixonAcres.

45 Building Plans for Housing Your Flock

Coops come in all shapes and sizes. In Chicken Coops, author Judy Pangman presents how-to drawings
and conceptual plans for 45 coops, from the strictly practical to flights of fancy. Color photographs and in-
novative suggestions fill this encouraging guide, guaranteed to meet the needs of every backyard flock owner.
You’ll also find ideas for converting existing structures; instructions on how to build low-budget alternatives;
and simple ways to make waterers, feeders, and nest boxes. With basic building skills, a little elbow grease,
and these conceptual plans, you’ll have all you need to shelter your birds. This title is available at Store.
MotherEarthNews.com or by calling 800-234-3368. Mention promo code MMEPAMZ5. Item #3193.

24 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

      
    

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Innovative Ways
to Fulfill Your
Farming
Dreams
You don’t have to be a traditional
farmer to achieve your farming dreams.
Gain inspiration from these farmers,
who all make a living stewarding land
in nontraditional ways.
By Jeff Meyer/Johnny Appleseed Organic
T
here’s never been a better time to forge your own farm-
ing path. With an abundance of niche markets and a
multitude of ways to reach people, you can make a liv-
ing by specializing in a specific plant; inviting visitors to your
property for a farm-to-table feast; starting a nonprofit to increase
local food security; and much more. Between online promotion
opportunities and increased interest in gardening and eating lo-
cal, even if you’re a small operation, you’re sure to find folks who
will buy your product or support your project — if you first base
your offering on an existing need.
The farmers we spoke to for this feature all assessed what their
communities were seeking and then worked to meet those needs
in unique ways. You can do the same by connecting with your
community or customer base, and then aligning what you pro-
vide with what they’re looking for — while keeping your integrity
front and center. Because, as the following farmers convey, by
infusing your work with your passion and values, you’ll gain so
much more than profit.
Showcase Your Passion
My son, Scott Meyer, is the owner of Congaree and Penn
(www.CongareeAndPenn.com), a farm-to-table agritourism facil-
ity. And in his community, he’s seen the need for deeper connec-
tion between consumers and the foods they eat. His 350-acre
farm gives visitors the opportunity to roam through row upon
lush row of persimmons, pomegranates, pears, and more and
to taste the local foods that are the farm’s specialty. Visitors can
share a picnic beneath oak trees curtained in Spanish moss, pet
the farm’s friendly goats, take a wagon ride, or toast to one of the
farm’s specialties — cider made from a blend of North Florida’s
indigenous fruits, including mayhaws.
Agritourism provides a steady stream of people visiting the
farm throughout the year. Scott attributes the farm’s success to
Scott Meyer and his wife, Lindsay, invite visitors to their farm for tours
and farm-to-table feasts (left).
WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 27
 the menu it offers. “[Visitors] may not want to walk in the fields
and get their hands dirty, but they can experience the local foods
and native fruits right from their plate.” Scott hopes this in-
creased focus on food will generate a greater awareness of the
surrounding environment where it was produced. “I want people
to experience peace and quiet — moments when you can hear
the birds and the wind moving through the grass.”
He believes doing what you love will draw people in. And
Mikael Maynard, the market garden manager at Congaree and
Penn, shares that belief. Mikael is a permaculture design consul-
tant based out of Jacksonville, Florida, who works for a variety
of local farms and education centers, including my farm, Johnny
Appleseed Organic. “It’s hard work. It’s an exciting hustle. And
when you’re passionate about something and you tell people
about it, people just want to help you,” she says.
Since studying environmental science at the University of
Central Florida, Mikael has held a series of permaculture-related
positions, often as an educator on regenerative practices. “I just
want to be able to provide people with a better way of life, and
to teach them how to do that themselves,” she says.
To that end, Mikael’s career is a mix of creative work, hands-on
tasks, and visionary planning. In her day-to-day, she educates on
alternating cover crops, interplanting among perennial species,
and mitigating erosion. But as much as she brings her attention
to what’s currently growing and how, Mikael is also a steward of
the future, building forward-looking permaculture plans for the
farms where she works to ensure their sustainability.
Ayana Verdi (back, right) and the Verdi EcoSchool immerse children in the outdoors to
help them learn and grow.
28 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
Mikael Maynard designs and builds permaculture plans for farms and
educates on regenerative practices.
Learn By Doing
Before consulting, Mikael was an educator at Melbourne’s
Verdi EcoSchool (www.VerdiEcoSchool.org), which was founded
by Ayana Verdi and her husband, John, in 2016. Ayana’s work
is also forward-looking, with a focus on children’s education.
Through the EcoSchool, she provides students with hands-on
learning experiences, from nature immersion to internships at
a local zoo. The mission of the school, Ayana says, is to em-
power young people to build healthy communities: “We’re very
connected to teaching children, teaching families, and teaching
adults that we can harness the power of providing for our com-
munities and providing for ourselves now. We
don’t have to wait for anyone to do it for us,”
she says.
Ayana’s own upbringing in a large Caribbean
family who valued growing their own food was
formative to her connection with the land and
her sense of responsibility for it. And as she had
her own children, she saw in them the same
desire to be outdoors and learn by doing. So
she started offering occasional restorative ag-
riculture programs, and the school grew from
that seed. Without much of an existing blue-
print for holistic outdoor curriculum, though,
FROM TOP: NATE GRAHAM; VERDI ECOSCHOOL; PAGE 26: STEFANIE KEELER ; PAGE 27: JENNA ALEXANDER
Ayana says they made mistakes — but “great”
ones. “There’s a lot of trial and error that hap-
pens, and you learn by doing. And so that re-
ally became the ethos of the school: to learn
by doing. And we really grew organically from
there.” Her advice for others who want to try
something new is “to really, truly believe in it
and to live it, to live those values. And people
will want to share sustenance with you in all of
the ways that sustenance can come.”
The school is primarily funded through
tuition. In 2019, the school also received the
Drexel Fund, a venture philanthropy fund that
seeds new school models. Today, the school en-
rolls about 60 full-time students in addition to

Theresa Snow founded a gleaning program that recovers unused food
and moves it into local communities.
the children it reaches through community outreach programs.
Ayana considers the community their campus and place-based
learning their focus. “What we do within the ecosystem that we
live in, within our place, doesn’t just affect us, it creates a ripple
effect that can change the world. … Creating healthy communi-
ties means caring for our Earth and understanding how to live
with it, not separate from it.”
Increase Community Security
Creating healthy communities is also a goal of Theresa Snow,
the founder of Salvation Farms (www.SalvationFarms.org), a
nonprofit in Morrisville, Vermont, that takes its name from
Theresa’s belief that small, diversified farms are our salvation,
“the cornerstones and centerpieces of healthy, wholesome, and
stable communities.”
So, although Salvation Farms is not a farm itself, it coordinates
SALVATION FARMS (2)
with dozens of farms across Vermont to glean surplus crops that
would otherwise be lost and move that food into nearby com-
munities. Salvation Farms has helped establish a collective of
Salvation Farms saves 50,000
to 70,000 pounds of surplus
crops from being lost per year.
gleaning programs that share resources toward building a broader
gleaning system across the state. Further, it has set up a hub
for processing compromised produce that must be preserved
or distributed quickly. Through these efforts, it saves 50,000 to
70,000 pounds of food per year, which it reroutes to more than
40 agencies and food programs.
Theresa grew up in a farming family, and later attended
Sterling College for its focus on ecology and agriculture. And
while that backdrop factored into her founding of Salvation
Farms in 2004, it was her work with AmeriCorps doing disaster
relief in New York City about six weeks after 9/11 that saturated
her love of agriculture with a sense of urgency — and introduced
her, for one day, to the concept of gleaning. Back at home, after
having witnessed profound societal vulnerability, she experienced
post-traumatic stress. Seeing her struggle, a farmer she worked for
said he had extra greens and asked Theresa whether she could do
anything with them. She recalled her daylong experience glean-
ing in AmeriCorps, and an idea took shape. “I could organize
people to come and help me pick what you’re not going to sell,”
she said to him. “And we can move those into the community in
a way that doesn’t compete with your markets and helps people
understand more about what’s available locally and seasonally.”
Theresa says Salvation Farms aims to create models others can
adopt. And while growth hasn’t been the nonprofit’s intent, its
partnerships and collaborations have allowed it to grow through
the sharing of ideas and infrastructure. And Theresa has achieved
her dream of increasing long-term community security by giving
rise to an alternative food system. “I think that we can’t lose sight
of the fact that if anyone is vulnerable, we all have that potential
to be vulnerable,” she says.
Grow Humanity
Community vulnerability is one reason Nyema Clark founded
Nurturing Roots (www.NurturingRootsFarm.org), a community
farming program next to the Black Power EpiCenter in Seattle’s
Beacon Hill neighborhood. Nyema Nurturing Roots gives away all
saw people in her community ail- the food that’s gathered and grown
ing in ways that could be attributed through the program. The farm’s
to industrial pollution — which approach to community empower-
disproportionately impacts Black ment has gained broad local support,
neighborhoods — and saw how and it sustains itself through donors,
those effects were connected to a grants, volunteers, gifts, and partner-
racist system. “I think the largest ships. “I think that the momentum
reason I can contribute to my career of humanity, it really does just carry
choice is systemic oppression and us,” Nyema says. “There’s so many
racism,” she says. “I really wanted people that have contributed.”
to encourage more folks of color, And not just people, but the land
more folks that are in urban envi- too. “I’ve had to make a living off
ronments, to consider agriculture as of this, and fortunately, I can pull it
something that was beautiful, and from a foundation instead of pulling
something that could heal them, it out of the Earth,” she says. “The
instead of harming us.” more we pull, the more of a disad-
After years of organizing at the vantage our Earth is at. So I always
EpiCenter community space, just love to challenge even the best
Nyema began to reveal that beauty Nyema Clark started Nurturing Roots to encourage people growers, even myself, how can we be
by turning an unused garden plot of color to find beauty and healing in agriculture. even better, give even more back?”
into food — ultimately spawning Local community groups are
the nonprofit that Nurturing Roots has become. By providing lobbying for a land transfer of a city-owned property in nearby
volunteer opportunities, hosting educational events, and partner- Auburn to Nurturing Roots, which, if successful, Nyema envisions
ing with local restaurants, Nurturing Roots promotes community as a holistic community space with a larger geographic footprint
self-sufficiency and provides culturally appropriate curriculum to for greater impact — and the ability to pass land to future genera-
young people. “Most folks, I tell them, ‘We grow humanity at tions. Nyema sees the impact of her work when young people visit
Nurturing Roots; we’re not really growing plants. The plants are the farm and express excitement and curiosity. “Loving the land is

NURTURING ROOTS (2)

just a part of the humanity we grow.’” And adults, Nyema says, can something that we can teach,” she says. “More than the benefit of
learn how to produce their own food or forage their own medicine how valuable this career choice or career path can be financially, I
to rely a little less on systems that have oppressed them. think I just want to reiterate … how life-changing it can be.”

Nurturing Roots gives away

all the food its volunteers
gather and grow.
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Keep Your Ethics at Center
At Greenagers (www.Greenagers.org) in rural Massachusetts,
youth have a chance to do life-changing work in conservation,
sustainable farming, and more. The nonprofit’s headquarters is
April Hill Education and Conservation Center, an acreage that
features historic buildings and a farm where employees, interns,
and apprentices, many of them high schoolers, are paid to work
with local farmers and learn about organic agriculture and ani-
mal husbandry. And to nearby regions, Greenagers sends out trail
crews to maintain and build trails for conservation organizations.
It was while doing this kind of trail work that founder Will
Conklin, who served as a trail lead for youth one summer, wit-
nessed what young people could accomplish with support. Up
to that point, Will’s career had taken some twists and turns, with
roles ranging from arborist to environmental educator to small
farmer, but two things had remained consistent: his interest in
Climate Cabin Series
Discover more about what’s happening at the Johnny Appleseed
Organic eco-village, including the recent construction of its
“climate cabin.” Johnny Appleseed’s goal was to build the most
cost-effective, ecologically friendly building out of ethical materials
within the confines of its local building code. The entire build can
now be viewed as a series at Online.MotherEarthNewsFair.com.
32 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
Through the Greenagers program, youth are paid to work
with local farmers and learn about organic agriculture.
In 2021, Greenagers youth harvested and gleaned about
10,000 pounds of food for their community.
working with youth and community service. Those passions
are combined through Greenagers, which began as a fledgling
club around 2007 and — through individual donations, grants,
private foundations, state money, and federal money — grew
into a youth-serving organization that employs up to 70 youth
per year. In 2019, the nonprofit was able to acquire the 100-acre
April Hill farmstead from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy,
and the Greenagers team began growing vegetables and grazing
sheep. And after the pandemic began, the value of food security
became even more visible. “The best place for anybody to be was
outside, so we get to continue our work in a safe way, and the
farm in particular really blossomed, because we were poised to
provide food for the community,” Will says. Through harvesting
and gleaning, Greenagers produced about 7,000 pounds of food
in 2020 and 10,000 pounds in 2021.
Another of its community-oriented projects is the Front Lawn
Food Program. Each year, Greenagers sells garden beds filled with
organic soil and compost, planted with selected seeds and starts,
and installed by Greenagers staff and youth. Included in the price
of each bed is the donation of a garden to a local family in need.
The program’s goal is to encourage local families to grow their
own food. And the program’s popularity keeps increasing; in the
past couple of years, the Greenagers team went from installing 40
total gardens per year to 100 — 50 they’d sell and 50 they’d donate.
Will says that’s because the project meets a local need. “We
didn’t know necessarily that people would want raised bed veg-
etable gardens, but you start small,” Will says. “You offer a couple
of them. People like them, cool, we’ll offer some more! It’s sort
of antithetical to so many of the forces at play in our lives and
culture in terms of business models and growth. But if what
you’re doing resonates with the community, growth will happen,
in a sustainable way. Keep going back and asking people what
they want. That said, keep your ethics and morals at center.”
SASHA DECARO (2)
Jeff Meyer is the founder of Johnny Appleseed Organic, an eco-
village and online store. Learn more at www.JohnnyAppleseed.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
CONTROL
FUNGUS GNATS WITH BTI
A naturally occurring bacterium is one key to controlling
fungus gnats in outdoor potted plants and indoor houseplants
Anyone who has grown houseplants has probably dealt
with fungus gnats. Adult fungus gnats are tiny flying pests
that can swarm like an annoying black cloud whenever
an infested houseplant or outdoor potted plant is moved.
Fungus gnats are small, mosquito-like insects that
commonly infest the growing medium in which houseplants
and outdoor potted plants grow. Often, when
outdoor plants are brought indoors for the colder
months, fungus gnats harbored in the potting
mix are brought indoors, where they can quickly
infest the soil of other houseplants.
Fungus insects can be difficult to control
because they thrive in moist potting soil. Fungus
gnats lay their eggs in moist potting soil, and the
larvae live in the top two to three inches. In the
larval stage, the fungus gnat maggots can cause
plant damage by eating plant roots. After about
two or three weeks, the fungus gnat maggots
pupate in the potting soil to become the tiny
black adult gnats that fly erratically when a potted plant is
moved.
Letting the potting soil dry out between waterings helps
control fungus gnats. But sometimes more aggressive
measures are needed to control the pests. Fortunately, there
are now natural, non-chemical solutions that kill fungus gnat
infestations.
KILL FUNGUS GNAT LARVAE WITH BTI
Because fungus gnats are closely related to mosquitoes,
fungus gnat larvae are effectively killed by BTI—the
naturally occurring bacterium that is deadly to mosquito
larvae. BTI, short for Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis,
is deadly to mosquito larvae and fungus gnat larvae but
harmless to other living things. The bacterium is nature’s
way of keeping fungus gnat and mosquito populations
down, but it has no effect on other insects (such as bees and
butterflies)—nor does it harm animals, fish, birds, plants,
pets or people.
BTI is the active ingredient in top-selling Mosquito Bits®,
a mosquito larvacide that is also approved for the control
of fungus gnats. To kill fungus gnat larvae, simply put 4
tablespoons of Mosquito Bits in a gallon of
water, mix well, wait 30 minutes, and water your
plants. When plants are watered with this “BTI
tea,” the fungus gnat larvae feed on the BTI and
die. Use this BTI tea as your regular watering
routine for three weeks to ensure control of the
fungus gnats.
KILL ADULT FUNGUS GNATS WITH
HORTICULTURAL OIL
There is also an environmentally friendly
way to kill infestations of adult fungus
gnats. Summit® Year-Round® Spray Oil is
a lightweight horticultural oil that effectively controls a
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 Chives and Oregano
Herbal
Health Allies
Reach no farther than your spice rack to access the array of
potent health benefits offered by these common culinary herbs.
By Cal Orey
T
he chemical compounds in herbs
and spices make them powerful
gifts for our minds and bodies.
They nourish our senses and provide won-
derful memories. Think of the aroma and
taste of eggnog with nutmeg during the
holidays, for example, or the pungent fla-
vor of garlic on pizza for a relaxing night.
But herbs and spices do much more
than delight our taste buds and jog our
memories: They also provide a valuable
array of health benefits. Here’s a look at
two popular, nutritious herbs that can be
added to a variety of dishes. Both are easy
34 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
to grow at home and can readily be found
at markets and grocery stores.
Chives
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) entered
my life during my first round at college,
on a study date with a fellow student. We
were both struggling on a student budget,
and salad bars were a huge phenomenon
in the 1970s. I was a vegetarian, but add-
ing herbs to vegetables was still new to me,
so my food-savvy friend took charge of my
plate. He added chives, a dash of cayenne,
and ground pepper to a baked potato.
“Wow!” I exclaimed after taking a bite
bursting with flavor. My date smiled and
quoted the well-known author Louisa
May Alcott: “Money is the root of all evil,
and yet it is such a useful root that we
cannot get on without it any more than
we can without potatoes.” These words
resonated with me because of my time
spent pinching pennies and eating pota-
toes and salads.
This flavorful herb has visited me again
and again throughout the decades, like a
ADOBE STOCK/BLESSINGS CAPTURED
long-lost love — a prodigal perfect plant
to enhance simple dishes. Fresh chives
(homegrown or from the organic pro-
duce aisle) are my favorite herb sprinkled
over potato skins or salads made with
baby spinach. Dried chives suffice on
 Chives are full of phytonutrients, and you can
eat both the stems and the flowered heads.

a solo baked potato with crucifers and

a dollop of European-style butter. I’ve
learned that a chiveless potato is like a
slice of hot apple pie without a scoop of
vanilla ice cream.

Herbal History
Chives are native to Europe, Asia,
and North America. They’re a species
of plant in the Amaryllidaceae family,
and they’re related to garlic, onions, and
shallots. This relation makes sense to me,
since I adore all three for many reasons.
My relationship with chives goes back
decades, but the plant itself has a much
longer history.
This flavorful herb has been around potential anti-cancer properties, although like my mom’s cooking had. She served
for centuries and has been used as both research is still ongoing. lobster oreganata, which is a split lobster
a medicinal and a culinary plant. Records Chives can be incorporated into count- topped with breadcrumbs and seasoned
indicate that chives were used in China less dishes, giving you plenty of opportuni- with oregano. It was a night of comfort,
as early as 3000 B.C., and they’ve been ties to reap their health benefits. Try adding bringing back memories of my childhood.
cultivated in Europe since at least the them to a vegetable casserole, for example. The familiar oregano aroma and flavor
Middle Ages. Although not as popular as (Both the American Cancer Society and reconnected me to my mom’s spirit and
garlic, chives were used in Roman medi- the American Heart Association recom- bonded me and my new surrogate mom.
ADOBE STOCK/ETFOTO; ADOBE STOCK/ANNA_SHEPULOVA; ADOBE STOCK/JJAVA

cine to aid in curing various ailments, in-
cluding sore throats and sunburns.
Health Benefits
Given their various health benefits, it’s
no wonder chives have such a long his-
tory. The herb is rich in phytonutrients,
including bioflavonoids that can help
maintain healthy blood pressure. Chives
also contain anti-inflammatory, antibi-
otic, antiviral, and anti-fungal properties,
and they provide antioxidants in the form
of vitamins A, C, and E. Chives can be
FROM TOP LEFT:
mend consuming fruits and vegetables dai-
ly.) I’ve used dried chives for convenience
in baking scones and cornbread, and they
make a tasty topping on shepherd’s pie.
Chives also produce edible flowers that can
be separated into florets and added to fresh
salads, eggs, and soups.
Oregano
Oregano (Origanum vulgare) has graced
many dishes served in my home, both
past and present. My dad, a widower in
his 70s, once planned a home-cooked fish
Now, if I make a semi-homemade pizza
or any Italian dish, I often use either dried
or fresh oregano. The plant nourishes my
body, but it also feeds my heart and soul,
because it connects me to my dad and
two mothers, who both fancied the art of
cooking with herbs.
Herbal History
Oregano is a plant species in the
Lamiaceae family. It grows throughout
most of the world, but it likely originated
in the Mediterranean. Since the herb grew

good for bone health, because they con- dinner with his new girlfriend and me as in the mountains, Greek people called it
tain vitamin K, calcium, iron, and zinc. a grad school gift. I planned the movies, “mountain joy.” According to mythology,
CLOCKWISE

Additionally, scientific lab tests have and she brought the food. I was surprised the Greek goddess Aphrodite cultivated
shown chives and other alliums to have that her cooking included oregano — just oregano in her garden on top of Mount

WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 35
 You can eat antioxidant-rich oregano raw, or
you can dry it for long-term storage.

This herb has also long been renowned

for its antiseptic properties, and people
have taken oregano to help ease colds,
congestion, the flu, and sore throats.
Oregano has been used to treat diges-
tive ailments, including flatulence, and
herbalists say Hippocrates utilized the
herb for respiratory issues. Additionally,

ADOBE STOCK/GABRIELA BERTOLINI; ADOBE STOCK/MICHELLE; ADOBE STOCK/EUGENIUSZ DUDZIŃSKI

Olympus, and the herb was believed to
bring about blessings of happiness.
Oregano didn’t become a popular cu-
linary herb in North American cooking
until the end of World War II, when sol-
diers returned to the United States after
eating Italian food in Europe. In the ’50s
and ’60s, I recall my family sprinkling it
in spaghetti, ravioli, soups, and stews to
give the dishes that flavorful panache.
properties. It’s one of the herbs with the
highest amount of antioxidants, includ-
ing carvacrol and thymol. These chemi-
cals provide antibacterial, anti-fungal,
and antiviral benefits. Additionally,
research on carvacrol revealed it could
have potential for the treatment and pre-
vention of cancer. Oregano also contains
rosmarinic acid, which has been found
to have anti-mutagenic and anti-carci-
oregano contains vitamin A, vitamin C,
niacin, calcium, tryptophan, copper,
iron, manganese, magnesium, iron, po-
tassium, and zinc.
Oregano’s flexibility in the kitchen
makes accessing its health benefits easy.
It’s popular in Italian dishes, and it also
goes well with fish, tomato-based foods
and sauces, and meats. Dried oregano is
often used, but fresh oregano leaves are an
option too. Oil of oregano supplements
are also available, but you should consult
with your health-care practitioner before
consuming them.
Cal Orey is the author of The Healing

FROM TOP LEFT:

Health Benefits
Oregano is perhaps best known me-
dicinally for its potent antioxidant
nogenic properties. Additional research
is needed before we can qualify oregano
as an anti-carcinogen, but past results
show promise.
Powers book series. This is excerpted
from her book The Healing Powers of
Herbs and Spices (Kensington Books). CLOCKWISE

The Multipurpose Wonder Herb

As early as the 1400s, oregano had a variety of medicinal, cosmetic, and household uses. Most varieties of oregano
are good for cooking; several work well as ground cover; and the tender oreganos, including the dittany group, make great
houseplants. Growing both the hardy and tender varieties is relatively easy if you can provide for their basic needs. This
e-book shows you how to grow oregano, how to use it in crafts, and how to use it medicinally. It also has various recipes that
feature the delicious herb. No more waiting for delivery or paying expensive shipping and handling fees — by purchasing
this handy e-book, you can forgo all the hassle and make a positive impact on the environment! This title is available at
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36 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

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 Weave a
Wildcrafted
Basket
Turn foraged fibers into
a rustic basket that’s
perfect for everyday use.
Story and photos
by Mari Jyväsjärvi Stuart
B
asketry is one of humankind’s
oldest art forms — believed to
be even older than pottery and
cloth weaving. It’s also one of the few re-
maining crafts that’s primarily done by
hand. While some contemporary basket
styles are made by machines, a machine
can’t replicate the dexterity and creativity
of the human hand in gauging the suit-
ability of materials, intertwining fibers,
and shaping a woven basket.
Perhaps because of its long history,
the process of basket weaving can feel
familiar, even to a beginner. Although
the initial setup requires some patience
and concentration, after a few rounds
of weaving, most people quickly get the
hang of it.
The natural world — woods,
meadows, and marshlands — is
bursting with potential basketry
material, including reeds, rushes,
grasses, pine needles, willows,
brambles, honeysuckle vines,
bark, and even roots. In contrast
with materials specifically grown
for basket-making — such as
white oak splints or cultivated wil-
low shoots, which are predictable
and uniform in shape — foraged,
or “hedgerow,” basketry materials
come in interesting, organic shapes
that tell the story of the plant.
Some vines intertwine together or
twirl around branches; others am-
bitiously reach for the light. This is
what sets wildcrafted baskets apart;
they incorporate nature’s own
story and creativity. The basket
you weave from foraged materials
will not only be useful and beauti-
ful, it’ll also connect you with the
landscape in a whole new way.
In this tutorial, I’ll walk you
through the process of weaving a Winter is the best time to forage for basket-making materials.
Tools and Materials
If you can’t get willow rods for the
spokes and uprights, use the straightest
vines you can find instead.
• Clippers or pruners
• Sharp knife
• Twine or string
• Clothespins or clamps
• Needle-nose pliers
• Bodkin or screwdriver
• 10-inch-long willow rods, pencil-width
or thicker, for spokes (6)
• 2-foot-long willow rods, slightly thin-
ner than a pencil, for uprights (23)
• Various vines, thinner than the up-
rights, for weaving
• A particularly attractive or interesting
arc of thick vine, for the handle
small, round basket from foraged vines
and willow rods. A round shape is the
easiest shape for beginners. Although you
could simply make a bowl-shaped basket
in which the bottom spokes curve upward
to form the basket siding, with this tuto-
rial, you’ll learn how to make a flat base
and then add upright stakes to form the
siding. If this is your first basket, the final
piece may be a little wobbly or funky, but
don’t worry, this project is meant
to be rustic.
Harvesting Fibers
Winter is the best time to harvest
vines for basketry, because you’ll be
able to see the vines more easily on
trunks of trees and on the ground.
Also, sap is down in winter, which
is a good thing, as vines are less
flexible when sap is running.
Remember to ask for permission
if you want to harvest outside your
own yard. Most homeowners are
happy to let you to do some hedge-
row pruning on their behalf.
Good vines for basketry include
wisteria, kudzu, honeysuckle,
bramble (with thorns removed),
and grape. Look for vines that are
long, strong, and pliable enough to
wrap around your hand. If a vine
makes a “U” shape when you gen-
tly bend it, keep it; if it cracks in a
“V” shape, it’s too brittle.
Cut vines close to the ground
and remove any leaves and
branches. If you’re collecting
WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 39
 kudzu, harvest runners close to
the ground — the ones with bark,
not the green and fuzzy ones.
Honeysuckle can be brittle, but
it’s a wonderful weaving material,
with runners up to 20 feet long.
It can be found growing in low,
wet areas, such as along creeks or
in marshes. Brambles often have
attractive green shades and can be
excellent for basketry, but you’ll
need to remove the thorns with a
sharp knife after harvesting.
When foraging willow rods,
look for long, straight rods that
aren’t overly brittle. Places where
the plants have been cut back regu-
larly, such as ditches along road-
ways, are usually good for finding
straight rods.
Preparing Fibers
for Weaving
Tie your foraged vines into loose
coils, and then store the coils and
your willow rods in a dark place
until you’re ready to use them.
With the exception of brambles
and wisteria, which can be woven
green, vines and rods need time to
dry out and shrink a little before
you start weaving.
Once you’re ready to weave,
prepare the vines by placing them
in boiling water for about 10
minutes. This will make them pli-
able and kill any mites and bugs.
Dried and cured willow rods need
to soak for at least 2 to 3 days
prior to weaving. (A kiddie pool,
trough, or wheelbarrow will work
well for this.) After soaking, wrap
the rods in a towel to “mellow” for Create the basket base by first tying the slath and then weaving
a few hours. around the spokes until the base reaches your desired size.
Separate your prepared vines
by size. Ideally, weaver vines should be
thinner than a pencil. If you want a
whimsical, organic look, likely with lots
of gaps, you can make the spokes and up-
rights out of vines instead of willow rods.
Vines are hardly ever completely straight,
though, so for a relatively tight weave and
a more balanced shape, use straight, pli-
able, young willow rods for the spokes
and the upright stakes. If you’ll be using
40 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
1A
1B
1C
vines for this purpose, use the thickest
ones you have.
If you want the basket to have a handle,
set aside a particularly beautiful, interest-
ing, or gnarly vine. Two vines that have
grown intertwined can be especially beau-
tiful. The handle vine must be long enough
to complete the arc and go deep enough
into the basket siding to get a good hold.
For a working basket, you’ll need a thick
handle with a relatively low arc for
strength. For the basket pictured
here, I chose a delicate vine with
twirling shoots, and I set it in place
with a higher, slightly exaggerated
arc for decorative effect.
Weaving a Basket
When you’re ready to start weav-
ing, gather your tools and materi-
als on a flat work surface.
1 Making and Tying the Slath
You’ll want your spokes to be
slightly longer than the intended
width of your basket base. In the
basket pictured in this article, the
spokes are 10 inches long.
Separate the spokes into two
groups of three. Make a split in
the center of three of the spokes.
Make a slanting cut (called a
“slype”) on one end of each of the
remaining three spokes. Slide the
slyped spokes through the split
spokes (Photo 1A). This will cre-
ate the center of the basket’s base,
or the “slath.”
Next, select two of your thin-
nest weavers and insert their tips
through the split spokes of the
slath. Thin, creeping plants, such
as ivy or periwinkle, are a good
choice for this step. With an over-
under pattern (one weaver goes
under a set of three spokes while
the other goes over the same set),
weave these vines around the slath
in a clockwise direction, making
two rounds (Photo 1B).
After two rounds, open out the
slath spokes. To do so, gradually
start easing the spokes apart as you
continue to weave around the
slath, going over and under one
spoke at a time instead of three. Try to
make the spokes equidistant. This is often
the most challenging part. Go slow.
When you reach the end of the first pair
of weavers, add two new weavers, secur-
ing the ends of both the old and the new
weavers by tucking them in to the weave.
Continue weaving until the base reaches
your desired size, adding new weavers as
needed (Photo 1C). Use pruners to trim
Circle #48; see card pg 85
 off the ends of the weavers, and then tuck
the ends into the weaving. Trim the ends
of the base spokes so they stick out about
1 inch past the weave.

2 Staking Up
Next, you’ll add the uprights. The up-
right rods should be as even and straight
as possible. Make sure they’re thinner than 2A
the base spokes but thicker than the weav-
er vines. For this basket, the uprights are
about 2 feet long.
Slype each upright on one end. Slide the
slyped end of the uprights into the base
so there’s one upright on each side of the
12 spokes (Photo 2A). Because there’s an
uneven number of uprights, one of the
spokes will have only one upright next to
it. This is necessary for weaving an over-
under pattern (Photo 2B).
Kink the uprights by gently pressing
a sharp knife across each rod, as close to
the rim of the base as possible, and gen- 2B 2C
tly bending the rods 90 degrees upward.
Gather all the kinked rods with a string, Once you’ve inserted the 23 uprights into the basket base, tie them together with string.
and then tie them together at the top
(Photo 2C). Now, you can start working strong weave. Select three medium-weight Pass the leftmost weaver in front of
on the siding. vines and slype them on one end. Insert the two uprights directly to the right,
the slyped end of one vine into the base then behind the next upright, and then
3 Waling directly left of an upright, so it’s between to the front again. Then, take the sec-
You’ll secure the siding with a weave the upright and the spoke. Move to the ond weaver, which is now leftmost, and
called “waling,” which is an extremely next upright to the right and repeat with complete the same pattern. Repeat with
the second vine. Move again to the upright the third weaver (Photo 3). Begin again
directly to the right and repeat with the with the first weaver and continue this
third vine, placing each of the three vines pattern, working to the right until you’ve
Basketry Terminology directly between an upright and a spoke. gone around the basket twice. Tuck in the
Bodkin: A long tool with a tapered end These vines will be your weavers. weaver ends.
that’s helpful for pushing material
between weaving.
Spokes: Short rods that form the foun-
dation of the basket base.
Uprights: Long rods that form the foun-
dation of the basket sides.
Slype: An angled cut.
Slath: The center of the basket base,
where the rods are secured by the
first rows of weaving.
Weavers: Vines or other material used
to weave the basket.
Trac border: The simplest type of bas-
ket border, worked with one stake at
a time.
Waling: An over-under weave that uses
3
three weavers.
Begin the siding with a “waling” weave, which is three weavers woven in an over-under pattern.

42 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

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4 weaving the uprights together along the top
Weave the siding in an over-under pattern,
adding more weavers as needed until the
basket reaches your desired height.
4 Siding
Continue building the basket upward
with the simple over-under pattern (Photo
4). Weave the vines in and out of the up-
rights, one weaver at a time. Add more
weavers as needed, tucking in and clip-
ping the ends as you go. If you find your-
self needing a third hand, use clothespins
or clamps to hold weavers while you work.
(These tools are also helpful for keeping
things in place if you need to step away
from your basket for a while.) If gaps form
because the vines are oddly shaped, use a
short weaver to fill in a gap. If the weave is
particularly tight, use needle-nose pliers to
gently pull a weaver through.
6 www.MakeGatherGrow.com and on
A small, long handle can work well for a decorative basket. A working basket will need a thick handle.
44 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
5A
The basket siding is the place where
you can play with different textures and
colors in the vines, creating contrasts or
interesting effects. For example, you can
incorporate pussy willows or grasses with
seed heads.
5 Border
Once you’ve woven the basket to your
desired height, untie the uprights and gen-
tly kink them down (Photo 5A). Finish
the basket with a simple trac border. To
do so, select one of the uprights and bend
it down to the right. Pass it behind the
upright on its right, then in front of the
5B
Finish the basket with a trac border, made by
of the basket.
next upright, and then angle it down into
the inside of the basket so it’s out of the
way. Do the same thing with the next up-
right, and then continue in the same way
around the basket, always moving to the
right (Photo 5B). When you reach the last
upright, tuck it in underneath the kink of
the first upright. Trim each upright using
the pruners.
6 Handle
Gently curve the handle vine into shape.
If necessary, tie it with string to hold it in a
“U” and leave it to dry.
Slype both ends of the handle. Insert
one end into one side of the basket be-
tween two uprights, as far as it’ll go. (A
bodkin or screwdriver can help slide it into
place.) Repeat with the other end on the
opposite side of the basket (Photo 6). Drill
a small hole through each side of the han-
dle, in between woven rows, and then slide
a small peg whittled out of a thin stick or
willow rod into the hole. This will secure
the handle.
Your wildcrafted basket is now com-
plete! It’ll make an excellent vessel for
bringing in eggs, collecting berries, gath-
ering natural treasures, holding knitting
supplies, or any of the countless other uses
you can dream up.
Mari Jyväsjärvi Stuart is a regenera-
tive designer, writer, and urban home-
steader living in Asheville, North
Carolina. She writes about garden-
ing, foraging, and traditional skills at
Instagram @MakeGatherGrow.
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Why Did
My Bees Die?
Don’t despair over your dead colony. Instead, identify the problem
and find preventative solutions to keep the rest of your hives healthy.
By Julia Miller
D
ead-outs: that dreaded event
in a beekeeper’s world when
an entire colony of bees dies
in the hive.
It was a heartbreaking day in mid-
December when we found that one of
our colonies had died out. Every few
weeks throughout winter, a day rolls
around that’s warm enough (50 degrees
Fahrenheit) to check the hives. Typically,
we add candy boards during these
checks as a supplemental food supply.
Two of the three colonies were thriving,
but the third contained only dead bees.
After taking a moment to apologize
to the queen and feel sorry for ourselves
and the bees, I decided to learn from
this unfortunate experience.
Causes of Dead-Out Hives
It seems dead-out hives are a winter
malady. They can be related to the cold
weather or evidence of a weak colony.
The best way to find out is to take the
entire hive somewhere and complete a
thorough post-mortem examination.
Here are some things to look for.
Varroa mites or tracheal mites.
Look for bees with deformed
wings. K-shaped wing defor-
mities may indicate tracheal
mites. Pick through the
This article is available
online in audio form at
MotherEarthNews.com
layers of debris on the bottom board and
watch for signs of Varroa mites.
Small hive beetles and wax moths.
Small hive beetles are little, black, hard-
shelled beetles that take up residence
in the crevices of the hive. Cottony,
oval-shaped cocoons or oval-shaped
depressions on frames are signs of
wax moths. An abundance of either
is evidence of a weak colony; strong
colonies of honeybees are hygienic and
will keep these pests in control.
Starvation. As you examine the
frames, note the position of the dead
bees. Are they stuck headfirst in cells?
Is the cluster mainly located a frame or
so away from a supply of honey? Both
conditions indicate starvation. If it
becomes too cold for the bees to reach
their food supply or they didn’t have
adequate stores to get through winter,
ADOBE STOCK/VADIM
they’ll starve.
Other causes. There are other
potential causes for a dead-out, such as a
 Do you see any red-brown pests inside your hives? Sprinkling powdered sugar on your hives will help detach these Varroa mites from your bees.
weak queen, foulbrood, or even a rodent
infestation. Observe your dead colony
for indicators of these conditions.
Now What?
After you’ve identified a potential cause
for the loss of the colony, there’s hope to
save the rest of your apiary. For example,
starvation can be counteracted with
supplemental feedings or leaving more
honey stores in fall. The condition you
find will steer you to the correct solution.
After a dead-out, clean all boxes and
frames thoroughly. If you’ve discovered
foulbrood, all equipment and dead bees
must be burned to prevent spread.
If you find signs of small hive beetles
or Varroa mites — two of the most
primary pests in honeybee hives — it’s
imperative to contain them early,
especially in the establishment of a new
hive. Both pests can weaken a colony if
allowed to infiltrate.
The following methods aren’t perfect
and won’t rid your hives entirely of
Varroa mites and small hive beetles. But
with a bit of due diligence, you can keep
their populations at a level that a strong
colony of honeybees can manage.
FROM LEFT: ADOBE STOCK/ИГОР ЧУСЬ; ADOBE STOCK/VERA KUTTELVASEROVA
Treating Varroa Mites
Varroa mites are small, round, red-
brown pests that can appear in your
hive. They normally feed and reproduce
on honeybee larvae and pupae, though
they can also feed on adult bees. Their
presence can weaken a hive and may
even transmit viruses.
We prefer to use natural methods
to treat for pests whenever possible.
Since we’re a hobby-level beekeeping
operation, these methods are an easier
option than if we were attempting to
run a commercial apiary. Although,
several chemical treatments that have
been deemed safe for use with honeybees
do exist on the market.
Powdered Sugar Dusting
Dust a half-cup or so of powdered sugar
over the bees. A simple fine-mesh sieve is
the only tool required. Powdered sugar
contains a small amount of cornstarch,
but it’s not enough to harm the bees.
This dusting will address mites feeding
on adult bees in two ways. First, it’ll
encourage the bees to clean themselves,
essentially grooming off the mites as
they do (think lice comb). Second, the
powdered sugar will coat the mites, and
they won’t be able to hold on to the bees.
Screen Bottom Board
Replace the solid bottom board of
the hive with a screened version. When
mites are dislodged from the bees, they’ll
Strive for Healthy Hives
Monitoring and treating for mites is
important for managing healthy hon-
eybee colonies. Learn how to conduct
a basic hive inspection, including a
Varroa mite check, in the “Honeybee
Colony Management” online workshop,
part of our “Modern Homesteading”
online course. Learn more about it at
Online.MotherEarthNewsFair.com.
fall through the floor of the hive. Varroa
mites aren’t good climbers and will be
unable to climb back up through the
hive to find another host.
Drone Comb
“Drone comb” is exactly what it
sounds like: honeycomb that’s sized for
drones. When a queen approaches an
empty cell, she first measures the cell
with her front legs. The depth of the cell
signals her to lay the type of egg needed.
The deeper drone cells prompt her to
lay an unfertilized egg. Varroa mites are
attracted to drone cells, because their
eggs take longer to incubate, so the
mites can lay more eggs.
Once the drone cells are capped, pull
out the drone frames, freeze them for 24
hours to kill the larvae and mites, and
then scratch open the cells. Replace the
opened cells in the hives, where the bees
will clean them out and start the cycle
over again. Using the drone comb works
with the natural cycles of both bees and
mites, so it’ll interrupt the Varroa mite’s
life cycle.
Drone comb is typically green in
color, so it’s easy to find in the hive.
Most beekeepers who use this technique
place a frame of drone comb in the
outer positions in the brood boxes.
This placement encourages the mites to
gather away from the worker bee cells,
in addition to providing a system to
remove them.
Handling Small Hive Beetles
Small hive beetles seek out honey
and beehives, and, once they’re inside a
WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 47
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through. Check and empty this trap

Small hive beetle larvae (see bottom of photo) feed on honey and honeybee pupae if left unchecked. every week or so until the infestation has
diminished. This style of trap is most
hive, they nestle in small cracks, edges, population, and take steps to reduce or effective from late spring to fall, when
and corners. You may see them scurry eliminate beetles in the hives. beetles are most active.
under frame spacers or into spaces
between boards. Beetle Traps 2 Pests with 1 Product
A healthy colony will sequester a small There are several styles of traps, all of For treating Varroa mites, our state
population of beetles and keep them in which use an odorless oil, such as veg- bee inspector advised using Mite Away
check. They’ll often post guard bees etable oil, to drown the beetles. An attrac- Quick Strips, which will also help
near the beetles’ hideout to keep them tant, such as apple cider vinegar, can also suppress the small hive beetles. While
contained. Some beekeepers have even be added to lure the beetles to the trap. using powdered sugar may be effective
noted something of a propolis cage the Disposable traps are small and for mites, it won’t have the same effect
bees constructed to keep the beetles in usually sit between the frames, while in diminishing hive beetles. The active
one area. However, if the population most reusable traps are placed along ingredient in Mite Away Quick Strips
gets out of control — in a weak hive, the outside edges of the frames. Once is formic acid; it’s approved for use in
for example — the beetles can take over, reusable traps are filled with beetles, take organic hives and during the honey flow.
contributing to a die-out of that colony. them out, dump them, and refill them This may be an effective option if you
When the small hive beetle population with oil. When removing them, take suspect your hive is suffering from both
gains strength, they’ll leave the crevices care to ensure you don’t spill oil in the mites and beetles.
and move into the comb. The larvae hive or on your bees.
will feed on honey and the honeybee You can also use a type of trap on the Smashing
pupae. A yeast that’s carried by the small hive’s bottom board. Place a spacer on Whenever you’re in the hive and see a
hive beetle will cause honey to ferment the bottom board, followed by a tray beetle, be sure to smash it with your hive
and create a slime in the honeycomb, filled with oil. The tray is topped with a tool. It’s a small effort, but each beetle
which will ruin the honey. Therefore, screen that allows the beetles to fall into smashed is one less beetle in the hive.
be mindful of the small hive beetle the oil but prevents the bees from falling I won’t let a dead-out deter me from
keeping honeybees — and you shouldn’t,
either! Strive to learn from your experi-
ences, and you’ll become an even better
The Go-To Guide for the DIY Beekeeper beekeeper.
Learn to craft equipment that’ll save you time and money,
and that’s tailored to your climate and setup, in Build Your Own
Beekeeping Equipment. Full of insightful tips and covering a variety Julia Miller is co-owner, farmer, and
of hive types, author Tony Pisano describes all the basic infrastruc- beekeeper at Five Feline Farm (www.
ture you’ll need to keep your bees happy and active — and your FiveFelineFarm.com). She’s also
pantry full of honey. You can choose among different hive styles, and the author of Simply Delicious and
FLICKR/FOREST AND KIM STARR

many of the 35 projects can be made using hand tools. The Long Road To Market. Connect
This title is available at Store.MotherEarthNews.com or by calling with Julia on Facebook, Twitter, and
800-234-3368. Mention promo code MMEPAMZ5. Item #6730. Instagram @FiveFelineFarm.

48 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

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 This article is available
online in audio form at
MotherEarthNews.com

My Little Free
Seed Library
Journey A dream for community, learning,
and empowerment sprouted into
reality through a neighborhood
hub for seeds and food.

Story and photos by Manar Arica Alattar

I
’d like to say that my journey to a little free seed library began
because of my awareness of food systems’ inefficiencies,
food insecurity, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
on the ability of folks to acquire resources. After all, I teach a
university course on food systems and social justice. But while
that would be true, it also wouldn’t be the whole truth. The
whole truth is that I’ve always wished to have a little free library,
a place for folks to exchange books and ideas, to relax, and to
build community. I’ve enjoyed and benefited from many little
free libraries as a reader myself and as a mother seeking out
books for my littles, especially during the pandemic.
As my family and I settled into our forever home in 2019, I
was excited at the opportunity to create a free library in this new
place. I even imagined a parklet outside my home where people
could sit and rest while reading.
A couple of weeks after we moved in, I met my next-door
neighbor, maybe for the second time, out on her lawn. With
her husband, she was putting in a little free library. It was a

Explore These Seed Resources

Seeds, though small, are incredibly important to our health, com-
munities, and even our political and social systems. You might be
surprised how much so. Read about the importance of soil and seeds
to our health in Farmacology by Daphne Miller. Learn about the cata-
clysmic (but unknown to most of us) loss of seed varieties and the
market and political monopolies on seeds by chemical and pharma-
ceutical companies in Seeds of Resistance by Mark Schapiro. And sit
down with some popcorn to watch seed keepers’ journeys to protect
seed diversity in the 2016 documentary Seed: The Untold Story.

50 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

cute, birdhouse-style, stained-wood
library, sweet and simple. As I smiled
and congratulated her, my heart
sank. It wouldn’t make sense to have
two adjacent libraries; I knew that
immediately.
After the initial disappointment, I
regained my determination. So what if
it was her library and not mine? I had
books to share and a library to share
them in — what a wonderful blessing!
For weeks, I brought over a couple
of books at a time and enjoyed the
library myself. However, I still wanted
my own.
As one dream faded, the seed of
another was planted. I had thought of
a seed library before but had dismissed
the idea. I was worried about the
technicalities and wasn’t confident
I could make it work. But now, as
I acknowledged that I still needed
my own mechanism of sharing, the
conditions were right for that old idea
to germinate. It first sat on the back
shelf of my mind and then slowly crept
to the forefront.
In the weeks that followed, I
experimented with various ideas,
and, finally, it all came together.
Now, I’m so fortunate and blessed to
live between a little free library and a
little seed library. This experience has been
a wonderful reminder that little and large
disappointments and troubles may indeed
be the seeds that allow us to grow stronger,
healthier, more confident, more connected,
and more capable. Here’s a summary of my
journey. Enjoy!
Allowing the Seed to Germinate
I had thought about a seed library before,
as I mentioned, but I was nervous about
the logistics of it. Could I pull it off? Would My Little Free Pantry arrived cut
it be beneficial to folks? Would it sustain and with most of the materials I
itself like a book library? Would the seeds needed for assembly. Best of all, it turn toward their resources, I could pivot
be ruined by the elements? But, I thought, had clear instructions for putting
what’s better than taking on a challenge that it together.
could allow people to learn about and grow
their own food?
My seed library idea was further nourished by an experience
in my food systems course. When the pandemic hit and we
went virtual, I had to throw out and replace the community
service project I had previously required. Eventually, I settled
on an alternative project, where students grow a food item from
seed, cook it, and make a recipe video
to share. I received so much positive
feedback about this new project. The
most common feedback was that,
although they rarely grew or even
cooked food before the pandemic,
students found comfort in gaining
these skills and sharing food during
these hard times.
As I dwelled on the success of that
project, I wondered if I could recreate
that kind of sharing and skill-building
in my community with this little free
seed library.
Watering the Seed
I looked for other seed library
concepts and found many resources
and examples of full-on cataloged
libraries, little free seed swaps, and
seed baskets. After this research, I was
more ready to try designing my own.
I knew I wanted my library to be
simple, with limited red tape, and self-
sustaining. I also wanted it to have a
narrow design, front to back, to make
for easy access to seeds and to avoid
clutter. It would need a simple way of
organizing seeds and a mechanism for
moisture control (moisture packets
or rice packets behind seed packs).
It would also have a section for
exchanging non-perishable foods, a pantry.
Finally, I wanted the structure to be living! I
found examples of various ideas but settled
with the simplest.
Budding Ideas and Designs
At first, my dream design was a vintage
spice box adapted for a seed library, but after
considering a number of options, it seemed
that weatherproofing them would be a
challenge. So, I decided to shelve the vintage
box notion, at least for now.
But just as seedlings are flexible and
also. My good friend tipped me off to
www.LittleFreePantry.org, a group dedicated
to providing pantries of food items in
neighborhoods and communities to address food insecurity.
They provide information, patterns for box-making, and even
resources. They’re based in a city a couple of hours away from
me, but it turns out they were willing to provide me materials
and assembly instructions. This was more my speed as a first-
time builder.
WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 51
 After applying some stainer, these craft crates are ready to be seed drawers. The attached chalk boards serve as a labeling system.

I still wanted to personalize the design
with a cool vintage component: vintage
drawers. But after visiting numerous vintage
malls and seeing enough adorable vintage
drawers to make a grown woman cry, I had
to ditch the idea.
Besides the undeniable charm of these
drawers, there seemed to be no drawer design
that guaranteed larger seed and bulb packets
wouldn’t get jammed. The only exception
was, maybe, a larger and deeper one that was
already being used as a cashier drawer at my
local vintage shop.
I settled with three wooden craft crates
instead. They’re still cute and functional, so
I’m happy with the final result.
Once I had my seed drawers, I personalized
the pantry design by making it narrower to fit Folks can learn more about the
the crates and adding a shelf. I also developed seed library on the pamphlet.
a short bookmark pamphlet (right) with
instructions as well as information on the importance of seeds
on the back.
Developing Seeds
and Connections
As I was assembling and painting my box over a couple of
weeks, anxious for the day it would be up and functioning, I
was also seeking out seeds to put in the box. I connected with
several generous people and organizations to help me with
finding the right seeds. Here are a few of them:
Buy Nothing Project and Facebook
gardening groups. People are amazingly
generous. Most of my seeds came from
neighbors I didn’t even know, but they offered
to support me. In addition to local Facebook
groups, the Buy Nothing Project (www.
BuyNothingProject.org) is a place for people to
gift things freely to each other in hyperlocal
areas and was a great resource to me.
Grow This! Oregon Garden Challenge.
The Food Hero program through the
Oregon Food Bank and Oregon State
University Extension provided seeds and
online programming around growing and
cooking food items.
Local seed swaps. Folks are doing
amazing grassroots organizing. Each time
I’ve connected with people about seeds, I’ve
grown in knowledge and appreciation of
seed and plant people.
My local food bank. The folks at my local food bank said
they’d usually have seeds to donate, but they were directing them
into other programs during the pandemic. Maybe next year!

Step into Seed Saving

Build a firm foundation of seed-saving knowledge with our
online “Seed Saving” course. Bevin Cohen of Small House
Farm is your guide in this introduction into the world of saving
seeds. Workshop videos produced by Bevin cover topics such
as building community by sharing seeds, the living history of
heirloom varieties, understanding seed-saving terminology,
pollinating plants, processing and storing seeds, and more. Join
us at Online.MotherEarthNewsFair.com.
These seeds were acquired from a local seed swap back in April.

52 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

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 The finished little free seed library has shelves of canned goods and a wide variety of seeds ready for sharing.

Plant nurseries. Another friend tipped me off to obtaining
seeds from nurseries. You can call up your local nursery and ask
for any extra or recently expired seeds it has.
Local library seed banks. I found a couple of libraries that
were donating seeds, but their seed lending was either on hold
for the pandemic or they were located farther away. I did suggest
to my library the idea of a seed library for the future.
Family and friends. Again, people are generous. I received
seeds and starts from folks I knew and folks I didn’t know! I’ve
made so many new and amazing connections along this journey.
I also have the most amazing family members who helped me
with building, establishing, and maintaining my library.
The Fruits of Success
Once I assembled the library, I put together a simple labeling
and categorizing system and hung it up. Within the first week,
folks dropped by to take and exchange seeds and canned food.
It was working!
The final part of the project was putting together the living
component. I experimented with different designs but finally
settled on a simple barrel planter system. I used it for starts
at first until my mint, basil, thyme, and rosemary plants were
ready to take their rightful places potted within the structure.
I wanted to engage people even more around the seed library.
So, I hosted a seed-planting event for the kids on the block.
Children came by with their planters, sanitized their hands,
and then stuck them into the soil! They chose from ‘Painted
Mountain’ corn, yellow ‘Janosik’ watermelon, ‘Early Purple’
broccoli, zinnias, multicolored sunflowers from a local seed
swap, and many more. They looked at brain-shaped seeds
(nasturtium), coiled and barbed seeds (calendula), Manila-
envelope-shaped seeds (birdhouse gourd), teeny-tiny seeds
(oregano and quinoa), and bean seeds in a variety of shades,
from white to speckled-red.
I have more grand plans for engaging my own two beautiful
boys and the community in growing, preparing, sharing, and
teaching about seeds and food. This was just the beginning!
And the Journey Continues
It’s such a joy to watch seeds being exchanged, cans being
added, and to have connections with neighbors about seeds and
resources! We did have one minor instance of vandalism, but
nothing a quick fix couldn’t remedy. I love stepping out with
my coffee to check on the library each morning.
I hope this work inspires more sharing. We all have something
that can make our communities better and stronger. What skills,
ideas, gifts, or materials do you have to offer your community?
I look forward to your thoughts, ideas, and amazing work.
Manar Alattar teaches food systems and biology at the University
of Portland and Portland Community College, respectively. She
encourages students to make their own connections to food and
the living world through understanding, interacting with, growing,
and eating healthy food.

Establish Your Seed Library

A growing movement is striving to preserve and expand our stock of heritage and heirloom varieties through seed
saving and sharing. By empowering communities to preserve and protect the genetic diversity of their harvests, we
can reclaim our self-reliance — and simultaneously enhance our food security and ensure that the future of food is
healthy, vibrant, tasty, and nutritious. In Seed Libraries, Cindy Conner provides step-by-step instructions for setting
up a seed library, a wealth of ideas to help attract patrons and keep momentum going, and numerous examples of
existing libraries and other types of seed-saving partnerships.
This title is available at Store.MotherEarthNews.com or by calling 800-234-3368. Mention promo code
MMEPAMZ5. Item #7539.

54 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

 MAY 28-29, 2022
LAWRENCE, KS
Douglas County Fairgrounds
KIRSTEN K. SHOCKEY AMYROSE FOLL 2120 Harper St.
Real Food Food as Medicine Lawrence, KS 66046

For More Details, Visit:

www.MotherEarthNewsFair.com

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Don’t miss this opportunity for GROWING COMMUNITY
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Contact INFO
For more information on our in-person events — including
tickets, exhibits, and sponsor inquiries — as well as our
online courses and webinars, please call 800-234-3368 or
visit www.MotherEarthNewsFair.com.
All programming, dates, and locations subject to change.

Journey to Eden
Cultivate your own Story and photos by William Rubel
E
piece of paradise by den is a garden in harmony
with nature, a place of mean-
introducing some dering paths along which we
gather food for our dinner. My defini-
lush disorder into tion of Eden is also a garden without
rows — a friendly wilderness without
your garden. an obvious plan.
Neighbors describe the author’s boisterous 20-by-20-foot plot as a “Garden of Eden.”
56 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
This article is available
online in audio form at
MotherEarthNews.com
In contrast, our vegetable gardens and
farms focus almost entirely on being
friendly to humans, while excluding
much of the natural world. Traditional
gardens have implied boundary walls
and are organized around a short list
of plants that are OK, and a long list
of plants that aren’t OK. Henry David
Thoreau, the American philosopher,
farmed beans while staying in a cabin
on Walden Pond in the 1840s. After a
year of assiduously ripping out every
weed, he started thinking that it might
be a good idea to plant for nature, too,
by allotting a portion of his land to the
birds and bees.
Nearly two centuries later, the con-
sequence of humans thinking mostly
about ourselves has brought us to a plan-
etary climate crisis. Now, many of us are
asking, “What can I do?” One thing is to
create gardens that draw inspiration from
the story of Eden. For me, that means
planting a vegetable garden that looks
more like a flower garden than a farm,
and to allow some wild plants to thrive
in my plot.
Rethinking Weeds
Domesticated vegetables are slow to
flower and, anyway, we usually harvest
them before they do. Weeds, on the other
hand, flower quickly. (This includes the
wild forms of our domesticated plants.)
Flowering weeds support pollinators that
are under stress from human activities.
The weeds I recommend you get to know
are dual-use plants — edible as well as pol-
linator friendly — and none are invasive.
For most of us, myself included, ac-
cepting weeds into our gardens means
overcoming old habits and learning new
things. You’ll need to develop skills at
identifying plants and their traditional
culinary uses. Exercise caution when
using phone apps to put a name to un-
familiar plants, as some people have ex-
perienced misidentifications this way. Be
You can attract additional pollinators to your Edenic garden by planting flowers for culinary purposes, and by allowing some vegetables to bloom.

sure to consult experienced foragers in The Path to Eden outer bed for traditional row crops — let-
your area, in person or via the many plant My own yard is small and shady, so I tuce, potatoes, garlic, carrots, beets — as
ID sites online (including Facebook). I’ve grow vegetables in a community garden well as any specialty crop you want to pro-
found www.Wikipedia.org to be helpful plot that’s 20-by-20-feet — a good size for duce in quantity, such as lots of basil for
for descriptions of traditional culinary anyone’s first-year Edenic garden. putting up jars of pesto. A single 20-foot-
uses for weeds. Based on my experience, I offer this ad- long side of the outer bed can yield 150 to
Many of us purposefully attract bees to vice for creating your own plot. This gar- 200 pounds of potatoes. This space lends
our flower gardens through our choice of den design is made up of three sections: itself to the square-foot gardening system.
plants. My concept of an Edenic garden A 2-foot-wide outer bed for traditional (For more information on this technique,
embraces two sources of flowers. One is row crops, an informal inner fence for visit www.MotherEarthNews.com/Square-
common vegetables: Let at least one plant vining plants, and an inner square — the Foot-Gardening.) If you want to plant
of each variety flower and seed. If onion, Edenic garden proper, planted more like corn, I recommend widening the bed on
carrot, radish, chicory, and (my favorite) a flower garden. the north-facing side of the square so the
cilantro flowers are unfamiliar to you, then 1 Outer bed. You’ll work the narrow stalks won’t shade the other plants.
you’ll be in for many pleasant surprises! outer bed in conventional ways, planting 2 Inner fence. Artists often depict
The bees will be pleased too. (For more on it in production vegetables. This 2-foot- the biblical Eden surrounded by a fence.
flowering vegetables, see my article “Life wide bed will run along all four sides of the Happily, a fence in your home Edenic gar-
Cycle Gardening,” April/May 2019.) The 20-by-20 garden, totaling approximately den will provide roughly 65 linear feet for
second source of plants to support pollina- 160 square feet of planting space. Use the vining plants — enough space for 400 pole
tor populations are weeds.
The weeds I accept in my Edenic garden
have a long tradition of culinary use for
humans, and as forage for greens-loving
rabbits and chickens, and they grow in
harmony with domesticated vegetables.
These so-called weeds are the wild let-
tuces and chicories, and wild plants such
as nettle, common mallow, and dande-
lion that people have historically foraged
in early spring. At first, using wild plants
may mean adding only a few tender leaves
to salads, and more robust leaves to soups
and stews. But you’ll soon learn that tend-
ed wild plants in an Edenic garden are
larger and more tender-leaved than those
growing in waste spaces.
Before you can experiment with eating
homegrown wild greens, you’ll need to
plant a garden that nurtures them. An inner garden fence can provide plenty of linear feet for vines, such as these scarlet runner beans.

WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 57
 beans planted 2 inches apart, 65 cucum-
bers 1 foot apart, or 32 vining tomatoes
2 feet apart. That’s a lot of space for a lot
of plants. You should select a combination
of species and cultivars and change plant
types every few feet. In the spirit of Eden,
this mix of fence-line plantings means har-
vesting will involve a bit of hunting: You
might have to search for cucumbers hid-
den by bean plants.
3 Inner square. Focus on species and
cultivar diversity, including select edible
weeds. This space is the core garden, where
you work out your personal Edenic vision.
If you’re able to start a garden from scratch,
I suggest you begin by clearing the square,
adding manure, and creating meandering
paths. Then, build a savannah-like forest
on 2⁄3 of the inner square by planting it
in sunflowers and tall vegetables, such as
tree kale (also known as tree collard) and
Lacinato-type kale. These tall plants will
provide the garden structure and, in hot
climates, will cast valuable shade for sensi-
tive plants below. Think of them as the
chords that underpin jazz compositions.
Next, start adding other plants as the
season advances. Place them almost with-
out any kind of pattern, or in small groups
of two or three plants as we gardeners do
with flowers. The randomness and spe-
cies diversity are what make this garden
different. Try robust greens, such as esca-
Allow one plant of every type to produce seed. From left: a bundle of drying broccoli rabe seed heads; a flowering lettuce plant; radish pods.
58 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
Learn to identify volunteer seedlings.
Pictured here, broccoli rabe.
role and chicory, and as many of whatever
suits your palate and that will fit — parsley,
cilantro, green onions, chives, tomatillo,
cayenne pepper, strawberries, and more.
The magic happened in my garden
around the fifth month, when the sa-
vannah of sunflowers and kales started
maturing. Unprompted, other gardeners
in the community garden began telling
me they described my plot to friends as a
“Garden of Eden.”
Curating Weeds
The aspect of Edenic gardening that
gives me the most pleasure is allowing
useful weeds to grow. Cultivating weeds
requires skills that most of us garden-
ers, myself included, don’t have — and
it’s exciting and challenging to do some-
thing completely new.
I use a phone app for identification,
and do follow-up research to learn how
to use weed plants in my kitchen. You’ll
need to develop the skill of identifying
volunteer seedlings so you can decide
which to nurture and which to “weed
out.” You may also need to recognize
the seedlings of vegetables you planted
and allowed to set seed. Once you start
curating weeds, the ones you keep will
cease to be weeds!
A big surprise for me came when I be-
gan seeing my own garden as part of the
community’s larger plant ecology. After
identifying wild prickly lettuce (Lactuca
serriola) and allowing it to grow in my
garden, I suddenly recognized it every-
where. I even noticed a long patch of it
where a bike path I use passes by a marble
cutting yard at the edge of town.
Many of our pets love greens. Chickens
and rabbits can both consume large piles
of edible prunings and pulled weeds. A
benefit of Edenic gardening is that you
can also plan for your pets.
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Accept and cultivate edible weeds and volunteer vegetables in your Edenic garden plot. From left: plentiful greens; scarlet pimpernel; wild lettuce.
Pay close attention to discover their
preferences. Chickens always love kale,
but both my chickens and rabbits seem
to have a special fondness for the com-
mon mallow (Malva neglecta), also
known as buttonweed. This plant is a
hollyhock relative, so you may recog-
nize it when it appears in your garden.
Parakeets have a distinct preference for
tender lettuces, especially frisée.
Recording the Changes
I’ve fallen in love with my Edenic
garden. It’s especially beautiful in the
evening when the sun is low in the sky
and its raking light makes many of the
plants glow. And I love that my plot is
so productive!
The author’s garden in fall.
Note the towering kale
trees and sunflower stalks.
The garden and I are on a journey to
Eden, and every big journey deserves
a journal. I keep my journal by dictat-
ing into my phone while walking in the
garden. Close observation enables us to
improve our gardens the following year.
Especially useful for improving
productivity is keeping track of how
quickly radish, spinach, and other fast-
growing crops reach maturity in differ-
ent months. This helps us refine our
succession planting schedules so we al-
ways have something to harvest. More
profoundly, our climate and the grow-
ing seasons are changing. Recording
when weeds and seedlings are ready to
harvest will help you adjust the timing
of your planting to fit what’s happen-
ing on the ground where you live. Your
observations will be well in advance
of any changes the U.S. Department
of Agriculture makes to its Plant
Hardiness Zone Map. Last year, I was
able to advance my planting schedule
by one month by observing mid-De-
cember nettle and lettuce seedlings in
my garden.
William Rubel is the author of Bread: A
Global History, and the founder of Stone
Soup magazine. He writes for MOTHER
EARTH NEWS on gardening, making
bread, home distilling, and more. He
lives in California with his daughter.
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 Craft
Custom-Made
Sandals
Walk in comfort with
a pair of handmade
leather sandals fitted
to your feet.

By Rachel Corry

T
Tools and Materials his is a casual and unfussy sandal 66 for more details on choosing a pat-
• Pencil and permanent marker that’s easy to make. The design tern.) Be sure to draw a sole pattern that’s
• Scissors consists of two pieces per foot, slightly larger than what you think you’ll
• Straightedge with a tie at the ankle. The straps are need. One side of the patterns will repre-
• Knife sandwiched between the sole layers and sent the right foot, and the flip side will
• Awl or rougher tool skived so you don’t feel them underfoot. represent the left foot. Mark the sides “R”
• Rotary hole punch Feel free to adjust the toe strap width and and “L” to help you remember.
• Masking tape play around with the shape of the ankle Cut out your patterns, and then check
• Solvent-based shoe glue strap. If you don’t love laces, you can eas- that they fit your feet and that the style
• Hammer ily swap in a small strap that closes with a suits you. Make adjustments as necessary.
• Belt sander (optional) buckle or stud. Be sure the toe and ankle straps extend
• Pattern pieces at least 1 inch underfoot when pulled
• 11⁄2 square feet medium-weight 1 Preparing Patterns snugly against your foot.
leather (4-to-5-ounce leather or On a piece of sturdy paper, draw pat-
similar), for toe and ankle straps terns for a sole, an ankle strap, and a toe 2 Tracing and Cutting
• 1 square foot thick leather (9-to-10- strap. You can fashion the toe and ankle Using your patterns, trace the ankle
ounce leather or similar), for footbeds straps into the same style as the sandals and toe straps for both feet onto the me-
LAUREN MARTIN

• 1 square foot rubber soling material pictured here, create your own design, or dium-weight leather. Trace the sole pat-
• Laces copy a pattern from an existing sandal. tern onto the thicker leather to create two
(See “Making Sandal Patterns” on Page footbeds. Remember to flip your patterns

62 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

 over so you get the correct shapes
for both the left and right foot.
Use a straightedge and sharp knife
to cut out the shapes just inside
your lines so no marker or pencil
marks remain on your shoes.
3 Draping and Marking
Place one leather footbed onto
a low stool. Put your correspond-
ing foot on top of the footbed,
and then drape the leather toe and
ankle straps over your foot. The
back of the ankle strap should be
snug against the top of your heel.
The toe strap should cover your
pinkie toe; in other words, don’t
let all five toes stick out past the
front of the strap. The ends of
the toe straps (the tabs that will
eventually go inside the sole lay- Test your paper pattern on your feet before cutting the leather.
ers) should be angled back toward
the heel to allow the opening at the toes
to be a bit narrower than the space at the
back. Once you’ve found the place where
the straps look best, use a pencil or awl
to mark a dot on the footbed where each
end edge of each strap lands, about ⁄8 3
inch from the outside footbed edge.
Repeat Step 3 with the other footbed.
4 Dots and Slots
LAUREN MARTIN (3)
Take one footbed and punch out the
dots you made in Step 3 using the small-
est setting on a rotary hole punch. Place
Mark where the slots will go in the footbed, and then mark the tab placements on the underside.
the first footbed face to face with the
other footbed, and then use a pencil or
awl to transfer the dot placements to the
second footbed. Punch out these dots
with the rotary punch. Once the holes
are punched in both footbeds, use your
sharp knife to cut parallel cuts between
the holes to create the slots for the ankle
and toe straps.
5 Fitting
Slide the toe and ankle straps of both
sandals into place through the slots in the
footbeds. Adjust the straps until
the fit is just right. This may re-
quire tugging them at a diagonal
or cutting triangular darts into the
tabs of the toe straps. Adding darts
will provide a slight curve to the
sides of the toe straps, resulting in
a better-looking shoe. Use mask-
ing tape to secure the bottom tabs
of the toe and the ankle straps to
the undersides of the footbeds.
6 Outlining
When you’re happy with the
fit on both feet, outline the bot-
tom tabs on the undersides of
both footbeds with a permanent
marker. Move the tape out of the
way into a hinge position that will
prevent the tabs from shifting out
of place.
7 Scratching and Gluing
With an awl or rougher tool, add tex-
ture to the surfaces of all the tabs and
both footbeds where the tabs will be
glued in place. Apply glue and wait for
it to become tacky. Press each tab down
carefully within the lines you drew in
Step 6.
WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 63
 Once you’ve determined the proper placement for the toe and ankle strap tabs, glue them in place, and then skive them until they’re comfortable underfoot.
Try on the shoes. If you’re satisfied
with the fit, hammer the tabs to secure
the bond. If the fit needs a correction,
pull up a tab with pliers and reglue it in
the improved position.
8 Skiving
Carefully use your knife blade to skive
the edges of each tab for a smooth feel
underfoot. Try the sandals on and make
sure there are no spots of discomfort.
When you feel you’ve done
enough skiving, use your awl
or rougher tool to rough up
the entire bottom of both
footbeds, including the tabs.
9 Preparing
Rubber Soles
Trace your right and left
sole patterns onto the rubber
soling material, adding a halo
of about 3⁄8 inch all the way
around to produce an out-
sole shape slightly larger than
you’ll ultimately need. This
will make it easier to glue and
trim the outsoles later. Cut
out the outsoles with a knife.
10 Joining
Rubber Soles
In a well-ventilated area,
apply glue to the bottom of Trim the rubber sole with a knife, using the footbed edge as a guide.
64 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
both footbeds and the smooth side of
both rubber outsoles. Wait until the glue
is tacky, and then apply another coat to
the footbeds and outsoles. Wait again for
the glue to get tacky, and then carefully
join the footbeds to the outsoles. Press
the surfaces together with your finger-
tips, and then gently hammer the lay-
ers together. Try on the sandals, and use
your body weight to further compress
the layers.
11 Trimming
If you don’t have a belt sander, you’ll
need to hand-trim the outsole edges
with a knife. Hold the toe and ankle
straps out of the way, and then care-
fully insert a sharp knife blade (at least
2 inches long) into the rubber soling.
Using the footbed edge as a trimming
guide, pull your blade steadily through
the rubber, going all the way around the
sandal in as fluid a motion as possible.
If you have access to a belt
sander, roughly cut off most
of the excess rubber soling on
both shoes using your knife,
and then carefully finish the
soles with the sander. You
can also take the soles to a
cobbler for sanding.
After sanding or hand-cut-
ting the soles, you’ll notice
an imperfect top edge on the
footbed. Trim this away us-
ing a knife for the sides and
scissors for the curves at the
toe and heel. Take off as little
edge as possible, and work at
a 45-degree angle. After this
trimming, you may choose
to leave your sandal edges
LAUREN MARTIN (3)
raw, because the leather and
rubber can react differently
to edge treatment.
 Red Rat’s Tail Radish SPROUTS IN IDEAL TEMP. SEED DEPTH
Raphanus sativus 3-6 days 50-75F 1⁄4” deep

ORIGIN PLANT SPACING FROST HARDY MINIMUM SUN

China & Southeast Asia 6” apart Yes 6-12 hours

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. photo

RELISH THE RADISH

Red Rat’s Tail radish may be the best vegeta-
ble you’ve never tried!
This unique radish variety is grown for its ed-
ible seed pods, not its roots. Rat-tail radishes
are native to Southeast Asia and China, and
while they are a staple in South Asian cuisine,
they have disappeared from American gar-
dens. We think this zippy, crispy and prolific
little vegetable is overdue for a comeback!
Edible-podded radishes spread along trade
routes into Central Asia and Europe in ancient
times, and the Greeks and Romans cultivated
them. English gardener John Evelyn wrote of
them in his 1699 book Acetaria. They were fea-
tured as a “newly introduced” vegetable at the
1866 International Horticultural Exhibition in
London. And for a brief time in the late 19th
and early 20th century, American seed cata-
logs also offered rat-tail radish.
Unlike other radish varieties grown for their
roots, Red Rat’s Tail radishes like warm weath-
er and produce abundantly over a long sea-
son. Picked young, they deliver amazing fla-
vor to salads, stir fries and curries, and make
terrific pickles. Radish lovers, rejoice!

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EST. 1998
 12 Adding Laces
Lace placement is up to you. First, de-
cide whether you want one or two holes
on each side of the ankle strap. Then, try
on your sandals and draw dots where the
lace holes look most natural. I usually
place my lace holes about 3⁄8 inch from
the edge of the ankle strap. Once you’ve
determined lace placement, punch the
holes with the hole punch, using a set-
ting that will let the laces pass through
easily. Decide how long the lacing needs
to be to tie a bow, and then trim two
laces to size.
Rachel Corry is a shoemaker with
a special interest in handcrafted
sandals. This is excerpted from her
book The Sandalmaking Workshop
(Storey Publishing).

Making Sandal Patterns

Deciding which style of sandal you want to make may be the hard-
est part of this whole process! Once you’ve chosen a design, you’ll
need paper patterns for each component, including the sole and
all the upper straps. You can find patterns online, copy the style of
a beloved sandal you already own, or design your own pattern from
scratch. Remember, each paper pattern piece is meant to be flipped
over, so one side of the paper will be for your right foot and one for
your left foot.
I started my sandal-making journey by re-creating my favorite
sandals and making alterations. It was a wonderful way to learn,
because I had something to reference. If you have a pair of sandals
you love, use them as a template for a new pair. Place the chosen
shoe upside down on paper, and then roll it from one side to the
other as you trace with a pencil. Cut out the shapes, and then drape
them over the original shoe to see how faithful your pattern is. Your
pattern pieces won’t be perfect at first; make modifications as need-
ed. And remember to alter the design to make it your own!
If you’ll be making a pattern from scratch, draw shapes that resem-
ble the design you wish to create, and then cut the shapes out and
drape them on your foot. Look closely, and decide what adjustments
you want to make, such as making the straps longer, shorter, thicker,
LAUREN MARTIN (2)
and making other corrections until you’re satisfied. It can take many
iterations before the pattern resembles what you’ve envisioned.
If you’re looking at an existing pattern, keep in mind that you can
alter it to suit your style and size. When my workshop students en-
counter my patterns, they usually start to look for their shoe size. I
try to get them to ignore size markings and instead see the patterns
as shapes. Any paper pattern can be added to, subtracted from,
extended, have sections pinched out, and so on. Even shoes factory-
made to “standard” sizes vary in fit. Try to see past your number
size and look instead for shapes you like. Feet are all so different.
Be open to altering your patterns as much as necessary to fit your
feet and your design preferences.
Your sole pattern should err on the larger side. I recommend leav-
ing 1⁄2 inch extra space in front of your toes and 3⁄8 inch extra space
behind your heel. This is because you’ll lose some of the length as
you stack the layers and shape the sole to the contours of your foot.
If your sole pattern proves too long in the end, you can always cut
and sand it down. On the other hand, your toe and ankle patterns
will not be sanded down, so they need to be accurate from the be-
ginning. Place your foot on a low stool when choosing your toe and
ankle patterns, and then drape different pattern pieces over your

or more curvy. Make little arrows on the paper where you want more foot. Make sure the pattern pieces hug the curves of your foot and
material, and mark a line where you intend to cut. Then, trace the extend 1 to 11⁄2 inches underfoot so they have enough surface area
pattern pieces onto new paper, adding and subtracting as needed, to hold the glue.

You can easily alter a paper pattern by tracing it onto a new sheet of paper. Copy an existing sandal pattern to re-create a beloved design.

66 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

 MORE GREAT WAYS TO LIVE THE
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970-392-4419

Outwit
Hardworking
Beavers
Dam-building beavers
can have an outsized
impact on their
environment — here’s
how to gently deter
them from making
unwanted modifications
to your pond.
68 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
By Doug Thalacker
B
eavers have been integrated into
our lives for centuries. Sayings
such as “busy as a beaver,” “ea-
ger beaver,” and “leave it to beaver”
(OK, I might be stretching here) all
come from the apparent industrious-
ness of beavers. The Greek word kas-
tor, which means “one who excels,” is
probably the root for the beaver’s genus
Castor. The provinces of Saskatchewan
This article is available
online in audio form at
MotherEarthNews.com
and Alberta use the beaver in their
official seals. Oregon is the Beaver
State. Beaver lore abounds in Native
American cultures. Even Aesop had a
story about how a beaver saved itself,
although the story is not for gentle ears.
The beaver has played many roles
ADOBE STOCK/RONNIE HOWARD
on the North American continent. Its
meat, fur, and castoreum were used by
Native Americans for thousands of years
before the beaver became one of the
principal financial sources that funded

the exploration and colonization of the
continent by the Europeans. Today, af-
ter near extinction by the fur trade, bea-
vers have made a dramatic comeback.
They have repopulated much of their
historic range, to the point that now, in
many places, the beaver has become a
pest with a propensity for chewing trees,
building dams in unwanted places, and
digging into man-made ponds.
A Brief Natural History
Castor canadensis is a rodent. It is a
member of a larger order that includes
gophers, kangaroo rats, and pocket
mice, and it’s the second largest in body
size behind capybaras. Fossil evidence
indicates that modern beavers evolved
from the family Castoridae starting
about 24 million years ago, during the
Miocene Epoch. Some members of this
family reached 6.5 feet in length and
220 pounds in weight. Even at the end
of the Pleistocene (11,000 years ago),
there were bear-sized beavers in Canada.
As our modern beaver evolved into the
bark-eating animal of today, it also re-
duced in size. Beavers of today have a
body length of roughly 40 inches, plus
a tail in the range of 15 inches. Adults
weigh about 30 to 65 pounds.
The beaver is superbly adapted to its
watery lifestyle. Beavers have evolved
streamlined bodies, webbed feet for
swimming (they don’t swim with their
tails), and muscular bodies for pull-
ing heavy loads. The beaver’s iron-
imbedded, ever-growing teeth and the
skull that supports those teeth are de-
signed for one thing: gnawing wood.
Beavers feed on many types of plants,
but their extra-long gut is designed to
extract nutrition from the cambium of
woody plants. They even have the habit
of eating their own feces as a method of
extracting the maximum amount of nu-
trients from their lignin-laden diet. The
coat of a beaver has 75,000 to 150,000
hairs per square inch. That’s more hair in
the area of a postage stamp than humans
have on their entire head. This dense fur
keeps beavers warm, protects them from
predators, and helps them float. Daily
grooming using a modified toenail on
their hind feet spreads oil collected from
a gland under their tails to make their
fur water-repellent. The coat of oil also
traps a layer of air next to the skin that
helps insulate the body, much as a neo-
prene wetsuit does for divers. The beaver
has adaptations to its throat and a sec-
ond set of fur-lined lips that keep water
from entering its lungs so it can carry
limbs underwater. These are only a few
of the many ways beavers have evolved
into the geoengineers that changed the
face of North America.
It is, of course, the beaver’s ability
to cut and use trees for the building of
dams and lodges that has so intrigued
humans. Birds can build elaborate
nests, prairie dogs can tunnel into
acres of prairie, termites can build huge
mounds — but none of these animals
change the basic structure of their en-
vironment. Like humans, beavers can
alter the ecology of an area. Beavers
can change dry land into wetlands and
open water. Their dams and channel-
digging can divert the direction of
streams. Their ponds capture and re-
tain sediments and act as nutrient and
carbon traps. Their constant need to
gnaw on saplings and trees can turn a
dense forest into an open forest, which
in turn impacts the plants and animals
living there.
European Exploitation
It was principally its fur that made
the beaver such an economic driving
force in the European colonization of
North America. In the mid-1800s, bea-
ver felt hats were the height of fashion.
Basically, the underfur was put through
a series of processes to produce felt. The
felt could then be shaped into hats and
other clothing. Castoreum, an oily
fluid from the beavers’ castor glands,
was used in perfume, food flavoring
(artificial vanilla), and medicine. The
Hudson’s Bay Company, which still
exists today in the guise of several dif-
ferent retail stores, was incorporated in
1670 to control, politically and eco-
nomically, the trade of beaver pelts.
This driving force literally changed the
face of North America culturally, politi-
cally, and ecologically.
WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 69
 From left: The hole left after the author removed the roof of the beaver’s lodge. Overnight, beavers diligently worked to repair the damage.
My Beaver Tale
Although beavers can be beneficial,
they can also become at best a pest and
at worst a danger, and can cause tens
of thousands of dollars’ worth of dam-
ages, when they do their thing in un-
wanted places. Their dam building on
free-flowing streams and at culverts and
bridges can cause water to overflow and
undermine roads and bridge abutments.
The resulting ponds, while beneficial to
many types of wildlife, are destructive to
other types, flooding dry habitat, wood-
lands, and farmland.
My beavers seem to have an appe-
tite for hundreds of saplings that have
grown from the thousands of seedlings
I laboriously planted 10 years ago.
High-value trees (in both economic
and environmental terms), such as oak,
tamarack, and maple, must taste much
better than low-value prickly ash and
invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle. So
while I appreciate and value the benefits
of beavers, I often wish they would take
their industriousness somewhere else.
In the late ’50s, my uncle built a dike
across a spring-fed marsh that was once
dike beaver barrier
culvert
8-inch corrugated pipe
extends into culvert
A cattle panel cage around the
culvert keeps beavers from least 3 feet deep; mine is
damming it up and causing the approximately 7 feet deep
pond to overflow.
70 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
used to harvest marsh hay. Some modi-
fications over the years have produced a
nice 6-acre pond that is used by ducks,
geese, mink, muskrats, and now beavers.
The normal course through the year
was that the pond would rise in spring
with the snowmelt and rains. Water
would run out of the culvert for a couple
of months, until the water table dropped
and many springs dried up for the rest
of the year. The water level of the pond
would fall below the culvert, and what-
ever inflow from springs that came into
the pond was taken care of by evapora-
tion and seepage through the dike. Over
the past five or six years, however, the
water table has remained high — high
enough that my well has become arti-
sanal, and the springs flow all year. This
means water flows out the culvert all
year. This is not an issue in and of itself,
but when you add beavers to the mix,
some dire problems arise.
Dam building is instinctual in bea-
vers. They build dams to create open
water. They need water at least 3 feet
deep or more to keep the entrances to
their lodges submerged. The question
maximum level of pond
3-inch fencing to
keep weeds out
inset needs to be at
is, how do they know where to build
their dams? The answer appears to be:
by the sound of flowing water. And not
just any flowing water — they don’t try
to dam a fast-flowing river. But they will
try to dam a low-gradient small flow,
such as that through a culvert.
The typical beaver lodge starts as a pile
of sticks with an underwater entrance.
Beavers enlarge the lodge by adding
sticks, mud, and plant material to the
outside and chewing away the inside. A
bank lodge is started as an underwater
entrance that comes out onto the surface
of land. The beavers add sticks and mud-
DOUG THALACKER (4)
plant cement on top of the hole. As the
hole is widened, they add more sticks and
mud, and the process continues, leaving a
Attracted to the sound of trickling water,
beavers plugged the outflow culvert and built
their bank lodges around it.
 flow device installed in a beaver dam
beaver dam
A pipe inserted into the culvert and anchored to
the bottom of the pond will prevent incoming water
from making a flowing sound that attracts beavers.
relatively flat roof. Again, in and of itself,
this might not be a problem. My dike
that contains the water is mostly sand.
When I dismantled the roof of the bank
lodge, I found a hole about 4 feet deep
and 6 feet in diameter. It was more than
a third of the way into the dike. My op-
tions were ignoring it and letting nature
take its course, trapping, or destruction
and subterfuge.
Letting nature run its course was not a
viable option. On my pond, there is an
18-inch outflow culvert (see photo on
Page 70, bottom), which is enough to
handle any outflow. The outflow culvert
on my pond was plugged by beavers.
Before the damming, the water was 4
feet deep right in front of the culvert.
After the beavers dammed up the out-
let, the water level raised by at least 18
inches, and I knew that with-
out daily removal, it would
probably overflow the dike. If
I let the beavers continue to
dig their lodge into the dike,
there would eventually be a
blowout somewhere along
the dike, and the pond would
drain. The beavers, being
who they are, would prob-
ably quickly plug the breach,
but this boom-and-bust cycle
wouldn’t be conducive to the
health of all the other crea-
tures that use the pond.
I’ve tried trapping in the
past, having trapped as a teen,
but it’s a time- and labor-in-
tensive operation. Traps have
to be checked daily, and the Cattle panels and Econo fencing make the culvert unreachable.
72 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
minimum 3 feet deep
cage
pelt has to be processed or it will go to
waste. Removing beavers is like putting
up a vacancy sign — new beavers will
come and fill the empty niche.
Destruction and subterfuge was the
course I chose. I figured if the triggers
for occupancy (food and shelter) were
taken away, maybe the beavers would
leave. Taking food away wasn’t realistic,
as I wanted the saplings to grow into
trees. I used some plastic snow fencing
to protect some of the young trees, but
there are a lot of trees. Destruction of
the lodge proved effective at getting the
beavers out of the pond. There were
three bank lodges being constructed. I
removed the roof and collapsed the en-
trance of each lodge. The following eve-
ning, the beavers tried to repair the roof.
The hole was more than 3.5 feet deep
The author’s “Castor con” setup deters
beavers from building around the culvert.
and 5 feet across (see photo on Page 70,
top left). By the third day, they gave up
and left for parts unknown.
If this was all I had done, the bea-
vers would’ve just kept coming back
and digging more lodges and continu-
ally plugging the culvert, so I launched
the subterfuge step. It had two parts:
stopping the beavers from plugging
the culvert, and removing the sound
of flowing water while still letting the
water flow — it’s a “Castor con” (“bea-
ver deceiver” is already taken). See il-
lustrations on Page 70 and 72 for the
basic principle behind this flow device.
The inlet is below the surface, so there’s
no sound. Even if the cul-
vert is plugged or the dam
repaired, the water will still
flow through the black pipe.
It doesn’t stop any flood-
ing, but you can control the
depth and breadth.
To achieve this, I started
by building a barrier around
the culvert that will let water
flow but can’t be plugged by
the beavers (see photo, left).
I used cattle panels (approx-
imately $25 each); 3-foot,
16-gauge Econo fencing
with 3-by-2-inch spacing;
and 6-foot T-posts to sup-
DOUG THALACKER (3)
port everything. The cattle
panels are 16-by-4 1⁄ 2-foot
panels made of 4- or 5-gauge
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 wire. They are heavy-duty and easy to
manipulate, especially when I’m stand-
ing waist-deep in water, and they form
the basic structure. If the beaver tries
to plug the culvert, it will build on the
outside of the fence. Beavers seem to
get confused as they build farther and
farther from the source of the sound
and it doesn’t disappear. Hopefully,
they will not be able or willing to build
along the entire barrier, leaving some
open space through which water can
flow. The actual shape of the enclosure
can vary depending on your specific
situation. I thought the cattle fencing
would be enough, but the large spac-
ing allowed the beavers to slip through,
so I added the Econo fencing on the
outside. That has kept the beavers from
getting to the culvert.
This may be enough in some situa-
tions, but it doesn’t remove the sound
of flowing water, so the beavers will
keep trying to plug the “leak.” So my
next step was to eliminate the sound by
inserting a pipe into the culvert with
the inlet resting on the bottom of the
pond. I inserted two 30-foot sections
of flexible 8-inch black pipes ($100 per
100 feet) into the culvert. The outflow
end is about 6 to 8 feet into the cul-
vert, and the inflow end extends about
20 feet into the pond and rests on the
bottom. I covered the inlet with some
fencing, and I drilled a series of 1-inch
holes along the pipes to allow air to es-
cape so they would sink to the bottom
with the help of some bricks and water
in the pipe. Because the inlet is on the
bottom, there is no sound to attract the
beaver. With the water level kept lower,
the entrance to the lodges is too shal-
low for the beavers to feel secure, and
eventually, they’ll give up and leave. Or
at least, that’s the idea.
If a beaver is making a new pond by
building a dam that’s causing prob-
lems, this same effect can be achieved
by burying a drainpipe in a beaver dam.
After checking with your game warden,
tear out part of the dam, lay down a
drainage pipe, and when the beavers re-
pair the dam, the sound will disappear,
but the water can still flow out.
I made my improvements in early
winter, and then the pond froze, which
stopped any dam-building activities. It’s
now spring, and the pond is open again.
There hasn’t been any repair activity at
the culvert … yet. The water is flowing
well, and it’s coming through the black
pipes. I don’t expect the beavers to stay
away, but now the water level will stay
within acceptable levels. I might still
have to deal with the bank dens, but I
know beavers won’t like me as a land-
lord and will soon move on. Beavers are
amazing and in the right place can do
good things — just not on my pond.
Doug Thalacker grew up on a Wisconsin
dairy farm. He has degrees in
agriculture, biology, and environmental
science. He has taught agriculture,
earth science, environmental science,
and horticulture for 30 years.

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 Hometown Hacks Projects From Our Readers
Portable
Field Kitchen
Add accessories, such as a shelf and a handle, to further customize your field kitchen.
Tools and Materials
You can get most of the materials
you’ll need secondhand, and you may
be able to find an old sink at the dump.
Check with flooring retailers and other
places that sell linoleum; they’ll likely
have scrap pieces they’d be willing to
part with.
You may have trouble finding a female-
female hose-to-pipe adapter. Ask at your
local hardware store if you don’t see it on
the shelves. It’s called an “NHT-to-NPT”
(national hose thread to national pipe
thread) adapter. Since you’ll be using this
sink outside, I recommend a brass adapter
instead of a PVC one.
This is a highly customizable project,
so this materials list functions only as a
starting point. Once you’ve determined
the details for your field kitchen, you can
calculate specific materials and amounts.
82 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
Build a customizable
sink setup that’ll allow
you to have running
water in your outdoor
work areas, wherever
they might be.
Story and photos by Josh Lau
f you’ve ever butchered chickens, you
I know it’s an outdoor job. And if you’ve
ever done it without water, you’re worthy
of respect. But why subject yourself to that
mess — or any other chore that would be
better served by running water — when mak-
ing a portable field kitchen is so easy and
• Handsaw or power saw economical? This setup connects to a garden
• Power drill hose but can easily be adapted to hold a
• Adjustable wrench small water reservoir so you can move it
• Partial sheet of ¼-inch or thicker around your property as you please. It’s light
plywood enough for one person to handle on their
• 2x4s own but still robust enough to leave outside.
• Deck screws
• Linoleum Countertop Considerations
• Kitchen sink with drain hardware The great part about this project is that it’s
• Construction adhesive highly customizable, including a countertop
• Tacks or staples that can be built to your preferred dimen-
• Lawn mower wheels with mounting sions. Start by measuring your kitchen coun-
hardware (2) tertop as a baseline. If your elbows aren’t at
• Sink and tub caulk a 90-degree angle when your hands are in
• Kitchen faucet a working position, adjust the height of your
• Garden hoses field kitchen accordingly.
• Hose-to-pipe adapter, female-female Next, figure out how long and wide you
• Y-splitter, for garden hose want your countertop to be, and cut your ply-
• Garden hose spray nozzle wood to that size. Then, cut two 2x4s for the
• PVC pipe countertop sides and two 2x4s for the coun-
• Discharge hose tertop ends. Screw the 2x4s to the underside
of the plywood to form the countertop edges.
 If your linoleum isn’t already cut to size,
go ahead and cut it to roughly the same size
as the countertop, leaving enough room to
wrap around to the underside.
Next, you’ll need to cut a hole for the sink
in the countertop and the linoleum. Cut your
linoleum first, and then use it as a pattern
for your countertop. I found it was easiest to
cut an “X” into the linoleum where I wanted
the sink to go and then gradually make that
cutout bigger until it fit the size of my sink.
(Remember to leave space for faucet hard- You’ll only need one side of a faucet to connect your water supply. Don’t forget the Y-splitter.
ware.) Dry-fit the linoleum and sink to make
sure everything fits correctly. Once you’re
satisfied, transfer the linoleum pattern to
your countertop, and then cut the hole.
Use construction adhesive to attach the
linoleum to the countertop. Put something
heavy on top of the linoleum to press it down
while the adhesive sets. Wrap the linoleum
around the edges and secure it to the under-
side of the 2x4s with tacks or staples.
Now, measure and cut the 2x4s for the leg
boards and braces. (You’ll need two horizon-
tal braces and two knee braces.) Remember
to take the wheels into account when you’re You can create a simple drain system out of PVC pipe. Use a discharge hose to extend it farther.
measuring the legs. The legs without wheels
will need to be cut longer so the field other end of the hose to attach a faucet and a under the sink drain pipes. I also use a dis-
kitchen sits level. Also, if you plan on adding stand-alone spray nozzle. Connect your spray charge hose to extend the reach of my drain.
a shelf, keep the back legs long enough to nozzle to the other side of the Y-splitter, and
extend above the countertop. then connect your water source (a garden Optional Accessories
Add the legs to the countertop, and then hose) to the end of the Y-splitter. You can add as many accessories and at-
add the horizontal braces. Bevel the ends of What you do with water drainage is up tachments to your field kitchen as you want.
the knee braces before you attach them so to you, but I’ll tell you one thing: You don’t One nice addition is a shelf with hooks for
they sit flush against the horizontal braces want to be working in a big mud puddle. If tools and a place for soap. (And a Bluetooth
and the inside of the countertop ends. your field kitchen will be stationary and you speaker so you can rock out while working!)
Attach the wheels. plan on running a lot of water through it, you If you’ll be moving the field kitchen around
Use construction adhesive to attach may consider digging a gravel sump under a lot, consider adding a low-mounted handle
the sink to the countertop, and then caulk the sink. If you’ll be moving the field kitchen on the non-wheeled end.
around the seam. around a lot, or you don’t plan on using more To expand beyond the reach of your garden
than a gallon or two of water at a time, you hose, add a high shelf that can accommodate
Faucet and Drainage Solutions may be able to just let the water dump on a water jug or bucket for a refillable reservoir.
Now, you can connect a faucet and drain the ground. Otherwise, invest in some PVC You can connect a hose from the bucket to
system. Because it’s unlikely you’ll have hot pipe and flexible discharge hose to carry wa- your faucet. Keep the water covered, and
water running to your field kitchen, this is ter farther away from your feet. take some sanitation precautions if you’ll be
a great way to repurpose an old faucet with I created my drain by cutting off the p- using the water for food preparation.
one leaky side. Hook up your water supply to traps from the drain hardware that came Although this setup is sturdy, it’s still light
the working side, and then cap off the other with my sink, and then adding a piece of enough that a strong wind can blow it over.
side. (It’s possible to run propane or electric- PVC to the frame that funnels the water Add some hooks, clips, or bungee cords so
powered hot water to a setup like this, but away from my field kitchen. (P-traps will you can attach it to a fence post or other
you’ll need to be mindful of all safety precau- freeze and crack outdoors in winter, and sturdy structure. It’ll save you from having to
tions associated with that type of system, as they’ll provide a place for mosquitoes to make repairs.
well as any code requirements.) Connect a hatch in summer.) I mounted the PVC pipe Finally, if you’re not naming your equip-
short piece of garden hose to the faucet using to the inside of the 2x4 frame using a pipe ment, you’re not having enough fun. Think of
a hose-to-pipe adapter. Add a Y-splitter to the cap, and cut holes in it that allow it to fit a name, make a stencil, and paint it on.

WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 83
 Country Lore Readers’ Tips to Live By
Backyard Brew
or several years, my family has been
F making what we refer to as our “house
tea.” We gather botanical ingredients
from our garden and surrounding property to
create a unique herbal blend. No recipe exists
for our tea, because we brew it fresh every
day, and the ingredients change based on our
preferences and what we have on hand. We
make use of the plants around us and incor-
porate them into our diets in a simple, no-
fuss manner. Plus, a hot mug of homegrown
tea really hits the spot at the breakfast table!
Here are some of my family’s favorite
plants for growing or foraging. I hope you’ll be
inspired to make your own custom tea blend.
Blackberries (Rubus fruticosus) and red
raspberries (Rubus idaeus) both grow in our
garden. Although you certainly can use the
berries in tea, we generally save them for
jams and baked confections. Blackberry
leaves are a good source of vitamin C and are
traditionally used as a remedy for sore throats.
Blackberry leaves are our staple house tea
ingredient. We dry them in quantity after the
berries are gone but before winter destroys
the leaves, and we store them in bags in a dry
cupboard. You can do the same thing with
84 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
red raspberry leaves. Or, you can store fresh
leaves in the freezer.
Both the fruit and leaves of blueberries
(Vaccinium cyanococcus) are a delicious
addition to tea. Loaded with antioxidants,
blueberries may help with eye and heart
health, diabetes, and immune support. Just
harvest the berries or leaves and freeze or
dry them. We grow blueberries in our garden,
where they need well-drained, acidic soil
and plenty of light.
Elderberries (Sambucus nigra) also are
loaded with antioxidants, and they’re high in
vitamin C. Elderberry blossoms remind me
of a lace parasol, and I love their delicate,
sweet scent. We harvest the umbels in late
spring and early summer, and we pick the
ripe berries in fall. The berries shouldn’t
be consumed raw, but they can be steeped
when freshly harvested or after they’ve been
dried or frozen.
We harvest the berries by clipping off the
large clusters, and then we freeze them in
plastic grocery bags. After they’re frozen, we
gently crush the bag to remove the berries
from their stems. We’ve also used a fork to
“comb” the frozen berries off the stems. We
store the bagged berries in the freezer to use
during winter.
Elderberries grow extensively across the
United States. They prefer partial shade and
can be introduced into your garden, although
they’re equally at home in fence rows and
hedges. A word of caution when you hunt
elderberries: As with any wild edible, make
sure you harvest the real deal. Impostor
plants that might look like elderberries to
casual observers include American poke-
weed (Phytolacca americana), water hem-
lock (Cicuta douglasii ), and Hercules-club
(Zanthoxylum clava-herculis). Avoid eating
the green berries, stems, leaves, bark, and
roots, as they’re toxic to humans.
Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) blossoms
add a rich color and sweet flavor to tea.
Commonly known as “roselle,” hibiscus is
loaded with antioxidants and can also help
with managing blood pressure. We usually
ADOBE STOCK/ANDREY CHERKASOV
buy dried hibiscus flowers in bulk.
Peppermint leaves are a classic addition
to tea. Peppermint (Mentha piperita) can help
soothe an upset stomach; treat headaches,
cramps, and heightened stress levels; and
increase blood flow. Other types of mint
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 Country Lore

include chocolate, spearmint, and pine-
apple mint, each with its own unique flavor.
Simple to grow in the garden, peppermint
likes moist soil and plenty of sun. Make
sure it’s well-contained, because it spreads
freely! To harvest, pluck off the leaves to
make some tea immediately, or dry them for
later use. Peppermint tea makes a refreshing
summer drink when served over ice.
Pine needles are a vitamin C powerhouse.
Rose hips contain vitamin C and can be
harvested from rosebushes, typically around
the time of the first frost, well after blooming
season has ended.
We have a profusion of wild roses in our
area that give small but delicious hips that
I enjoy eating right off the bushes. Size, fla-
vor, and beneficial properties vary depending
on the cultivar. For the best rose hips, many
folks recommend Rosa rugosa or dog rose

GET CLOSE
Indigenous peoples used pine for genera-
tions to fend off scurvy when fresh fruits
and vegetables weren’t seasonally available.
Pine needle tea shouldn’t be consumed dur-
ing pregnancy.
(Rosa canina).
After picking the hips, split them and re-
move the seeds. You can brew either fresh or
dried rose hips for tea.

to your To harvest pine needles with a mild flavor,

select those that are young, brightly colored,
Brewing Tips
After we’ve gathered our tea ingredients,

FOOD SOURCE
From plant to plate to
pantry, we can help
you grow, prepare
and preserve healthy,
and located at the tips of the branches. Or,
you can pick older, more mature needles near
the base of the branches for a more bitter fla-
vor with a higher vitamin C concentration. We
pack the needles into bags in the freezer. The
common Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus)
is a great, recognizable choice to harvest for
tea. Be sure to avoid toxic yew (Taxus bac-
cata), cypress (Cupressus spp.), and Norfolk
Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla).
it’s time to make tea! You can have your
house tea ready to use at a moment’s no-
tice by mixing together thoroughly dried
materials in an airtight container. We use
a combination of dried and frozen materi-
als, with a ratio of roughly 1 cup fruit and
herbs for every 2 to 3 cups water. First,
heat the water in a pot, adding frozen fruits
(such as 1 cup of frozen elderberries) early
to give them time to thaw and release their

natural food that you

grow yourself!

DENISE CONNOLLY
Snagging a Good Harvest
Growing blueberries has been a longtime dream of ours, so we planted six bushes short-
ly after we bought our country homestead. Figuring out how to protect our little harvests
became a challenge. Initially, we placed
black netting over the bushes, but with
limited success. The netting snagged
the blueberry branches, making it dif-
ficult to weed around the base of the
plants, and small wildlife occasionally
became entangled in the netting.
Last year, anticipating a bountiful
harvest, my husband, Kevin, built these
protective cages from scrap lumber. He
stapled new black netting to the sides
Shop anytime at and tops. The cages keep the netting
away from the branches. They’re sturdy

LEHMANS.COM and easy to remove for weeding and

picking berries, but they still allow sun-

800-438-5346 light, rain, and air to reach the bushes.

We tied strips of cotton to each side of
the cages to deter animals. So far, no

Let’s be social wildlife has become entangled.

Denise Connolly
New Windsor, Maryland

Circle #24; see card pg 85


juices. When the water is hot but not boil-
ing, remove the pot from the heat and add
the herbal ingredients, such as a handful of
dried hibiscus flowers, frozen pine needles,
and dried blackberry leaves. Steeping time
is a matter of personal preference; we steep
our house tea for 3 to 5 minutes. Additions
during steeping can include a bag of store-
bought black or green tea, a cinnamon
stick, or a squeeze of fresh lemon or orange
juice. To serve, add honey if desired and
pour into a mug.
OKSANNA POPE; IRENE BOREN
Better Than Candy
We host a large Easter egg hunt each spring, so we have a lot of decorative buckets on
hand. When we recently heard a forecast calling for frost and freezing temperatures, we
became concerned for the tender tomato and pepper plants in our garden. Because we
like to reuse things, we covered the plants with our Easter buckets.
TOP:
FROM
Country Lore
Lightbulb Moment
I found a collection of old, ripped
lampshades and had the idea of recycling
them into plant protectors to keep the
birds off my young plants. I replaced the
shade’s torn cloth covers with chicken
wire and gopher wire. Chicken wire al-
lows bees to get inside and pollinate the
plants. The gopher wire works best to
keep out pesky lizards.
To make these plant protectors fun to
look at and easy to lift, I added different
drawer pulls to the tops.
Oksanna Pope
Placerville, California
Research to correctly identify any wild
plants added to your house tea and to ensure
you’re foraging in a sustainable way. Harvest
from uncontaminated sites, avoiding those
near roadsides or areas that may have been
sprayed with pesticides.
Consult your doctor before using any
of these botanical materials, especially if
you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, or have
health conditions.
Maggie Bullington
Athens, Alabama
Irene Boren
Paris, Illinois
New
coop
lights!
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Circle #50; see card pg 85
Country Lore
Free Cover-Ups
Bottled water companies will give you
leaky plastic jugs for no charge, and I’ve
found a good way to recycle them into
something useful for my garden. I cut off
the bottoms to create large cloches to pro-
tect young plants during cold spring weather
(pictured at right). I cut off the base using
a circular saw outfitted with a fine-toothed
blade; ideally, you’d use a grit-edged blade.
Then, I coat half of the cut jug with silver
spray paint, and it’s ready to use.
I face the painted silver side to the
north to reflect additional sunlight onto
the plant, or I rotate the silver side to face
south when a transplanted seedling has re-
cently been put into the ground. On really
cold nights, I stack a few cloches on top of that hornworms are munching away on
each other with the tops plugged for extra our plants, including stripped leaves and
thermal protection. droppings. The hornworms themselves are
To store my homemade cloches when elusive and hard to see. But we’ve found a
they’re no longer needed, I string them to- high-tech solution we’d like to share.
gether and hang them. Hornworms are fluorescent under ultra-
Philip S. Getty violet light, showing a bright lime green
New Hope, Pennsylvania against the tomato plants’ dark-green foli-
age. We head out into the garden at night
Cans Full of Worms with a UV flashlight and pluck containers
At Mis-Bee-Haven Farm, we grow 50 of hornworms off our tomatoes. The worms
to 60 tomato plants during the growing are really easy to find with the UV light, and
season. Tomato hornworms are a problem. we’re rewarded with healthy, intact plants.
We have a no-spray philosophy to protect Mike Harrison
our bees, so we’ve had to watch for signs Palmyra, Virginia
Top-Drawer Idea for Garden Starts
PHILIP S. GETTY; PATRICIA DUCHARME
Two years ago, my old refrigerator stopped working. I kept the drawers from the refrigera-
tor, thinking I could find a use for them.
I’m not fond of allegedly reusable plant-starting pots, so I thought of using the fridge
drawers to grow seedlings for my garden. I also purchased a 10-foot length of plastic gutter-
ing, plus gutter end caps, and I cut the guttering into four sections. I drilled 3 to 5 drainage
holes into each fridge drawer and each gutter section, and my new units were ready to go.
TOP:
I’ve used these recycled plant starters quite successfully for two years with no sign of de-
FROM
terioration. The gutters are es-
pecially convenient, because
I only have to remove the end
cap and slide the plants and
potting mix into their spots in
the garden. I simply hose off
the drawers and gutter sec-
tions at the end of the grow-
ing season for storage.
Patricia Ducharme
Charlottesville, Virginia

Garden Hose Grip
If your old garden hose is still flexible in
some sections, you can cut it into a com-
fortable grip for a 5-gallon bucket handle.
Here’s how I do it. I carefully cut a short
piece of hose that’s the same length as the
straight portion of the bucket’s bail handle.
Then, I cut a slit down the length of the
hose. It’s best to position the slit at the top
of the hose’s preexisting curve. Slip the
hose over the bucket’s wire handle.
If your bucket handle still has its original
plastic roller grip, you can slip the hose
piece over it or over the parts of the roller
that remain. Simply pop the hose piece
onto the wire to one side of the roller grip,
then slide it into place, coaxing it over the
plastic roller. This technique helps prevent
the hose piece from sliding off-center on the
bail handle, and the plastic roller gives more
support to the hose. I’ve also found that it
makes the plastic roller last longer, because
it’s protected from the sun. Sure makes car-
rying heavy buckets a lot more comfortable!
Alina Niemi
Honolulu, Hawaii
Net Gain
I buy inexpensive netting at the local
fabric store to cover my raspberry bushes,
strawberry plants, and small cherry trees,
because the birds won’t share the harvest
with me. After a couple of years, though,
PHILIP S. GETTY; PAGE 90: DAVID MARSOLO
the net deteriorates from weeks in the hot
sun and easily develops holes. So, I’ve
found another function for it. As apples
mature on my trees, the fruits add a lot
of weight to the limbs. To prevent broken
branches, I cut strips from the old net, 12
to 14 inches wide by 10 to 12 feet long. I
Country Lore
then roll the net and use it as a strong sling
Fence
Starter
for the fruit-laden branches.
Mary Martin
Rexburg, Idaho
Kits
Out of the Weeds
I recently cleaned out my shop and found
some old shingles. Instead of throwing
them in a landfill, I repurposed them for
weed control.
I put half of a shingle around a seedling
tree to keep the weeds down and to prevent
me from having to use the string trimmer
nearby. I also placed some shingles under
the fuel tank to keep tall weeds from growing
around it. And finally, I laid down repur-
posed shingles along the side of my pole
building in an area I can’t reach with the
lawn mower.
Not only do the old shingles prevent
weeds, but I also like the finished look they
give to areas that used to be overgrown.
Michelle Fryc
Harris, Minnesota
Outsmarting Raccoons
Raccoons kept getting into our steel gar-
bage cans. Garbage was strewn everywhere.
We tried everything suggested to us, but noth-
ing worked.
Finally, we came up with an unlikely com-
bination. First, we secured each lid on its
can with a bungee cord. Then, we sprinkled
TOP
ground cayenne pepper on the can, especially
PICK
the lid. The raccoons didn’t like the hot pep-
per. The cayenne pepper had to be reapplied
whenever it rained, but we’d found a simple
solution to our problem.
Katie Martin
All-in-One Kit!
Danbury, North Carolina
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At Arm’s Length
After holes form in my heavy winter
socks, I remove the foot and keep the up-
per section to protect my forearms from
scratches. They work well when I’m carry-
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I also like to slide them up under my winter Contact us for FREE catalogs!
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Circle #3; see card pg 85
90 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
He Knows Beans
In my 40 years of gardening, I’ve found
pole beans to be the most rewarding and pro-
lific vegetables to grow. Here in the Midwest,
I get almost three months of continuous har-
vest by mulching heavily, watering when nec-
essary, picking daily, and choosing the right
cultivars. I grow ‘Emerite’ (green) and ‘Monte
Gusto’ (yellow). Both beans stay tender even
when large, are virtually stringless, and have a
mild flavor most people like.
Pole beans do, of course, require support. I
use 3⁄8-inch rebar cut to 10-foot lengths. The
rebar is widely available at hardware stores.
I’ve found these poles will store easily and
last forever. I sink them about 2 feet into the
ground. I use four rebars per hill, crossing
the bars at about waist height. I find that
by crossing them lower than the usual tipi
technique, I get better use of my plot’s three-
dimensional space, and the beans are easier
to pick. The photo above shows such a setup
in a 4-by-8-foot raised bed in my garden.
(The leaves on the left in the photo are on a
bitter melon vine.)
David Marsolo
Westerville, Ohio
We Pay for Top Tips
Do you have handy home, farm, or
garden advice? We’ll pay you $25
for each tip we publish, plus an-
other $25 if we use your photos. So,
send your niftiest tips to us at
Letters@MotherEarthNews.com.
 Circle #25; see card pg 85

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 Ask Our Experts

Top 10 Money-Saving Crops

I’m getting ready to plant my first plot, and
I want to focus on cutting my food budget.
What are the best crops to choose?

Here are 10 of my favorite money-saving crops.

1 Leafy herbs. Leafy herbs don’t store or travel
well, so they’re expensive to buy. Gardeners can
save money by growing basil, parsley, cilantro, and
other leafy herbs to harvest fresh as desired.
2 Cut-and-come-again lettuce. This is another
short-lived crop once harvested, but by growing
your own and harvesting little and often, a single
sowing can continue to produce fresh leaves for
months. Even just a few containers can produce
plenty of fresh leaves.
3 Quick-growing salad ingredients. Rapid-growing
salad ingredients, such as radishes, baby beets,
and scallions, grow fast enough to make repeat Grow lettuce and leafy greens for months of fresh, affordable salad fixings and steamed treats.
sowings as you harvest throughout the growing sea-
son. You can even grow them in gaps between slower-maturing crops so 9 Soft fruits. Soft fruits, such as raspberries and strawberries, are
they don’t take up extra space. easily damaged, so they require careful handling and packaging. This
4 Pole beans. Healthy and filling, pole beans are full of plant protein. makes them expensive to buy, but they’re easy to grow. Freeze or can
Beans will produce pods in abundance all summer long, so long as you any excess.
keep on picking. 10 Leafy greens. Hard-working leafy greens, such as chard and kale,
5 Fruiting vertical vegetables. Fruiting vegetables that can be trained can keep cropping for months, so you can regularly enjoy fresh greens
to grow vertically or that climb, such as tomatoes and cucumbers, will steamed, stewed, or blitzed up into your morning smoothie for practi-
produce lots of fruits from a relatively small area. Give them the sunni- cally free.
est spot you can find, and feed plants regularly to boost yield and taste.
6 Garlic. Garlic is relatively expensive but takes up little space, and it Get More Tips with These
stores well too. Harvest garlic by midsummer, and you’ll still have time Great Gardening Resources
to grow a follow-on crop to make the most of your space. Our popular Vegetable Garden Planner (GardenPlanner.
7 Celery. Harvest celery by the stem to avoid the waste that often ac- MotherEarthNews.com) can help you map out your garden design,
companies purchasing whole heads of celery. Self-blanching varieties space crops, know when to plant which crops in your location, and
are the easiest to grow. more. Plus, need crop-specific growing information? Browse our Crops
8 Zucchini. Zucchini can be used in just about everything, from stir- at a Glance Guide (www.MotherEarthNews.com/Crops-At-A-Glance) for
fries to cakes, and it’s prolific. Try growing marigolds or other compan- advice on planting and caring for dozens of garden crops.
ion flowers nearby to improve pollination and further boost harvests. — Benedict Vanheems, GrowVeg.com

Bird and Butterfly Paradise in Your Garden

What steps would you recommend
for bringing beneficial birds and
butterflies to my garden?
ADOBE STOCK/GARDEN GURU
lowtail butterflies often visit my flowers and flies. From then on, I learned to plant their
help pollinate my crops. All of these winged favorite foods — dill, parsley, and carrots — to
marvels have descended in my yard since I attract them.
learned how to attract them. In early 2021, I was into my fourth year of

Learning what they like is key. As I watch
an adult American goldfinch feed a flutter-
ing, demanding fledgling on my sunflowers, I
recall when no such birds were in my garden.
But now, monarch and eastern black swal-
I cringe at the thought that I used to peel
caterpillars off my crops and toss them, not
knowing they’d become swallowtail butter-
flies. Eventually, I was informed the pesky
caterpillars were one of my favorite butter-
treating the caterpillars well when I discov-
ered that several of my swallowtail caterpillars
had disappeared. I then learned I could buy
a butterfly tent to house my caterpillars and
get them through the caterpillar stage, the

WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 93
 Ask Our Experts
chrysalis stage, and on to become winged
beauties I could set free. After using tents, I
raised about a dozen swallowtails last year.
The thrill of watching them emerge and fly
away was breathtaking. And this excitement
 doesn’t stop with swallowtail butterflies.
  
Monarchs
While browsing the Baker Creek Heirloom
Seeds catalog two years ago, I noticed
Asclepias tuberosa, “butterfly weed,” and
ordered seeds. I hoped this type of milkweed
would attract monarch butterflies. After start-
ing these seeds indoors, I transferred them to
my flower and veggie beds and waited. Two
months later, I spied the first monarch feed-
ing on the milkweed flowers.
Milkweed plants came up again the follow-
ing year and grew even bigger. Several types
of butterflies would land on the milkweed,
but the real fun was when I discovered nine
monarch caterpillars munching away on one
plant. After a few days, I placed four of them
in my butterfly tent. They all formed chrysalis
pods, and over the next five weeks, each one
emerged and flew away.
Monarch butterflies have been in the news;
I’ve read we’ve lost over 85 percent of the
population. If home gardeners plant milkweed
and raise the caterpillars in protective tents,
we can lend this magnificent butterfly a hand
in surviving the onslaught of chemicals, habi-
tat reduction, climate change, and predators.
Birds of Prey
I’ve been adamant that no chemicals touch
my beds. My garden has done quite well most
years, but after watching an online webinar by
the National Audubon Society about planting
a native bird garden, I learned how to have
a naturally balanced backyard ecosystem. In
 
  
Why Foam Subfloors Make Sense
My basement is finished, but it’s
still a bit musty. What must-busting
®
materials should I try?
          
 ! " #$ %"# & '! " #$ ## subfloors work and how they do more than
( ) & * )!  +( )
As the creator and instructor of a popular
         online basement finishing course, I’m always
looking for new and useful innovations to
make finished basements better. DRICORE
    Insul-Armor all-foam subfloor panels are my
   
Built     latest discovery. They’re unique, and they do
with Sunshine
Circle #54; see card pg 85
Butterfly tents shelter swallowtail caterpillars
until they’re ready to become winged beauties.
late July 2020, I bought several Audubon-
recommended plants selected for our growing
area — Zone 7a — for a native garden bed.
Not much happened that first year, but this
year, the native garden went wild. The cone-
flowers attracted American goldfinches and
other native birds. I saw and heard Carolina
wrens hunting insects throughout my garden
beds. Thanks to planting species that attract
native birds and pollinators, this summer,
my garden had the least amount of insect
damage yet. I don’t know for sure that my
Audubon-recommended plants are the sole
source of such a successful gardening year,
but I do know it’s been great fun to see all the
native insects and birds benefit my garden.
DIY Paradise
To have similar results, contact your local
Audubon Society to see what plants it recom-
mends for attracting native birds, which have
also seen their numbers dwindle from habitat
loss and harmful chemicals. Try planting dill,
parsley, and carrots to attract swallowtails,
and plant milkweed for monarchs. Drawing
butterflies and native birds to your garden
could help them survive.
— Kurt Jacobson
things other basement subfloor options can’t
match. To make sense of this innovation, you
need to understand how effective basement
just keep feet warm. In fact, foot comfort is
not even their most important job.
ADOBE STOCK/BMARGARET
The most important function of subfloor
panels is to stop the dynamic of condensation
and potential mold growth that’s the real rea-
son so many basements smell musty.

Lightweight foam subfloor panels stop the
condensation that makes basements musty.
Why Basements Are Musty
If warm outdoor air is allowed to work its
way into your house from outside, some of it
will enter the basement, where it will cool.
Since the ability of air to hold moisture is pro-
portional to air temperature, as that outdoor
air cools, its relative humidity will rise, even
though the air didn’t pick up any additional
moisture. Cooling temperatures always lead
to the air losing its ability to hold moisture.
Things get serious if warm outdoor air is al-
lowed to contact a concrete basement floor.
This often allows the air to cool enough to
trigger the appearance of small (typically mi-
croscopic) water droplets to form either on the
concrete or, worse, within the fibers of carpet
if it’s installed directly on concrete with no
subfloor. This common dynamic of air infiltra-
tion, cooling, condensation, and mold and
mildew growth is common in unfinished and
poorly finished basements, and it’s also one
reason basement subfloors make sense.
Preventing Micro-Condensation
One underappreciated thing subfloor
panels do is stop the dynamic of cooling and
condensation, because they keep concrete
basement floors sealed under a layer that air
can’t pass through. As long as indoor air is
prevented from touching the concrete, cooling
won’t happen, and neither will condensation.
Subfloor panels fit together tightly enough
that they create an effective vapor barrier that
prevents humid air from infiltrating down to
the level of concrete. This is key.
To prevent condensation as effectively as
possible, seal the edges of your subfloor pan-
els where they meet walls. I use expanding
spray foam for this. Let the foam expand and
STEVE MAXWELL
harden fully, and then use a hacksaw blade
out of its frame to trim off the excess hard-
ened foam flush with the subfloor surface.
Ask Our Experts
Necklace by julie Merrill
Advantages of Foam Panels
Lightweight, superior insulation value,
and easier cutting and installation require-
ments — these are the advantages offered by
the DRICORE Insul-Armor all-foam subfloor
panels I’ve been testing.
“Foam?” you ask. “Isn’t that too soft to
support the weight of people and furniture?” THE FOLK SCHOOL
No, actually, the foam involved is more than
CHANGES YOU.
strong enough to support any kind of hard
surface flooring laid down directly on the
foam with no additional supports. There are
two reasons why. First, the foam is high-den-
sity, so it’s firmer than what you might think
of as “foam.” And second, the hard-surface
flooring that sits on top disperses the weight
over a large area. I talked to an engineer at
the foam manufacturer about this, and she Engaging hands and
told me the combination of high-density foam hearts since 1925. Come
and hard flooring on top was strong enough to enjoy making crafts and good
drive a car on with no issues. I also know this friends on 270 natural,
to be true because I’ve insulated many floors scenic acres in western
with foam alone under hard-surface flooring, North Carolina.
and I’ve never had any problems. In fact, I’ve
JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL
even installed ceramic tiles over foam panels,
folkschool.org 1-800-FOLK-SCH
and this combo has worked well for years. BRASSTOWN NORTH CAROLINA
Here’s what I’ve discovered in my tests:
Circle #19; see card pg 85
Easy to cut. Unlike traditional basement
subfloor options made with wood-based http://remedies.net
tiles, all-foam Insul-Armor cuts easily with a
knife and straightedge. Slice most of the way
through with your blade, then snap the panel The Essiac
to separate the parts. Silent cutting with no
power saw and no airborne dust is a big plus. Handbook
Easy to carry. I’ve never seen lighter sub-
floor panels than these all-foam ones. This
matters, because basements almost always
require carrying materials downstairs.
Warm underfoot. Since these panels are
made entirely of foam, they deliver a lot of
insulation value. They interlock exceptionally
easily and well.
Drainage passages. The raised, round feet
extending down from the underside of the
panels provide a gap for under-floor drainage For Your FREE Copy:
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space underneath can allow water to make its
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basement space. Just make sure it all starts
with the right kind of subfloor.
— Steve Maxwell
on Healing
Circle #31; see card pg 85
WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 95
 Dear MOTHER

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9)

You
Y O U R H A N D S , Y O U R T O O L S , O U R A S S I S TA N C E .
Finn paint colors and designs. Having a place
to raise our own seedlings will save us a great
deal of money, and it makes us happy!
Patty and Don Anderson
RETROFIT Isanti, Minnesota
RADIANT INTO
YOUR HOME. Treasure Trove
I’m a collector of rusty junk — things with
history and a story to tell. My husband built
USE YOUR this unique shed from my collection of trea-
EXISTING sures. It houses our water pump and well,
WATER HEATER plus our seasonal decorations. It also provides
INSTEAD winter storage for pumpkins, onions, potatoes,
OF AN winter squash, and garden tools. The front is
EXPENSIVE sided with barn wood, a window from an old
BOILER. If you can see the underside of the floor, you can install school, and a repurposed house door with a
comfortable and efficient radiant heat.
vintage tablecloth curtain and an old wooden
UÊ dresser carving. The trunk is from an estate
Come to our U
sale, the enamelware and angel bath came
award winning U
from a vintage market, and the lantern was a

©2012 Radiantec, Inc.

website and
see if radiant gift from our neighbor. The shed’s sides and
is right for you. roof are rusty corrugated metal, and there’s a
www.radiantec.com rain-collection barrel on one side. Two rusty
bedsprings serve as trellises and a place to
*"Ê "8Ê££££]Ê9 " 6 ]Ê6/Êäxnx£ÊÊUÊÊ*\Ênää‡{x£‡Çx™ÎÊÊUÊÊ\ÊnäӇÈÓȇnä{x
display vintage car parts. There’s a leaky
Circle #39; see card pg 85
birdbath that belonged to my grandmother; it
makes a perfect succulent garden. I also have
a wreath made of 1883 Stubbe Plate barbed
wire that was a gift from a friend. The shed is
surrounded by wild violets, yarrow, calendula,
and mugwort, which are all great for herbal
remedies. My treasures are artfully displayed,
and it’s definitely a conversation starter.
Becky Darst
Via email

BECKY DARST

Circle #39; see card pg 85

96 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

 Dear MOTHER

Bread-Baking Tips
I read Ruth Morley’s letter (Dear MOTHER,
December 2021/January 2022) with interest,
amusement, and a thought of “I know this
one, because I’ve been there.” I have some
suggestions that I hope will be helpful to all
your readers.
If a recipe is too large for a stand mixer or
to knead by yourself, knead only half at once
or make only half the recipe.
Kitchen counters can sit too high for some
people to comfortably knead on. Built-in pas-
try counters are typically 4 to 8 inches lower
than standard counter height. Kneading on a
too-tall counter causes neck and back strain,
because it places your arms at the wrong
angle. Options for other kneading surfaces
include a dining room table with a protective
cover, or any other table that’s sturdy and at
a lower height. If a table has wheels, make
sure at least two wheels are locked in place
before you begin kneading. Another option is
to use a platform to raise your height at the
kitchen counter.

Circle #46; see card pg 85

Raised Cedar Beds
I needed to add more raised beds
for planting vegetables, but the price
of lumber made additional beds very
expensive. As an affordable alternative,
I chose to cut some large cedar trees
for the construction. They were free,
and they make attractive and functional
beds that will last many years.
Leslie Witte
Bland, Missouri
Back in the day, things were made
to last. Made to last for a lifetime
or two. Call us old-fashioned, but
we agree. That’s why our hand-
powered mills are backed by an
heirloom guarantee. Our durable
mills will help you grind your
own whole grains, coffee, nuts
and seeds. They are hand-built
here in the U.S. for dreamers,
doers and cultivators like us.
LESLIE WITTE

Made in Montana~grainmaker.com~855-777-7096
Circle #16; see card pg 85

WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 97
 Dear MOTHER

Sharpen your skills | Find us on

Is the dough soft to the touch when

STAY SHARP!
kneading? My earlier experiences with bread-
making taught me that I used entirely too
Turn GARBAGE Proudly made much flour at the start, making the dough too
in the USA
Into GOLD stiff to begin with. Remedy this by leaving
out the last ½ to 1 cup of flour when mak-
ing dough and using it on the counter as you
knead instead. If the flour runs out and your
dough is no longer sticky but still needs more
kneading, put butter on your counter where
Wood you’re kneading.
Chippers

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Circle #26; see card pg 85 Circle #23; see card pg 85

Funky and Fantastic

in San Francisco
This is our funky and fantastic garden
shed and greenhouse. We live in San
Francisco, about 1 mile from the ocean.
Our backyard gets lots of wind and fog,
and we use this greenhouse to ripen our
tomatoes and other veggies, as well as
root cuttings taken from around the city.
The shed is built almost entirely from
repurposed materials. The wood fram-
ing and siding are old-growth redwood
planks that came from demolishing
a room in our garage. The doors and
windows are repurposed from that same
room, and we gave them new life with
some bright paint. Even the chairs in
front of the shed are repurposed from
a street corner. We found them during
a dog walk and then jazzed them up
with fun spray paint. We love our San
NOELLE BIDEGAINBERRY

Francisco greenhouse!
Noelle Bidegainberry
®
Via email

Circle #14; see card pg 85

98 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

 Dear MOTHER

The dough may also be hard to knead if the

oats aren’t pre-softened. Softened oats will
Pressure Washing System
result in softer bread.
If you’re baking in pans, they should be ULTRA-FAST. EASY to USE. BUILT to LAST.
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Circle #18; see card pg 85
don’t remember where I got it to give credit.

• 13⁄4 cups boiling water

• 1 cup oats
• 2 tablespoons yeast
• 1⁄2 cup warm water (85 to 100 degrees

Fahrenheit)
• 2 teaspoons honey or sugar
• 1⁄4 cup honey, or mixture of honey and
molasses
• 2 tablespoons oil (we use walnut oil, be-
cause it’s high in omega-3s)
• 5 cups flour, divided, plus more if needed
• 1 carrot, finely grated (optional)

1 Pour boiling water over oats in a large

bowl. Cover, and leave for at least 1 hour.
2 Combine yeast, warm water, and honey
in a small bowl with enough room for foam-
ing. Let yeast proof for about 30 minutes.
3 Pour yeast mixture into bowl with oats.
Add honey and oil, and mix thoroughly.
4 Add 3 cups flour to oat mixture, stirring
in 1 cup at a time. Once flour is mixed in,
add grated carrot.
5 If dough is still sticky, add more flour,
1⁄2 cup at a time. Don’t add so much flour

that dough becomes too stiff to mix by hand.

Circle #41; see card pg 85

WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 99
 Dear MOTHER

ALASKAN MILLS
SINCE 1957, GRANBERG 6 Put remaining flour on your kneading
INTERNATIONAL HAS BEEN
surface. Dump dough on top of flour, and
PRODUCING THE HIGHEST
sprinkle a little flour on top of dough. Let
dough rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
7 Lightly butter your hands before you
begin kneading. The dough should hold to-
gether and not flake apart, and should yield
easily under moderate kneading pressure. It
shouldn’t stick to your hands. Knead once,
turn dough one quarter turn, roll it over on it-
self, and knead again. Repeat this pattern un-
til dough is properly kneaded. When you can
poke your finger into the dough and it leaves
Circle #17; see card pg 85
a slight imprint, it’s ready. If you’ve used all
the flour and the dough isn’t sticky but still
requires kneading, use butter instead.
8 Liberally butter a pan, especially the
corners, and place dough in pan to rise.
(Because of the high yeast content of this
recipe, the dough only rises once.) When
dough is almost sufficiently risen (doubled
in size), preheat oven to 400 degrees. Once
oven is preheated, bake bread for 30 to 35
minutes. The bread is done when you can
turn it out of the pan and the bottom sounds
hollow when tapped. If it’s not done, turn
oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake
Circle #47; see card pg 85
bread for 5 minutes, or until it’s done but not
burnt on top.
Dianne Tipton
NESEED p. (800) 825-5477
122 Park Ave. f. (877) 229-8487 Stayton, Oregon
East Hartford, CT info@neseed.com

Write to Us!
Started in 1970 to raise awareness
of environmental concerns and to
provide information and support for
a simpler lifestyle, MOTHER EARTH
NEWS has made it this far because
of continuous interest from you, the
readers. Your dedication to living
more sustainable lives has kept this
magazine afloat through five decades
and an increasingly digital world,
Berkeley Tie-Dye Heirloom and we’d love to hear from you. Send
Tomato photos of your farm, your garden, and
(8-12 oz.) Heirloom variety selected for its unique any projects you’ve undertaken over
coloring and rich old fashion flavor. Fruits range the past five decades to Letters@
from green with pink and yellow stripes to deep
pink with silvery green stripes. When sliced, the MotherEarthNews.com. Or, mail a letter
flesh appears to truly be tie-dyed! 75-85 days. to Dear MOTHER, 1503 SW 42nd St,
For growers of any size.
Topeka, KS 66609. Please send your
full name, address, and phone number.
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We may edit for clarity and length.

Circle #33; see card pg 85

100 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022

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For more information on these ads, see card page 85.

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For more information on these ads, see card page 85.

104 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
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CLASSIFIEDS Classified ad information, contact Connie: 866-848-5416; email classifieds@MotherEarthNews.com; fax 785-274-4316
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Mother Earth
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106 MOTHER EARTH NEWS April/May 2022
GARDENING/RELATED
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Deadline for the
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HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
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 Classified ad information, contact Connie: 866-848-5416; email classifieds@MotherEarthNews.com; fax 785-274-4316
PLANTS, SEEDS, BULBS,
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WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 107
Photos from the Field

Clockwise from top left: A caterpillar thrives in a bee and butterfly habitat in East Texas. A flamingo spotted at the Toronto Zoo’s Americas Outdoor
Exhibit. The photographer kneeled on snow-covered ground in Colorado to capture these crocuses early one February morning.

TONI NILES; ASHLEY L. DUFFUS/A GREAT CAPTURE; JOE MCGLOIN

FROM TOP LEFT:
CLOCKWISE

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