Table of Contents
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4 9 Strategies for
Self-Reliant Living
To get back to basics, achieve food security, and find financial independence, heed this advice from a family that made it work.
10 Community + Self-Reliance
= The Good Life
Neighbors discover strength and security as they embrace a do-it-ourselves approach to more sustainable communities. Here, we feature seven of these resilient, cooperative Homestead Hamlets as models for other neighborhoods.
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18 Homesteading
Lessons Learned
From planning your home to laying out garden beds, a longtime homesteader offers advice 20 years in the making.
22 Find Your Perfect
Country Property
Follow this advice to discover the property that’s just right for you.
27 DIY Wind Generator
Turn an alternator into alternative energy in as little as a weekend using hand tools, a handful of hardware, and some inexpensive car parts.
30
30 Renewable Energy Options
for Your Homestead
Downsize your dependence on fossil fuels with these tools.
34 Grow More Food
in Less Space
Blending the best principles of biointensive and square-foot gardening will yield a customized, highly productive growing system.
40 Care and Cultivation of
Permanent Garden Beds
Provide a secure habitat for the dynamic soil food web that sustains your crops by establishing permanent garden beds and paths.
COVER PHOTOGRAPH: MATTHEW T. STALLBAUMER
Imagine your ideal patch of Mother Earth. Perhaps it’s a place where the sky and land are vast and the soil is fertile. Now, imagine someone is willing to give this to you — free. free.
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46 43 An Unusual Fruit
Elderberries contain antioxidants and offer other health benefits, and the shrubs make a beautiful addition to any landscape.
46 Expert Tips for Growing
Early Tomatoes
Add a whole month to your fresh-tomato season with these proven techniques.
48 Home Food Preservation
Stock your pantry like a pro by following these experts’ tried-andtrue canning techniques.
54 Fresh, Homemade
Salad Dressings
Add a splash of flavor to spring or summer greens with these favorite salad dressing recipes from Mother Earth News bloggers.
59 Cool Kohlrabi
Cabbage’s crazy cousin is a fun, tasty addition to your fall vegetable garden.
62 How to Make Pickles
These three basic methods put perfect pickling within the grasp of every preserver. Just pick a pickle recipe and get started!
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48 66 Grow Your Own
Shiitake Mushrooms
Take these steps to fruit your own fungi for money, food, and fun.
70 To Bake the Best Bread
Grind Your Own Grain
Healthy reasons you should consider grinding your own grain at home.
74 Save Money on Groceries
Buying in bulk and freezing or canning fruits and veggies are great ways to enjoy better food and cut your costs by up to 85 percent!
78 Homestead Helpers:
Sheep, Cattle, Pigs, and Poultry
Livestock aren’t just useful for meat and eggs. They can mow lawns, work garden soil, dig stumps, and more!
82 Hatch a Flock
Get insider tips on incubating eggs.
85 Build Your Own Incubator A poultry farmer offers up the lessons she learned after constructing her own incubation cabinet to hatch rare heritage chicks.
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70 88 Homegrown Medicine
Discover the many benefits of planting medicinal herbs.
94 How to Make Your
Own Moccasins
Take your tanned animal skins one step further by turning the leather into comfortable, durable footwear.
99 Upcycled Pallet Projects
for the Home and Garden
Use basic tools and construction knowledge to discover new uses for old pallets. These seven simple designs are no-frill and downright beautiful.
102 Start a Work-from-Home
Business
Our readers get down to business, offering advice on how to be your own boss.
106 The No-Mortgage
Natural Cottage
From treehouses to tiny homes on wheels, a no-mortgage shelter can help you eschew expensive rent and debt.
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RENEWABLE ENERGY OPTIONS
for Your Homestead By Richard Freudenberger
R
unning a small farm or homestead takes a lot of effort, but a world of labor-saving devices can make life simpler without using fossil fuels. Solar, wind, microhydro, biofuels, and even human power offer clean, renewable sources of energy to complete your tasks efficiently and without sacrificing convenience. You don’t have to be an offgridder to share in the good fortune. You may be
surprised by how many tools and implements exist as alternatives to the mainstream, fossil-fuel-powered choices we’re all so accustomed to. Visit the expanded online version of this article at www. motherearthnews.com/renewable-home stead for more product ideas and links to manufacturers’ websites.
Solar Power on the Farm Solar photovoltaic (PV) prices are dropping by about 10 percent per year, and as the costs of conventional power rise, so does the appeal of solar energy. At a current installed cost of less than $6 per watt with a 50-year life span, electricity powered by the sun offers energy without poles, power lines or monthly bills. Portable solar generators. Perfect as a source of emergency electricity and made in sizes from several hundred watts to more than 3,000, portable power stations can provide 120-volt alternating current (AC)
and 12-volt direct current (DC) electricity on remote locations in one compact package. They come with one or more PV modules, an inverter and built-in battery storage. For the DIY-inclined, Well WaterBoy Products offers a plan to build your own 160-watt solar cart. Sources: Earthtech Products; Silicon Solar; Well WaterBoy Products. Gate openers. Solar-powered gate openers can operate more than 200 cycles per day. The Mighty Mule 500 E-Z Gate Opener by GTO Access Systems controls gates up to 850 pounds and 18 feet long. The opener draws a maximum of 5 amps from a 12-volt, 7-amphour gel-cell battery, rechargeable from a 5-watt solar module or an AC outlet. Sources: GTO Access Systems; LiftMaster; Sequoia Brands. Electric fence energizers. Most fenceenergizer manufacturers offer a 12-volt, solar-powered version for remote applications. Small, self-contained units start at less than $200. Sources: Gallagher
OREGON CORDLESS; TOP: TERRY WILD STOCK; OPPOSITE: RESILIENT NORTHERN HABITATS
Downsize your dependence on fossil fuels with these innovative tools.
Animal Management Systems; Valley Farm Supply; Woodstream. Automatic chicken coop door openers. Solar coop door openers run on 12-volt batteries connected to solar panels and can incorporate a timer. The 11-by-15-inch Pullet-Shut Automatic Chicken Door (up to $360) mounts to the wall of your coop and operates from any 12-volt power supply, including the optional solar panel and battery kit (up to $125). Sources: chick endoors.com; Front Yard Coop. Refrigerators. Developed in part for vaccine storage in remote areas, these extremely efficient coolers can use up to 80 percent less energy than conventional models. To be solar-compatible, the fridges are DC-powered and come in 12and 24-volt configurations. Some models run on as few as 40 watts. Sources: Steca Electronics; Sundanzer; Sun Frost. Solar water pumps. PV-electric DC pumps are available for surface water and as submersible well units, manufactured in 12-volt, 24-volt and higher-voltage configurations. (Some models can use AC.) Submersible pumps are considerably more costly but can pump up to 15,000 gallons of water per day. Sources: Advanced Power; Dankoff Solar Pumps; SunPumps. Water distillers. These devices use the energy of the sun to distill saline or contaminated water into pure drinking water. Large units provide about 1.5 gallons per day. Smaller distillers deliver up to 2 quarts per day. (You can build your own solar still with our plans at goo.gl/hLTnFb.) Sources: Echomax Aquamate; SolAqua.
charge with the Neuton CE6 walk-behind mower. Cub Cadet’s RZT S Zero is a zero-turn riding mower that the company says will cut for 60 minutes without power fade. Compare available zero-turn mowers at goo.gl/grzpQQ. Sources: Black & Decker; Country Home Products; Cub Cadet; Mean Green; Recharge Mower; Ryobi Limited; Worx. Snowblowers. The electric snowblower model you choose will depend on whether you need a machine to clear
Charge batterypowered equipment with renewable power sources.
Battery-Powered Tools and Equipment Battery-powered tools and devices are environmentally friendly insofar as the energy used to charge them is cleaner than gasoline. They can be charged through an inverter tied to an off-grid electricity-generating system, and, with a bit of cobbling, some can also be charged directly from PV modules through a controller. Lawn mowers. Cordless-electric push, self-propelled and riding mowers have been on the market for some time, with push models starting at about $150 and riding models running at least $1,900. Mow up to a third of an acre on a single
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Solar-charged energizers can power electric fencing in remote locations.
a short sidewalk or to clear 10 inches of snow from a driveway. Toro’s 1800 Power Curve boasts a 18-inch clearing width. It’s available for about $280. Sources: GreenWorks; Snow Joe; Toro. Chainsaws. Electric chainsaws are generally quieter than their gas-guzzling counterparts. Black & Decker’s lithiumbattery-powered 20V MAX chainsaw sports an 8-inch bar that can perform 150 cuts before recharging. Oregon Power Tools’ PowerNow 40V MAX lithium cordless saw, which has a 16-inch bar, cuts through 12-inch logs and costs $350 or less. The larger GreenWorks 80V Pro chainsaw has a 18-inch bar and will make 150 cuts on a single charge ($549 with charger). Sources: Black & Decker; GreenWorks; MTD Products; Oregon Power Tools; Stihl; Worx. Solar PV tractors. Only a few companies make tractors powered by roofmounted solar panels. Free Power Systems’ four-wheel Sun Horse 4812 is a compact tractor that can plow a field and fits into the back of a pickup truck. (Go to www.freepowersys.com/videos. html to watch videos of the Sun Horse in action.) Weighing in at 790 pounds, the Electric Ox2 from Electric Tractor Corp.
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Chicken: Terry Wild
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GROW MORE FOOD IN LESS SPACE
(With the Least Work!) Blending the best principles of biointensive and square-foot gardening will yield a customized, highly productive growing system. By Linda A. Gilkeson
W
Beauty and productivity harmonize in an intensively planted garden when you add flowers and natural, structural elements. 34 MOTHER EARTH NEWS XXXX/XXXX XXXX
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Opener: judywhite/GardenPhotos.com
LEFT TO RIGHT: GARDENPHOTOS.COM/JUDY WHITE; SAXON HOLT
hether you grow food on a spacious homestead or are digging into your first urban garden, ditching the plant-by-rows approach and adopting intensive gardening techniques can help you grow a more productive garden that’s also more efficient to manage. These methods will open up a new world when it comes to small-space gardening, which can be so much more than just a few lone pots on a balcony. If you do it right, you can grow more food in less space and put an impressive dent in your household’s fresh-food needs.
Comparing Two Popular Methods Two gardening authors and their systems of intensive vegetable gardening have been highly influential in North America for more than 30 years. Mel Bartholomew’s book on “squarefoot” gardening was first published in 1981, while John Jeavons’ first book on “biointensive” gardening came out in 1974. Since these books hit the shelves, millions of gardeners have experimented with
and embraced the gardening techniques advocated within. Bartholomew’s aim with square-foot gardening is a simple, foolproof system that anyone can master (no companion planting, no crop rotation and no soil preparation). He prescribes raised beds of only 6 inches deep for most crops, filled with an artificial mix of peat moss,
vermiculite, and compost. While this method is reliant on assembling purchased components, it can work well in urban spaces, especially where soil contamination is a concern, where digging into the ground isn’t an option, or where people are especially picky about how a garden looks (perhaps because of ordinances for front lawns). Check out “10 Tenets of SquareFoot Gardening” on Page 36 for more on this method. Jeavons’ biointensive gardening system is based on developing fertile soil in permanent garden beds that you initially dig to a depth of 2 feet. His primary goal is to grow food sustainably, using as few inputs from outside of the system as possible. He provides detailed instructions on crop planning, making compost, companion planting, crop rotation, growing crops that serve a dual purpose as food and compost-heap fodder, and more. See “10 Tenets of Biointensive Gardening” on Page 37 for the skinny on this system.
Four Principles of Intensive Gardening Adding plenty of compost is fundamental to intensive gardening.
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Care and Cultivation of
PERMANENT GARDEN BEDS
Provide a secure habitat for the dynamic soil food web that sustains your crops by establishing permanent garden beds and paths. By Barbara Pleasant Illustrations by Elayne Sears
O
ne of the basic tenets of organic gardening is to put as much effort into improving soil fertility as you do into cultivating your crops. If you opt for permanent garden beds and paths, you can concentrate on building soil in deeply worked beds, which will improve the soil over a period of years, all the while growing robust, disease-resistant vegetables. Permanent beds also make more efficient use of water and fertilizer, and soil compaction gets limited to just the pathways, where repeated footsteps can naturally inhibit the growth of weeds.
Confining Soil Compaction A big advantage of working in permanent garden beds is that you can curb some forms of soil compaction. Wet soil is especially prone to compaction, because water acts as a lubricant. The first time you step on wet soil, it can become 75 percent compacted. After the fourth step in the same spot, 90 percent of the pore spaces will be gone. Soil compaction restricts root growth physically, as overly dense soil is often impenetrable, plus it handicaps any roots already present by depriving them of oxygen and access to soilborne nitrogen. You should always try to avoid stepping on your garden beds, but some tasks — such as building a trellis or using a broadfork — require standing space. In such cases, you can prevent unnecessary soil compaction by standing on a wide board to distribute your weight. Standing on a board or using boards as walking bridges over garden beds will reduce your body’s ground pressure from about 8 pounds per square inch to less than 1 pound. Just as snowshoes make walking on snow possible by distributing your weight, 40 MOTHER EARTH NEWS • PREMIUM GUIDE TO SELF-SUFFICIENT LIVING
40-42 Permanent Garden Beds.indd 40-41
boards, wide steppingstones, or flakes of baled hay can help safeguard vegetable beds from the compaction caused by treading. Surface compaction caused by driving rain can also be troublesome, especially for clay soils. When bare soil is subjected to heavy rain, the larger particles and organic matter often wash away in the mud, leaving behind a surface layer of fine particles that dries into a crust. Organic mulches will cushion the soil from the pressure of heavy rain and protect it from erosion. In situations where you can’t mulch — in a newly seeded bed, for example — use a sheet of burlap to prevent surface compaction. Row cover tunnels cause raindrops to shatter and disperse before they reach the soil, so such covers will fend off surface compaction, too.
Garden Bed Options Gardening experts talk mostly about raised beds, but these are not essential and can be expensive to build. Rather than plowing or tilling your entire plot each year, a better strategy would be to lay out and tend permanent areas for beds and paths. The beds can be raised if you are in a rainy climate, or sunken if your site is dry and windy. Flat beds are also suitable, with markers in place to distinguish the beds from the paths. If you do choose raised beds, framing them is optional. The plants will grow just as well in unframed beds, although you’ll probably need to do a bit of bed rebuilding each spring. Framing does make the beds look sharp, but lumber for framing can be pricey. Low-cost or free options such as logs or recycled cedar fence rails will work fine — just lay them along the long sides of your beds, as shown on Page 42. There’s no need to enclose the ends; if you leave them open, adjusting the beds’ positions will be easier should you need to in the future. A number of gardeners like framed garden beds because they can use the frames to support or anchor row covers, plastic, bird netting or other protective gear. For example, pipe brackets installed on the outside of wood-framed raised garden beds can hold the ends of hoops made of wire or plastic pipe, or the ends of wire hoops can be pushed into the ground just inside the frames to provide a firm anchor. The trend toward more extensive use of protective covers is so prominent that many gardeners now regard bed-framing materials primarily as structural foun-
dations for tunnels or plastic-covered boxes that do the duties of small greenhouses.
Building Soil Fertility Every soil type has an innate texture based on the size of the indigenous soil particles. Clay particles are small, so clay soil feels slippery when wet. Sandy soils have much larger particles, so they feel gritty. The tiny size of clay particles means the spaces between them are small, too. In comparison, the spaces between sand particles are huge. To increase the sponginess of either type of soil and prepare it for the task of growing vegetables, a thorough digging is necessary in order to incorporate spaces for air and organic matter, such as grass clippings or compost. After starting new gardens in several different states, I have yet to encounter soil that was not vastly improved by deep digging
Use a broadfork to relieve soil compaction while still conserving the soil food web.
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At Japanese restaurants, I tend to order the green salad with ginger dressing, and it seems I can never have enough of it! After years of experimenting with various ingredients, I’ve come up with something that approximates the restaurant experience, but this version is slightly lighter in texture and less salty. I enjoy it with beets, greens, and toasted walnuts, or tossed with rice,
slivered almonds, and dried fruit. Add some feta to either of these dishes, and you’ll have a complete meal. Yield: about 1 cup. • Juice from 2 oranges • Juice from 1 lemon • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar • 1-inch piece fresh ginger, grated • 1 tbsp white miso paste • 1 clove garlic • 1⁄4 tsp white pepper • 1 tbsp sesame oil
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jam: geshas
This delicious, fresh dressing is easy and quick to make and disappears just as fast. The tangy, slightly citrusy flavor profile pairs well with spinach and other dark, leafy greens. The texture is surprisingly creamy and delicious. I use fresh herbs just picked from the garden, but if they aren’t available, dried herbs can produce a fine result. Yield: enough for a salad that serves 4. • 1⁄4 cup olive oil • 1 tbsp white champagne vinegar • 1 tbsp fresh-squeezed orange juice • 1⁄2 tsp finely chopped chives • 1⁄2 tsp finely chopped parsley • 1⁄2 tsp finely chopped oregano • Salt and pepper, to taste Combine all ingredients and whisk until herbs are well-mixed. I pour the dressing into a canning jar to store in the refrigerator. Shake just before serving. — Dede Ryan
Jam Dressing I preserve hordes of produce — much from my garden, and much from the wild. The wild pickings involve a lot of beautiful fruits, which I make into fruit leathers, butters, and jams. But as any homesteader will tell you, there’s only so much jam you can eat. That’s why I started experimenting with other uses for my home-canned jams. What’s all that extra jam good for? Salad dressing! You can use any flavor of jam for salad dressing — apricot, raspberry, grape, blueberry, and more. It just depends on which flavors you prefer. Yield: enough for 4 adult-sized salads. • 1⁄4 cup coconut oil, melted • 1⁄4 cup olive oil • 1⁄2 cup balsamic vinegar • 4 to 7 tbsp (depends on your preferred level of sweetness) of any flavor home-canned jam • 1⁄2 tbsp dried hot pepper Whisk all ingredients together for about one minute and serve. Store leftover dressing in the refrigerator. — Starry Hilder
Lemon Herb Dressing with Nutritional Yeast This dressing has been my go-to for the past two decades. It’s meant to be made in a bowl for one family-sized salad. Our children loved this dressing because a generous helping of nutritional yeast added some kind of cheesy umami that they found addicting. The herbs in this variaIngredients tion are my favorites, but use your own favorites or a 1 • ⁄4 cup olive oil seasonal combination. Yield: enough for one family• Juice of 1 lemon sized salad. • 1 clove garlic, grated extra Directions: Place all the ingredients in the bottom fine of a salad bowl. (Yes, the one you will be serving the • 1 tsp dried dill weed salad in — why make an extra dish to wash?) Whisk 1 • ⁄2 tsp oregano all ingredients together and put prepared salad • 1 to 2 tbsp nutritional greens on top. You can do this well ahead of prepyeast (or more for a thicker ping the rest of the meal because the greens won’t dressing) wilt until you toss to coat the greens before serving. • Pinch of salt, to taste — Kirsten Shockey
Tangy Citrus Topper
• 1⁄3 cup olive oil • 2 tbsp honey Blend all ingredients together in a food processer, chill, and serve. — Brenda Lynn
Use any flavor from your homemade-jam supply for a sweet, seasonal dressing.
Green Tahini Dressing This recipe gives a refreshing twist to the classic Mediterranean tahini dip — fresh green herbs lend lovely color and
Fresh-squeezed orange juice and garden herbs give this dressing refreshing flavor.
a delicious, tangy, bitter flavor that goes great with the oily element of the tahini. The best part about it is its versatility — no exact measurements are needed, and it’s possible to play with the type and amount of greens and liquids. You can create your preferred flavors with different herb combinations and can make a thicker, spread-like consistency or a thinner salad dressing depending on the amount of liquid you add. You could
also try the flavor of lime instead of lemon juice, or even add in some amba, a vinegary mango condiment used in Middle Eastern cuisine. I recommend using tahini from hulled sesame seeds for its sweeter taste and smoother texture. It’s true that the sesame seed hull contains large amounts of calcium, which you’ll lose with hulled seeds, but the calcium in that form may not be as readily
Easy-Measure Garden Herb Vinaigrette FOTOLIA/VANILLAECHOES; TOP: DEDE RYAN; OPPOSITE: BOTTOM: FOTOLIA/GESHAS; TOP: KIRSTEN SHOCKEY
Orange-Ginger Dressing
The first time I made salad dressing was at a colonial farmhouse event. I was the gardener for the kitchen garden, and it was only my second year ever planting a garden. The cook asked me to make salad dressing with oil and vinegar and some of my herbs. He handed me an empty jar and reassured me that it would taste great. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I discovered that vinegar, olive oil, and fresh herbs make a salad dressing that’s vibrant and delicious. Today, my go-to dressing is reminiscent of that first experiment. You can use any size jar (I use a pint jar); just use a 1-to-1-to-4 Ingredients ratio of the liquids. You can mark • Balsamic vinegar the fill points on the jar with a • Olive oil permanent pen. Yield: about 11⁄2 • 1 tsp Dijon mustard cups (in a pint jar). • Salt and pepper, Directions: Fill the jar 1⁄2 inch to taste with balsamic vinegar. Add • Several sprigs fresh another 1⁄2 inch with an equal herbs or a pinch dried amount of water. Add about 2 herbs — oregano, inches olive oil to fill the jar. thyme, and tarragon are Drop in the rest of the ingredimy favorites ents, screw on the lid, and shake • 1 to 2 tsp honey or to emulsify. maple syrup, optional — Ilene White Freedman
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3. Can fermented pickles for extended storage. The heat of canning compromises their crisp texture and kills the beneficial bacteria, but the flavor will remain. Canned fermented food could last a couple of years. FERMENTED KOSHER DILL PICKLE RECIPE This recipe, adapted from Linda Ziedrich’s The Joy of Pickling, uses grape, oak, or sour cherry leaves, which contain tannins believed to help keep fermented homemade pickles crisp. Store-bought, canned grape leaves will also do the trick. Yield: 1 gallon. Equipment Clean, gallon-sized glass jar or ceramic crock Gallon-sized plastic bag or fitted crock weights
How to Make
Ingredients 1 handful clean grape, oak or sour cherry leaves (optional) Approximately 6 pounds of 4- to 5-inch unwaxed pickling cucumbers (preferably freshly picked), scrubbed and rinsed Peeled cloves from 2 to 3 heads of garlic 2 quarts water 1 cup cider vinegar 6 tbsp unrefined sea salt or pickling salt 1 ⁄4 cup dill seed or 2 handfuls dill fronds
PICKLES By Tabitha Alterman
E
asy-to-prepare pickles pack a powerful punch of flavor and crunch. Even kitchen novices can learn in a flash how to make pickles and quickly concoct their own unique blends of preserved vegetables and fruits to add a tangy zing to everyday meals. You can preserve vegetables using these three basic methods: lactic fermentation (cured with salt), canning (heated in a vinegar brine and occasionally pre-soaked in a lime solution), and refrigeration (immersed in a vinegar solution). Each type of homemade pickles described here includes a simple recipe for you to try.
Fermented Pickles Many pickle enthusiasts swear fermentation yields more complex flavors than you get from pickles made with vinegar. Also called “crock pickles” or “brine pickles,” they are acidified by lactobacilli bacteria and yeasts — microbes that thrive without oxygen while submerged in brine. These microbes suppress the growth of other microbes that cause spoilage. The lactobacilli also produce B vitamins and flavor compounds. These probiotics may improve digestive, intestinal, and immune function. The basics: Mix food with flavorings and place inside crock. Make pickle brine and pour into crock. Cover with a weight to keep food submerged, and
drape with a towel to keep out dust. Ferment at room temperature for 2 or more weeks. Check container daily, and skim any scum from the top. Fermentation bubbles may be visible. Taste pickles regularly. When your fermented pickles reach a flavor you like, you have three options for storing them: 1. Refrigerate to slow lactic fermentation. Pickles should last 4 to 6 months this way. Note that pickled vegetables last longer than pickled fruits, which generally keep well for only 2 to 3 months. 2. Store in a dark, cool spot, such as the basement, where your homemade pickles will continue to ferment but should stay tasty for several months.
HANNAH KINCAID; TOP: DREAMSTIME/ANGELA CABLE; OPPOSITE: ISTOCK/FRAGLESS
These three basic methods put perfect pickling within the grasp of every preserver. Just pick a pickle recipe and get started!
Photo: iStockphoto/fragless
Ferment pickles for 1 to 4 weeks at room temperature, checking crock daily. Scum may develop on top; this is normal. Carefully lift off weight and rinse it to remove scum. Skim scum from top of container before replacing weight and towel. Don’t worry about getting every last bit, but do this daily. You may notice bubbles after the first few days, indicating lactic fermentation is underway. After a week, begin tasting the pickles daily. Keep fermenting until you enjoy the flavor. Pickles should be translucent throughout. To store, place crock in a cool, dry, dark spot (the basement, for example), or remove pickles to smaller, lidded containers in the refrigerator. (If using metal lids, place a piece of plastic wrap between the container and the lid.) You may rinse fermented pickles and cover them with fresh pickle brine and seasonings,
or strain and reuse your original brine. Pickles’ flavor will improve after about a month in cooler conditions. Note: The brine should develop a yeasty aroma that is pleasant, never putrid. If pickles become slimy or moldy during fermentation, discard them and try again. To can homemade pickles, process quart jars with 1⁄2-inch headspace in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. (Bone up on canning how-to with our Home Canning Guide at www.motherearthnews.com/ canning. — MOTHER)
Canned Vinegar Pickles
Most modern pickling recipes rely
on an acetic acid (vinegar) solution Place leaves in the bottom of a clean and heat treatment to preserve the crock. Slice blossom ends off the cucumbers vegetables. The resulting flavor is and pack cucumbers into the crock, smallest simple and sharp. ones first, adding garlic cloves throughout. Vinegar pickles can be sweet, spicy, Do not fill crock more than 2⁄3 full. or extremely sour. Popular examples In a separate container, stir together include bread-and-butter water, vinegar, salt and dill pickles, sour gherkins until salt dissolves. Pour and dilly beans. You must this brine over cucumbers use vinegar with at least until liquid is an inch above 5 percent acidity to procucumbers when you’re duce pickles that are safe pressing them down. If your for long-term storage. crock has weights, set them Distilled white vinegar on top of the cucumbers to is the popular choice besubmerge them. If you don’t cause it’s cheap and won’t have special weights, fill a darken pickles, and begallon-sized plastic bag with cause its flavor is mild in water and set it on top to comparison with those keep cucumbers submerged. of cider, malt, and wine Cover crock with towel to vinegars. Avoid using rice keep out dust. Cucumber slices soaked in pickling lime will keep their crunch when canned.
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Tangy, fermented dill pickles complement many sandwiches and contain healthy probiotics.
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