From Scratch Magazine February/March 2015

February 2015/March 2015

Top 10 Homestead Blogger Awards

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gardening tips for the spring

troubleshooting your compost carol’s canning tips

Lessons from the Wise Women

The Gardening Issue

Backyard Farming • Homestead Living • Animal Husbandry • Homeschooling

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR & PUBLISHER

M

an, we are tired.

After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we thought we’d take a little time to recover.

Nope.

We immediately jumped into planning our own farming season and v started putting together this issue.

Speaking of which: It’s our anniversary!

It’s been a full two years since this magazine started and we’ll still going strong.

As an example check out our special gardening section.

We’ve got pieces from Chris Mclaughlin on troubleshooting your compost, Top Ten Tips for Gardening and profiles of three great seed companies.

We’ve partnered up with Food Corps.

Food Corps is a program devoted to educating children nationwide on healthy eating, including growing their own food and bringing locally food into school cafeterias. Marissa Finn -- a veteran of Edible Brooklyn -- who works with the organization, will be providing us with columns every issue about the great work they do.

And we’ve also scoured the web, searching high and low for the best FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

Homesteading Bloggers out there.

Check out our section on the Top Ten Homesteading bloggers and find all sorts of great people and businesses devoted to spreading the homesteading gospel.

2015 is going to be the best year yet. So, if you haven’t already, then now’s the chance to subscribe to our newsletter and “like” our Facebook page.

We’ll have brand new blog posts every day of the week on gardening, farming and livestock tips; herbalism; home health; and news from the world of homesteading, sustainable agriculture and farming. You don’t want to miss it.

For everyone reading this issue, thank you for two years of support, ideas, criticism and more. Keep reading and we’ll keep working. God bless!

Steven and Melissa

FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE: Contributors

Contributors CHRIS MCLAUGHLIN Home-Ag/ Gardening Editor A Suburban Farmer

Steven Jones Editor

CASSIE LANGSTRAAT

CAROL J. ALEXANDER Homeschool Editor/ Everything with Carol

Melissa Jones Publisher

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IN THIS ISSUE

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE: In this Issue

gardening tips for spring

Troubleshooting your compost

10 common mint family plants

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herbal tea recipes

learning from the wise women

Carol’s Canning Tips

The Top 10 Blogger Awards

From Scratch Magazine

Blogger Awards Top 10 Winner

hugelkultur german raised beds FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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photos from our readers

“Till the Cows Come Home” from Livinglovinfarmin.com

Best friends from Julie’s Homesteading Journal FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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Mags on the homestead from Julie’s Homesteading Journal

Life on the farm is good from Julie’s Homesteading Journal

My hubby learning about bee keeping, from The (mis)Adventures of a “Born Again” Farm Girl FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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photos from our readers

From Shannon - Country Girl in the Village

A new momma from Meredith Chilson

Billy Powers sent us these photos of his quails hatching and a chicken hitching a ride.

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Tracy Bentley sent us this photo of a day-old lamb named Daisy and of their photogenic Run-Around Rooster.

New babies figuring out their world from One Ash Plantation FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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It is only the farmer plants seeds in the S a harvest in the Autu FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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r who faithfully Spring, who reaps umn. B. C. Forbes FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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In the French Country

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Create your own sheep portrait with Sheep Portrait of Daphne Hooking Pattern – Front Facing or Sheep Portrait of Jack Hooking Pattern – Profile.

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The TADPOLE KNITTING BOARD allows you to knit scarves, hats, bags, toys and more easily.

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Victory Garden Starter Kit™ Includes everything you need to start your own Victory Garden.

Throughout history, Victory Gardens have been sown during times of war as a way for folks to both feed their families and to aide in the war effort.

Planting a “Victory Garden” has more personal significance in our time.

Whatever your reason may be – stretching your grocery budget and saving money, growing pure food for your family’s table or declaring independence from the corporate food chain – planting a garden makes sense.

Contained in a decorative gift bag are tried and true varieties suitable for planting a Victory Garden in a wide range of climates.

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everything you need to start a dairy

Stainless Steel Pail Milkplan Chillers / Holding Tanks

Cream Separator

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Hand Butter Churn

Jaybee Precision produces products that are perfect for your farm based business. If you have a larger dairy you can go big by buying a machine that can handle 30 gallons of milk or juice, or you can purchase a four gallon machine perfect for small farmsteads.

That doesn’t include the other products: Cream separators, butter churns, chillers -- even buckets.

All of these products are high quality and built to last. Vat Pasteurizer allows any size farm to produce dairy products up to the USDA specifications, which means every farmer or homesteader can compete in just about every market.

Buying products from this company is an investment in the future of your dairy, creamery or farm related business.

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tools that make gardening easy Click here for more info

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Below left: The Ultimate Shovel; Below right: a California style knife

Single wheel hoe

Right: Cold Frame; Below: Double wheel hoe with attachments

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Click here for more info The 1550 SPORTSMAN HATCHER incubator is designed to provide optimal hatching conditions. Unlike setting incubators, hatchers usually operate at slightly different temperature and humidity settings to obtain optimum hatch. With five hatching drawers, the 1550 Hatcher will hold the complete setting of the 1500 incubator. For expanding operations, the 1550 can be matched with up to three 1500 incubators. The 1550 can be used to set eggs, but each egg will have to be turned by hand.

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HAPPY HEN TREATS Watch your chickens dance and peck in a frenzy for these 100% natural whole-dried mealworms! Contains natural dried mealworms that chickens absolutely love to eat.

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Now you can show it with these wonderfully designed EGG CARTONS from Happy Hen Treats.

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WINDY WILLOW in HOMESTEAD Windy Willow homestead was created by Nicole See to share her love of crafting with others.

She creates handmade soaps (left), fabric flower ornaments (middle), coiled fabric baskets and more.

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Everything You Need for Your Homestead • Cultures and Supplies for Cheese Making • Canning Supplies • Butter & Yogurt Making • Dairy Milking • Livestock Care

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Hard Cheese Making Kit

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Now you can mold a 1 pound block of butter with this well made BUTTER MOLD!

Homesteader Supply put their CHEESEMAKING KITS together with you in mind!

They took some of the guess work out of the process and put together kits for beginners and for the more experienced cheese maker alike.

Below: Artisan crafted TRIPLE WOOD CUTTING BOARD AND ROLLING PIN SET, designed and manufactured by Homesteaders Supply!

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Turn any mason jar into an easy fermenting tool

Before we had the technology of keeping food fresh with a refrigerator, we had to preserve our food by pickling. In fact, fermenting food is the original food preservation method. When you get a 12 pack, you get the flexibility to scale your fermenting project up to 6 gallons if needed (twelve, ½ gallon jars). You also have flexibility of adding extra weights when you need to, and the entire stock of 12 is not in use. You usually don’t need all 12 kits, but is sure nice having them when I do need them.

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Click Here to Order Your Copy!

You don’t have to have a degree in chemistry to create your own natural dyes. It just takes a garden plot and a kitchen.

A Garden to Dye For shows how super-simple it is to plant and grow a dyer’s garden and create beautiful dyes.

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Many of these plants may already be in our cutting, cottage or food gardens, ready for double duty.

This is the book that bridges the topic of plant dyes to mainstream gardeners, the folks who enjoy growing the plants as much as using them in craft projects.

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The ultimate guide to raising chickens FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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If there is one thing that a homesteader is at the end of the day it is tired and sore. What better way to celebrate the holidays than purchasing a Snorkel wood-fired hot tub.

Snorkel速 Hot Tubs are 100% manufactured in the USA using premium-quality all heart, clear Western Red Cedar from the forests of Canada. With more and

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Oak Meadow’s progressive, experiential homeschooling curriculum for kindergarten to grade 12 provides students with the educational freedom to explore their interests, talents, and passions.

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Open Year Round

Saturday Mornings

405 S. Brooks St. in the parking lot of Renaissance Center, Wake Forest, NC

HOLIDAY CRAFT MARKET -

December 6th, 9 am to 2 pm.

On this special day local Craftsman join the Wake Forest Farmers Market, offering beautiful one of a kind gifts.

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April - October 8 am to 12 noon.

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Click here to pick out your sign!

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gardening

tips for the

spring by: steven Jones

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W

ell it’s time to plant your garden. If you’re like me, you learn from failure. Which means after last year’s disaster, I’m FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

an expert in gardening.

Sure, I got about 2 lbs of tomatoes from some 200 odd row feet, and sure, most of those two pounds had to be thrown out due to a disastrous potassium

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defieciency, but now I know what both “potassium” and “deficiency” mean.

Now, you may think you’d have to pay thousands to learn at some fancy-pants

university, but I’m here to share my “gardening expertise” with you for free.

So here’s the top five tips I have to keep your garden from looking like mine.

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1)Compost Sure, you know all about compost. You’ve probably already read Chris McLaughlin’s excellent article on Troubleshooting your Compost (page 102), but did you know there are somethings you don’t put in compost. And there are somethings that you can put in compost, but need a little TLC first. I didn’t. Example: Black walnuts contain a toxin that’s a natural herbicide. I learned this after I dumped a laundry basket full of black walnut shells after spending about three months cracking and cleaning the meat out of those things.

(Pro-tip for cracking black walnuts: Get someone else to do it. Or just do without. I’m not entirely sure why I did that. I don’t even like black walnuts.)

So, wisely, I spent about an hour digging through a pile of discarded bananna peels, slimy strips of newspaper and animal poop (mostly goat and rabbit) convinced that I had turned my compost pile into a toxic waste dump. After I’d removed every last speck of black walnut FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

shell dust, I discovered that the toxin would probably leach out after a little time. So, here’s my pro tip: if you don’t know, just google it.

2)Weed your garden often I actually like weeding. It’s super easy. As long as you do it early and often.

If you do like I did, and take a family vacation right after planting carrots, you’ll come back to a three foot tall field of weeds. It just so happened that we got a lot of rain while i was gone and all those lovely weed seeds responded to the unseasonably warm and wet weather really, really well. I mean … really.

In fact, I’d venture that I never

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biggest issue I had this year was time management. As the underpaid and overworked editor of this magazine, homeschool teacher of my son and now serving as Secretary of the Farmers Market, I have a lot going on.

I didn’t quite realize how much I had going on until I decided to take on a quarter-acre plot with my farm incubator program. You guys! A quarter-acre is really big.

I thought I was all ready to go since I’d spent the growing season of 2013 managing about 1,000 square feet of raised bed. If you haven’t pieced it together yet: I wasn’t.

For my sainted Granny, however, a quarter-acre is a little kitchen garden. So your mileage may vary.

I had no idea how much time it was going to take. I barely had a plan for what I was growing. I had a bunch of seed I’d gotten pretty much on a whim and my plan could be summed up with this statement: “I don’t know.”

I learned you can create a calendar, and already the season’s going better. Even if you’re just Outside of weedpacolypse, the planting a few raised beds or a recovered from that disaster. I tried to till them under, mow them in between the beds, hoeing, you name it. The tiller broke down. The mower broke down. The best hoe I found for the job, an action hoe, snapped. I spend most of the season hand weeding a quarter acre and using a traditional goose neck hoe until I got blisters. So, this year, I’m going to be weeding daily. If you’re going to spend a little bit of time away from your garden, say more than three days, it might be a good idea to give the neighbor’s kid a few dollars to scrape it down every couple days. It may seem obvious, but I started as a complete beginner and it would have been nice if someone had told me.

I’m not sure I would have listened, but at least I would have known.

3)Make a calendar

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container garden, having a calendar lets you maximize your space and manage your time properly.

You can use information from wherever you purchased your seeds and find out -- within the week -- when you’ll harvest based on growth and germination times. That means you can put your squash in the ground and know based on the variety that about 52 days later you’ll be harvesting it.

That means you can plan work days and you can have an idea of what kind of space you’ll have in 52 days or so. Then you can put in another crop and get more out of any size garden. In addition, this lets you plan succession planting, which means you’ll have fresh produce coming out of your garden longer during the season.

There’s a whole bunch of planting guides and spreadsheets available if you google “garden calendar.” Or you could just crack open your spreadsheet software and go to town like I did. It’s a bigger job that you think, but trust me, it’s worth the time.

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4)Service your equipment regularly As you may have noticed from the weeding entry above, I had a lot of issues with equipment failure. I think the tiller suffered from some sort of transmission failure, the mower suffered some sort of carburetor thing and my poor action hoe suffered a snapped blade.

The guy at the shop says I didn’t cause the tiller failure, which I got in writing as it didn’t belong to me. But I honestly don’t know how much I was responsible for the mower and the rest of the gear that failed. By the way, those three items are just a few items on a long list. At the incubator farm program, we went through a

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program, we went through a couple tractors, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve learned that gardening or farming, equipment just fails. All the time. As a result, to prevent unnecessary problems, it’s a good idea to figure out how to service and maintain your equipment regularly.

Even your hand tools will last a lot longer with a little extra love. Sure it sounds obvious, but I only know a few people that give their hoes and shovels and whatnot the full linseed oil treatment after using them. It’s worth doing, especially if you invest any significant amount of money on your equipment.

5)Get more

information I don’t care if you’re a master gardener, the biggest farmer on your side of the Mississippi

or an agronomist with a doctorate from Harvard: You don’t have enough information.

With my 1,000 square feet of raised beds, I came into 2014 thinking I had it figured out.

Not only did I not have it figured out, at one point, I was actively working against myself.

For example: I spent a good three months trying to figure out how to breed leaf-footed plant bugs, because I’d never seen them and I’d gotten them confused with assassin bugs.

Leaf-footed plant bugs, fyi, are not something you want in your field. I had thousands.

I was walking around thrilled that a hugely destructive pest was on my plants, thinking I’d cracked the code to preventing insect infestation for all time.

I was so proud of myself for a few weeks there. I was cultivating these insects without even trying! (They’re a lot harder to get rid of than they are to cultivate, just so’s you know.)

There is literally no limit to the information you can have about your garden, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, no matter how successful you were in the previous year.

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The Mint Family for Seasonal Ailments

By: Jane Metzger, folk herbalist and educator at the Herbal Academy of New England

B

y January, winter has set in for the long haul.

While it’s the quiet side of the year, our bodies may still be recovering from the stress of the mad rush that often accompanies the December holidays, making us susceptible to common winter ailments such as colds, flu, and respiratory infections. The good news? The mint family offers just the medicine to help ease the symptoms of these illnesses and get you back on your feet.

Mint family (Lamiaceae or Labiatae) plants are beloved and widely used for culinary, aromatherapy, and medicinal

purposes. This is a big family, with over 180 genera and 3500 species! Common mint family plants include lemon balm, basil, catnip, thyme, sage, lavender, oregano, rosemary, spearmint, peppermint, hyssop, motherwort, marjoram, skullcap, holy basil, self heal, horehound, and savory; not to mention the many varieties of mints, such as apple mint, chocolate mint and pineapple mint.

Mint family plants are easily identified by their square stems, pairs of opposite leaves, tiny five-petaled irregular flowers arranged in whorls around the stem, and their strong aromatic FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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scent. As understanding plant family characteristics aid botanical identification, knowing the medicinal characteristics of each plant family aids understanding of an unknown plant’s general medicinal properties. While the medicinal actions of the mint family plants make quite a long list, many of them fit into the following categories: Nervine for nervous system complaints (anxiety, depression, headaches, insomnia, dementia) Digestive for digestive system complaints (indigestion, gas, cramps, nausea, colic) Antimicrobial for infections (bacterial, viral, fungal) Clearing for respiratory system complaints (infection, congestion, asthma) Stimulant for the circulatory system Herbalist Judith Berger (1998) said about rosemary, “Its primary effects are felt in the head, the stomach, and the heart.�

Considering that the respiratory and nervous systems are inextricably linked to the heart, the actions described above do fall into these three body systems, so the same can be said for all mints: they are medicine for the head, heart, and stomach.

Mints generally have a pungent, sweet, and bitter taste due to their high volatile oil content, although the relative proportions of pungent, sweet, and bitter tastes vary between mint family plants. Energetically, mint family plants are often stimulating, bitter, relaxing, drying, warming, and/or cooling, with seemingly opposite energetic effects commonly found in the same plant! Holmes (1997) relates the dichotomy of a plant being both stimulating and restorative to its taste profile, which of course is reflective of its active constituents. In Ayurveda, sweet tastes are nourishing and building, bitter tastes are cooling and stimulating, and pungent tastes are warming and stimulating.

Holmes (1997) observes that sweet and bitter tastes move things downward and inward, while pungent tastes disperse energy upwards and outwards.

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rosemary, “Its primary effects are felt in the head, the stomach, and the heart.”

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Therefore, digestive and eliminative actions correspond with inward/downward movements, while nervine, respiratory clearing, and circulatory stimulant actions correspond with upward/ outward movement.

So how do the mint family plants do it? The answer is in the volatile oils. These plants contain volatile oils such as menthol, thymol, citronellal, limonene, camphor, carvacrol and linalool, to name a few. Antimicrobial actions aside (we’ll get to that), the primary action of volatile oils is to relax tension and spasm in our internal organs. Our powFROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

erful sense of smell is directly connected to the limbic system of the brain, which governs emotion and memory. When we catch the scent of an aromatic plant, nerve endings are stimulated to send impulses to the limbic system and to structures that manage stress in our internal organs; once the volatile oils enter our blood, they relax smooth muscles in the airways and circulatory tissues in the intestines, relieving tension and restoring balance (Mase´, 2013).

As for the nervine effects, the balanced state created in our internal organs is reflected in our

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emotional state by a feeling of “being in the flow” or feeling a sense of harmony. Mase´ (2013) postulates that this is most likely because new smells signify a changing environment and act as a wake up call of sorts, allowing us to move from a stressful state to a calmer state.

In general, the volatile oils in mint family plants are warming and opening to the blood vessels, which allows blood to move more freely, thus reducing blood pressure (Elpel, 2010).

This vasodilatory effect allows blood flow to increase, thus explaining the mint family’s rep-

utation as circulatory stimulants.

This effect is also seen in the rubefacient effect of increasing blood flow to the skin; in the diaphoretic effect of stimulating circulation to increase temperature and ultimately move heat out of the body via perspiration; in the emmenagogic effect of promoting menstruation; in the action of stimulating blood flow to the brain; and in the action of lowering blood pressure.

As for the antimicrobial action of mint family plants — in short, their volatile oils are great for killing microorganisms, from bacteria and viruses to fungi. In FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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the middle ages, aromatics were used as strewing herbs in households during times of sickness and plague to combat ‘evil’, aka microorganisms. And then there’s the infamous legend of the Four Thieves, in which four brothers who set to work robbing graves during the Bubonic Plague purportedly used a blend of essential oils (including lavender, rosemary, and peppermint) to protect themselves from infection. Modern day scientific research substantiates the antimicrobial action of plants in the mint family for such ailments as colds, influenReferences Herbal Academy of New England (2014). Monograph Database. Retrieved on December 17, 2014 from http://herbarium.herbalacademyofne.com/monographs/.

Bennett, Robin Rose. (2014). The Gift of Healing Herbs. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Berger, Judith. (1998). Herbal Rituals. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Edwards, Gail Faith. (2000). Opening Our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs. Woodstock, NY: Ash Tree Publishing.

Elpel, Thomas. (2010). Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. 5th Edition. Pony, Montana: Hops Press, LLC. Hoffman, David. (2003). Medical Herbalism. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press.

Holmes, Peter. (1997). The Energetics of Western Herbs, Volumes 1 and 2. Boulder, CO: Snow Lotus Press.

Mase, Guido. (2013). The Wild Medicine Solution.

Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press.

McIntyre, Anne. (1996). Flower Power. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, Inc. http://www.anniesremedy.com/chart.php?herbs_families_ID=31 http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mints-39. html FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

za, upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, and herpes simplex (cold sores), just to name a few. And what could be more heavenly than mint family aromatherapy as a sinus infection remedy? Whether it’s a cup of peppermint tea for nasal congestion, a thyme facial steam to calm coughs, or hyssop syrup to move lung congestion, the aromatic action of these mint family plants relaxes the tissue of the respiratory system and opens the airways, allowing congestion to move out and breath to flow freely.

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10 Common mint family plants

Basil Basil (Ocimum spp) Strengthens nervous system and soothes tension and headaches via nervine action; aids mental focus and clear thinking; antidepressant; digestive aid for gas, cramping, and indigestion due to antispasmodic, carminative, and nervine actions; respiratory ally for colds, fevers, and flu due to antibacterial, antiviral, and sinus/lung congestion clearing actions; soothing expectorant for coughs; restores menstruation and relieves menstrual cramps due to balancing, circulatory stimulating, and antispasmodic actions; warming.

Hyssop Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) Respiratory ally for colds, flu, and bronchitis due to its expectorant, diaphoretic, antispasmodic, antibacterial, and antiviral actions. Stimulating decongestant useful for cold and wet colds or for stuck phlegm characteristic of chronic bronchitis.

Fever reducer due to warming and diaphoretic actions. Â Eases coughs due to antispasmodic volatile oils. Eases digestive upset due to antispasmodic, warming, and carminative actions; remedy for intestinal pathogens due to antibacterial and antiviral actions; external remedy for wounds, bruisFROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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es, sprains, and arthritis due to anti-inflammatory action; tonic for nervous system and relief for anxiety, tension, exhaustion, and depression due to sedative, nervine restorative, and nervine balancing actions.

lemon balm lavender Lavender (Lavandula spp.)

Uplifting nervous system tonic for anxiety, depression, and headache due to calming nervine action; relief for insomnia due to mild sedative action; digestive remedy due to antispasmodic, relaxing, and carminative actions; first aid remedy for cuts, wounds, sores, insect bites, stings, and burns due to antibacterial, antiseptic, and analgesic actions; anticancer.

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Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) Soothes anxiety, nervousness, and depression due to its uplifting nervine and trophorestorative actions; helps resolve sleeplessness due to calming nervine action; relieves digestive upset related to anxiety and depression due to calming nervine, carminative, and antispasmodic action; heart and circulatory tonic; lowers blood pressure due to vasodilation of blood vessels; antiviral; antibacterial; protects from radiationinduced and oxidative damage due to radio-protective and antioxidant action; cooling.

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motherwort Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) Tonic for menstrual and menopausal symptoms due to its antispasmodic, nervine, emmenagogic, and hormonal actions; tonic for strengthening the heart; eases heart palpitations and irregular heartbeat due to antispasmodic and nervine actions; reduces blood pressure due to diuretic, nervine, vasodilatory, and anxiolytic actions; increases blood circulation due to vasodilatory action; eases feelings of overwhelm, stress, anxiety due to relaxing nervine action; Â stimulates digestion due to bitter action; relieves constipation via relaxant action; ally for hyperthyroidism by bringing balance to thyroid and addressing symptoms (heart palpitations, irregular heartbeat, anxiety, and sleeplessness).

peppermint Peppermint (Mentha piperita) Warming diaphoretic with a secondary cooling action; stimulates digestion and remedies digestive pain and spasm due to carminative and antispasmodic actions; relieves nausea due to anti-emetic action; antimicrobial effective against a range of bacterial, viral, and fungal infections; eases headaches, toothaches, earaches, and muscle aches due to analgesic action; remedy for fevers, colds, and flus due to antimicrobial, diaphoretic, analgesic, and respiratory clearing actions; calms anxiety and relieves tension; increases mental clarity and boosts mental and physical energy.

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hair loss remedy due to its stimulating effect on hair follicles; remedy for head lice; antioxidant and anticancer properties.

rosemary Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) Superb memory tonic due to its ability to stimulate blood flow to the brain; uplifting and joyful nervous system restorative used for anxiety, depression, exhaustion, stress, and headaches; restorative and stimulating heart and circulatory tonic with anti-inflammatory action; stimulates menstrual flow via emmenagogic action; digestive tonic with antispasmodic, carminative, and cholagogic actions; preventative and clearing respiratory ally for colds, sore throats, flu, coughs, and chest infections due to its antiseptic, antibacterial, and diaphoretic actions; external remedy for rheumatic joints, gout, sciatica, neuralgia, sores, eczema, bruises, wounds, and sprains due to rubefacient and analgesic actions; preventative premature FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

thyme Thyme (Thymus spp.) Powerful ally for respiratory, digestive, and genitourinary infections due to antiseptic, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties; relief for coughs, sore throats, and congestions due to relaxant, antispasmodic, and expectorant actions; reduces fevers and stimulates sweating via diaphoretic action; aids indigestion, gas, and diarrhea due to appetite-stimulating, carminative, antispasmodic, astringent actions; nervous system tonic eases tension, anxiety, depression, and exhaustion; circulatory stimulant and warming actions.

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salve for wounds, sores, burns, and inflamed joints due to antiseptic and anti-inflammatory actions; antioxidant. Â Â

sage Sage (Salvia officinalis) Quieting, grounding, and strengthening to the nervous system due to nervine action; antidepressant; brain tonic improves memory and cognitive function; ally for respiratory and mouth infections due to antibiotic, antifungal, antimicrobial, and antiviral actions; clearing to respiratory congestion due to volatile oils and astringency; stimulating diaphoretic; eases sore throats via soothing anti-inflammatory action; digestive ally helps stimulate digestion and ease cramping via carminative and antispasmodic actions; tonic for menstrual irregularity, cramping, and menopausal symptoms due to estrogenic, uterine stimulant, and astringent actions; external

skullcap Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) Supreme nervous system tonic and trophorestorative rich in nerve-nourishing minerals; eases anxiety, exhaustion, nervous tension, insomnia, agitation, depression, and headaches due to calming nervine and sedative actions; calming to spastic muscles, menstrual cramps, and heart palpitations due to antispasmodic action; reduces high blood pressure due to vasodilatory action; cooling.

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mint family herbal remedies fever tea This is a common folk remedy for fever due to its diaphoretic action which stimulates circulation and perspiration, ultimately cooling the body.

Ingredients • Dried catnip leaf • Dried peppermint leaf • Dried elderflowers

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Directions Mix equal parts catnip, peppermint, and elderflowers thoroughly in a jar, cap and label.

To brew tea, steep 1 tbsp of tea blend in 8 ounces of boiled water and let steep for 3-4 minutes.

Sweeten to taste (or not) and enjoy.

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Tummy Tea The nervine and digestive actions of these plants make a soothing blend for tummy aches, colds, and restlessness at bedtime. This is an especially nice blend for children.

Ingredients • Dried catnip leaf • Dried lemon balm leaf • Dried chamomile flowers

Directions Mix equal parts catnip, lemon balm, and chamomile thoroughly in a jar, cap and label.

To brew tea, To brew tea, steep 1 tbsp of tea blend in 8 ounces of boiled water and let steep for 3-4 minutes.

Sweeten to taste (or not) and enjoy.

Note that the chamomile will become bitter if steeped for too long.

Sweeten to taste (or not) and enjoy.

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The

The Herbal Academy of New England is an educational resource offering online herbalist programs, and ongoing herbal education through The Herbarium. The Academy is committed to researching and gathering information and tools to help support a lifestyle of self-awareness and whole body care. It is HANE’s desire to encourage individuals FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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and society to make sustainable and meaningful changes so as to use earth’s resources with greater wisdom and respect. The Herbal Academy is led by Marlene Adelmann along with a seasoned team of educated and experienced clinical herbalists and medical professionals who love to share their passion for plants and people. herbalist

pro-

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herbal academy of new england

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Your herbal questions answered

Q: What does it mean to be a certified herbalist?

A: To get to the bottom of this,

it’s important to recognize that the field of herbalism is not officially regulated by any specific set of standards, including practitioner certification. Consequently, there is no such thing as a certified herbalist. That doesn’t mean there aren’t many highly qualified, excellent herbalists in the herbal community!

It just means that there is no certified herbalist designation. Because of this, if you are looking into herbalism training, it is incumbent upon you to seek out an herbal school FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

that offers high quality training programs and proven track records.

And keep in mind that schools and organizations that claim to uphold a certain set of guidelines are not accredited bodies either, again because there is no official set of standards established. There are many well-established herbal schools that will choose not to be listed with organizations that offer accreditation precisely for this reason.

Do be sure to do your research to learn and understand what a particular herbalism training program entails, who is teaching it, what their qualifications are, and how their students go on to use their training to

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Marlene Adelmann is a graduate of the Boston School of Herbal Studies. She is the founder and director of The Herbal Academy of New England.

make sure it is the right “fit� for your considerations. While not as potent as alcohol-based tinctures, glycerineeds. tes and vinegar tinctures are still quite effective. Apple cider vinegar extracts can be made with both dried and fresh herbs, although the former is generally more potent.

Glycerin is ideal for preserving fresh Absolutely! Apple cider vinegar flowers and fresh aromatic plants such as lavender, lemon balm, mint, and glycerin (a sweet extract from chamomile, violet, and rose. These vegetable oils) are often used to make particularly lovely, sweet make tinctures in lieu of alcohol. medicines. For the highest quality These preparations are a good non-alcohol tinctures, use organic, alternative for children, animals, sustainably harvested, non-GMO and adults when palatability and glycerin and organic apple cider alcohol sensitivities are primary vinegar.

Q: Is it possible to make tinctures without using alcohol?

A:

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ginger tea ingredients • 1 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger • 2 cups filtered water • 1 Tbsp. raw honey or pure maple syrup • ½ lemon, juiced Optional • 1 cinnamon stick • Chamomile flowers • Echinacea tincture • Fresh mint leaves • Pinch of cayenne pepper Directions Peel the ginger root with a peeler Grate the ginger with a grater/ zester.

Infuse the ginger; if you add mint, chamomile, cinnamon or cayenne,

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add it now. bring the water to a boil, add ginger and turn off heat. Put the lid on it and let it steep for 10 minutes.

If you are using a teapot, add the ginger in the teapot and pour boiling water in it. Let it steep for about 10 minutes.

If you are using a saucepan, strain the water to remove the ginger.

Add fresh lemon juice and add sweetener or not. Stir and enjoy!

If you want cold tea, let the tea cool down, store it in the fridge and add ice cubes before serving.

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Homestead Collections

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Photo by Shaye Elliott

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Homesteading is all about living simply, which usually means you don’t have a lot of extra things lying around. But we tend to collect useful things like twine, mason jars, wood, wire, tools, baskets anything that we can use or reuse.

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melissa jones Free book with any purchase

The Herbal Homestead's

essential

Oils essential guide

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Learn How to Become a Healer in Your Own Home 83

As a modern day homesteader, farmer, mother, and a photographer – I know how busy life can be. I also know how frustrating it can be to not feel your very best. To not have enough energy to get everything done.

After battling some major health issues including anti-inflammatory illnesses, severe food allergies, asthma, back pain and anxiety for years and NOT getting the results from the prescriptions that the doctor’s office kept writing me, I decided to look for some natural solutions and my essential oil journey began.

• FREE Essential Oil Classes • One-on-one Coaching • Access to a Vibrant Community www.theherbalhomestead.com FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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Lessons from the wise women

An Herbal Tradition By: Steven and Melissa Jones

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very year, at the height of Autumn, hundreds of magical, mystic creatures gather in the misty mountains of North Carolina.

They spend days in the wilderness, sharing their hearts, singing songs and learning ancient and powerful healing arts. Then they return home spreading their wisdom far and wide.

You could have one actually living in your home.

They are called ‌ Women. (Cue eerie wind sound effect in your head).

And every year, the Southeast Wise Women Conference occurs.

For women -- and by -- women only the conference gives women a safe, open space to learn, share and embrace the tradiYou probably know one of these tional role of the wise woman in mystic creatures.

Western society.

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Sure, it may sound all crunchy and granola, but it’s a great chance for women from all demographics, races, creeds, faiths, colors, identities (etc.) to come together and learn how to heal themselves and their families, while respecting and honoring the tradition of the “wise woman.”

herbal medicines built around local plants while emphasizing “deep nourishment and self love.”

Wood started the Conference in 2005 (The SE Wise Woman Conference also hosts a Spring Immersion Class coming up in June. Find out more about it here).

According to Corinna Wood, the wise woman tradition, as the SE About 22 years ago, Wood Wise Women Conference hon- co founded Red Moon Herbs. ors it, is the use of traditional, The business focused on using FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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Photos provided by Southeast Wise Women

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local plants for women’s health lous way they taught us a few and herbal health and teaching dance classes,” Hall said. “Then they taught another group of classes on their uses. ladies some drum lessons. In “I found it was mostly women the evening, when they had the coming to the class,” she said. bonfire, they brought the dancSo Wood decided to make the ers together with the drummers.

That was a great example.” classes women-only.

“I came to the conclusion I had more to offer to women in that context,” she said. “As I moved toward teaching for women only, the response (was) overwhelming. The conference was created out of that context.”

Since it began, it’s hosted thousands of women. Described as having an atmosphere between that of a summer camp and a college course, the program participants say the event gave them an eye-opening glimpse of a world most women don’t get to see.

It wasn’t all dancing and drumming, however. During the three-day event they were taking classes on plant remedies, nutrition, auto-immune issues, stress and medicine making.

All told, the three day event included about 20 hours of instruction.

And still, it’s not as intensive as the week long event in June, Wood said.

“The Spring event is for those who want to go deeper into the wise woman tradition,” Wood said. “Working with local plants, gathering wild food (and) making medicine.”

“There was a unity to the conference,” Jennifer Hall said. Hall was one of the three women sent by From Scratch to cover the event. She gave an example of the unity fostered at the The Spring event has a different atmosphere, Wood said, which event. can lead to some interesting “One thing I thought was fabu- effects.

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“Spring is much more intimate (and) close,” she said. “That also allows a lot of personal transformation through the week.”

Students are encouraged to comment on everything from favorite classes, favorite teachers and offer suggestions on what else they’re looking for.

Wood said the instructors and organizers tailor the curriculum In addition, Wood said a lot of to the needs of their students the experience is driven by their and the specialties of their amazing teachers. instructors.

“I’ve been amazed by the skill “We start with feedback from and talent and diversity of the our participants,” she said. “We teachers coming forward,” have an extensive survey sys- Wood said. “It’s more difficult to choose the teachers than tem.” anything.”

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Whatever Wood and the other vision for healing and living. I organizers of the events are can’t wait to go back next year.” doing is working. Since starting the event, hundreds of women About Corinna Wood from all over the country have Corinna Wood is the founder of Southeast Wise Women, the Southeast come together and learned Wise Women Herbal Conference and about the wise woman tradition Red Moon Herbs. and traditional medicine.

She started studying herbalism at the “It was a transformational experience,” Melissa Jones, publisher of From Scratch and one of the attendants this year, said.

“I learned so much and it was incredible to be surrounded by a group of passionate, dedicated women sharing the same

age of 20. She studied under the worldrenown herbalist Susun Weed in 1993 and is devoted to empowering women “to trust the wisdom and cycles of plants, the earth and their own bodies.”

She lives with her son at Earthaven Ecovillage in Black Mountain, NC. Find out more about Wood and the Wise Women Conference and Spring Immersion here.

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Hugelkultur German Raised Beds By: Cassie Langstraat FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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hances are if you are involved in the modern h o m e steading world, you have heard the term “permaculture” floating around. Chances are if you’ve heard that word, you’ve heard of “hugelkultur” as well.

Besides being a ridiculously funny word to try to pronounce, the term hugelkultur holds world-changing importance to modern gardeners.

really, realllly complex. Psyche!

It is literally just buried wood in soil. That’s all it is. So, not only can you save tons and tons of water by setting up one of these hugelkultur beds, but you get to use up any old rotted wood you have lying around, even unwanted twigs and branches.

Before we get into the details on how to build one of these bad boys, I want to give you a little background on hugelkultur. It’s a German word. It’s been practiced in Eastern European cultures for hundreds of years and it’s been recently further developed by permaculture So, what’s so darn great about gurus, Sepp Holzer and Paul it then? I think it comes down Wheaton. There. When I said to one thing: Water. With a little, I meant it. hugelkultur bed, you can eliminate the need for any irriga- Now, onto the fun stuff. First, I tion or watering system. Boom. want to explain how it actually Yeah, I said it. Sounds pretty works. It’s pretty cool. Basically crazy right? But it’s completely the hugelkultur beds mimic true. Well, after the first year, the natural decaying cycle of but still! Give them hugels some the forest floor. As the wood decomposes underneath the credit! soil, its porosity increases so it So I guess I should probably becomes almost like a sponge. tell you what the heck it actu- So, it soaks tons of water up, ally is, eh? Prepare yourself. It’s and then slowly releases it back FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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to the plants in the hugel bed over time. Also, because the wood shrinks when it decays, it frees up little air pouches in the soil which enables a little selftilling situation! How neat?

During the first year or two you will definitely need to water it a bit, but after that it should be completely independent of water. Oh! Another nifty benefit: Because everything will be doing it’s little composting business in the first few years, you will probably get a longer

growing season because the soil will be warmed up. In general, the rotted wood will make for a raised garden bed that is incredibly rich with organic material and huge amounts of nutrients.

Speaking of nutrients, let’s talk wood. Paul Wheaton makes a really good point in his article, “hugelkultur: the ultimate raised garden bed”. Wood is high on the ol’ carbon scale. Meaning it will want lots of nitrogen to do it’s composting business. This FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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So, first things first. Lay down the wood. Big logs. Small logs. Twigs.

Branches. All of it. If you want, you can add soil in between the layers of wood, it will probably make it much more sturdy that way. Water each layer.

could take away from the plants you have in the bed. However, if the wood is already well-rotted, it shouldn’t be a problem. So yes, you can definitely use fresh wood you just chopped, even if it isn’t rotted, but it could take away from your plants for a while.

While we are on the topic of wood, it’s pretty important to choose the right type. For example, Black Locust takes ages and ages to rot, so it wouldn’t be the best choice. Also black walnut FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

and cherry can be quite toxic so it’s best to avoid those as well.

Good options are alders, apple, cottonwood, poplar, willow, and birch!

Finally, how do we build one?

The cool thing is, a large part of the design and size is entirely up to you. Some people build them on top of sod. Some people dig up a few feet of soil and build them in that. Some build them really tall. Some people build them shorter. Tomato.

To-mah-to.

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I’d say most people that I’ve seen build them around 3-4 feet tall and about 3-4 feet wide. Length varies tremendously. However, Paul advocates in his article that the taller the better. He says it holds moisture much longer that way, and you don’t have to bend over to plant or harvest. Bonus!

He recommends building it 7 feet tall because it will shrink about a foot.

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troubleshooting your compost by:Chris McLaughlin

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omposting organic materials isn’t necessarily difficult; it’s the most natural thing in the world. Still, when humans attempt to control things even decomposition gets off track sometimes. The good news about troubleshooting a compost pile is that there are usually obvious signs and simple solutions for steering it back in the right direction.

When it comes to compost, I promise that there isn’t anything that can’t be fixed. In fact, you could throw everything on the ground willy-nilly, and you would eventually FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

end up creating what we growers refer to as garden gold.

If you’re getting the feeling that your compost pile isn’t acting how it should, here’s some tips and strategies for you.

Problem #1: There’s Nothing

Going On in There (You’re pretty sure that your pile hasn’t changed in weeks)

Solution #1: There may not be

enough moisture and/or nitrogen to invite things to break down.

Add more water and/or more green materials.

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In order to thoroughly wet the compost pile, you can turn it a section at a time -- wetting each section until they’re damp. Then add more of the drier part of your pile to this section and wet the stuff that you add to the top.

Repeat this until you have a nicely damp compost pile. If you don’t want to (or physically can’t) turn it, you can make deep holes into it and just stick the garden hose inside to wet it all the way through.

Don’t forget to add some nitrogenrich organic sources to the pile, as well. Green (nitrogen) materials include vegetable trimmings, grass

clippings, algae, houseplants, alfalfa meal or hay, kelp/seaweed, coffee grounds, animal manure (herbivores), etc. You get the idea. Blood meal is a good addition or if you have a manure source (from an herbivore), it’ll also kick your pile into high gear.

Problem #2: Your Compost Pile smells bad.

(It’s not supposed to smell, right?)

Solution #2: That’s right, it’s not suppose to smell. Compost piles working correctly smell earthy like the forest floor. Your compost pile may be “anaerobic. “ In other words, it may not be getting enough oxyFROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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gen. Or perhaps you added some straw, paper towels, toilet paper rolls, and the like to the pile. Mix less-than-desirable components. them well into your compost pile.

Did you add a large amount of nitrogen such as a thick pile of grass If the smelly problem is due to the clippings? Is the pile a wet, soggy fact that you’ve added the wrong mess because it’s sitting in an area food stuffs like meat, fish, dairy, that collects all the rain or water eggs, or grease, then your pile will run-off? Any of the above situations most certainly smell bad. If it’s poscan cause an anaerobic pocket in sible to remove these items, feel the pile. free to do so.

The first thing you need to do is aerate the pile by turning it, letting it get some much-needed oxygen.

After that you want to some carbon (browns) such as shredded newspaper, cardboard, leaves, sawdust, FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

Otherwise, simply turn the smelly stuff deep into the pile and cover it with organic material. The smell will be masked by the burial and it will break down eventually (after all, it is organic material).

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Problem #3: Rats, Raccoons, Flies, • Thickly planted ivy and Other Critters Your pile has been invaded.

Solution #3: First of all, if you’re finding rodents (rates and mice) in your compost pile, there’s only a few reasons why they’re there. At first glance, a compost pile might seem like a great place to hang out for pesky rodents. But the truth is that the materials you’re going to be tossing in there aren’t a rat’s idea of a good time.

Rats prefer meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, grease, and prepared foods. You shouldn’t be tossing those items into your open pile anyway, so rats shouldn’t be a problem.

Raccoons will visit your yard (or garden) for the same reasons rats do, but they actually do enjoy some kitchen scraps that are going to be in your pile, as well. This is why I prefer put my kitchen waste into a prefabricated bin that has 1/4” holes or smaller for aeration, as well as a secure lid or I add them to my worm (vermicompost) bin (which also has a lid).

Invariably, you’ll get some fruit flies and quite possibly houseflies. To keep them at bay, bury your kitchen waste (especially fruit) deep into the pile. If you’re adding fresh manure, bury that as well. Sometimes when you turn your pile some of the manure or food scraps end up exposed. Just add a shallow layer of hay (or any other brown) onto the top.

Now, if rats have already taken up residence in your yard, they may take a peek at what you have in your compost on their nightly stroll.

But you need to look for reasons that the rats are attracted your yard This is another good reason to cover your open compost pile with in the first place. a tarp. Keep in mind that the other “creepy crawlers” you may find are Things that attract rats: probably macroorganisms that are • Dog or cat food left outside actually good for your compost pile.

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Foodcorps at Work

Teaching kids about good, loc by: Marissa Finn FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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t the last Sustainable Agriculture Convention in Greenville, SC, hosted by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, we discovered Food Corps. Food Corps works with the AmeriCorps Program to develop healthy eating habits in American Schools. The program seeks to teach children about food and nutrition, engage them in activities like gardening and cooking and give them access to food from local farms.

Marissa Finn kindly agreed to provide us with an ongoing column regarding the programs activities in High Point, NC. “This tastes like Panda Express!” Au’nore exclaimed, slurping a sample spoon of stirfry sauce. Yamein, Quantarius and Kh’nore joined in on the tasting. “Mmm… Actually, I think it’s better,” Yamein countered.

It was an unseasonably cold November morning, and I was at Northwood Elementary World School helping four fifth-grade boys prepare Asian Greens Stir-Fry for their peers.

Over the course of the day, the students would harvest vegetables from their school garden, prepare hundreds of samples of stirfry, and serve the dish to other students.

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limited resource schools to real food to help them grow up healthy.

In partnership with Cooperative Extension, I lead cooking, nutrition and gardening classes in four elementary schools in High Point, North Carolina.

Since Northwood is an international baccalaureate school, students take Chinese language and culture classes led by guest professors from China. With the help of Curriculum Facilitator Cathy Jarrett and Chinese teachers Ms. Li and Ms. Zhu, I chose to plant a fall Asian vegetable garden, including three leafy greens called han tsai tai, green choy, and mizuna in addition to leeks, chives and onions. Students and staff would help tend the garden, and the planting season would culminate in a Chinese stir-fry tasting starring our homegrown greens.

mobile kitchen from my car: burners, pots, a colander, a salad spinner, bowls, spoons, measuring cups, kitchen shears and whisks.

Au’nore, Yamein, Quantarius, Kh’nore and I started our morning in the garden, where we gathered as many greens as we could. As we harvested, we tasted each of the greens to compare and contrast flavors and textures. I was surprised to learn of the boys’ enthusiasm for the chives.

We headed into the classroom, and I briefed the students on how the rest of the day would unfold. First, we would prepare three separate recipes: brown rice, stir-fry sauce, and sautéed greens. Second, we would combine the components in large mixing bowls. Third, we would scoop the mixture into sample cups and load the cups onto a cart. Finally, we would travel from class to class to serve our Asian Greens Stir-Fry to hundreds of students and teachers.

Ms. Byerly’s kindergarten class and Ms. Overbeck’s second grade class pitched in to water and weed, and Ms. Li and Ms. Zhu’s classes used the garden area as an outdoor classroom. After a few We immediately started to boil the weeks, the greens started to grow rice in two gigantic pots. Using a food scale and proportions prolike wild. vided by a USDA School Food I pulled up to Northwood on stir- recipe, we measured 6 pounds, 4 fry day and unloaded an entire ounces of brown rice and 2 galFROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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lons plus 1-¾ quarts of water. All in all, it took two hours to cook the rice. We blew three fuses during that time, but we got back in action with the help of some incredible custodial staff and the teacher across the hall agreeing to babysit a pot.

After we got the rice going, we gathered around a saucepan to prepare our stir-fry sauce using another USDA recipe. We needed 2 cups of soy sauce, but we only had measuring cups for onequarter and one-half of a cup.

Quantarius filled a one-half cup measure four times and poured each into the pot. “Oh I get it…

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you’re teaching us math,” he said.

After adding 1 ¾ cups cornstarch, 1 tsp. ground ginger, ¼ cup plus 2 Tbs. granulated garlic, 1 Tbs. black pepper and ½ cup sesame oil, he brought the sauce to a simmer.

As Quantarius kept an eye on the sauce, Au’nore, Yamein and Kh’nore traveled to our third station – the greens assembly line – where they washed, dried, and fried pounds of Asian greens.

This was a repetitive task, considering we had only one sink, one colander, one salad spinner, and one pot and a mountain of fresh greens. After about an hour

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combining stir-fry components, scooping the finished product into cups, washing pots and pans, and cleaning up the remains of the salad spinner incident. We loaded “Um, Ms. Finn, I’m pretty sure up a cart with the samples, and this is burning,” Quantarius called by noon we were on our way to me over to a pot filled with black, distribute to classes. sticky sauce. After the blown fuses and the flipped salad spinner, I The boys presented their dish thought this might be the blunder to twelve classes. “We made an that would put us over the edge. Asian Greens Stir-Fry using vegetables from our school garden,” We started a new pot of sauce, they took turns telling each class. and at 11:00, we were relieved “We used han tsai tai, green choy, when four community volunteers mizuna and chives,” they continarrived to help out. With only ued, holding up signs to show an hour to go, we divided and what each vegetable looked like. conquered the rest of our tasks: of frantic preparation and one flipped water-filled salad spinner, we had piles and piles of mustardy fried greens.

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Asian Greens Stir Fry for A Crowd Adapted from USDA School Food Service Recipes Makes 100 half-cup servings

Combine brown rice, stir-fry sauce and garden greens in a large bowl. Serve warm.

1 Tbsp 1 tsp ground pepper • ½ cup sesame oil • 1 gallon vegetable stock Brown Rice Preparation ingredients Dissolve cornstarch in soy sauce. Add ginger, granulated garlic, pepper, and sesame • 6 lb 4 oz brown rice oil (optional) to this mixture.

• 1 gal 2 qt water Heat beef, chicken, or vegetable stock in pot • 1 Tbsp 1 tsp salt to the boiling point.

Preparation Slowly stir in cornstarch-soy sauce mix• Bring water to a boil. Stir in rice and ture and return to boil. Continue cooking salt and return to a boil over mediumhigh heat. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, until sauce is smooth and thickened. and cook until rice is tender and has Garden Greens absorbed all the liquid.

Ingredients 5 to 10 pounds fresh han tsai tai, green Stir-Fry Sauce choy, mizuna and/or chives Ingredients Olive Oil • 2 cups Low-sodium soy sauce Preparation • 1 ¾ cups cornstarch Stir-fry greens in olive oil.

• 1 tsp ground ginger • ¼ cup 2 Tbsp granulated garlic •

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From Scratch Magazine

Blogger Awards Top 10 Winners

So we scoured the web again. It’s our super-power.

And we took submissions and read tons of blogs and put together the best list of bloggers we could find. It’s not complete. Not even remotely. Tons of writers and bloggers and whatnot are out there, digging in the dirt, re-examining their lives and showing the world what that’s like.

These blogs provide some of the best information available with some of the best writing available.

So enjoy this top ten list. Check out these bloggers and have a great time learning and reading.

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blog: www.theprairiehomestead.com Blogger: Jill Winger

Jill Winger never intended to find herself growing organic veggies, milking a cow, or raising grassfed beef, but found herself completely obsessed with the modern homesteading lifestyle after she and her husband purchased a tumble-down farmestead on the wide-open Wyoming. In 2010, she began journaling their experiences on her blog, The Prairie Homestead. She quickly discovered she wasn’t the only one enamored with chickens, mason jars, and home dairying, and the blog has grown into a vibrant community of like-minded homesteading enthusiasts all over the world.

Check out her book: Natural Homestead Learn how to make your own chicken feed, mix up non-toxic bug sprays & garden pesticides, create herbal salves for your animals, and more! Over 40 recipes and photos!

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Blogger Awards Top 10 Winner

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blog: www.commonsensehome.com Blogger: Laurie Neverman

Laurie Neverman has a BS in Math/ Physics and an MS in Mechanical Engineering. She is a wife and mother with a passion for natural healing, homesteading and gardening. She and her husband, August, homeschool their two boys. They live in rural northeast Wisconsin in a Wisconsin Green Built and Energy Star certified home.

The home has an array of “green” features, including: • Solar Water Heating and Passive Solar Design • Insulated Concrete Form construction • An Attached Greenhouse • Handicap Accessibility • Environmentally Friendly Materials There are also some old standbys, like a root cellar and an herbal apothecary.

Her interests also include herbalism, wildcrafting (using weeds for food and medicine), homebrewing and live culture foods.

Check out her book: Common sense homesteading 101 Readers can get a free copy of “Common Sense Homesteading 101: 7 Steps to Become More Self-Reliant Now” with their newsletter subscription FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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Blogger Awards Top 10 Winner

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blog: www.theelliotthomestead.com Blogger: shaye elliott

The Elliott Homestead is a blog that encompasses so many of the things that Shaye Elliott, who runs the blog, desperately loves – her bearded husband Stuart, their herd of little children, and life on the farm. They live on five acres in North Central Washington and own that land, where they raise a dairy cow -- Sally Belle -- a giant flock of laying hens, meat chickens, hogs, sheep, turkeys, and a variety of produce in large, organic gardens. They farm to provide our family with as much homegrown food as possible – learning the ways of the land and the ways of the past while doing so. They preserve food, stock up the larder for winter, and are ever working towards growing more. The laundry hanging on the line may cause some to think the are old fashioned. And maybe that’s true. But Shaye is okay with that.

“I wouldn’t trade this hard working farm life for anything in the world,” she said.

Check out her cookbook: from scratch A cookbook that teaches you to traditionally prepare and cook nutritious food.

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Blogger Awards Top 10 Winner

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blog: www.reformationacres.com Blogger: quinn

Like so many homesteads, Reformation Acres started with a chicken and the dream of an egg. What began so small has grown a 7 acre homestead in central Ohio. Quinn lives there with her family where they raise 8 children.

They are devoted to living a simple agrarian life while working together to grow and raise most of their own food.

They started a raw milk micro-dairy herdshare last summer so others in their area could benefit from amazing, pasture-based Jersey milk.

When they’re not milking, you can find Quinn and the rest of the family in the gardens, preserving harvest, scratch cooking -- Seasonally! -- in the cookery kitchen, rotating pasture fencing, laughing at ducks, scratching pigs’ backs or trying to find out where the free-ranging chickens are laying eggs now.

Check out her printable homesteading binder The ultimate organization and record-keeping resource, allowing you to steward the land more productively & efficiently.

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Blogger Awards Top 10 Winner

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blog: www.www.LivingHomegrown.com Blogger: Theresa Loe Check out: Canning Academy

Theresa Loe didn’t grow up on a farm.

Instead she came of age in Los Angles, in an average middle-class neighborhood.

But, that didn’t stop her family from canning, preserving, vegetable growing and practicing other homesteading skills.

Her parents, Loe said, just enjoyed that sort of “fresh-from-the-garden lifestyle” and Loe followed in their footsteps -even though it wasn’t cool when she was growing up.

AS a teenager, she shifted her focus from farming to engineering, following in the footsteps or her brother and father into technology.

After pursuing a degree in engineering, she realized she missed that lifestyle.

She still lives in LA, with two teenage boys and five chickens, but she’s growing food on a tenth of an acre while specializing in teaching homesteading on a small scale and how to can and preserve the harvest.

In addition, Loe has managed to become a bit famous in the process: She’s the Co-Executive Producer for the national PBS series, “Growing A Greener World,” where she also serves as the homesteading/canning expert on the show..

Learn how to preserve the harvest this spring with the canning academy. You can also check out lots of videos and information on how to care for your garden and live homegrown.

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blog: www.tillysnest.com Blogger: Melissa Caughey

Melissa Caughey is another Los Angeles native, though she now calls Cape Cod, MA, home.

She lives there with her two kids, husband and a miniature schnauzer named Sara. She keeps chickens and bees, gardens and cooks.

Despite that much work, she still finds time to write freelance for a variety of publications, like Country Living Magazine, HGTV, Grit, Community Chickens, and Keeping Backyard Bees.

“I don’t believe you need to have a farm to enjoy homesteading, just a little bit of earth, curiosity, ideas, passion and love for getting back to the simpler joys of life,” she said.

Check out her new book: Melissa Caughey’s new book A Kid’s Guide to Keeping Chickens, will come out March 24, 2015

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Blogger Awards Top 10 Winner

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blog: www.traditionalcookingschool.com BLOGGER: WARDEE HARMON

Wardee Harmon lives with her family in southwestern Oregon on 5-1/2 partially wooded acres.

They raise sheep, goats and cows, along with chickens and a garden, too.

“Our life is full of delicious, nutritious food, many blessings, and God’s love.” sje said.

Wardee shares her life and passions through her Traditional Cooking School blog and online traditional cooking classes (plus books!). She shares her life and passions with others who love the traditional lifestyle and all the health and family benefits it brings.

Before there were factory farms and processed foods, there were nutrient-dense foods prepared traditionally.

“People of old knew how to bake with sourdough, create ‘good-for-you’ crunchy and sour pickles, make farmhouse cheeses and churn cultured butter.” Wardee said.

Wardee said her family has returned to those roots and old-fashioned skills, and she loves sharing it with others.

Check out her podcast: You can find Wardee on the Traditional Cooking School blog, Know Your Food with Wardee podcast, or Facebook or Pinterest.

From Scratch Magazine

Blogger Awards Top 10 Winner

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Jenna Woginrich is the curator, writer and vlogger of Cold Antler.

As a young writer living in Washington County, New York state, Woginrich spends her time raising animals, gardening and beekeeping.

She lends her lyrical style to a variety of topics: the Civil War, Mountain Music, local food and any of her friends.

You can also watch her regular vlog updates, where the young Ms. Jenna updates you on just about everything she’s doing, including fiber work an animal care.

She’s currently taking care of chickblog: www.coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com ens, rabbits, geese, ducks, turkers, Blogger: jenna woginrich bees and more.

Check out her latest book: Made from Scratch Check out her latest book Made From Scratch Discovering the pleasures of a handmade life.

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Blogger Awards Top 10 Winner

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blog: www.untrainedhousewife.com Blogger: angela england

Angela England is a pro-blogger, author, speaker, and homeschooling mother of five living with her husband in Oklahoma.

Angela is the Founder of Untrained Housewife, cofounder of the new Homestead Bloggers Network and managing editor of Blissfully Domestic online magazine. She is the author of Backyard Farming on an Acre (More or Less) (Alpha Books, 2013) and when she gets away from home, it’s usually to speak at a blog conference. She loves empowering others with whatever is the next step on their self-sufficiency journey but calls herself a get-it-done’ist, not a purist.

Check out her book: backyard farming It doesn’t take a lot of space to reap a bountiful harvest of nutritious, affordable food. With proper planning, you can grow your own fresh vegetables and fruit; raise chickens and goats for eggs, milk, or meat; and keep bees for honey—on as little as a quarter-acre of land.

From Scratch Magazine

Blogger Awards Top 10 Winner

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blog: www.fresheggsdaily.com Blogger:lisa steele

Lisa Steele, the creative mind behind the largest online natural chicken keeping resource Fresh Eggs Daily®, has been around chickens most of her life. A fifth generation chicken keeper, she returned to the country after graduating from college and doing a short stint on Wall Street. Now, happy living in the country on a farm she is truly proud to call home, Lisa encourages others to raise their own flocks naturally without using antibiotics or chemicals. An aspiring herbalist, she incorporates herbs, weeds and edible flowers into the daily care of her flock and shares this advice on her blog and Facebook pages Fresh Eggs Daily and Duck Eggs Daily. She also shares recipes using fresh eggs and garden produce, DIY crafts and repurposing ideas. In her free time she also enjoys baking, gardening, knitting, canning and sewing.

Lisa currently has a flock of a dozen chickens, a rooster and ten ducks. She and her husband also call two horses, a German shepherd, a Corgi and a tuxedo barn cat ‘family’ on their 6-acre farm in Virginia.

Check out her book: fresh eggs daily Lisa is the author of the bestselling chicken care book Fresh Eggs Daily: Raising Happy, Healthy Chickens...Naturally and her writing can been found regularly in Chickens, Backyard Poultry and Hobby Farm magazines.

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Our goal at Homestead Lady is to inspire the would-be and veteran homesteader alike to increase their self sufficiency by crafting connections to their homes. We invite any and all to join the conversation and share their experience and wisdom. Please visit us at Homestead Lady today!

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General Canning Tips from Homestead Cooking with Carol: Bountiful Make-ahead Meals By: Carol J. Alexander an exercpt from Homestead Cooking with Carol

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s a homesteading homemaker, producing your own food is important to you. After all the energy spent in the production process (e.g. weeding, spreading manure, milking, butchering), you are exhausted, right?

When you have gallons of milk in the fridge, with more coming at the next milking, bushels of tomatoes and peppers sitting too long on the kitchen floor, and rows of green beans that must be picked and put up, just getting something simple on the table makes the local drive-through look inviting. But, surely the drive-through would not even be on your radar if you

had meals prepared in advance for those hectic days.

In her book Homestead Cooking with Carol: Bountiful Makeahead Meals, Carol J. Alexander shows you, the busy homesteading homemaker, how to prepare your food at harvest time so you spend less time making supper the rest of the year.

Since the seed catalogs have come in the mail, and this issue focuses on the garden, we thought it’d be appropriate to share an excerpt from Homestead Cooking with Carol to give you some timely reminders for the upcoming season.

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Carol’s Canning Tips Here are some of my best tips for stocking a pantry with jars that will keep a good long time.

• Every time you go to the store, pick up a box of lids. Nothing stinks like being in the middle of a big canning job and running out of lids or rings.

• Each fall, stores put their canning supplies on sale. Stock up when the prices are cheap.

• Before the season begins, inspect your canners. Test the rubber gasket, if you have one.

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you at no cost. Fill your water bath canner with water to make sure it doesn’t leak. Don’t laugh.

I’ve had that happen to me several times after I’ve already gotten into the middle of a project.

• Do not store empty jars. Fill them with boiling water, cap, and water bath for 15 minutes.

Then, instead of empty jars taking up shelf space, you have a supply of water in case of emergencies.

• Do not forget to check the rims of your jars for nicks before using them. A nick on the rim will keep the jar from sealing. I

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mark the jar “chipped” with a permanent marker and use it for drinking or dry storage.

• Label every jar you can with date and contents. My kids hate it when they want bread and butter pickles and open the dill because mama didn’t label the jars. Also, canned goods only last so long and you do not want to be eating three-yearold green beans.

• Post a chart in your pantry or food storage area that lists the shelf life of canned goods, dry goods, etc. Once or twice a year take inventory and discard things that are too old.

• Every time you open a jar, listen for the seal to pop. Smell the contents. Do a visual inspection. Bring the food to a boil and take note of any off odor.

If anything is suspicious, toss it.

Better safe than sorry.

• Keep a canning journal. Include such things as how many bushels you put up, where you bought apples and how much you paid, how many quarts you canned or froze of each item, recipes used, dates, etc. Then, when someone asks what types of apples are in your pie, you do not have to rely on your memory.

• Do not use canning recipes older than 1997. Standards have changed in order to deal with new bacteria.

• To ensure a better seal, do not forget to run a spatula around the inside of your jar to release trapped air and wipe the rim of the jar before applying the lid.

• Add a dash of white vinegar to the water in your canner, and that you boil your lids in, to keep water deposits from creating a film on your jars.

As every homesteading homemaker knows, nothing relieves stress in a woman’s life like knowing what’s for supper.

Having meals put up, having a system to live by, and casting off the expectations that every meal needs to be a gourmet affair gives you renewed energy of mind and spirit. In fact, quick stress-free home cooking makes the entire family happy.

In addition to putting up meals for your family this year, how would you like to: • have cookies warm from the oven every day when your kids step off the bus, •take the new mom a meal FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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without adding to your already heavy work load, • say “No” to the local drivethru after an exhausting shopping day because you know supper can be ready before the kids unload the car, • save enough money to buy something special by saying “No” to that drive-thru, • or welcome unexpected company with a smile because simply adding one more jar to the pot makes supper with friends a possibility?

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When you implement the techniques in Homestead Cooking with Carol you can do all this and more.

Regular columnist for From Scratch and freelance journalist Carol J. Alexander has been encouraging homesteaders and homesteading wannabes since 2007. Her work has appeared in BackHome Magazine, Grit, Hobby Farms, Urban Farm, and over 50 other regional and national publications.

Her book Homestead Cooking with Carol: Bountiful Make-ahead Meals is available in print and e-version on her website Everything Home with Carol.

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The world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome, dubious eggs, called possibilities. - George Eliot

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