Learning to coexist with the natives of nature can often be one of the more rewarding parts of rural living.  An early summer morning with that first cup of coffee out on the porch can become a concert when turkey gobblers begin sounding off from their perches in trees where they roosted overnight.  Nothing on the television can compare to watching out the window on a snowy winter day as a wily fox makes his way along the fencerow in search of an unsuspecting rabbit or rodent.  And who doesn’t like watching deer feeding in clearings just before dark?

But surrounding yourself with entertaining nature doesn’t necessarily happen automatically.  When humans make inroads into rural areas they can often nudge wildlife along deeper into the woods or to the next ridge or valley over.  But there are simple things a rural landowner can do to encourage wild animals to stay close and to even attract wildlife to your property.  Just as city dwellers will build bird-feeding “shrines”, squirrel perches or koi ponds to have a touch of nature close, living in and near nature the rural homesteader can plant wild animal food plots, create mineral licks, and build water sources to keep their wild neighbors within viewing range.

Just as a property owner wants to maintain healthy woodlots and streams, maintaining a healthy animal population is important as well.  Creating food, water, and mineral sources for wildlife is neither expensive nor exceptionally difficult.  First, it’s important to have a very basic understanding of how animals live and eat.  Then you simply choose the right locations on your property and set about creating some habitat enhancers.

Before you start it’s important to realize that, unlike suburban bird feeders, food and water sources for larger animals will not be located in your yard.  In fact, they can be a hundred yards or more from your house or outbuildings.  Animals such as turkey, deer, foxes, and smaller game will range a couple miles or more.  Still, providing food and water sources will help hold more animals on your land, which equals more viewing opportunities.

Understanding the Animals

The goal is to attract wildlife to your property.  There are a few basic steps you can take which will benefit a wide assortment of creatures.  For instance, having deer passing through or living on your land will mean they’ll leave behind antlers each winter when the bucks shed their headgear.  Discarded antlers contain calcium, which will be eaten by squirrels and other small creatures for the mineral content.  Minerals found in man-made mineral licks you place on your property will be utilized by deer to grow larger and stronger bone and antlers, and by turkeys to develop stronger eggshells and healthier poults.  More wild turkey, quail, and other poults of ground-nesting birds will mean necessary food for foxes.  Plants grown in small food plots will increase the rabbit population, which will also benefit foxes relying on rodents and other small furbearers for food.

For years we’ve maintained food plots and mineral licks throughout our farm.  Periodically throughout the year, we set up a game camera—a weatherproof digital camera triggered by movement—near the food plots to see what is stirring.  It’s common to capture snapshots of any combination of songbirds, hawks, crows, quail, squirrels, opossums, rabbits, raccoons, foxes, turkeys, and deer feeding together at the same time from the same feeder, plantings, or mineral lick.  To keep it simple, the best bet is to stock feeders or plant greenery, which will benefit a variety of animals.  Likewise, all animals can benefit from a year-round water source.

Turkeys breed around March or April and lay a clutch of eggs that will hatch in about 28 days.  Deer will mate in the fall and, following a 180 to 200 day gestation period, will give birth in May or June.  Squirrels and many other small furbearers mate in late winter or early spring and give birth a month or two later.  All animals can benefit from proper nutrition both during the gestation cycle and when raising newborns.

Spring and early summer can be considered the most critical time for deer.  It’s during these months that bucks are sprouting and growing new antlers.  Unlike cattle, which grow horns and keep the same set for a lifetime, antlered deer grow a new set of headgear each summer and shed the antlers in mid-winter.  Think about growing a new set of arms or legs and how that might tax your body.  Growing two sizable antlers in a matter of months can require lots of extra nutrition and minerals.  At the same time, female deer, or does, impregnated in November or December will be completing their gestation period.  If growing new antlers can rob you of nutrition, try growing an entirely new animal … or maybe even twins or triplets.  And bucks can lose up to 25 percent of their body mass between January and April.

Where and How to Attract Wildlife to Your Property

I manage my family’s hunting property.  It consists of 78 acres that were once my grandfather’s working cattle and hay farm in the Missouri Ozarks.  At his passing a dozen years ago, the property had about 50 acres of fields and 28 acres of woodlots.  We cut and sell about 30 acres of hay each year now, with the rest rapidly diverting back to woods.  I started off by putting up some homemade grain feeders.  These are simple and cheap to make, and I’ll give the directions for making one a little later.  The feeders, which cost about $5 to $8 a piece to make, can benefit a wide variety of animals.  They are attached to a tree using wire, twine, or a bungee cord, and can be installed and removed with no damage to the tree.

My next move was to plant two food plots several years ago.  Now I’m working on a couple more.  With each food plot, I create I also start a mineral lick nearby.  A mineral lick is every bit as important as a food plot, and I’ll explain why shortly.  When choosing a site for a feeder, food plot, or mineral lick, I make sure my habitat enhancers are located near established travel lanes and plenty of escape cover. This makes the animal feel safer when dining at your food stop.  If you’ve lived on or visited your property very much, chances are you’ve seen animals coming and going. Look closer and you’ll find travel paths that often lead between feeding and bedding areas. A water source nearby is a definite plus, and one can be created for cheap.

Make a Homemade Wildlife Feeder to Attract Wildlife to Your Property

The simplest way to help feed wild animals is with homemade feeders.  A basic wildlife feeder can be made with plastic sewer pipe and fittings from the nearest hardware store or lumber yard.  It requires only a handsaw or some type of sharp utility knife.  Gluing the pieces together is optional but suggested.  Painting the feeder will help it blend into the surroundings, but the animals really don’t seem to care if you leave it white as it comes from the store.

You’ll use this type of wildlife feeder to distribute whole, cracked or crimped corn, chicken scratch, oats, birdseed, or a combination of feeds.  I tend to use a mixture of cracked corn and oats.  Birds tend to prefer the cracked corn, and if you use whole corn kernels the squirrels will simply gnaw a hole into a kernel and eat the meat out of the seed anyway.

To make a feeder you’ll need a four-foot piece of thin- or thick-walled PVC (plastic) sewer or water line.  I prefer a thin-walled pipe that holds up for 10 years or so before becoming brittle from sunlight and the elements.  You’ll also need two end caps for the pipe, and a 45-degree three-way slip fit joint.  The easiest way is to purchase an 8-foot piece of pipe, four end caps, and two 45-degree joints—which makes two feeders.  It’s as easy to make two at a time as it is to make one.  Doing so will only take about 15 to 30 minutes to complete.

Here’s how! Cut the pipe to a four-foot length.  Now cut off a four- to six-inch piece of the pipe and set it aside.  On one end of the longer piece of pipe glue the 45-degree joint on with the straight run in line with the pipe and the 45 degree opening pitched back toward the length of pipe.  Next insert the short piece of pipe into the opposite opening of the straight run.  This creates a sleeve on which to glue one of the end caps, which will be the base of your feeder.    The second cap will not be glued in place, but will serve as a removable lid for the feeder.   It’s that simple.  If you choose to paint the feeder now is the time.  If so, paint the lid as well, but don’t put the lid on while the paint is wet, or it will stick in place.

To use the feeder all you have to do is attach it in an upright position to a tree or fence post (using wire, twine or a bungee strap) near an existing animal trail or area where you wish to view wildlife.  Remove the cap and fill the length of the tube with feed.  A four-foot long feeder will hold about 25 pounds of grain.  When you fill the tube a small amount will spill out of the 45-degree opening, but don’t worry about it because it’s normal.  During use squirrels and other animals will drag out a little feed onto the ground, but turkeys and other birds will quickly clean it up.  Replace the lid cap to keep the grain in the feeder dry.  When I first install a new feeder I’ll also scatter a few handfuls of grain around the feeder to initially attract animals.  I have as many as a dozen homemade feeders in place on our farm throughout the year.

Here’s an important note: Some states prohibit feeding, or “baiting”, turkeys or deer during hunting seasons.  If you or anyone else intends to hunt on or near your property you might want to brush up on the laws of your state to assure there’s no misunderstanding about your intention to feed wildlife.  In our case our land is used for hunting, so we remove all supplemental feeders several weeks prior to hunting season.  The brief interruption in feeding doesn’t seem to deter the animals from returning once the feeders are back in place.

The next step up is to plant small “plots” of grains and greens to be used by wildlife.  These food plots can range from a few square yards to a quarter-acre or more each.  Here again, the goal is to grow plants that multiple animals will benefit from.  For example, a small patch of corn will be visited by raccoon, deer, squirrel, quail, and pheasant.  Sunflowers will attract songbirds, doves, and even deer.  Sorghum is popular with raccoon, deer, and other foragers.

If you really want your plantings to do well, make sure your soil is optimal. If you’ve never had your soil tested, or even if you have but it’s been a while, spring is a good time to take a soil sample to your local Soil Conservation office for a pH test.  If the test reveals a need for lime, spring is the ideal time to incorporate it.

The folks at the soil office can provide specifics based on the test results, but an ideal pH level for milo and many other food plot plants is about 6.5.  A rule of thumb is that it’ll take about a half-ton of crushed limestone to raise the pH on a quarter-acre plot by about a half of a point.  The limestone should be added to the soil and turned under if at all possible.  Either way, the lime needs to be added prior to seeding, or spring growth for existing plants.  If you wish to fertilize a general suggestion would be a 12-12-12 mix of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.

If you’re starting a new food plot, or adding new seed, consider corn, soybeans, vetch, milo, sorghum, clover, alfalfa, or sunflowers—all good choices for supplemental spring and summer greens, beans and grains.  As for corn, I’ve planted everything from a garden variety “candy corn” to common field corn.  Just because your planting this spring and want to see some immediate results, don’t overlook planning ahead for the other seasons.  Some winter hardy choices include winter wheat, rye, and oats.

Sorghum offers some unique qualities of food plot seed.  Deer generally won’t eat the plant at all during the summer, but the seed heads are a delicacy during late summer or fall.  Since deer aren’t interested in the plant’s stem, it helps guarantee a crop planted in the spring that won’t be eaten when other options are available, and then will already be in place when fall arrives.  And it doesn’t require a lot of water.

Water for Wildlife

Having a water source near your food plots and mineral licks will only help draw and hold wildlife on your property.  Consider it “one-stop” shopping, and who doesn’t enjoy a refreshing drink after a meal.  Look at all the hoof prints around a woodlot pond and you’ll know what I’m talking about.  I’m fortunate that my grandfather put in several small ponds throughout his farm back in the mid-1900s.  All the ponds were dug using a drag scoop, sometimes called a slip scoop, pulled by a team of horses or one of his old Farmall tractors.  Two food plots on our land sit close to a spring-fed stream that flows little more than a trickle most of the year.  But a trickle is enough to keep a few puddles and bends of the little gravely creek filled with fresh water.

If you have a creek or stream nearby that’s ideal.  Digging or using an existing pond would be the next best option.  But unless you’re a farmer or own an earthmoving business, the cost of putting in ponds for animals which are not sold for income can be pretty expensive.  But don’t fret, because there are other options.  Consider hiring the work done by a local contractor or farmer with a backhoe, dozer, or skid steer.  If that doesn’t pan out, use galvanized farm stock tanks, or build your own water tank from an old heavy equipment tire.

Setting up a small galvanized or rubber stock tank is the simplest.  The main drawbacks are that galvanized tubs are metal and heat up quickly in direct sunlight or summer heat.  Stagnant water that gets hot can quickly turn slimy and undesirable.

Another option is using an old equipment tire to make a water tank.  Tractor tires work well, but combine or skidder tires hold a lot more water.  If you decide to go this route you’ll be sealing the bottom of the tire with one of three options—plastic sheeting, concrete, or bentonite.    The plastic is cheaper but has to be replaced periodically.  Concrete is more permanent but also more expensive (and you’ll likely be mixing bags by hand to do this relatively small job far away from the driveway or state road).  Bentonite—often used as a binding agent in sand casting, in model rocket parts manufacturing, and in winemaking to remove excessive proteins from white wine among other uses—is the third option.  Since this tank will likely be filled on occasion by dumping water in from a bucket or barrel for this use we’ll stay away from the Bentonite which can be washed away with a stream of water under pressure … such as being dumped from a height.

If you opt to go this route, here are the steps for a tire tank: First, cut out one sidewall of the tire.  A reciprocating saw works great for this and a chainsaw is another, albeit more dangerous, option.  Leave about six inches of sidewall from the tire lugs in toward the center.

If you’re using concrete to seal the bottom, go ahead and set the tank in a place where it will sit with the intact sidewall and bead down.  It works great to dig the tire partially into the ground.    The other option is to mound and pack dirt in around the base on the outside.  Next, fill the hole in the bottom with concrete.  Use a stick to push it up under the bottom sidewall and fill until the top level extends just above the bead of the tire.  Allow the concrete to dry for 24 hours or so, and the tank will be ready for use.

The other option is using a piece of plastic sheeting to line the bottom of the tire tub.  In this case, you’ll want a heavy plastic about twelve inches larger in diameter than the hole in the bottom of the tire.  First, fill the area within the bead of the tire with dirt to within about an inch of the bead.  Now scuff the bottom outer area of the plastic sheeting with a grinder to rough it up to help with adhesion.  Make sure the exposed inner portion of the bottom sidewall and bead are free of dirt and debris, then apply a layer of silicone adhesive or thick tar to the newly scuffed plastic and flip it over and press it in place.  Let it dry before filling the tire with water.  An extra step that helps is to screw the plastic sheeting to the tire’s sidewall with self-tapping, broad-headed screws every six inches or so.

A tire or stock tank holds far less water than even a small pond, but it’s still a way to get some water where it’s needed if digging a pond is not an option.

Supplemental Minerals for Wildlife

Growing antler, bone, and viable eggshells requires minerals.  Bucks with big headgear need lots of them.  It’s equally important for does to grow healthy fawns, or turkey and quail to have strong shells on eggs.  A weak shell can be crushed by the weight of the sitting hen and is more prone to damage by scavengers.  Investing in feeders, food plots, and water sources are great uses of your time and resources.  But the triangle needed to attract wildlife to your property is not complete with talking about supplemental minerals.  Animals will discover the minerals within a matter of days and it’ll become a regular stop on their travels in no time.

You can mix up your own mineral mixture using simple ingredients found at any farm and ranch or feed store.  Over the years I’ve seen lots of recipes for mineral lick mixtures and am relatively sure most of them are beneficial and in no way harmful.  But I was given one several years ago by a coworker that is simple, relatively inexpensive, and easy to mix and use.  It uses three ingredients: trace minerals, di-calcium phosphate, and common stock salt.

All the ingredients are readily available in 50-pound bags from your local animal feed store, and you’ll be using a ratio of 2-to-1 trace mineral compared to the other two ingredients.  That gives you 200 pounds of mineral mix, enough to establish two decent-sized licks and keep them “freshened up” for about two years.  The day I was writing this article I checked on prices with the feed store in town and the total cost for all three ingredients was $60, only a few dollars higher than my last visit several months ago.  That’s not bad for 200 pounds of antler and fawn-growing goodness.

Mix the ingredients only when you’re ready to use them.  Otherwise, keep the bags separate and stored in a dry place.  To start with you’ll be using about 25 pounds of mixed product per location.  Find a tub or barrel big enough to hold that much and allow for easy stirring to mix the goods together.  Now measure out about six pounds each of stock salt and di-calcium phosphate and 12 pounds of trace mineral.  If you don’t have a scale then use a discarded coffee can which already has the weight-by-volume amount worked out and marked on it.  Once enough of each ingredient is in the barrel or tub mix it thoroughly.

To create a lick you can dig a hole slightly larger than what would be necessary to hold the roughly 25 pounds of mix.  Remember, your goal here is to feed the deer and not the earthworms so keep that indention wide and shallow.  My mineral licks are about 10 to 15 yards away from the edge of my food plots and about 10 to 15 feet across.  With a hole dug, now stir in some of the soil you just removed and some of the mineral mix and stir it in the hole.  Add more soil and more minerals and stir it together until you have all the dirt and mix mounded up in the hole.

When the deer and other animals discover the lick and it won’t take too many days for them to start excavating the mineral-rich soil from the hole.  By then any rain showers will have dispersed the mineral into the surrounding ground as well.  The most used lick on our property is now about 20 feet across and nearly a foot deep in places.  Return to the lick in three or four months and freshen it up with about half as much mixture as you started it with—about 12 pounds.  Just broadcast the mixture into the hole and let nature takes its course.  Repeat the process every four months or so.

Whether it be making and installing simple feeders, planting a food plot, creating a water source, or establishing a mineral lick, the time and effort invested to attract wildlife to your property will have a direct effect on the wildlife population and, subsequently, the number and diversity of animals you’ll see on your property.  You’ll quickly discover that some of the most interesting new neighbors you’ll find in the country have four legs or feathers.

The post Attract Wildlife to Your Property appeared first on Homestead.org.

Ok, the howling was from the neighbor’s dogs, and I was really just sitting on my porch steps, but it was dark because I had been trying to boil that stuff down for hours to no avail. My maple syrup ended up just being maple water.

But it was a pleasantly warm evening because I had been saving my maple sap for months in plastic coffee containers in my deep freeze. After all, I needed to have a lot before I could cook it down.

When I embarked on my maple syrup journey, I had heard of regular folks who strung up milk jugs in the trees to collect that lovely nectar, so I thought for sure I could do this, especially since I had found some fancy-looking metal buckets designed especially for the task with a spout (spile), lid, and all. I only got three buckets because I just wanted to give the process a try.

When I posted my initial efforts on Facebook with pictures of these containers hanging from the trees, I got comments obviously meant to discourage me.

“They say it takes nine gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup,” one person said.

“I think it takes 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of maple syrup,” another said.

And I said, “If I only make an ounce, it will be an ounce well worth it. I just need to see if I can do it!”

When I looked it up, it was indeed 40-43 gallons to a gallon, but who’s counting? I’m sure it varies, especially when some types of trees have more sugar in their sap than others.

I had done my research and learned that they didn’t necessarily have to be sugar maples; just about any kind of maple tree can be tapped. Sugar maples are said to have the highest sugar content, but red, black, and silver maples also work. Trees with less sugar would need to be boiled down longer to get a comparable sugar content.

Not only maples, but other types of trees can be tapped as well, including black walnut, which is said to have a—surprise, surprise!—nutty flavor. Birch can also be tapped, and is said to taste more like molasses; box elder can be tapped for a syrup with a milder taste. And then there is sycamore, which is supposed to taste like butterscotch. Yum! There is also hickory syrup, but it is more often made with the bark, and that makes me want to learn more. But back to tapping trees—well, I’ll stay on the bark topic long enough to mention that I once saw a movie about escaped holocaust victims who survived in the woods in the winter by cutting bark and using it as face masks to keep from getting frostbite. Such ingenuity!

Ok, so back to my maple syrup journey. Now all I needed to do was look around at the trees in the woods on my property and ask myself, what kind are they? Deciphering which trees are which isn’t very easy for some of us. I’ve tried to learn to identify trees from their leaves and bark, and I recognize the most obvious ones like oak and maple, but that is in the summer when they have leaves, and even then, some trees have leaves that are too high to see.

But maple I recognize because my yard is full of maple leaves in the fall, so maple is what I chose. I also did a Google search to identify the type of maple leaves and concluded they actually were sugar maple.

I’d also read that there is a certain time for collecting sap, so it varies from one region to another depending on when the weather warms up enough for the sap to start running in the trees. It is best to collect it in early spring from around February to March when there are freezing nights of temperatures below 32° Fahrenheit and days warm up to above freezing in the 40s. The cycle of freezing and thawing causes pressure changes that make the sap flow. This can last for four to six weeks, but you should stop collecting it when the trees begin to bud out because this can cause the sap to taste bad. I tapped my trees from Feb. 2 through April 2.

So, first, I grabbed my drill and the correct size bit for my spile. The spile is the little spout that goes into the tree. The size of the bit varies depending upon the size of your spile, usually 5/16″ or 7/16″, if you use one, or perhaps the size of a tube or something else you use to collect sap in. They even make special plastic bags designed for sap collection.

I found three trees that were large enough (at least 10-12 inches in diameter) and chose a spot about 4.5 feet from the ground (as I’d read was important) on each tree and started drilling until I made it through the outer wood and into the empty area where I presumed the sap would flow. A tiny drip came out to let me know I’d hit the right spot. Then I hammered the spout into the hole, tied my collection bucket to the tree, and put its little peaked hat on to keep bugs and rain out. In a larger tree that I tried, I didn’t get that initial drip, but it started to drip a little later. My buckets came with a hanger, but I ended up using some rope to secure them from high winds.

I went out to check the next day and found maybe a half cup of sap in each container, as well as a couple of bugs. I picked out the bugs and poured the sap into an old coffee container and put it in the freezer to be cooked down later, when I’d collected “enough.”

Of course, this was the point in time when I thought of an episode of the show Naked and Afraid where a woman found a vine in the forest that she was able to cut in half and drink from. So, it occurred to me that if I am ever lost in the woods and desperate for something to drink, and I happen to have a sharp knife with me, I might be able to cut deep enough to get some sap. Too bad I don’t normally hike with my drill.

Okay, back to the syrup. So it went like that each day, maybe a cup or cup and a half of sap in each bucket, pouring it into my coffee cans and freezing it in hopes that I would eventually have enough to boil down for a few ounces of syrup. And when I had about 10 cans full of frozen sap (still far from the 30 gallons prescribed), I decided to pick a nice day and start trying to boil it down.

I read that when you boil it down, it will let out quite a bit of sticky steam, so it’s best to do it outside over a fire rather than coating your kitchen walls and ceiling with it, unless you just like the idea of walking into your kitchen and taking a lick at your sweet walls now and then. Hence, me with my fire in the wheelbarrow in the middle of the night because it took way longer than I thought it would. I regret to say that the cup or two of sap that I ended up with after boiling it down as long as possible was just a little bit sweet and nowhere near thicker than water.

But I did learn a few things. Like, even though making the syrup is a little more than I can handle, it’s free sugar water and might be especially useful if you are stranded in the wilderness without something to drink. I guess it might even offer a few calories to sustain you, and the protein in the bugs is a bonus. And don’t forget about covering your face with bark!

But lo and behold, about a year later, some friends invited me to go visit Moonstruck Maple on Brooks Mountain Road in Brooks, WV. Nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, on a long, windy road that made me a bit car sick, these people make gourmet maple infusions (yummy little treats) and pure maple syrup. They share the mountain with Three Rivers Avian Center, which is also a great place to visit if you are into observing big wild birds such as hawks, eagles, falcons, and owls that they have saved and nurtured back to health. The folks from both establishments have a great respect for the birds and other wildlife on that mountain and try their best to conserve it.

But back to the maple syrup. Instead of gathering syrup in containers and taking it back to be cooked, the folks at Moonstruck Maple have run lines from the trees and directly to what is called an evaporator for storage and cooking. The evaporator is housed in a small building called a sugar shack, used specifically for cooking it.

Alisha and Mike Segars are the owners of Moonstruck Maple, and Alisha answered a few questions for me.

She explained that they use food-grade tubing made specifically for the maple syrup industry. They run 15 to 20 taps from the trees onto a series of 3/16-inch lines that run from the trees and join to a lateral line of the same size, which then runs into a 1-inch line that runs into their collection tank. In addition to getting it to the collection tank more easily, tubing also creates a vacuum and pulls more sap out of the trees than might naturally drip out. And they run their lines downhill, so that helps as well.

The sap then goes through a reverse osmosis system, which uses pressure to take out 50% to 75% of the water before the sap enters the evaporator for boiling down. Now that is a big difference! Next, they still must heat the sap by keeping a wood fire burning, but the way the evaporator is designed, it is able to heat up to 700°.

Alisha said they have the largest evaporator in their main building, but they also have a few smaller evaporators positioned in different areas on the property where they tap trees. The evaporator in their main building can hold 3,000 gallons, while the two smaller evaporators can hold 500 to 600 gallons. She bought hers from a company called CDL. But I did find that some companies sell evaporators online for smaller amounts of sap, all the way down to 17.5 gallons.
An evaporator is comprised of a large shallow pan that provides a lot of surface area for evaporation and is heated from the bottom. Some are simple open pans, while others have compartments that are arranged in a serpentine manner so that the sap travels through the system as it heats and moves to the end near the spout when it is finished. Some include a filter, thermometer, and a float to manage how quickly fresh sap is allowed into the heating pan. Some are attached to a heating unit, and others are mere pans that you need to find a way to heat, either by setting them on a grill or over a fire. The main one at Moonstruck Maple includes what amounts to a woodstove underneath that comes as part of the setup.

You can also buy a separate reverse osmosis system, and depending on size and quality, those can cost anywhere from $100 up to a thousand dollars or more, and you can buy systems that filter or use UV rays to sterilize. Basically, you can spend as little or as much as you want to, depending upon whether you do it as a hobby, or hope to sell it on a larger scale, or perhaps just want to get a few dollars at the farmer’s market.

If I chose to do it over again just as a hobby, I don’t think I’d want to run a lot of lines over my property, but I would probably tap a lot more trees to get more sap at once, and use either those special bags or milk jugs (if only I bought milk in jugs)… oh, wait! Can I use plastic coffee cans? Maybe.

And I’d consider buying a small evaporator pan or finding one second hand and maybe using that old charcoal grill that I forgot I had… after I clean the wasp nests out of it.

And if I wanted to get a little more serious about making maple syrup than that, I guess I would consider finding a way to buy a cheap reverse osmosis system because that makes a really big difference. Imagine, 50% to 75% of the moisture removed before you even start cooking it!

The post Lessons From My Maple Syrup Misadventure appeared first on Homestead.org.

We do not kill snakes or hunt enough to provide a significant amount of hides.  The snakeskins I have made were from snakes found on our rural roads, already dead.  Most of the hides were found piled up in ditches during hunting season.

Snakeskins are the easiest to process, so we will begin there.  The most important thing to remember is that a venomous snake still poses some danger after death.  Wear gloves when removing the skin, taking care to keep the fangs from scraping your skin.

First, you need to cut a line through the skin down the length of the snake.  You can use any non-serrated blade that feels comfortable in your hand.  If you are processing a rattlesnake, do not cut all the way to the tip of the tail; this will enable you to keep the rattle intact.  Peel the skin back while pulling the snake out of it.  Once you have your skin, rinse it well.  Stretch it out and tack it, outer skin down, to a sturdy piece of cardboard.  Sprinkle a liberal amount of table salt onto the skin and rub it in.  Make sure the entire fleshy side is covered in salt for the best results.

Leave the snakeskin outside to dry.  This can take one to two weeks.  Once completely dry, remove tacks and brush off any excess salt.

There are many techniques for tanning animal hides.  Our ancestors used the animal’s own brain matter and wood ash.  The techniques I outline in this article are more modern, using alum and neatsfoot oil.  Alum can be found in most pharmacies or ordered online, and neatsfoot oil can be purchased online, as well, or in some hardware stores.

Tanning hides is a relatively simple, but time-intensive, process.  Follow each step carefully to ensure the very best results.  The end product is well worth your investment of resources and time.  Time and humidity seem to be the factors that most impact the results.  Start the tanning process when you have at least a week of relatively low humidity, and you will want to be able to dedicate the necessary time to complete all of the steps once you get started.

The easiest hide to tan is rabbit hide.  Two things make rabbit hide a good place to start when learning this craft.  First, if you are butchering your own animal, rabbit hide is extremely easy to remove.  Second, the hide is small, making the project less intimidating.  An added bonus is that rabbit is small, delicious, and easy to cook, which is perfect since I do not want anyone to butcher an animal solely for craft materials!

Once you have the pelt from a rabbit, make a tanning solution by mixing two gallons of water with one cup of alum and one cup of salt.  Place your hide in this solution and let it soak for forty-eight hours.

After forty-eight hours, flesh your hide by pulling off all of the meat and skin with a sharp knife.  Do this carefully; rabbit hides are delicate, and you do not want to cut through the pelt.  Lay your hide across a piece of wood and scrape until all flesh and meat have been removed.

Make a new batch of the tanning solution.  Soak the fleshed hide for seven days.  Stir at least twice a day and keep the hide submerged with a heavy object.

Rinse hide thoroughly under running water.  If desired, you can hand-wash the hide at this point with dish soap or pet shampoo and rinse again.  Ring out any excess water and turn the hide inside out.  Cut off the arms and legs, then slice the hide down the middle to create an open hide.  Hang the hide to dry for twenty-four hours.

Once the hide is completely dry, loosen the fibers by stretching it.  If it isn’t stretching as it should, it isn’t dry enough.  Hang it to dry for a few more hours before stretching it again.  This is a very important step as it makes your hide soft and supple.  Finally, brush the fur to remove any loose hair.

A fun project to make with rabbit hides is fur-lined mittens.  The first thing you need to do is pick a fabric for your mitten shells.  Double the material and trace your hand in a mitten shape, leaving two inches of extra space.  Cut the pattern out and sew the right sides together.  Turn mittens right-side out so the seam is on the inside. Press flat with an iron to steam block them into the right shape.

Now you need to make your liners.  Fold the hide in half so the fur is on the inside.  Make sure you orient the fur so that your hand slides in with the grain of the fur rather than against the grain.  Pin the mitten shells to the fur, placing the pins far enough from the edge that you can leave them pinned while sewing.  Cut the fur pattern, cutting the fur two inches longer than the shells.  Sew the shell and liner together using a straight stitch on your sewing machine.  Pull the excess length of fur up and over the shell and attach, creating a fur cuff.

Tanning a deer hide is similar.  First, you need to skin the deer.  Using a sharp knife, scrape every piece of fat from the hide.  If you are not going to begin the tanning process immediately, you can preserve the hide by rubbing a liberal amount of non-iodized salt into the flesh side of the hide.  You can leave salted hides to air dry until the weather turns warm, or you can roll the salted hide up, place it in a plastic bag, and freeze it.

The first step in tanning deer hide is to soak the skin in a plastic bucket full of warm water until it has softened.  Change the water often.  Once the hide is soft, squeeze out excess water and pull the skin back and forth across the edge of a beam or board.  Working in sections, scrape the fleshy part of the hide again with a knife, taking care not to expose the hair roots.  If you have accidentally cut through the hide, now is the time to sew the hole closed.  Fishing line is a good product to use.  Sew as tightly as possible.  Once you have completed the tanning process, the stitches will disappear.

Make a tanning solution by dissolving two and a half pounds of salt in four gallons of water in a plastic bucket.  In a different plastic bucket, dissolve one pound of alum in one gallon of water.  Slowly pour the alum solution into the salt solution, stirring to thoroughly mix the solutions together.  Soak the skin for four days, stirring daily and keeping the hide completely submerged.

Rinse the hide thoroughly and squeeze out any excess water.  Tack the hide, hair side down, to a sheet of plywood.  Dry partially in the shade.  While the hide is drying, make a fat-liquor solution by combining three and a half ounces of neatsfoot oil with three and a half ounces of warm water and one ounce of ammonia.  Rub half of this mixture into the hide and let stand one hour before repeating the process with the other half of the fat-liquor solution.  Cover with plastic and let sit undisturbed overnight.

Remove the tacks and rub the hide with a damp cloth.  Stretch the hide and pull back and forth across the edge of a beam or board again.  Continue dampening with a wet cloth and pulling over the board until the hide becomes as soft as you want it.  If necessary, more fat-liquor solution can be applied sparingly.  Once hide is supple, smooth the surface with a fine-grit sandpaper.

Another thing you can do with animal hide is to make buckskin.  Making buckskin is time and labor-intensive, but once you remove all the hair from the hide, you can suspend the tanning process by storing the hide in the freezer.  Freezing the hide prevents rot and enables you to pick up where you left off.

The first step is to scrape off any meat that is still on the hide.  Next, you are going to prepare a lye bath.

Lye will temporarily swell and shrink the hide, loosening the hair and grain.  Lye is a strong chemical, so you want to read and follow the warning label.  Fill a bucket large enough to submerge your hide in with warm water.  Add lye until the water is slippery to the touch.  Submerge your hide and let it soak for two days.  Change the water at least once to keep the hide fresh.

The next steps in the process are de-hairing and graining.  The hide should be thick and rubbery at this point, and the hair should come off easily with the back of a knife.  To grain the hide, you will need to lean a beam against a sturdy surface.  Drape the hide across the beam and grain it in manageable sections.  The best tool for graining is a dull knife or a rock with a sharp edge.  Take care; you want to remove the outer layer of skin without damaging the layers underneath.

Once the grain has been scraped, it is time to rinse the lye out.  Submerge the hide in a bucket of plain water.  Change the water every two hours until the hide is white and flexible.  Wringing out this water is necessary so that the softening solution will be absorbed.  Some people like to use a wringing bar, where they loosely wrap the hide around the bar and twist.  I find it easier to solicit the help of a friend.  Two people twisting the hide goes much smoother and faster.  Wring the hide until you have removed as much water as possible.

Now you can choose your softening solution.  The traditional solution was made with the brain of the animal.  You can also mix half a bar of grated Ivory soap with two cups of cooking oil.  Egg yolks are another replacement for brain matter.  Mix eight to ten egg yolks with a couple of cups of cooking oil.  Slather your hide in the softening solution and let your hide soak in it for two hours.  Wring it out and soak it in the same solution.  Repeat once more.

Take the hide back to the beam and work on softening it by dragging it back and forth across the beam.  Use the weight of your body to really stretch the hide.  Continue this softening and stretching process throughout the drying process.  Your hide should be soft and fluffy when dried.

The last step is to set the softeners and make your hide water repellent by smoking it.  Sew your hide into a bag shape.  Attach an old pant leg to the neck to make a “handle”.  Suspend the hide bag over a smoky fire.  Be certain your fire is made of hot coals—never flames—and can maintain its smoke.  When the smoky color bleeds through to the outside, turn the hide inside out and suspend it over the smoke again.  After the smoke has penetrated the hide, you can remove it from the fire or leave it until you achieve the color you like.

Tanning hides does take some time and effort, but so does everything worthwhile.  I hope you have fun with the process and enjoy the results.

The post Tanning Skins and Hides on the Homestead appeared first on Homestead.org.

Baskets made work and play possible in villages and towns; these handmade appliances were used to carry everything from food to water.  By using resources found in their homeland, the ancients let Mother Nature know of their respect for her.  Vital connections were thus strengthened.  When you fashion a basket, you embrace the past of all humankind and you encourage its future.  You are letting the forces-that-be know that you won’t give up on the beauty of nature.  You will be writing your name in Mother Nature’s book of life.  I guarantee it’s worth the effort.

Unfortunately, the amazing natural materials that our ancestors used in styling their baskets decayed with age; the very thing that makes baskets so endearing and special is the reason not many baskets from the days of yore survive.  But don’t worry, most of those very same materials are available to you today, so we can continue to carry on the grand tradition of weaving a basket.

Baskets have served humankind in uncountable ways.  They were used to transport carrier pigeons during both of the World Wars.  Planes dropped baskets of much-needed supplies to troops in the field, and during the Industrial Revolution, factories used baskets in deliveries of important supplies and tools.

Old-timers and ancients made baskets from many kinds of materials, including oak, hickory, and willow.  Today, we basket-weavers can make our baskets from the natural materials around us, or from reeds and vines bought at the store.  These sturdy, pliable materials come in lots of different shapes and sizes to meet all of our basket-making needs; we’re only limited by our imagination.

What kind of basket do you want to make?   Let the style you choose determine the kind of material you use; your options are almost limitless.  Most of all, let your personality and imagination flow into your basket, whatever material and style you choose.

Today, basket reed, also called rattan, has largely replaced the vines and grasses used long ago; willow, oak, and cattails are not used nearly as often.  But you, as a basketmaker can still fashion your baskets of these natural materials, it just takes a bit more work and skill.  Lots of people today choose to make their baskets from kits bought online or at hobby stores.  Basketmakers today are even fashioning baskets out of unusual materials like plastic and yarn.

The main parts of a basket are the base, the walls, and the rim.  You can, of course, add a handle, a lid, and other embellishments, like variations in design and different “ear” styles.  An ear is a form of lashing used on ribbed baskets.  The lashing covers the intersecting points of the frame, securing them in place.  You can fashion an ear as a three-, four-, or five-point lashing; some basket ears are very elegant and add greatly to the design of your basket.  One four-point lashing is called the braided, or woven, God’s eye; another is called the bow knot.

How Baskets are Named

Down through the centuries, the names of baskets have gone through many changes.  Mostly, they were—and still are—named for their intended use, the people who made them, where they were made, and/or what the basket resembled.  Baskets in the mountainous regions of the southeastern United States had a gizzard-shaped bottom for holding eggs, so they were called “egg baskets”.

In some areas of the world, potatoes were gathered in round baskets with handles on one or both sides.  These became very popular and known as potato baskets since they served that purpose so well.  Flowers seemed to go best in a shallow basket with a tall handle, hence the name “flower basket”.  Sometimes, basket names caught on and lasted through the generations, sometimes not.  When you create your basket, name it what you will; it’s your creation.

Basket Terminology

Stakes: Pieces of the woven mat, or base, which are upsett and become the upright elements of your basket.

Spokes: The skeleton of your basket, they are the same as a stake but laid circularly as spokes in a wheel.

Weaver: The reed that is used as the weft that moves over and under the stakes, spokes, or ribs (warp).

Ear: Weaving or lashing done at the intersection point of the rim and handle that holds the two pieces securely together.  Ribs can be inserted into an ear.  An ear can also be loops that join a swing handle to a basket.

Hoop: A ring or piece of wood shaped into a circle, machine- or handmade, that is used in ribbed baskets.

Lasher or Lacer: The piece of reed that wraps around and secures all the rim pieces together.

Rib: The round or oval pieces that extend from one side of the basket to the other and form the basic skeleton.

Upsett or Upskate: To bend the stakes up and over upon themselves, toward the base, creating a crease in the base of the stake.

Basket-making Tools and Supplies

• Reed cutters or pruning shears for cutting reeds and vines
• Utility knife or box cutter
• Awl, or a sharp pointed tool like an icepick, to manipulate reeds
• Clothespins to hold parts of your basket together while you work
• Pencils
• Pencil sharpener to sharpen ends of round reeds 
• Bread ties
• Cable clips
• Yardstick
• Ruler 

Three Types of Basket Weaves

The Basic Weave: This type of weave starts with a sturdy base from which to work.  This can be cut from a single piece of wood, but is usually woven using the same materials as the rest of your basket.  The basic weave is done by weaving with rigid stakes or spokes, and weavers.  The weavers wrap around the stakes in an over-one-under-one pattern.  You can change the pattern by changing the number of over and under weavers.

Twining: Also known as pairing, is the method used in wickerwork, and it’s one of the more advanced basket-making techniques.  It involves two pieces of round reed being twisted around a rigid spoke.  The twining method involves weaving two materials in different directions.   When basket makers twine, they put one reed behind the spoke and one in front of the spoke, with a twist in between.  Twining makes beautiful baskets and was probably used thousands of years ago to make animal traps and fishing nets.

Coiling: In this type of basket weaving, coils of reeds or grasses, or even pine needles are stitched together one atop another.  You need softer basket making materials in order to be able to build the walls of this type of basket.  Coiling will produce a very tight and rigid basket, and is a favorite technique of the Native Americans of the Southwest.  Plant fibers like willow twigs, sweet grass, and pine needles all make uniquely beautiful coiled baskets.  You will need strong string or fishing line to sew the coils together.

Basket Reeds

Basket-weaving reed comes in shapes of flat, flat oval, half-round oval, and round; you can buy it by the foot and also in one pound coils.  Flat reed will need to be soaked in warm water for as long as your pattern calls for, but don’t over-soak it or it gets mushy, and can become permanently discolored as well.  Soaking makes basket reed flexible enough to work with.  Round, flat oval, and half-round reed will need to be soaked a bit longer; your pattern will let you know how long to soak each type.  Remember never to store your reeds in plastic as it doesn’t breathe and will result in moldy reeds.

Be sure you let your reed dry out completely before you store it, as excess moisture will also cause mold.  If you do find yourself with moldy reed, just soak it again in a gallon of water with 1/4 cup bleach added.

Dyeing Your Reed

Use enamel, Pyrex, or stainless steel vessels to dye your reed as these types of pots won’t react with the dye.  You can also use plastic buckets or trashcans that have been thoroughly cleaned.  Soak the reed for about an hour and rinse it well.  Next, dissolve your dye in about a quart of boiling water, adding one tablespoon of salt per packet of dye.  Pour enough boiling water to cover the reed into your pot and then pour in your dye mixture.  Mix it well and then add your presoaked reed.  Don’t put too much reed in at once, otherwise, it won’t all get completely dyed.  Now let it soak from one hour to overnight, depending on how dark or light you want the color to be.

When you take the reed out, rinse it well with cold water and hang it do dry.  Again, make sure it is completely dry before you store it.  When you soak the dyed reed before making your basket, you should soak each color separately; expect the colors to bleed a little.

Making the Base of Your Basket 

Making a base for your basket involves laying out your reeds or spokes, using whatever material you choose or whichever material you choose, in pieces parallel to one another.  Leave a bit of space between each one.  Now begin weaving reeds in a perpendicular direction to your first ones in an over-under pattern.  The piece you’ll use to do this is called your weaver.  These first reeds that you place are called the spokes and will form the skeleton of your basket.

Making the Basket Walls

Now you must bend the spokes extending from the base, upward to form the walls.  This bending action is called “upsetting”.  You are in effect, setting the spokes in an upright position.  These upsett reeds will serve as the upright elements of your basket.  You’ll weave the rest of your basket in an over-under pattern through these.

Making the Rim

To make the rim, take one of your longer reeds and wrap it around the top row of your basket.  Hold it in place with a clothespin or a cable clip.  Now weave the bottom end of this long reed into the top few rows inside the basket.  Bring the reed up and over the top row of your basket over and over again, working all around the circumference of the basket.  Secure the end of the reed inside the basket either with glue or by weaving it into the basket.

Handles and Hoops

The handles and hoops you can put on your baskets are as diverse as the baskets themselves.  The one guiding principle to know is that you should use the handle your basket pattern calls for; the overall look and functionality of your basket will be much better if the handle fits the basket style.  Some of the more popular handle styles are swing handles, round notched handles, “U” handles and “D” handles.  Always put the handle of your basket on the outside of the rim.  This will ensure that your handle is held firmly in place because the diameter of the handle hoop will be decreased.

A basket hoop, which is only used in a ribbed basket, can be circular, oval or square, depending on your pattern.  The purpose of the hoop is to form the foundation of your basket; you will weave ribs around the hoop to form the shape of your basket.

Determining the Size of Your Basket

Here are formulas you can use to give you the length measurements of your basket stakes that will form the base of your basket.

Say you are making a staked basket that measures 10″ wide by 16″ long by 6″ deep.  To get a length measurement you add the base length of 16″ and each side depth of 6″ on each side, (or 12″), and then add 6″, (or 3″ on each side) to tuck in at the top.  So your formula would be 16″ plus 12″ (2 sides), plus 6″ (for tucking) = 34″.

To get the width measurement, add the base width of 10″ and each side-depth of 6″ and the same 6″ for tucking.  The formula is 10″ plus 12″ plus 6″ = 28″.

How to Shape, or Reshape, Your Basket

If, while weaving, your basket isn’t shaping up as you’d like, there is a very simple solution.  Just re-moisten the entire basket by misting it lightly with water.  Do this carefully so that you don’t get the handle of your basket too wet.  After re-moistening your basket, all you have to do is use your hands to remold it into the shape you want.

To hold the shape in place, you’ll need to place some kind of heavy object inside the basket to level it.  Let the basket sit this way until the reeds are completely dry and then continue weaving.

How to True the Base of Your Basket

You will true the base of your basket to make sure it’s even on all sides.  First, measure all four sides of the base and make any adjustments needed.  When you are sure all sides are the same length, use a pencil to mark the adjacent corners on all four sides of your basket base.  This way, when you start weaving, you’ll know when anything starts shifting because your corner marks will be out of alignment.

Sharpening Ribs for a Ribbed Basket

You may need to sharpen your basket ribs to make them fit better into the overall shape of your basket.  Ribs are the round or oval pieces that go from one side to the other of the basket and form its basic skeleton.  A pencil sharpener, either electric or the old-fashioned hand-crank kind, will work to sharpen the ribs.  However, your best bet is to use your utility knife or a special basket knife made for this purpose.

The Quality of Your Reed

There are a lot of different kinds of reed out there, and they aren’t all of the highest quality.  Poor-quality reed will shred and split and even break when you bend it in the making of your basket.  Reed can be thick or thin, depending on your basket’s intended use.  But if the reed you use is too splintery and brittle, your basket will never attain the heights of beauty and usefulness that it otherwise could have.

Flat reed has two sides; a smooth one and a rough, “hairy”, one.  You’ll want to construct your basket so that the smooth side is on the outside.  By bending a piece of reed over your finger into a U-shape, you can usually determine which side is which.  But don’t worry if you can’t tell the difference, that just means your reed is of excellent quality.  When shopping for reed, look for the reed that has a light, creamy color; this means it’s of superior quality.  The darker the reed, the poorer the quality.

Various Basket-weaving Materials

Kudzu: This vine is also known as Japanese Arrowroot, and is native to certain parts of Asia.  Kudzu is known as a very invasive species of vine, but is also highly prized as a basket weaving material due to its strength and pliability.  It can be used green or dried out and rehydrated.

Grapevine: This vine comes in many varieties.  You will find it growing wild in fields and you can also purchase it from hobby and craft stores.  Grapevine doesn’t typically need soaking as it stays pliable for weeks after it’s cut.

Wisteria: A woody, climbing vine with clusters of beautiful lavender colored blooms, wisteria is hardy and fast-growing.  It has long runners that are great for basket making.  Growing wild in many areas, it’s considered a nuisance plant by many.  For best results in your baskets, harvest wisteria in the wintertime.

Willow: Willow has long, slender branches that are very good for weaving baskets.  You should harvest it in the fall or early spring before any leaves appear on the branches.  The branches will be the most pliable at that time.

Seagrasses: These are long, narrow leaves that are very pliable for basket making.  You can get seagrass as a twisted, grass rope or a flat-surfaced reed.  It starts out green and will turn tan as it ages.

Baleen: Baleen is a substance that comes from inside the mouth of the bowhead whale; its purpose is to filter their food.  Alaskan natives have been using baleen to weave sturdy baskets for many years.

White-oak splits: Splits are a traditional material used in the mountains for caning chairs and making all sorts of baskets.  A White Oak sapling about 4-6 inches in diameter is chosen and a 6-9 foot section of the trunk is removed.  The trunk is then divided into quarters and then split into strips to use in making the basket.

Pine needles: Pine needles have long been used by Native Americans to make amazingly beautiful coiled baskets.  In areas of the country where pine trees grow, it’s a simple matter of making a trip outside to collect the needles off the forest floor.  They should be soaked in warm water to remove sticky tree sap, but they will stay pliable for a long time.

If you want to be daring, and if you like to recycle, try making an eco-friendly and durable basket from one of these:

• Plastic bags
• Plastic bottles
• Yarn
• Paper in just about all of its forms
• Old blue jeans
• Old T-shirts
• Telephone wire
• Plastic or cotton clothesline

The post Basket-making Basics appeared first on Homestead.org.

This article explores trapping from a conservation-focused perspective, showing how regulated trapping supports ecological balance, safeguards homesteads, and contributes to healthier habitats. By combining insights from wildlife agencies with hands-on experience, I aim to provide readers with a grounded understanding of how trappers fit into the modern ecological food web and how anyone interested can responsibly get started.

Conservationists: Stewards of the Natural World

Some people think that protecting natural resources means not using them at all, but Aldo Leopold (the father of wildlife management) points out that when we begin to see ourselves as part of the ecological food web, we begin to use our resources with discretion. We must be active participants in the ecosystem, not just watchful observers.

How does using natural resources, such as fur-bearing animals, contribute to conservation? Hunters and trappers follow regulations designed to maintain the environment’s carrying capacity, which is the maximum population size that a particular environment can sustain at its lowest level of food available. Every fur-bearing animal has a certain season when it can be harvested, which takes breeding habits into account, as well as a bag limit that determines how many can be harvested from an area. This protects wildlife from being overharvested, while also limiting how large their populations can grow. These regulations protect both humans and animals from unnecessary interactions in urban areas.

A Trapper’s Impact

I was drawn to trapping because it is such an effective way to manage and diversify the native habitat that surrounds our homestead. I get to be a steward of the natural world by taking inventory of the plant and animal species that we share land with through my daily observations. We do our best to diversify the native plant and animal species that encompass our acreage because a diverse ecosystem is a resilient one. If there is an abundance of raccoons and skunks on our property, we see a decline in the number of wild turkeys. On the flip side, if there aren’t any turkey-eating predators at all, turkeys can damage neighboring crop fields.

Recent studies show that raccoon pressure and the benefits of removal are site-specific. Raccoon densities in rural habitats can range from roughly 2 to 5 raccoons per km², so not every landscape needs intense removal. Focused removal at vulnerable sites has produced dramatic short-term results (for example, sea-turtle nest depredation on Panther Key dropped from ~76–100% to 0% after removals). However, benefits can decline after 2–3 years as animals immigrate or other predators fill the niche, so trapping should be paired with habitat adjustments and continued monitoring. Finally, most published removal experiments have been done on conservation sites rather than generic homesteads, so private-landowners should proceed cautiously, keep good records, and adapt practices to local conditions.

Someone could argue that nature has systems in place to keep animal populations in check through starvation, disease, or predation. However, there has never been a time in our history when we didn’t utilize animals as natural resources, so do we really know if nature would just balance itself out? The problem with this line of thinking is that it suggests we are not part of the ecological food web. Trappers do not seek to remove all predators from an area—we know there must be a healthy ratio of predator to prey species.

An example of trappers bringing balance back to an ecosystem was a fox-trapping management plan in eastern North Dakota and eastern South Dakota. Several foxes were removed from these areas, which restored the dwindling duck population. Ducks are considered ground-nesting birds, making them easy targets for predators like foxes and raccoons in the spring.

Regulated Trapping and Animal Welfare

To become a trapper, it’s important to understand the complexities of the ecosystem. Trapping has an ugly past—overharvesting, no concern for animal welfare, and greed—but today’s trappers are required to take an educational course to learn regulations before they can obtain a license. There are strict rules in place that determine which types of traps can be used on land or water to reduce the number of non-target animals being trapped. The traps of today are designed to hold the animal in place, unharmed, so they can either be dispatched or released. Trappers must also check their land sets daily to limit how long an animal is held in the trap.

So, if federal and state agencies highly regulate trapping, why do we do it? There’s very little money to be made through trapping, so most participants are not driven by greed. For most of us, it’s an instinctive urge to be connected to the land around us, and we feel a responsibility to help conserve our natural resources—even if that means following strict regulations.

How Does Trapping Benefit the Homestead?

We’ve all heard the advice to plant flowers to attract pollinators to the garden, but not as many people talk about the benefits of diversifying animal species around the homestead. Removing a few predators (raccoons, skunks, foxes, or coyotes) every year improves the biodiversity of prey species such as ground-nesting turtles, birds, and rabbits. Improving biodiversity benefits the functionality of the ecosystem through pollination, nutrient cycling, and decomposition. It also improves an ecosystem’s resilience to withstand disturbances such as disease outbreaks or climate change.

Animals such as beaver, raccoon, and muskrat can be delicious when properly prepared, but the less desirable animals can be fed to chickens or pigs to diversify their nutrient intake. In the winter, when bugs are unavailable to our chickens, we feed them the remains of the seemingly healthy fur-bearing animals we harvest as an alternative protein source.

Wild-harvested fur has become a desirable textile again due to its sustainability. Unlike polyester, it breaks down and decomposes when discarded, and it is considered a renewable resource. Strict trapping regulations are in place and regularly updated to protect this resource from becoming threatened.

How to Obtain a Trapping License

Trapping is one of those skills that less than one percent of the population participates in, but those who have this skill are usually eager to pass along their knowledge. Finding a local mentor who is willing to let you ride along on their trapline is a priceless form of education. You will still need to take a trapper’s education course provided by your state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR). You will learn the rules and regulations of your state to be eligible to purchase a license. It varies by state, but you must have a license to trap any animal on your property.

Use a search engine to find the closest DNR office and sign up for the in-person class. In most states, you can also sign up for an online class, but many students in the class I took said it was very difficult compared to learning in person. Doing the in-person class also allows trappers to connect with each other and trade tips and tricks to enhance their skills. Trapper’s Education will walk you through the basic equipment permitted in your state. Trap types and sizes vary, and if you’re ever in doubt, call your local conservation warden. They would rather spend their time educating people about legal equipment than issuing citations.

Scouting for Sign

Prepping for the opening day of trapping season in the fall begins long beforehand with scouting for animal sign. It starts by knowing the food web and taking notes of areas with natural food sources for target animals. This involves learning how to identify native plant species, which helps determine what prey species are present and, in turn, what predators are nearby. For example, an open, sunny location is a great place for berries to grow, and raccoons love berries. It also helps to learn how to identify animal scat and tracks so you don’t have to guess about which animals are in the area. We usually know where we will build our trapline long before the season starts, which saves time in the long run.

When we know which animals we will target through year-round scouting, we build our trapping tool bag accordingly. Animals of the canine species are the hardest to trap, and many seasoned trappers suggest starting with raccoons because they are so abundant. This helps build confidence on the trapline before pursuing other animals.

Raccoons are opportunistic omnivores—they will eat berries, nuts, small mammals, frogs, fish, and even trash. A raccoon track is comparable to a tiny human hand; it has five sausage-shaped toes on each foot, connected to a C-shaped palm pad. Their scat is cylindrical in shape, has broken or blunted ends, and is usually dark in color. In the fall, you might observe bits of undigested food in it, such as berry seeds.

What’s in a Raccoon Trapper’s Tool Bag?

A typical raccoon trapper’s tool bag consists of (but is not limited to): dog-proof coon traps (DP coon traps), J-hooks with a J-hook tool (to attach the anchoring system), an anchoring system, bait (cat food or a piece of donut), a stake driver (to pound the anchoring system in place), hammer, and gloves. You could use a live trap as well, but I have found it impossible to keep my chickens out of them. The dog-proof coon traps are perfect in almost any scenario.

You can get DP coon traps at most feed supply stores, but there are also small business trapping suppliers such as Hoosier Trapping Supply, Minnesota Trapline Products, and F & T Fur Harvester’s Trading Post. The benefit of ordering through a small trapping supplier is that their employees are trappers and can help answer your questions. There is always the option of finding used traps through word of mouth or an online marketplace. Going this route can also help build connections with experienced trappers in your area—you may learn a thing or two.

How to Make a Set

Trappers follow many rules, but one of the simplest is to set on animal sign. This increases your odds of catching your target animal because many will revisit the same places if they’ve found food there. If you can find a path they use, set your trap nearby. Pack some bait, such as cat food or a sweet treat, in the bottom of the dog-proof coon trap, drive the anchoring system into the ground, and pull up to lock it in place and test for security. Next, set the trap either with your hands or by placing it on the ground and using your foot to squeeze the trigger so it locks in place. Point the opening in the direction that raccoons will see it. The trap has a trigger system that is set off when they try to pull the bait out of the tube. After your first successful catch, repack the trap with bait and set it again. Raccoons live in groups, so chances are you’ll catch a few more in the same spot.

A Few Closing Thoughts

The largest hurdle for trapping acceptance is a lack of information. I still see people on social media arguing that it’s necessary to trap and kill coyotes because they will eat all your livestock, but that approach generally closes the door to understanding. Leading with fact rather than emotion seems to be the best approach.

When you become a trapper, you have a responsibility to maintain a respectable image in the public eye for the sake of all trappers. This means understanding your critical role in the ecological food web, knowing your state’s regulations and adhering to them, and obtaining your license before you begin your trapping journey.

The post Raccoon Trapping for Beginners appeared first on Homestead.org.

Interestingly, it is the milk, not the kit contents, which have the largest influence on the flavor and, thus, the deliciousness of a cheese. It is also the milk that determines the ease for making cheese. So, how does this critical ingredient make or break an easy, at-home cheesemaking experience?

The Mini DIY Cheese Kit for Farmers’ Cheese from UrbanCheeseCraft.com comes packaged in a clever cardboard box reminiscent of the kids-meal boxes that are ubiquitous at fast-food chains. The kit costs $10 plus shipping ($4.25) and it claims to make 3 batches of cheese using ½-gallon of milk each. It contains instructions, butter muslin, 1.5 ounces of cheese salt, and 1.5 ounces of citric acid. For comparison, a quick internet search locates several free online cheese recipes. A search of Amazon.com also indicates similar supplies may be purchased at a third to a half of the price; however, in aggregate, one may have to spend more because the exact same quantities are not available.

The kit’s label is in the style of a chalkboard with child-like white lettering and artwork on a black background. All included material has similar cartoon-like branding. The playful-nature of this packaging seems to indicate this kit is a fun novelty or a sort of game to play. Like a kid’s chemistry set, it seems to say, “You will have fun with this kit. It is like playtime,” rather than “You will learn a new skill that will reduce your dependence on the industrial food system.” Everything about this kit, including its inflated cost, indicates the target customer is a person interested in a one-stop-shop, do-it-yourself (DIY) experience rather than someone interested in learning the skills necessary to replace the cheese in their refrigerator with homemade cheese.

According to Laura Lotti it is no accident that the entire kit is designed to invoke feelings of playfulness and experimentation. In her 2014 Media and Culture Journal article on DIY Cheesemaking, Lotti explains components of the DIY movement appeal to human creativity and experimentation. She indicates the DIY movement seems to be more about people expressing their individualism in a creative and artistic way rather than achieving material independence.

The kit’s instruction sheet starts with a firm warning: “Please read this ENTIRE recipe booklet BEFORE you begin.” The section “Secrets to Success Continued” provides advice on milk. At this point, the consumer learns the kit is intended for use with “raw or plain pasteurized whole milk” while other milk varieties will impart different flavors. The quality of milk is again mentioned in the “PEP TALK!” section which seems to be a fun euphemism for suggesting something may have gone wrong with the first attempt at home cheesemaking so try again. It is quick to indicate milk selection is the likely culprit for what went wrong with the plea, “You really won’t believe how much easier coagulation is with raw, organic, or non-homogenized milk. It is more expensive, but wouldn’t you rather eat natural cheese even if it is a little less often?” The aspiring home cheesemaker is now realizing the one-stop-shop, do-it-yourself cheesemaking kit requires more shopping than the impulse online purchase they made.

The secret to why a home cheesemaker has more success using raw, organic, non-homogenized milk lies in the microbial community that exists in raw milk. As Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of The Kitchen, puts it, “It’s [Milk’s] alive in the sense that, fresh from the udder, it contains living white blood cells some mammary-gland cells, and various bacteria; and it teems with active enzymes…” The lively nature of raw milk, especially the enzymes, aid in the coagulation that turns milk into cheese. Milk with more enzymatic activity coagulates better and faster in the presence of the citric acid provided in this DIY Cheesemaking Kit. While pasteurization is intended to rid milk of bad microbes like tuberculosis and E.Coli, it also reduces or eliminates the good microbes that help make cheesemaking easy.

On being advised to use raw, organic non-homogenized milk, the aspiring home cheesemaker may head to the supermarket for another brand of milk to make another go at farmers’ cheese. Scanning the supermarket shelves offers a surprising variety of milk options. There are several brands each of lactose free, goat’s milk, skim, whole, 2%, 1%, and more. Close scrutiny of labels shows all milk available on supermarket shelves are pasteurized. Some labels, such as Horizon Organic’s Organic Fat-Free Milk, indicate “ultra-pasteurized.” Other labels, such as Hood’s Whole Milk, simply say “pasteurized.”

Failure to find an organic, raw, non-homogenized milk at the supermarket may cause some of the aspiring cheesemakers to give up and accept the kit as a financial loss. Others may consider this new challenge part of the DIY experience and head to a specialty or organic market. Here, among the pasteurized and ultra-pasteurized milks, there may be something like Maine’s Own Organic Fat Free Milk with the phrase “Gently Pasteurized – Never Ultra Pasteurized” or Organic Valley’s Non-Homogonized GrassMilk, which is simply identified “pasteurized.” Again, some of the aspiring cheesemakers may find all this terminology confusing, give up and cut their losses. Some may use their sense of adventure to try one of these inferior alternatives to see what happens.

The terminology on milk cartons is confusing. Basic pasteurization where a batch of milk is held at 145°F or above for at least 30-35 minutes is batch-pasteurization. High-temperature, short-time (HTST) pasteurization holds milk at a 162°F or above for at least 15 seconds. Ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurization, or ultra-pasteurization, holds milk at 280°F for at least two seconds. Applying any of these methods to milk earns it a “pasteurized” label. According to the FDA, milk available through interstate commerce, as is most supermarket milk, is labeled as pasteurized with the name of the pasteurization facility regardless of whether the pasteurization method is HTST or UHT. This means, unless the label specifically indicates the milk is NOT ultra-pasteurized, it may actually be ultra-pasteurized.

The higher the temperature of pasteurization the more likely desirable milk microbes are completely destroyed. Ultra-pasteurization temperatures render milk sterile and lifeless. While this is good for shelf-life, it is not good for cheesemaking.

The most determined of the aspiring cheesemakers might expand their search to find a supplier of raw, organic, non-homogenized milk. Looking for raw, organic, non-homogenized milk at a supermarket in the United States is an exercise in futility. There is none. Thanks to an effort to reduce infant mortality at the end of the nineteenth century, milk pasteurization became a common practice. For a period, certified raw milk and pasteurized milk were both available to the public. Over time, the federal government banned raw milk in interstate commerce and most states restricted the retail sale of raw milk to the public. Without parsing the individual laws of each state, the least restrictive sale of raw milk is limited to licensed retailers. In short, this means raw milk is not generally available in the supermarket.

Only 11 states allow licensed retailers to sell raw milk. An additional 22 states allow farms to sell raw milk either through a farm store or a herdshare. State laws around raw milk sales are slowly changing, but that change seems slow relative to the increasing interest in home cheesemaking. With such limited availability of raw milk to the average consumer, it is hard to imagine home cheesemaking becoming more than a novelty. Surely, only a small percentage of people try their hand at home cheesemaking out of curiosity. From that, how likely is it that more than a small fraction of the curious turns home cheesemaking into a habit. These barriers indicate it is also not likely the home cheesemaking supply industry will expand beyond a cottage, niche market.

The Experiment

Given only pasteurized and ultra-pasteurized milk is readily available to the average consumer, I set out to examine how well a few different milks perform with the Farmers’ Cheese DIY Cheesemaking Kit from UrbanCheeseCraft. I prepared four batches of Farmers’ cheese in an as identical of a manner as I could according to the UrbanCheeseCraft recipe. A different milk variety was used for each preparation as follows:

1. Horizon Organic Fat-Free Milk, Homogenized and Ultra-Pasteurized, $3.99 per ½-gallon

2. Eastleigh Farm Non-Homogenized Milk, Raw, $9 per ½-gallon

3. Shaw Farm Homogenized Whole Milk, Pasteurized, $1.79 per quart plus $0.90 glass deposit

4. Shaw Farm Homogenized Skim Milk, Pasteurized, $1.79 per quart plus $0.90 glass deposit

My goal is to evaluate the outcome an aspiring cheesemaker might experience given the types of milk readily available. Although a test with four types of milk is hardly exhaustive, each was selected as an option that may be easily available. Horizon Organic milk is clearly labeled “Ultra-Pasteurized.” Only fat-free milk was available in this variety. Since the recipe suggests best results are obtained with organic, raw, non-homogenized milk, Eastleigh Farm’s milk is the desired recipe baseline. Shaw Farm explicitly describes their pasteurization as “low-temperature (146°[F]) vat pasteurizer, held at this temperature for 30 minutes then cooled to 40 degrees [F], or lower, before it is bottled…” This is reflective of a batch-pasteurization process. A mix of skim milk and whole milk is selected for multi-variable comparison.

I adjusted the recipe to use one quart of milk instead of ½-gallon of milk. Identical-weight quantities of salt and citric acid are used for each batch. Temperatures are measured with a calibrated digital thermometer. To minimize cross-contamination, each batch is also processed in a different non-reactive, stainless steel pot using different non-reactive spoons. All of the milk was purchased within two days of the experiment. They were taken directly from the refrigerator prior to starting the test. Their starting temperatures were within 2°F of each other.

Homemade Cheese from Pasteurized Milk Experiment set-up

The milk is heated simultaneously to the recommended 185°F and citric acid is added and stirred vigorously. Once the whey and curd separates, the mixture is gently stirred to cook the curds for 1 minute. The mixture is drained through fine cheesecloth to separate the whey from the curd. After 5 minutes of draining, the curds are mixed with salt and ready for tasting.

The Results & Discussion

It took 45-minutes from the time the milk was removed from the refrigerator to the time the curds were salted. Being that I have home-cheesemaking experience, I do not recommend first-time cheesemaker attempt to make four batches simultaneously; a first-time cheesemaker may take longer to complete their first batch.

Since the “PEP TALK” links coagulation failure to the use of pasteurized milk, I originally expected the ultra-pasteurized milk would not easily separate into curds and whey. However, all batches successfully coagulated creating curds and whey with the citric acid. I did not monitor the time to coagulate, but none of the milk took noticeably longer to coagulate than the raw milk.

After draining the curds for five minutes, there was noticeable difference in final weight of the curd. A small variance in the final weight might be expected due to the low precision and control during stirring and draining. The raw milk and two batch-pasteurized milks had a final weight between 4 and ounces. However, the ultra-pasteurized milk produced significantly less curd at 2.6 oz.

There was also a difference in visual appearance. The ultra-pasteurized milk curd was drier and less creamy in appearance. This is reflective of the lower final weight where most of the liquid was lost to the whey. Its appearance was white with an unappealing translucent quality. The batch-pasteurized skim milk curds produced denser, less translucent curds, while the batch-pasteurized whole milk curds appeared creamy and fluffy. The raw milk curd was also creamy and there is a light yellow tint to it. The liquid raw milk was also slightly yellow.

Although the visual and physical properties of the curd are important for appeal, the proof is in the tasting. Using a very small number of tasters, the final, salted curds were compared. Although the same amount of salt is used, the ultra-pasteurized curds have a lower curd to salt ratio. The result is a remarkably saltier curd. Discounting for the saltiness, descriptions were as follows:

Ultra-Pasteurized Skim Milk: “course”, “hard”, “chewy”, “dry”, “bland”, and “like chewing on piecrust”.

Batch-Pasteurized Skim: “like ricotta”, “not much flavor”, “grainy” and “a little like sour milk”.

Batch-Pasteurized Whole: “smooth”, “creamy”, “reminds me of buttermilk”, “like whipped cream cheese”.

Raw Milk: “smooth”, “very similar to the whole milk”, “buttery”, “fatty and salty. . .mmm”, “mildly sweet”.

Tasters prefer the texture and flavor of the batch-pasteurized whole milk curds and raw, non-homogenized milk curds. The texture of the batch-pasteurized skim-milk curds were considered acceptable, but they are less flavorful. Generally, the ultra-pasteurized curds were the least favored.

The Conclusions

The preceding experiment is limited in scope. With so many milk producers selling such a large variety of milks, there are an enormous number of permutations for doing this experiment. From a superficial perspective, all milk might appear to be identical. However, differences arising from things like cattle breed, cattle feed, processing, packaging, and handling produce different milks on a microscopic level. So, a home cheesemaker may not get the same results.

Additionally, so many factors beyond the milk affect home cheesemaking outcomes. Any combination of these factors could have contributed to the different outcomes experienced here. As Lotti explains, “Ultimately, DIY cheese-making allows the cook to be creative with moulding, seasonings, and marinading… and by developing—often via processes of trial and error—techniques [sic] for stirring, draining, moulding, marinading, canning, and so forth, making cheese at home is an exercise in speculative pragmatics.”

From this brief and limited experiment, it appears the aspiring home cheesemaker could successfully make a Farmers’ Cheese from milk readily available in the supermarket. However, the results may not live up to the promise of being better than store-purchased cheese. The ultra-pasteurized cheese produced the least desirable cheese visibly, physically, and gastronomically. The whole-milk versions resulted in a more flavorful and creamier cheese. If the aspiring home cheesemaker is able to find whole milk they are certain is batch-pasteurized, it appears they can achieve similar results as with raw, non-homogenized milk.

Cheese labeled “farmer’s cheese” can be purchased at a variety of price points, so it is difficult to compare these homemade cheeses on a direct value basis. However, it can be discussed on other qualitative dimensions.

None of the cheeses were considered outstanding in flavor or texture, so the flavor itself is may not be sufficient to compel many aspiring cheesemakers to make another batch. This is especially true for the ultra-pasteurized version. For them, this kit may have provided a fun day, but that is about all. For the aspiring, but determined, cheesemaker, another attempt may compel them to revisit the “milk quality” question and make another attempt with a new brand of milk. Going from an ultra-pasteurized variety to a batch-pasteurized or raw, organic, non-homogenized variety might provide enough improvement to keep some aspiring cheesemakers interested. The true experimentalist might take on the challenge of refining and improving their cheese with multiple attempts. This person will likely outgrow the one-stop-shop, do-it-yourself kit once its supplies are depleted.

If the question is, “Can cheese be made with a DIY Cheesemaking Kit?” the answer is a resounding “Yes.” The result may be a day of fun and maybe an edible cheese that an aspiring cheesemaker’s friends and family will enjoy. In that case, the kit delivers an experience that may be fun, creative, and worth the money. If the question is, “Can a DIY Cheesemaking Kit convert an aspiring cheesemaker to a habitual cheesemaker?” the answer is a bit fuzzier, but it seems reasonable to assume the conversion rates are small. DIY Cheesemaking Kits may offer the aspiring cheesemaker a bit of fun, but it is not likely the commercial cheesemaking world has any concerns they will be replaced any time soon.

The post Homemade Cheese in an Ultra-pasteurized World appeared first on Homestead.org.

Gathering Your Supplies to Decorate with Nature

Before it gets cold and you lose the bounty available, take a walk and collect anything and everything you think you could use.  Acorns, small seed pods, pine cones, magnolia pods, vines, and flowers are beautiful and make interesting natural decorations.  Vines that are at least as thick as a pencil and pliable can easily be made into wreaths and swags.  Brush off excess debris from vines, leaves, and seed pods and lay them out for two or three days before using them for crafts.  You can store your leaves in the pages of an old phone book.  This will help remove excess moisture, which prevents mold, and prevents them from curling up.

There are many flowers that are very easy to preserve by air drying.  Flowers dried at the end of summer are ready to use for fall and winter decorating.  Whether you arrange dry flowers in a vase, wire them onto a swag, or glue them onto a straw wreath, they are a naturally beautiful way to bring the outdoors into your home.

Air-drying flowers is a simple process.  Cut the flowers when they are just about to bloom or in their early bloom stage.  Remove all the leaves from the stems.  Group the flowers together in small bunches.  Tie each bunch tightly with string.  As the flowers dry, the stems will shrink. If they are not tightly bound, they will fall out of the bundle.  Hang your small flower bundles upside down in a warm, dry, and dark location until completely dry.  This usually takes two to three weeks.

Some good flowers to dry this way are hydrangea and oak leaf hydrangea, artemisia, nigella, larkspur, Spanish moss, statice, celosia, baby’s breath, lavender, yarrow, strawflower, bachelor’s buttons, and roses.

The pine cones you collect and clean can be used as they are or you can bleach them for a wintery look.  To bleach pine cones, mix one part water to two parts bleach.  Let pine cones soak for twenty-four hours before removing.  Let dry.

Crafting with Fall Leaves

The first fall project is a leaf bowl.  It is a fun and messy project that kids really enjoy.  First, go on a nature walk and pick up a bag of beautiful leaves.  Once you get home, brush them off and lay them out for a day.  This allows any bugs to crawl off of them.  When you are ready to make the bowl, blow up a balloon.  Mix equal parts white glue and water in a bowl.  Thickly cover the bottom half of the balloon with the glue mixture using a sponge paintbrush.  Lay a leaf on the bowl and generously cover with glue.  Continue adding leaves, overlapping each leaf, until the bottom of the balloon is covered with leaves.  Let dry for 48 hours.  Pop the balloon to reveal your fall leaf bowl.  This bowl looks great holding miniature pine cones, acorns, or potpourri.

Another thing you can do with bags of beautiful fall leaves is make a garland.  The size you make depends on the amount of leaves you have collected and where you want to hang it.  A smaller garland looks nice draped over the top of a window while larger garlands can be made to hang over doors and across mantels.  To make a leaf garland, string your fall leaves on heavy-duty thread or fishing line.  Knot both ends and hang.  This is the kind of craft that can be worked on as you have the time.  Even very young children can do this with minimal supervision and a plastic needle.

Decorating with Candles

Candles are an easy way to change the look and feel of a room.  In addition to providing a warm glow, you can get them in any scent imaginable.  Remember the two basic safety rules when decorating with candles: do not put them close to flammable materials and never leave an open flame unattended.

For a traditional fall look using candles, simply arrange pillar candles on a cake stand.  Add acorns or coffee beans around the base of the candles.  This arrangement can be easily rearranged for the Christmas holiday season by using a berry garland and a string of LED lights around the base of the candles instead of the acorns or coffee beans.

Candles wrapped in cinnamon sticks are another great look.  They are easy and inexpensive to make.  You need pillar candles, thick rubber bands, cinnamon sticks, twine, and ribbon.  To make each candle, slide a rubber band around the bottom of the candle and push up a couple of inches from the bottom.  Slide cinnamon sticks, one at a time, behind the rubber band, flush with the bottom of the candle.  Continue until the candle is completely encircled with cinnamon sticks.  Wrap twine around the candle five or six times in order to cover the rubber band.  Wrap the ribbon around the twine and tie in a bow.

You can make an unusual candle arrangement by raiding your recycling bin.  Taper candles fit snugly and safely into wine bottles.  Once the candles are standing in the wine-bottle candlesticks, use a piece of twine to tie a small evergreen branch around the neck of each bottle.  These upcycled candlesticks look great on a mantle or down the center of a dining-room table.

For an easy Christmas centerpiece, gather up your mason jars.  You will also need some floating candles, fresh cranberries, evergreen cuttings and ribbon.  Wrap your ribbon around each mason jar.  Put a few small sprigs of evergreens and a handful of fresh cranberries in each jar.  Fill the jars 2/3 full with water.  Add a floating candle to each jar.  These are beautiful glowing jars on a dinner or buffet table.

Use your camping lanterns if you want holiday lighting without an open flame.  Instead of candles, fill the lantern with inexpensive holiday ornaments and a strand of battery-operated lights.  These lanterns look good indoors or out and are a festive and safe alternative to candles if you have very small children.

For another flame-free lighting option, fill wire baskets with pine cones.  Add a strand of battery-operated lights to each basket.  This looks great with white or colored holiday lights, and is a fun decoration to have in a child’s room.

Decorating with Wreaths

Wreaths are a perfect seasonal decorations.  They are very expensive so making them is definitely worth the time and effort required.

The broken-rake “wreath” is the easiest wreath you can make.  Even better, you can change the look of it each season.  You need the working end of a broken rake.  If you don’t have one, just wait.  If you’re anything like me, you will have one soon enough!  Hang it on a door or wall.  For fall, drape Spanish moss or a strand of fall leaves through the tines and hang a garland of dried fruit from the first tine to the last.  Tie a bow where the handle used to be.  For Christmas, keep the rake but change the arrangement by using strands of berries and evergreens.  Hang a favorite ornament or two from the tines.

A wreath made with colorful Indian corn is a gorgeous fall decoration.  Unless you grow your own Indian corn, you will spend a little bit of money to make this wreath, but because it is so spectacular and will last if stored carefully, I think it is worth it.  Start with a straw wreath base.  They come in a variety of sizes.  A 15” straw wreath will use about 40 ears of Indian corn.  Gather multi-colored Indian corn with the husks still attached.  The cobs should be approximately the same length.  To make this wreath you will also need a hot-glue gun and a large sheet of plastic.  Spread the sheet of plastic out to protect your workspace.  Fluff the husks on the corn.  These can be fragile, so be careful.  If the husk breaks off, hot glue it back on.  Using a generous amount of hot glue, attach each ear of corn to the straw wreath.  Line up the tips of the corn to make the wreath even.  Let the wreath dry completely.  Pick the wreath up from the straw base and shake.  If any ears wobble or fall off, re-attach.  This wreath will keep indefinitely with proper storage.  It must be completely dry before storing.  Once dry, double wrap it in heavy-duty trash bags.

Grapevine and Fabric Flower Wreath

I think grapevine wreaths look great hanging anywhere just as they are.  If you want to add a little something extra to a grapevine wreath, it is easy to do.  You can make no-sew fabric flowers with scraps of fabric you probably have on hand.  I like to use burlap, but you can use anything you have available.  Cut a strip from the fabric you have chosen.  The longer and wider your strip of fabric is, the bigger your finished flower will be.  Put a thin line of hot glue or fabric glue on one of the small ends of the fabric strip.  Begin to roll tightly.  Add another line of glue after every second or third roll.  Continue until you have used the entire strip of fabric.  Add the last line of glue and hold your flower tightly (a clothespin works well for this) until it is completely dry.  Once you have multiple flowers made, hot glue them in a cluster on the grapevine wreath.  Cut a wide strip of fabric, or use a wide ribbon that coordinates with the flowers you made, and use to hang your wreath.

Starburst and Snowball Wreath

For this wreath, you need twigs in various lengths, chunky white yarn, a hot-glue gun and glue sticks, cardboard, and scissors.  First, cut a circle out of the cardboard with a hole in the center.  This will be the base of your wreath.  Next, begin gluing the sticks you have gathered to the cardboard base.  Start by gluing the longer sticks, spacing them evenly around the wreath base.  Fill the spaces between the longer sticks in with the shorter sticks.  While the sticks are drying, make your snowball pom-poms.  Wrap the yarn around two fingers ten to twelve times.  Tie a knot, cinching the middle of the yarn tight.  Slip the yarn off your fingers and cut the loop on each side with sharp scissors.  Trim and fluff the pom-poms until you are satisfied with the way it looks. When you have made enough pom-pom snowballs to cover the interior circle of the wreath, hot glue them in place. Let the glue dry before hanging.  This wreath looks good as is, but you could also hang an ornament from one of the longer sticks or weave a strand of battery operated lights around the sticks.

These are just a few examples of the wreaths you can make.  You can make a number of easy wreaths with the flowers you have dried, pine cones, seed heads and pods, and feathers by hot gluing the items you have gathered to a straw wreath. You are only limited by your imagination!

Celebrate the homestead life while appreciating and using the resources nature has given us by decorating with nature.  Whether you make seasonal decorations on your own, or gather the materials and invite friends and family (and maybe their gathered supplies) over for a “make and take” party, enjoy the blessings of the upcoming seasons.

The post Decorating with Mother Nature appeared first on Homestead.org.

Skin is the largest organ of the body and we must take care of it.  Spot treatments will relieve dry patches but for optimal skin health, you should soak in a warm bath with Epsom salts, powdered milk, or oatmeal at least once a week.  Apply some type of moisturizer after your bath or shower, while still wet, and pat dry.  Scrubbing dry can irritate skin, and will effectively remove all the moisture you applied.  Store all of your DIY skincare products in a tightly covered glass jar in a cool, dark area.

Scented milk powder is a blend of one cup powdered milk, 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup cornstarch, and up to 10 drops of essential oil.  Combine the milk, baking soda, and cornstarch in a mason jar and shake to mix.  Add the essential oil and shake again.  Pour one cup into your bath water.

Make a big batch of scented Epsom salts by combining four cups Epsom salt, two cups baking soda, and up to 30 drops of essential oil.  Add a generous scoop to your bath.

To make DIY skincare products, you will use herbs (in the form of essential oils) and carrier oils.  Essential oils are derived from plants and they have therapeutic properties that reduce the discomfort of dry skin.  Never put essential oil directly on your skin; always mix it with a carrier oil.  If you are trying a new essential oil, do a test on a small area of skin to make sure you do not have an allergy.  If you make a skin treatment for a child, it is a good idea to cut the essential oil amount by half.  Arrowroot is also called for in some recipes.  Arrowroot is not necessary, but it does make the lotion less greasy.  The best herbs and essential oils for dry skin relief and repair are lavender, ylang-ylang, tea tree, cedarwood, licorice root, astragalus, calendula, comfrey leaf and root, and marshmallow root.  If you are going to make your own infusions, you can harvest these herbs yourself or order from a reputable herb supplier.

The carrier oils that are best for skin care are coconut, jojoba, sweet almond, apricot, primrose, olive, and hemp seed oil.  To infuse an oil with an herb, wash and pat dry the plant material and place it in a glass jar with a lid.  Cover the herb with the carrier oil of your choice and place it in a dark cabinet for two to four weeks, shaking every day.  Strain oil into a clean glass jar and discard the plant material.

To make a massage oil using essential oils, simply make your base oil by adding 1/2 teaspoon of vitamin E oil to 8 ounces of the carrier oil of your choice.  Add up to forty drops of your essential oil and transfer to a glass jar.  If you want a slightly thicker oil, replace one ounce of the carrier oil with one ounce of cranberry seed oil.

Homemade lotion is inexpensive to make, can be customized to personal preferences, and does not include all of the chemicals found in mass-produced skincare.  It is also easy to make.

Homemade Lotion

• ¼ cup shea or cocoa butter
• ½ cup coconut oil
• 7 drops of vitamin E oil
• Up to 20 drops of essential oil.

Melt shea/cocoa butter and coconut oil in a double boiler.  Remove from heat once melted and cool until it begins to set up.  Add essential oil, and Vitamin E oil and mix with a hand mixer.  Add arrowroot powder while mixing.  Continue mixing until the lotion is light and fluffy.  Store in a glass container.

Body butter is similar to lotion, except thicker, and much more expensive if you buy it in stores.  Body butter is the skincare item I like to give as gifts, as you can match the fragrance to each person’s preference and it is a very luxurious and pampering gift.

Body Butter

• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup shea butter
• 1/3 cup cocoa butter
• 1/3 cup sweet almond oil
• 2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
• Up to 30 drops of essential oil (one scent or a combination)

Combine all of the ingredients except the essential oil in a double boiler.  Once melted, let the mixture cool until it begins to set up.  Using a hand mixer, beat until fluffy, about 10 minutes.  Add essential oil and beat for one minute more.n Store in an airtight glass container.

Once you become familiar with the ingredients and basic techniques, making DIY skincare products will become a part of your routine.  It feels great to make a product that soothes and protects your family, and it won’t be long before you venture into more challenging recipes.  Skin health has found its way into the news, and expensive skin products are flooding the market.  This puts you in the perfect position to turn your DIY skincare into a marketable product.

Make, use, and share these products, but also take common care sense of your skin.  Apply a moisturizer after washing your hands and wear gloves when you go outside.  Use warm water—hot water damages skin and cold water irritates dry skin.  If you suffer from dry and cracked hands or feet, apply a thick moisturizer before bed and wear thin gloves and/or socks.  Above all, enjoy pampering yourself and your family this winter.  It will be summer soon and we will be making lotion for gardener’s hands!

Many of the ingredients for your DIY skincare products can be found on Amazon.

The post DIY Winter Skincare appeared first on Homestead.org.

My mother had planted these trees and didn’t expect much from them. They were “Bargain Store Specials.” Mom just felt sorry for them, so she planted them in the backyard never expecting that, for 20 years, these trees would consistently return the favor.

Growing up, these two trees dominated our summers and falls. We were constantly trying to find things to do with those pears. Pear crisp, pear sauce, canned pears, pear pie… you name it, we tried it. Pears for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We even played baseball with them! My brother, the neighborhood kids, and I would pitch the rotten ones to each other and see if we could bat them over the back fence.

I developed a “love-hate” relationship with the pears.

My mother would get on the grapevine, and neighbors, friends, and strangers would tromp through our backyard, all expounding upon their particular pear preparations. They would take buckets. They would take bushels. We would fill the backs of pickup trucks! They never underperformed, as much as we would have liked them to. Then one year my aunt stopped by for her yearly pear pick-up. She said she was going to try making wine at home that year. She promised us a bottle, of course, and let me tell you…

It was good.

After trying the pear wine for the first time, I thought to myself, “I’m a reasonably intelligent human being. How hard could making wine at home be?” And truth be told, it wasn’t hard. Thus, I began down the path of winemaking at home from anything and everything I could find, and I have yet to stop.

Why Grapes? 

Wine is made from five ingredients. Water, acid, sugar, yeast, and plant matter. Grapes have all those things in abundance, which is why wine is easily made from them. They are filled with water. They are sweet and acidic, and of course, a plant. As for the yeast, it’s everywhere and on everything. (You just breathed in a bunch in your last breath.)

Other plants are not as well-suited. Let’s take, for example, oh, I don’t know… pears.

Pears do have sugar and water, but that sugar and water are not as easily accessible as in grapes. You can easily squish a grape, but you need a press to do the job for pears. So, we add sugar and water in the process to make up for it. Pears also aren’t acidic enough, so we must add our own acid in the form of lemons. As for yeast, we don’t want to use the yeast that floats around in the breeze. (Who knows where it’s been!?) We use wine yeast (or in a pinch, bread yeast) to do the job for us. As long as you make up for what the plant is lacking, anything, within reason, can be made into wine.

Four Wines for Four Seasons

Once you start looking at things with the eyes of a winemaker, you’ll find there is a wine to be made in any season, from redbuds in the spring to sweet potatoes around Thanksgiving. The following recipes are guidelines for vegetable, fruit, flower, and yes, even sap wines.

All recipes make roughly one gallon of wine, and I try to keep it as simple as possible for beginner at-home winemakers. One of the biggest obstacles for people starting to make their own wine is that they believe it is a complicated process that requires expensive, specialized equipment. That couldn’t be further from the truth. When possible, I will give substitutes and “workarounds” that should be easy to find and don’t break the budget.

Making Wine at Home in Spring

Flowers say spring to me. When I open a bottle of dandelion or redbud wine in the winter, it hearkens back to a bright, sunny day in a warm, spring meadow. I have to say, of all the wines I’ve made, flower wines are by far my favorite. They are also the easiest to make, so I will start with them.

For this recipe you will need:

• 5 cups of edible flowers such as dandelion, redbud, rose petals, carnations, etc.
• 2 lbs. of sugar
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1 gallon of good-tasting water (if your tap water tastes good, use it. If not, use filtered or distilled water)
• 1 orange, juiced
• 1 handful of raisin or sultanas
• ½ tsp of grape tannin, optional (Tannins are what make a wine “dry.” If you do not like dry wine, omit this ingredient. If you do not have grape tannin, toss in one or two black tea bags to get the desired flavor.)
• Wine yeast
• 1 Campden Tablet, optional (Campden tablets are a sterilizer and disinfectant made of sulfur dioxide. It kills unwanted yeast and bacteria that may lurk in the wine. Some people, including myself, can have issues with sulfates. I include it in this recipe as I like to think of it as an “insurance policy.” It’s great to have, but not entirely necessary if you make the wine right, and clean and sterilize as you go. I would recommend sterilizing anything that will come in contact with the wine using boiling water beforehand and, if possible, using glass, wood, or metal.)

Pick blossoms early in the morning on a sunny day when the blooms are open and the dew is evaporated. Remove extra stems and leaves as these can add off-flavors to the wine. Wash and clean the blossoms.

Put fresh-picked blossoms into one gallon of boiling water. Turn off the heat. Crush and stir in the Campden tablet if you intend to use one. Add the sugar and stir until fully dissolved. Leave the petals to steep in the water overnight, if possible, but at least for a few hours. The longer they steep the more flavor you will get out of them.

The next day, at room temperature, add the yeast, raisins or sultanas, lemon and orange juice, and optional tannin. Mix and cover well, and move to a warm place that will not see drastic changes in temperature so the mixture can ferment for five days. Stir twice a day with a wooden spoon.

After the five days, strain and put into an airtight fermentation jar or bucket. Install an airlock into the vessel to allow the carbon dioxide that is produced from the yeast to escape, but not allow air into the vessel. Allow to sit in a warm place until all fermentation ceases (when no more bubbles are being produced by the yeast). This can take around a month so watch carefully as you see fermentation slow.

Don’t have a fermentation chamber or airlock? Use several wine bottles with clean rubber balloons stretched over the mouths. Poke a tiny hole in the balloon with a needle to let the carbon dioxide escape. The balloon will inflate during the fermentation and deflate when fermentation ceases.

Once it is done fermenting, bottle into vessels of your choosing, leaving the sediment on the bottom of the fermentation vessel. This is dead yeast and other leftovers from the winemaking process. It won’t hurt you if you do end up drinking it, but it is better left out if you can. It is handy to have a siphon for this process, but pouring the wine through coffee filters can work in a pinch.

Leave the newly made wine to age for a few months for best results. If bottled in an airtight container it will last for several months to years. But all wine does go bad eventually and will turn to vinegar. You can slow this process by storing it in the refrigerator after opening. If it turns vinegary or off-putting, remember the old saying, “when in doubt throw it out!”

Summertime Wine

Of course, I’m going to have to do pear wine here.

This was my first foray into the world of winemaking at home and I have to say the first time didn’t turn out so well. It went to vinegar very quickly because I didn’t store it properly. But that’s okay. Again, when in doubt, pour it out! I’m glad I stuck with it, though. I’ve had a lot of fun over the years with winemaking at home and if I gave up on the first go-around, I wouldn’t be here encouraging you to take the plunge, would I?

For this recipe you will need:

• 4 ½ lbs of not-quite-ripe pears. (This is great if you have a windy day and a lot of unripe pears just fell off the trees.)
• 2 lbs. of sugar
• 3 lemons, juiced
• 1 gallon of good tasting water
• Wine yeast
• 2 Campden tablets, optional
• 1 tsp pectin enzyme, optional (Pectin helps thicken jams, but in wine, it makes it cloudy and murky. The cloudiness won’t hurt you, but if looks matter to you, add this enzyme to destroy the pectin.)

Press or juice the pears if you can, but if not possible, a coarse chop with a food processor will be fine. Pour one gallon of boiling water over the pear mince and let cool. Add in the Campden tablet and pectin enzyme, if desired. Cover and leave for 24 hours.

Strain the liquid and press the pulp to extract as much juice from the pears as possible. Discard the pulp. Stir in the sugar until it is dissolved. Add the juice of three lemons and the yeast.

Cover well and move to a warm place to ferment for five days, stirring twice a day with a wooden spoon.

After the five days, strain and put into an airtight fermentation vessel. Install an airlock (or that balloon) onto the vessel. Allow to sit in a warm place until all fermentation ceases.

At this point, bottle your wine and store it for several months before drinking for the best results.

An Easy Wine Recipe for Fall

I volunteered at a farm that grew sweet potatoes. Like a lot of sweet potatoes. They always had an abundance and were more than glad to find someone who had a use for them. So, I made wine from them. The best part about this recipe is that you only need the water that the sweet potatoes are boiled in, so the boiled and mashed remains can be turned into sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving.

For this recipe you will need:

• 6 lbs. of sweet potatoes
• 2 ½ lbs of sugar
• 1 lb of raisins
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 gallon of good tasting water
• ½ tsp. grape tannin, optional
• Wine yeast
• 1 Campden tablet, optional

Clean and cube the sweet potatoes and boil in one gallon of water. When the potatoes are soft, turn off the heat and mash thoroughly. Pour off the water into another pot and store the mashed sweet potatoes for some other application. Add the sugar and crushed Campden tablet to the potato water until dissolved. Once the water has cooled to blood or room temperature, add in the raisins, the juice of one lemon, wine yeast, and grape tannin, if you choose.

Cover well and move to a warm place to ferment for five days, stirring twice a day with a wooden spoon.

After the five days, strain and put into an airtight fermentation vessel. Install an airlock. Allow to sit in a warm place until all fermentation ceases.

At that point, bottle and store for several months before drinking for best results.

A Sap Wine Recipe for Winter

My uncle and I are kindred spirits. We do a lot of experimenting and tinkering together. One of our experiments was maple sugaring. He provided the trees and I provided the manpower. (Hauling five-gallon buckets through the snow in the woods is less than fun, but the fresh maple syrup sure is!)

Unfortunately, this is not a wine that works well south of the Ohio River. It just doesn’t get cold enough for sap to “run” as it does in more northern climates. That’s why maple syrup is such a big thing in New England, and of course, Canada, eh. But for my fellow Northerners, this is a wine that is reason enough to get out in the wintertime!

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 gallon of sap (maple sap is the obvious choice, but walnut, birch, and sycamore can work as well!)
• 2 lbs. of sugar
• 1 handful of raisins
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1 orange, juiced
• 1 tsp grape tannin, optional

Identify the tree of your choice. The tree should be at least 10-12 inches in diameter and healthy. Drill a hole and insert the tap into the tree at chest height. (Tapping supplies can be bought in the winter at most hardware stores in the north. But they can also be procured online easily and cheaply as well.) Let the sap collect into a food-safe container until you have a gallon of sap. This is completely dependent on the weather, the tree, and the time of the year. It may take a few hours to a few days to collect the necessary amount. If you need to do several batches to get the amount required, sap freezes and keeps very well. Do not tap the tree if you see buds opening on the tree. The sap changes at this point to reflect the changing needs of the tree and will taste bitter.

Once you have your sap, boil with sugar and chopped raisins for 10 minutes. Let cool to blood temperature, and add in the remaining ingredients.

Cover well and move to a warm place to ferment for five days, stirring twice a day with a wooden spoon.

After the five days, strain and put into an airtight fermentation container. Install an airlock. Allow to sit in a warm place until all fermentation ceases.

Bottle and store for several months before drinking for best results. Remember, if any wine you make turns vinegary or off-putting, “when in doubt throw it out.”

A Toast to the Pear Trees

The pear trees are long gone now. We eventually just had to say, “enough is enough”. (Plus, they just grew too close to the house). But as I pour a glass of redbud or walnut-sap wine, I like to think that those pear trees still live on in every sip, and even though I grew to dread them every year, I can honestly say… I miss the pears.

The post Going Beyond Grape: Oddball Wines to Make at Home appeared first on Homestead.org.

What is an oxymel?  These ancient medicines have their origins in Persia and Greece.   According to Persian history, there were over 1,200 different formulas for making oxymels.  Squill oxymel was being recommended as far back as 7th century A.D. by Paulus Aegineta, and can still be found in pharmaceutical textbooks such as Martindale and British Pharmacopeia today.  Yes, oxymels are very old, very good medicine.

Medicinal Benefits of Oxymels

• As a base for medicated expectorant syrups, like Garlic Oxymel
• Cooling febrifuge (reduces fevers)
• Energizing
• Restorative
• Soothes a sore throat when used as a gargle (very diluted)
• Expectorant (loosens phlegm from the lungs and respiratory tract to open the airways)

The two main ingredients are acid (apple cider vinegar/ACV) and honey.  Basic oxymels are a super-simple, easy-to-make formula with many add-in variations that allow for it to address a variety of health issues.  So, any combination of these two ingredients, no matter what is added in, becomes an oxymel.  For example, Fire Cider is an oxymel, as are some salad vinaigrettes and sipping vinegars.

There are several ways to combine your herbs, spices, fruit, vegetables, ACV, and honey to make an oxymel.

General Notes on Making Oxymels

Use raw, local honey and raw (unpasteurized) ACV with “the mother” if at all possible.

The ratio of plants to ACV or honey should be around 1:3 or 1:4.  This means, one part plants to 3 or 4 parts of the liquid.  No measuring needed, here. For the folk-method, you can guesstimate by filling your jar a little less than 1/4 full with plants and pour the liquid over to cover by about two inches.  Make sure your jar is large enough for shaking later.  In general, steep for 4 weeks or longer.

The ACV to honey ratio you choose will depend upon how sweet or how tart you prefer your medicine.  A ratio of 5 parts honey to 1 part vinegar will be quite sweet; while 3 parts vinegar to 1 part honey will be quite tart.  Anything in between is just fine.  I prefer one part honey to one part vinegar.  That is a pleasant sweet/tart flavor balance for me.

Oxymel Making Procedure 1: Steep Separately

1. Combine your healing plants in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
2. Divide your plant matter between two jars
3. Add slightly warmed honey to one jar and ACV to the other
4. Let steep separately.
5. Strain the ACV jar
6. Warm slightly and strain the honey jar
7. Add the strained ACV
8. Cap, shake, label and store in cool, dark place.  Can be refrigerated.

Oxymel Making Procedure 2: Quick Vinegar Reduction

1. This method works well for hearty herbs, roots, bark, seeds; and not so much for delicate or aromatic herbs.
2. Place plant matter into a saucepan.
3. Add double the amount of ACV you want to have for your formula.
4. Simmer over very low heat until the liquid is reduced by half.
5. Strain, cool, and add to your honey in the ratio you choose.
6. Bottle, label, and store in cool, dark place or refrigerator.

Oxymel Making Procedure 3: Stir, Steep, Strain 

1. Add desired plant matter to a jar
2. Lightly warm the honey and combine with ACV in preferred ratio
3. Pour over herbs, cap, and shake
4. Let steep for chosen length of time.
5. Strain, bottle, label, and store in cool, dark place or refrigerator.

How to Use Oxymels

Oxymels are similar to concentrates.  Some folks take it straight-up from the spoon.  Most prefer to place 1-3 teaspoons in a cup of warm water or herbal tea to enjoy.

Contraindications and Precautions of Oxymel Use

According to Paul Pitchford’s book Healing with Whole Foods, these concerns should be taken into consideration:

• Do not take with weak digestion indicated by watery stools.
• Do not take if especially frail.
• Do not take with generalized muscle weakness.
• Do not take with rheumatism.
• Do not take alone for long periods of time.

Basic Any-Berry Oxymel Recipe

Ingredients (for 1-quart jar):

• 1-2 cups of any single berry or combination of berries such as blueberries, cherries, elderberries (especially great for cold and flu season), mulberries, strawberries, etc.
• Any spice or herb combination (to taste) to add warmth and flavor such as basil, citrus zest, fennel seeds, ginger, hyssop, any of the mints, thyme, rosemary, etc.
• Raw ACV
• Raw, local honey

Choose your procedure preference.  If using The Quick Vinegar Reduction method, add your tender, aromatic herbs near the end of the reduction to preserve their fragrant, medicinal qualities.  Enjoy!

Golden Citrus Fire Cider Oxymel Recipe

I make at least one batch of Fire Cider each year; and every year the formula is different.  This is my own original formula from the 2018 cold and flu season.  Here’s a handy printable label.

Ingredients:

• Raw ACV
• Raw, local honey
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1 blood orange, zested and juiced
• 6-8 turmeric roots or powdered root
• 8-10 garlic cloves
• 1 onion, medium-large
• 3-inch piece horseradish root
• 4-6 chili peppers with seeds
• 2 tablespoons poblano pepper seeds (saved from other kitchen projects)
• 1 tablespoon whole allspice

Procedure:

• Zest, juice and roughly chop all fruits, vegetables, and roots
• I get the fine-chop of my vegetables and herbs by putting the roughly chopped veggies in small batches in the blender with some of the vinegar and pulse until I like the size.
• Pour into a bowl and continue until all vegetables are chopped finely
• Divide between 2-quart jars
• Pour ACV in to cover vegetables by 2-3 inches
• Place plastic wrap or waxed paper over the jar opening and finger tighten the cap
• Place in a cool, dark place
• Check and shake daily for 4-6 weeks or longer
• Strain and measure the fire cider
• Add an equal amount of slightly warmed honey to the fire cider and now you have an oxymel!
• Bottle, label, store in cool, dry place or refrigerator
• Enjoy!

Elderflower Oxymel Recipe

Elderflowers are well known for their usefulness during cold and flu season as a tea.  This might be a nice addition to your homestead apothecary for the winter months.

Ingredients:

• Raw ACV
• Raw, local honey
• Elderflowers (Sambucus spp.), wilted or dried

Procedure:

Because of the fragility of the flowers, I recommend the Stir, Steep, Strain method for this formula

Sikanjabin al-buzuri

For this last recipe, let me say that I was surprised to find such an old recipe with such easily found, common-today ingredients.  The original recipe makes a huge batch of oxymel!  I’m thinking about making up one-tenth of the volume of the formula and giving it a try.  I would be interested to hear what your experience is with this very ancient remedy.

Sikanjabin al-buzuri is an ancient oxymel formula found in The Book of Gharabadin Salehi.  Used to “relieve fever and gastritis”.  Considered “diuretic” and is beneficial “for hepatic obstructions”.

Ingredients:

• 4.5 kg. (approx. 19 3/4 c.) wine vinegar
• 9 kg. (approx. 39 2/3 c.) water
• 90 g. (approx. 3.17 oz.) root peels of fennel
• 90 g. (approx. 3.17 oz.) fennel seeds
• 90 g. (approx. 3.17 oz.) anise
• 90 g. (approx. 3.17 oz.) celery
• *Sugar-candy

*According to Avicenna (980AD – 1037AD), the most famous and influential of all the Islamic philosopher-scientists, honey and sugar-candy are interchangeable.

Procedure:

“Wine vinegar and water were mixed together and then combined with root peels of fennel, celery, fennel seeds, and anise. After a day the mixture is reduced on a mild fire until one-sixth of it remains.  Then sugar-candy with half of the total weight is added to the mixture and boiled on a mild fire until half of the syrup remains.” (The Book of Gharabadin Salehi, lithograph 1776, pp 171-173)

While the benefits of the oxymel may seem incredible, it’s stunning simplicity is what allows this folk medicine to be so easy to make and use.

***Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. There is no licensure for herbalists. The material presented in this article is for informational, reference, and educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as a substitute for diagnosis and treatment by healthcare professionals.

References

“Make Infused Vinegar at Home for Gourmet Flavor on the Cheap”, Kris Bordessa (2019)

Folk Medicine: A New England Almanac of Natural Health Care from a Noted Vermont Country Doctor, D.C. Jarvis, M.D.

Henriette’s Herbal Homepage

“Drink to Your Health!”, D.K. Osborn (2015)

“Making Floral Oxymels”, Elaine Sheff (2019)

“Oxymel in Medieval Persia”, Arman Zargaran, et al (2012)

The post Making Oxymels: The Sweet-Tart Medicine appeared first on Homestead.org.