Restaurants, chefs, grocers, and food marketers are all very well aware of this.  They spend a lot of time and money feeding our craving for novelty.  Although some innovations fall as flat as a peppermint soufflé (remember green ketchup, garlic ice cream, or olestra?), our produce shelves are burgeoning with fruits and veggies that wouldn’t be recognized just a few years ago.  Portobello mushrooms weren’t common until the ’90s, and neither were daikon radishes, fiddleheads, tomatillos, Jamaican yams, or carrots in any other color but orange.  Producers can generally get a premium price for new offerings.  In our region, ground cherries—that common but largely forgotten roadside plant our grandparents foraged for free—now go for $3.50 a pint.

Value-added products using these new crops generate even more purchasing incentive.  Folks may be a little hesitant to buy something if they don’t know how to cook or eat it.  They may not know what to do with Saskatoon berries, but they sure as heck know what to do with Saskatoon Berry Jam.  Seaweed might be a little intimidating to some, but they wouldn’t hesitate to scarf down a plate of sushi.

Produce aisles sometimes offer recipe cards for shoppers beside the produce they want to sell.  Presenting a photo of a tempting dish entices buyers and eases any hesitation to try it.  Once a new food reaches a tipping point of general acceptance the big manufacturers jump on the bandwagon.  They may not present it in a healthy or even truthful manner, but their promotion solidifies the food as a cultural norm and is a benefit to small producers who no longer have to educate their buyers.

But until there is an established demand, there is risk.

The biggest challenge to growers taking a new path is matching up your current resources to what you want to try, understanding your potential market, and your tolerance for risk.  If possible it’s best to launch your new venture without digging too deeply into your own savings.  That said, you need to be careful about going into debt as well.  How to resolve this conundrum?  Begin with what you know or are producing already.  This means you already have some expertise and an established market that may be more likely to accept new offerings.  The greater the cash outlay needed for your product, the truer this is.

For instance, let’s say you’ve fallen in love with Water Buffaloes.  Don’t laugh.  Water buffalo milk is rich, creamy, and is the very best for making mozzarella cheese.  According to the Archer family who runs Fairburn Farms on Vancouver Island, buffalo milk has fifty-eight percent more calcium than cow’s milk, forty percent more protein, forty-three percent less cholesterol, and is a rich source of iron, phosphorus, vitamin A and protein.  Seventeen percent of the world’s milk comes from the water buffalo.  It’s easier to digest than cow’s milk and is good for many people who are lactose sensitive.

But establishing a water-buffalo herd is not for the novice.  During the Mad Cow Disease scare of the 1990s, all ruminants purchased from Denmark were ordered destroyed and their carcasses tested.  Although this disease has never been found in water buffalo, the Archers lost their entire herd of nineteen Danish-born animals.  They were in debt and without income, but with a few Canadian-born calves and never-say-die determination they rebuilt their herd and began producing milk and breeding stock.

Innovation on this scale is not for the timid.  It’s a better option if you already have the land, or a dairy, and a marketing outlet (Fairburn sells all their milk to local artisans, Natural Pastures Cheese Company).  But the opportunity for growth can make the risk worthwhile.  If you search for “water buffalo yogurt” online, you’ll find several North American farms producing it.  The product fits well with America’s trend toward buying healthier, locally-produced, organic meats, and dairy.

But what about we smaller homesteaders who want to try growing something new?  Luckily there are hundreds of options out there, and small local and/or organic farmers are already well-equipped to meet the needs of niche markets.  The trick is to match up what you already have to the opportunities that exist.  The following is a four-step process to find your perfect fit.

Step One:  Brainstorm

Open your minds and imaginations and get set for an adventure.  Gather up paper, pencils, and some intelligent, optimistic people and write down some ideas.  Anything goes.  No holds barred!  Don’t invite any nay-sayers to the table.  This is the time for creativity to flow, and nothing dampens that process as well as someone exercising “caution”.  Make a rule: no negativity.  So what if you live in Arizona and you imagine growing scented purple rice.  Put it out there and worry about the practicality of irrigated rice paddies in the desert later.  Sometimes a great idea overwhelms the obstacles, so don’t put the obstacles first.  This is where the creative types can go wild.  Give them free rein.

Step Two: Qualify

After you have a couple of hundred wonderful ideas, go get a coffee and take a break.  When you return to the table, it’s time to put those erasers to work.  First, remove anything that doesn’t absolutely excite you.  Then make another list, this time of resources.  How much time can you devote to developing something new?  What are you currently growing?  How do you market your output now?  Do you have any excess funds for your new venture?  What about acreage, soil type, water resources, climate, local pests, etc.?  Even if you don’t have your land yet, don’t skip this step.  You probably have a good idea of where you plan to homestead and what you’d like to grow.  This is where the bean-counters in the group can go to town.  Be as detailed and realistic as possible about your assets.

Step Three: Kill Your Darlings

You now have two lists.  One with innovative ideas, another with realistic assets.  Now is the time to match them up.  Now is the time to kill your darlings.  If you live in a hollow in Arizona with an underground aquifer that seeps out to support rice, then keep your purple rice idea.  Otherwise put it on the back burner for now.  If you worry about diseases that transfer from ranched wildlife to their wild cousins, then an elk farm may not be for you.  If you don’t have the funds to build a fish farm or the acreage to support water buffalo, toss those ideas into the bin.  Pare down your list relentlessly.  If it helps, don’t imagine these ideas are gone for good.  File them for later assessment.  Now is the time to listen to the cautious types, the practical ones who’ve been wriggling in their seats until now.

Step Four:  Pick one and go for it

What you will end up with after all of this is a list of qualified options.  This list is gold.  If you’ve done this right you can fly with whatever is left.  Give yourself enough time to learn and create the best quality before you head to market though.  This is especially true of edibles you plan to sell to specialty customers like chefs.  Consistency, reliability, and reputation are essential in niche markets.The following are a few innovations that have succeeded.  Let them inspire you!

Snails

There’s an old joke about a little snail who painted a big “S” on his car.  When asked, he said it was because he wanted people to look at him as he passed and say, “Hey, look at that big S-car go.”  Cute, but in fact the name “escargot” is a French moniker for any kind of snail.  The Helix polmatia is the large, white-bodied snail most commonly associated with French cuisine, but its cousin, Helix aspersa also makes great escargot.  This is the smaller, grey-bodied critter that decimates gardens across North America.  Raising these as food is a kind of poetic justice.

Demand for escargot is far greater than local supply, with most chefs purchasing tinned snails imported from France.  Locally grown escargot has good growth potential as it offers better value and often better quality for restaurant buyers.  You can start small with low cash outlay.  Mary Stewart is a successful snail rancher in California who supplies top chefs all over the country.  According to NY Times writer, Jeff Gordinier, who calls her “The Snail Wrangler”, Mary’s snails are in high demand because she makes the effort to cultivate the best and thoroughly clean them of grit before market.  Mary advises potential snail-farmers to take time to learn the art of heliculture before approaching chefs who are very particular about quality.

Salt

Hurricane Wilma decimated Midge and Tom’s landscape and irrigation business in the Florida Keys in 2012.  Instead of lingering on the devastation, they looked around and focused on the bounty of salt that surrounded them.  Using the battered remains of their decks and pipes they built two salt houses and began to produce solar-evaporated sea salt.  They now successfully sell their salt online, and through local shops and CSAs.

In Canada’s far east, a Newfoundland farmer named Ward George wondered what to do with an unused greenhouse he had in his nursery business.  The idea of farming salt struck him as he reached for the shaker one morning.  Why the heck buy salt when outside his doorstep was a vast briny ocean full of the stuff?  He laid out a twenty-five-by-fifty-foot sheet of rubber liner in his greenhouse to collect sea water siphoned out of Trinity Bay and let the sun and wind evaporate it off.  He now sells online, to restaurants, to the local Rocket Bakery and at the St. John’s Farmer’s Market.

You might check out “White Gold: A Brief History of Salt” for some useful trivia to schmooze customers.

Mushrooms

At one time the perfect snow-white button mushrooms now decorating produce bins were merely a French dream.  But those renowned connoisseurs of gastronomic delights developed a consistently white strain the world fell in love with.  That is, until the eighties when people began to demand more colorful fare.  The Portobello is actually a marketing invention.  When young, the giant fungus is, in fact, a crimini—that brown sister of the common white mushroom.  When older and larger it was considered too tough and strongly flavored for human consumption and was discarded as pig feed.  Then someone had the bright idea to reinvent the cast-off, call it “portobello”, and sell it as a brand new mushroom.

Now mushroom bins may hold shiitakes, oysters, chanterelles, porcinis, enokis, and morels.  Many edible mushrooms are marketed as having health benefits.  Reishi are listed on fitday.com as the “Super Anti-‘Shroom with anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal benefits”.  Maitake, shimeji, turkey-tail (inedible, but makes a powerful medicinal tea) can all be cultivated.  Mushrooms can be marketed fresh, or dried, through Farmer’s Markets, CSAs, to local restaurants and health food stores, or online.

Mud

When Shelly Egbert noticed the odorless, fine-grained mud oozing out of geothermal mud pots on her family’s property in Nevada, she had a brainstorm.  Why not sell it so people could slather it all over themselves?  She partnered with a friend, Summer Powelson, to extract and market the stuff.  They conscripted their children to help harvest and package the mud and Black Rock Mud Company was born.

They sell their mud online and to nearby spas and casinos in Reno.  The company has a strong eco-culture and adds value to their product with packaging that has been imbedded with non-invasive wildflower seeds that you can plant and grow.

Microgreens

In 1983, the Jones family lost everything they had to crop failure, including their land.  Traditional farmers, they’d grown cash crops of soybeans and corn but now had to start from scratch.  They leased land and began to grow new crops.  When a local chef asked them for squash blossoms their entrepreneurial curiosity was peaked.  What other exotic crops might be of interest to chefs?

They began to grow microgreens that elicited intense interest within their new market.  They developed their craft and now provide tiny, baby herbs and lettuces with the flavor and unique shapes and colors demanded by fine chefs around the world.  The Jones’ have now completely abandoned traditional farming.  They focus on healthy soil and working with nature to provide the best produce.

Booze

You can make wine out of just about anything.  But also look at other fermented products such as mead, sake, or hard cider (which can be made from a variety of fruits from apples to plums).  Check your area’s regulations as distilled alcohol is regulated differently than beer and other fermented products.  In our neck of the woods, cottage wineries are becoming more popular.  If you already have an orchard, why not look into boozing it up?  It’s one of the most lucrative value-added markets.  Product can be sold on the farm, at local markets, or online.  Look up local marketing boards for advice.

Poo

Cattle rancher Annie Haven markets her “Haven Natural Brew Tea” on her website.  Looking just like those tea bags you dip in your mug in the morning, these packets of dried manure are steeped to feed your garden plots or potted plants.  Haven even sells gift packs.  Selling manure can create income, but converting it into compost can increase return dramatically.  At Tandem Park Riding Center in Colorado, manager Laura Voshchenko was paying $450 a month to have manure carted away.  In an article written by Rick Kahl for stablemanagement.com, she says she now charges $40 a truckload for compost made from that same manure.

Chris McLaughlin, a master gardener and writer for vegetablegardener.com, touts the many advantages of rabbit poop.  It’s easy to spread, has all the benefits of animal manure, and doesn’t have to be composted before used.  Doug Knippel keeps rabbits in raised pens and sweeps out rabbit manure frequently.  Once screened, he bags the manure in empty rabbit-feed bags and sells it at $5.00 a bag.  He estimates he takes 33% off the cost of feeding his rabbits this way and money saved flows into profits.  Doug also sells worm poop.  Check out his diverse farm at NWRedworms.com.

Spawn the World Has Never Seen Before

We tend to think of hybrids as GMO-produced Frankenfood, but humans have been developing hybrid strains of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and livestock since farming began.  Familiar veggies common today weren’t around at the dawn of agriculture.  For instance, broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, and kohlrabi were all cultivated from the wild mustard plant.  Hybridization occurs naturally through the cross-pollination of related species.  Think rutabaga (a cross between turnips and cabbage) or grapefruit (pummelo and sweet oranges).  Recent developments seen in markets are blood limes (lime and mandarin orange), Tayberries (blackberry raspberry cross), tangelos (tangerine and grapefruit) and Jamaican Ugli fruit (grapefruit, orange, tangerine).  If you have a talent for plant breeding you could produce something truly unique.

Weirdos

Less common fare such as Chinese artichokes, chayote, purple sweet potato, hairy cucumbers, Juneberries, seabeans, quince, baby sea-kale, rat-tail radishes, orach, quinoa, turmeric, Halloween radishes, Buddha’s hand citron, blue-berried honeysuckle, birch sugar, tiger nuts, sunchokes, sorghum, and nopales cactus are only a few of the fascinating options out there.  Check out what suits your climate, and resources.  Also, consider medicinal or culinary herbs or growing landscape or ornamental plants.

Good luck and good innovating!

The post Weird Things to Grow and Market on the Homestead appeared first on Homestead.org.

The Basics of Growing Horseradish

Because horseradish is a perennial, it is important to be certain of its placement before you plant it.   If you have fruit trees on your homestead, horseradish can be planted in the orchard to protect your fruit trees from pests.   Because horseradish is not only perennial but a rapidly spreading plant, you may want to contain this crop by planting it in bottomless, buried planters.

Horseradish is a hardy crop which can be grown in all types of soil.  It likes sun but can still grow well in partial shade.  The only thing this plant does not tolerate is soggy roots, so make certain the site you choose has well-draining soil.  If that is a problem, plant horseradish on hills or in raised beds (Hugelkultur beds would be great).  Horseradish should also be planted at least 18” from other garden plants.

If you live in a warm zone and do not experience extended hard frosts, you can plant horseradish in the fall.  Otherwise, it is your best bet to plant in the spring.  Horseradish needs one full year before harvesting.

When you have chosen a location, begin by digging a hole for each tuber that is 1′ deep.  Make each hole wide enough to accommodate the entire length of the root.  Place the root in the hole at an angle, with the thinner portion pointed downwards.  Add a scoop of compost and cover with garden soil.

Horseradish needs to be watered once a week during the growing season, twice a week if the weather becomes extremely hot and dry.

Horseradish will grow up to three feet and produce white, surprisingly sweet-smelling flowers.  Take care to prune away any suckers growing off the main plant and remove any flowers to ensure all the energy is being directed to the root.

You can harvest your entire crop of horseradish at one time in late fall, or you can harvest what you need and store the rest in the ground.  You can continue harvesting through early spring, but you do want to harvest all of it before the first hard frost, as a hard frost can cause your tubers to rot.

Use a digging fork to loosen the soil in a wide circle around each plant.  When you can determine the direction in which the root is growing, gently dig it out with your hands.

Storing the Horseradish Roots

There are a few options for storing horseradish.  If you are planning on using it within a few weeks you can wash, dry and store it whole in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  To store for personal use for up to a few months, grate clean horseradish and cover with vinegar.   Store in the refrigerator.  Use ¼ cup for every cup of prepared horseradish.

You can also store the whole root, ends trimmed, in a jar of apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.  The root can be grated later and you can use the vinegar for marinades or salad dressings.

If you are selling whole horseradish, you can store the root indefinitely.  Fill a box ¾ full with clean, dry sand.  Stick the root, small side down, in the sand.  Cover the entire root with more sand and store in a cool, dry and dark place.

Any pieces of the root that you do not harvest, will come up next year.   You can let this happen at will or you can be more intentional about your planting.  If you find you enjoy growing horseradish, it is easy to expand your horseradish plot.  Simply replant some of your healthiest roots, making sure they are in well-drained soil and are at least 18” from other garden plants.  Do this as soon after harvest as possible to ensure the roots get enough growing time to make next year’s harvest.

Selling Horseradish

It may seem that because horseradish is such a niche crop that you are limited in your marketing choices.  That would be untrue.  In fact, because it is a niche product, you might be the first farmer in your area to offer it.

If you have grown enough, consider marketing it to local restaurants and specialty grocers.  The restaurants that are most likely to purchase horseradish are those that sell fried fish as well as those that sell roast beef.  Make sure you have grown enough product to fill their need.  Once you get your foot in the door at a local restaurant or grocer, selling your other farm produce becomes much easier.

When it comes to selling at your market booth or farmstead website, the keys to sales are information and choices.  In addition to the whole root, offer horseradish powder, horseradish vinegar, and prepared horseradish sauce, both mild and hot.  Recipe cards are always a good idea – sometimes people want to buy but have no idea how they can use the product.  Make it easy for them.

Next to your horseradish products, offer a medicinal product or two made with this versatile root.  Be sure to include a card noting the medicinal benefits as well as how to use the product.  Horseradish is used medicinally to aid in weight loss, lower blood pressure, alleviate respiratory and sinus conditions, improve the immune system, stimulate healthy digestion and help prevent cancer.

Homegrown Horseradish Recipes

The following recipes and techniques can help you begin producing a marketable product from your fresh horseradish.

Drying horseradish to make powder is very simple.  You do want to make sure you are in a well-ventilated space since it can have a pungent odor that may irritate your eyes.  Another option is to first freeze the root before grating.  This will drastically decrease the irritating aroma.  Horseradish powder can be added to spice blends, used in sauces and dressings, or as a dry rub for beef.

Scrub the root and rinse under cold running water.  Trim the top off and grate the entire root.  Spread out on dehydrator trays or in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Set the temperature to 150 degrees Fahrenheit and cook at this temperature for one hour. Lower the temperature to 130 degrees Fahrenheit and continue cooking until brittle, approximately five to nine hours.  If your oven doesn’t go down that low, put it on the lowest temperature and prop the door open.

Once the horseradish is completely dry, let it cool to room temperature and grind to a powder in a blender or food processor.  Transfer to airtight containers.  Four-ounce canning jars work perfectly.

To make prepared horseradish simply cover grated horseradish with vinegar. The spicy bite of horseradish comes from the isothiocyanate compound. The heat and aroma are almost completely absent until it is sliced or grated because those properties are generated when oxidized by air and saliva.  This means you can control the heat of your product.  The sooner you cover the grated root with vinegar, the milder your finished product will be.  If you are selling prepared vinegar in canning jars, lay a piece of waxed paper over the jar opening before placing the lid.  Vinegar is corrosive and will rust your lids.

To make horseradish vinegar to sell, begin as if you are storing horseradish in vinegar.  Once the vinegar has soaked in vinegar for 4-6 weeks, remove the root.  Sterilize your vinegar bottles.  Grate the horseradish and add ¼ cup to each bottle.  Add 1/8 cup of fresh dill or a sprig or two of fresh rosemary.  Toss in some peppercorns.  Cover with the vinegar you soaked the root in and cork.  Stick a pretty label on your bottle and you are ready for the market.

Don’t forget to use horseradish in your own kitchen.  This flavor compliments potatoes, peas, beets, broccoli, and leeks, so it makes a great addition to creamy soups and hearty casseroles.  You can also add some grated horseradish to sour cream for a baked potato topping, as an accompaniment to cold meat slices or as a delicious condiment on roast beef sandwiches.

When you use horseradish in your cooking, add it towards the end of your cooking time.  Otherwise, you will lose most of the flavor, heat, and benefits of this ingredient.

Horseradish can be a terrific addition to your homestead.  As an alternative crop, it can’t be beaten.  It offers multiple marketing opportunities, is a hardy, easy-to-grow perennial, and acts as a natural pest repellent in your orchard, as well as being a delicious ingredient in your own kitchen. Don’t worry if you are the only one growing this crop in your area.  Homesteaders are not known for following the crowd, and we are usually ahead of the trend!

The post Growing Horseradish on the Homestead appeared first on Homestead.org.

It is amazing what one can raise in a small area. For example, one gardener’s family enjoyed a wealth of fresh vegetables for up to eight months from a garden of 500 square feet.

Advantages of Backyard Gardens

One is never too old or too young to pursue gardening. Gardening becomes a great interest to many of us; as time passes, most are tempted to try more complex techniques. Not only is this activity entertaining, but it is also extremely rewarding because of the bountiful fruits and vegetables that are available to eat.

In addition, backyard gardens lower food costs and provide healthful vegetables. They reduce the environmental impact of transporting and warehousing food, make meals more personal and appetizing, and connect family members with the weather, growth, and renewal. Children also build memories of these gardens and of working together.

First Steps in Backyard Gardening

First, one must clear the land of unwanted vegetation such as volunteer trees, ornamentals, and any other growth. This makes space for planning and planting. This area must be designed to manage water runoff and increase rainwater infiltration.

Once the gardener understands what is in the yard to work with, it is time to improve the soil, select plants, plant them, and take steps to promote their well-being.

Soil is vastly important in backyard gardening. Check the type and composition of soil in your backyard. Soil analysis is usually worth the nominal fee charged. Healthy soil assists in repelling pests while producing healthier plants with greater strength and resistance against illnesses and insects.

Soil should be prepared early in the spring or even during the previous fall. Remove all stumps, unwanted shrubs, and volunteer trees. Dig up the soil to about one foot. Add 2 or 3 inches of rotted leaves, aged manure, and compost. Mix this into the soil and level the area. Before planting, be sure to loosen the soil. Most plants require adequate fertilization and good sandy loam soil high in organic matter. If desired, starter fertilizers can be added. However, if the soil is rich, this should not be necessary.  If fertilizer is needed, use 8-8-8 or 10-10-10 (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) each month while the vegetables grow. The fertilizer should be kept 4 to 6 inches away from the plants. Always water plants after fertilization.

Planting Choices for Backyard Gardens

There are many choices for backyard gardens, and they largely depend on the family’s needs and tastes, as well as location and climate.

Most backyard gardens include herbs and spices which add texture and scent.  Some are so attractive in appearance and scent, that gardeners can’t wait to add them to their cooking. These plants are also low maintenance and generally do not require fertilizers.

Annual herbs can be started from seed. However, woody perennial herbs are better started from cuttings or seedlings.  If seed is used, first moisturize the soil. Then, spread the seeds evenly so the plants will not be too close together. The depth should be three times the size of the seeds. Some types of seed should be dropped on top of the soil because they need sunlight to spout.

Some gardeners use pots to start plants. Later, when the plants become seedlings, they are transferred to the garden. This practice ensures that most plants will grow and thrive.

Vegetables for Backyard Gardens

Decide the amount of available space and how much energy you want to exert in vegetable gardening. Select the areas for growing certain vegetables.  Be sure these areas have full sun for at least five to six hours daily.  Check the path of shadows during the day from trees, fences, or buildings in the yard. Areas with the maximum amount of sunlight will be best for the plants.

Some gardeners double-dig gardens first removing rocks and roots with a pitchfork. Then, they use the same implement to turn up the soil. The fork more easily penetrates the soil and saves more earthworms.

Vegetable beds can be any length. However, keep the garden beds narrow because widths under four feet make areas easier to weed. Design pathways wide enough for a wheelbarrow; twenty-four inches is ideal.

Select the vegetables to be planted and decide how much room you have for them. Space most vegetables two feet apart. Some that do not take up as much space may be planted closer together. Allow extra space for vegetables that require cages or poles. Vegetables will have different planting times, growth rates, and harvest times. Plant taller vegetables in the back rows. This prevents them from stunting shorter plants with their shadows.

Seeds can be planted at any time the soil is ready, however, cloudy day or evening plantings are best to keep potted plants from wilting. Dig holes and place vegetable plants slightly higher than they were in containers. Tomato plants are planted deeper, sometimes covering two-thirds of the plant.

Most vegetables take about one inch of water weekly during the growth period.

Weeds, at times, mean more labor. However, a layer of mulch two to four inches deep will prevent weeds and evaporation of moisture. Cultivation is another means of getting rid of weeds.

Fruits and Berries for Backyard Gardens

Fruits and berries are investments in time and energy. Of course, some fruits require more labor. Again, choices rest on the individual’s tastes and desires. Also, be sure that choices are well-suited to your area’s space, climate, and soil.

Goji berry, black currant, Chinese chestnut, American hazelnut, and juneberry trees and shrubs are good in backyard gardens. Also, Nanking cherry, peach, pear, sand cherry, pawpaw, beach plum, quince, and fig trees are possibilities.

One backyard gardener managed to plant 200 trees and shrubs within one-third of an acre of land. Some of those trees may have been dwarf varieties which require less space.

Success in growing fruit depends on a variety of selection, soil management, fertilization, pruning, and pest control. It is best to plant only what can be cared for.

Small fruits offer advantages, such as requiring a minimum of space for the amount of production. In addition, these trees bear fruit one or two years after planting and pest control is more manageable.  Small fruits should be planted in the full sun as close to your house as possible

Fences, trellises, or arbors can be used to support grape vines and raspberries, or for vertical-growing plants.

Berries and small fruits don’t generally take up as much space as trees. However, a full-size, highbush blueberry plant may grow up to 12 feet high and 6 feet wide. Blackberries, too, can grow 6 feet tall and spread wide.  Planting these in a raised bed will keep them manageable.  Blueberries may be planted to form a dense hedge or planted along a foundation.

Strawberries can serve as borders for vegetables. They also do well in raised beds or even in hanging baskets. These plants are the easiest and most rewarding to grow if the right variety is chosen. Strawberries are usually at peak production for just one to three years. Of course, this can be increased if the strawberries are thinned. Try the everbearing plants which produce two smaller crops or even a newer variety that produces fruit all simmer.

Blackberries, dewberries, and boysenberries are good choices for backyard gardening. The boysenberry, easily killed by cold, should be planted only in places with mild winters.

Currants and gooseberries, hardy and easy to grow, are good also choices. One gooseberry plant will generally produce enough fruit for a household. These plants, which grow in almost any soil, require little to no pruning.

Raspberries, having shallow root systems, should be planted about 6 to 12 feet apart. This allows mulching or space for cultivating to keep out weeds.  Well-tended, these should bear for ten years.

Blackberries planted one year produce the during the next year. They like full sun and will do well in less-than-ideal soils. They require little care. One cup of blackberries gives 50% of the RDA for Vitamin C.

Today, most of us are taking a good look at what we are eating. Some far-sighted individuals are taking control of what they eat by growing food in backyard gardens. Most efforts go beyond a few tomato plants growing in pots. An edible forest of onions, chard, potatoes, spinach, lettuce, and squash not only provides healthful eating but is also a money-saving venture.

In most cases, one doesn’t have to “go rural” to see these amazing gardens. City dwellers are becoming more self-sufficient and gaining more self-esteem with their unique creations of beautiful, productive gardens.  The benefits of such a venture are enormous, leaving a legacy of memories and an abundance of fruits and vegetables.

The post Backyard Garden Dreamin’ appeared first on Homestead.org.

Yes, friend, you can!

The herbs you grow on your homestead can be crafted into phenomenal DIY herbal beauty products that are all-natural, inexpensive, and work just as well as store-bought skincare.

You may be growing many of these already, so incorporating herbs in handmade skincare is just one more way to make the most of your herbal harvest (and another step toward self-sufficiency). New to DIY herbal skincare? There are recipes below to help you turn your herb harvest into handmade green beauty products.

If these herbs don’t have a place in your garden yet, you’ll also find tips below on how to grow them. Don’t worry, they’re all easy-care plants and perfect even for beginner herb gardeners.

And these herbs pull triple duty: they can be used in DIY herbal skincare products, can be used in the kitchen for cooking, baking, and teas, and make lovely additions to your landscape. 

Calendula

This cheery orange flower, also called pot marigold, is pure gold when it comes to DIY skincare. In traditional medicine, calendula is used topically for skin irritations, rashes, wounds, and bug bites. Its beneficial properties bear out with modern research as well.

Calendula blooms prolifically from summer until the first frost and looks beautiful in the landscape.

The flower heads, specifically the petals, are the part of the plant that is used therapeutically. Harvest when the blossoms are half-open to fully bloomed, but before they start to wilt or dry on the stalk.

Remove the flower head and lay it on a mesh screen in a well-ventilated area to dry. You could also place the flower heads in a dehydrator.

Once the flower heads are completely dry, pull the petals from the heads and store them in a jar with a lid.

These dried petals can be used whole in bath soaks and bath teas. Finely ground, calendula petals can be added to soap bath bombs, and facial masks, where they give a gorgeous yellow-orange color to your DIY skincare products.

Calendula really shines when infused in oils and incorporated into soothing salves, lip balms, and body butter. Another fun benefit: the petals are edible and look pretty sprinkled in baked goods or on salads.

How to Grow Calendula

As its folk name “pot marigold” suggests, calendula grows well in pots. It also does well in beds or simply scattered in a sunny spot on your property.

Calendula prefers full sun, but it will tolerate some light shade especially in warmer climates.

This herb grows easily from seed. Sow them directly in the soil just after your last frost date. Calendula likes rich soil and regular water.

Although it is grown as an annual, it readily self-seeds so you can have an easy crop pop up every spring if you leave some blooms on the plant to go to seed.

Calendula Facial Oil Recipe

This facial oil is incredibly nourishing and soothing, with the added benefit of being quite simple to make.

Fill a half-pint mason jar approximately 2/3 of the way with fully dried calendula petals. Pour in equal parts rosehip seed oil and evening primrose oil until the jar is completely full and the petals are submerged. Loosely screw on a lid and let infuse in a sunny windowsill for six weeks.

Strain out all pieces of calendula petals and add these to the compost pile. The resulting oil is skincare gold.

To use, massage a small amount over cleansed face, neck, and chest. The oil rapidly absorbs into the skin. Use twice daily. This calendula facial oil has a shelf life of four months.

Chamomile

Chamomile is a lovely little herb that blooms with delicate, daisy-like flowers. Of course, chamomile makes a soothing cup of tea, but it also has incredible benefits when used topically.

Chamomile has skin healing, soothing, and anti-inflammatory properties (2). It can reduce skin irritation and redness, and may help repair the skin’s barrier function (3).

Like calendula, it’s the dainty flowers that are used therapeutically. Harvest chamomile as you would calendula, by pinching off flower heads and drying them.

No need to remove the dry petals from the head, though, as the petals are tiny and the whole process too fiddly. Besides, the entire flower head provides skincare benefits.

Use the flower heads whole in bath teas and bath soaks, or infuse into oil. Ground into a fine powder, chamomile makes a soothing addition to facial masks, body scrubs, and bath bombs.

One important note: If you are allergic to ragweed, chamomile is best avoided in topical products because it belongs to the same family.

How to Grow Chamomile

German chamomile is the species that is most often grown for tea and medicinal purposes, although both German chamomile and Roman chamomile have skincare benefits.

German chamomile is an annual, has an upright growth pattern, and can reach about 24 inches in height when it’s happy. It does well in pots and in the landscape alike. German chamomile grows easily from seed and self-seeds freely, so you’ll probably be treated to volunteers each spring.

Roman chamomile has a lower, creeping growth pattern and is best grown as a groundcover. It is a perennial in USDA hardiness zones 3 to 9, but in the colder areas it will die back to the roots during the winter and reemerge come spring. Roman chamomile isn’t quite as prolific a bloomer as its German cousin.

Both types of chamomile prefer full sun to light shade and are drought tolerant. Let the soil dry out between watering.

If you’re torn between the two, here’s a possible tiebreaker: German chamomile does better in poor soil and requires less water than does Roman chamomile.

Chamomile Oatmeal Facial Mask Recipe

Chamomile makes a lovely facial mask for all skin types. This mask is gently cleansing and soothing, and will leave your skin looking bright and feeling refreshed.

• 1/2 cup oats, finely ground
• 1 tablespoon powdered milk
• 2 teaspoons dried chamomile, finely ground

Stir together all ingredients until well blended. Store dry mask base in a half pint mason jar.

To use, mix 1 tablespoon chamomile oatmeal mask base with enough water to make a smooth, spreadable paste. For dry skin types, you can mix the mask base with grapeseed or olive oil instead of water.

Massage over face and neck and let set for five to 10 minutes. Rinse well with warm water.

The dry mask base has a shelf life of one year. Prepared mask should be used immediately; discard any leftovers.

Lavender

What would a skincare garden list be without lavender? Not much of a list, considering the abundant benefits lavender has on the skin.

Lavender is high in antioxidants and helps stimulate skin renewal. It is a remarkable herb, with pain-reducing and anti-inflammatory qualities. Lavender is also antimicrobial and antifungal.

Historically, lavender was used to cleanse and heal the skin. Today, this fragrant herb is used to improve skin issues such as acne, eczema, and psoriasis.

And you can’t overlook lavender’s long history of relieving stress and soothing an anxious mind.

Harvesting lavender is as simple as cutting of the flowering stalks and hanging them to dry. Once dry the buds, which contain the volatile oils, are easily shook loose for use and storage.

Lavender buds look beautiful in bath teas and soaks, as well as sprinkled into soap. Infused lavender oil lends gentle fragrance and soothing properties to DIY lotions, lip balms, and body butters.

How to Grow Lavender

Lavender is a perennial bush that thrives in dry, sunny conditions. It’s a hardy herb; it prefers lean soil, is drought-tolerant, and doesn’t require much maintenance.

It can be grown down to hardiness zone 5, but in those cold weather areas you should give your lavender some winter protection. Another option is to keep your lavender in a pot and bring it inside to spend the wintertime a sunny window.

The key to growing happy lavender is to provide it with well-drained soil and let it dry between watering. Lavender does not like wet feet.

With chamomile and calendula, you’re rewarded with blooms the first year. Lavender requires a bit more patience. Expect your plant to start flowering at two to three years old. Because it takes some time to get started, and seeds germinate slowly, you’ll get the best result from planting lavender starts rather than sowing seeds.

Lavender Milk Bath Soak Recipe

One of my personal favorite ways to enjoy lavender is in a relaxing bath soak. Bonus: it’s easy to make!

• 1 cup Epsom salts
• 1/2 cup powdered milk
• 2 tablespoons dried lavender buds
• Optional: 30 drops lavender essential oil

Mix together all ingredients until well blended. Store in a pint-sized mason jar or similar. To use, pour approximately 1/2 cup bath soak into running bathwater. Soak for at least 20 minutes.

This bath soak has a long 12-month shelf life. 

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm, also called Melissa mint, has a bright citrus-y fragrance that is worlds away from other mints.

Lemon balm is a popular ingredient in green beauty products not only for its herbaceous lemony scent, but for the powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging qualities it has.

This herb can be safely used by all skin types, but oily skin especially loves it. Lemon balm is astringent and has antimicrobial properties that make it helpful for skin prone to blackheads and breakouts.

In folk medicine, lemon balm is used to relax the muscles and relieve tension so it makes a special relaxing treat when incorporated into DIY bath and body products.

Frequent pinching back keeps your lemon balm healthy. Snip off stems as needed and use fresh steeped in water for an easy facial splash. Dry the leaves to incorporate into facial masks, bath teas, and body scrubs. Lemon-balm-infused oils can be used for DIY body butters and amazingly tasty lip balms.

How to Grow Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is a lovely, easy-to-grow perennial for the herb garden. But unless you have a large space where you don’t mind it taking over, keep lemon balm in a pot. It self-seeds freely, often to the point where it becomes a nuisance.

Like most mints, this herb likes regular water but it doesn’t care to be overly saturated. Plant in well-drained soil to keep it happy.

Lemon balm likes full sun and can thrive in hardiness zones 4 through 9.

Lemon Balm Whipped Body Butter Recipe

This creamy body butter has a frosting-like consistency and is nourishing for dry skin.

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon balm, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup sweet almond oil
• 1/4 cup shea butter

Place lemon balm into a small heat-safe bowl or a pint-sized mason jar. Add sweet almond oil and shea butter. Put the container into a small pan filled half-way with water, to make a bain-marie of sorts.

Warm and hold over low heat for one hour to infuse the oil and shea butter with lemon balm-y goodness. The shea butter should be just melted, but never allow the oils to simmer. Keep an eye on the water level in your pan and add more water as needed.

Carefully strain out the lemon balm leaves (toss this into the compost pile) and allow the oil mixture to cool and partially solidify. With a hand mixer, whip until the mixture is fluffy and stiff peaks form. You’re looking for a whippy, frosting consistency. This will take about five minutes or so. Spoon into a jar with a lid.

To use, massage your lemon balm whipped body butter over all dry areas of the skin. It’s especially effective when used immediately after bathing or showering. It’s also nice to use just before bed to help soothe you to sleep.

This whipped body butter has a shelf life of six to eight months. 

Peppermint

Sprightly peppermint is a popular perennial in the herb garden. It’s incredibly easy to grow and will provide a prolific harvest nearly year-round in warmer climates.

While the topical benefits of peppermint aren’t as widely studied as some of the aforementioned herbs, the research that has been done shows it can relieve itching and is mildly antimicrobial. In herbal medicine, peppermint is used topically to cleanse the skin, relieve irritation, and reduce inflammation.

Peppermint also gives a cooling and refreshing feel to all your DIY skincare products.

The frequent cutting back of peppermint stimulates the plant to regrow, so harvest as desired. Dry the leaves and use them in soap, body scrubs, and bath products. Peppermint is especially nice in foot soaks and foot scrubs.

Infused in oil, peppermint is lovely in lip balms and salves. Fresh peppermint leaves can be steeped in water for a refreshing summertime body spray.

How to Grow Peppermint

Peppermint sends out lots of underground runners and can quickly become an invasive nuisance in the garden; it’s best to keep this one corralled in a large pot.

Peppermint likes partial shade. A place where it can get morning sun but protection from hot afternoon sun is ideal. Keep the soil uniformly moist but not soggy.

This is a hardy herb and is tolerant of temperatures down to hardiness zone 3. It will die back to the roots in the winter in cold climates and remerge come springtime.

In very hot climates, you may need to grow this mint as an annual, or look for varieties that can tolerate a bit of heat.

Peppermint Body Polish Recipe

This refreshing peppermint body polish helps remove dead skin cells, leaving your skin silky smooth and soft.

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil (you can use peppermint-infused olive oil for extra peppermint punch)
• 2 tablespoons dried peppermint

Stir together all ingredients until well blended. If the body polish seems too dry for your liking, add more oil, one tablespoonful at a time, until you get a consistency you’re happy with. Place in a container with a lid for storage.

To use, measure out about 1/4 cup into a shatterproof container (because broken glass in the shower is never good, my friend). In the tub or shower, massage the polish over the entire body. Rinse well. Do take care because the oil can make the floor of your tub slippery.

This scrub will leave your skin feeling incredibly soft and moisturized. It will last four months unrefrigerated.

Sage

This little herb is often overlooked in beauty products in favor of its showier compadres, but sage has exquisite skincare benefits for all skin types.

Sage is filled with antioxidants which can help protect the skin from free radicals and, ultimately, keep your skin looking young. In fact, a 2016 study published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology found that sclareol, a chemical constituent of sage, was effective at protecting the skin against photoaging and may help prevent wrinkles. Not bad for a humble herb!

Sage is also healing when used topically and has anti-inflammatory effects.

You can harvest by snipping branches as needed, just never harvest more than one third of the plant at one time.

Dried leaves are wonderful in bath products and facial masks. Dried sage makes an especially nice add-in to handmade soap. Handmade milk soap with sage and sweet orange essential oil is awesome!

Fresh sage can be made into face and body splashes, like the recipe below.

How to Grow Sage

Sage likes full sun to partial shade. It will be equally happy in pots or in the ground, provided it has well-drained soil. Sage likes regular watering but does allow the soil to dry out between.

This hardy perennial grows best in hardiness zones 4 to 11. It doesn’t care for intense summer heat, though, so protect your sage from late afternoon sun if needed.

Sage is a slow grower, so if you want a quick harvest buy older plants. If you’re the patient sort, sage grown from seed will be ready to start harvesting from when it’s two years old.

Sage Facial Splash Recipe

This facial splash is refreshing and toning, with a lovely herbaceous scent.

• 1/8 cup fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoon witch hazel

Place the chopped sage leaves in a heat-safe mug or mason jar. Pour 1/2 cup steaming, but not boiling, water over the herbs. Steep for 30 minutes. Strain out leaves and add them to the compost pile. Let cool completely, then add witch hazel and stir to incorporate.

To use, pour a splash into a small spritz bottle and lightly mist the face, neck, and chest after every cleansing. (You could also apply it to a soft cotton cloth and gently smooth it over the skin.) Follow up with your favorite moisturizer or facial serum.

Your sage facial splash has a short four-day shelf life when left unrefrigerated, but it is so easy to make you can easily whip up a fresh batch as needed. Refrigerating the splash extends the shelf life to 14 days.

Thyme

Fragrant with dainty leaves and even daintier flowers, thyme is a staple in Mediterranean cooking. The scent permeates the herb garden, especially after a warm summer rain.

This herb has plenty of benefits for the skin when used topically. Thyme is rich in vitamins A and C, both important vitamins in terms of skin health. It’s also high in antioxidants. Studies have shown it to be anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, and healing.

To harvest, cut stems back and hang to dry. Thyme can be utilized in facial splashes and soap. Thyme-infused oils make a good base for DIY balms, butters, and lotions.

How to Grow Thyme

Thyme loves full sun, thrives in hot conditions, and is very drought tolerant. Stick it in the ground and forget it (until you need a few sprigs, that is!)

Thyme doesn’t like to be fussed with too much once it’s planted, and I’ve personally found thyme doesn’t like transplanting. If you’re not putting it directly in the ground, plant thyme in a large pot so that it has plenty of room to grow without the need for frequent transplants.

In the garden, thyme has a low growth-pattern and looks nice as a ground cover. It grows well in hardiness zones 5 to 9.

Thyme Salve Recipe

Given its therapeutic properties, thyme makes a wonderful skin salve. Smooth a bit on dry cuticles, chapped lips, bug bites, and other minor skin irritations.

• 1/4 cup thyme-infused sunflower oil
• 2 tablespoons shea butter
• 2 tablespoons beeswax (for a vegan balm, use a plant wax such as candelilla)
• Optional: 15 drops thyme essential oil

Begin by making an infused oil. In a pint-sized jar, fill 2/3 of the way with sprigs of dried thyme. Fill the jar with sunflower oil and let set in a sunny windowsill for six weeks.

To make the salve add thyme-infused sunflower oil, shea butter, and beeswax to a small heat-safe bowl or a pint-sized mason jar and place in a small pan half-filled with water. Set pan on the stovetop over low heat until beeswax is fully melted. Remove from heat and stir in essential oil, if you’re using it.

Pour melted salve into small wide-mouth containers and let sit undisturbed to cool and firm up. Once the salve is completely cool, affix lids.

To use, massage a small amount of salve into dry or irritated areas. This salve has a long eight- to 12-month shelf life.

The post Grow an Herbal Skincare Garden: 7 Easy-to-Grow Herbs for Naturally Healthy Skin appeared first on Homestead.org.

It occurred to me, as I was writing this, that maybe I should be writing under a nom de plume and not reveal my location.  You see, I work at a library where we perform a service that is illegal in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and probably some other states. Luckily, we aren’t in those states… But you never know who’s gonna try to implement a law next.  It seems a library in Pennsylvania admitted to having a seed library and received a legal order to stop what they were doing.  No, we’re not talking about marijuana seeds or anything that controversial, just plain, old flower and vegetable seeds.

Legal Issues of Saving Seeds

While saving and sharing your seeds seems perfectly innocent, there are actually other libraries in the United States and other countries that have ended up in trouble with the law for such endeavors.

In 2014, a library in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania worked in partnership with the Cumberland County Commission for Women to start a seed library within their facility.  They obtained information from the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Extension office to start the program.  But then they received a letter from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture stating that they were in violation of the Seed Act of 2004.  Who knew!  First jaywalking and now this? 

But while this seems like a joking matter to some of us, the Department of Agriculture felt it was so serious that they sent a high-ranking official and lawyers to a meeting with the library.

When I first heard of this, my first thought was that this was some plot on behalf of the seed companies so that they wouldn’t lose money from so many people sharing seeds for free.  However, I found that the USDA’s fears are based on the idea of botanical bioterrorism!  And here I thought poison ivy and kudzu were the worst botanical terrorists there could be.  

The Seed Act of 2004 mainly focuses on the selling of seeds, but there is also a concern about seeds that might be purposely or accidentally mislabeled, the growth of invasive plant species, cross-pollination, and poisonous plants.

The Department of Agriculture told the Pennsylvania library director that the library staff would need to test each seed packet for germination and other information if they were to continue to provide the seeds.  The library ended up discontinuing its seed library and, instead, sponsoring seed swapping days in order to avoid any legal ramifications of actually being responsible for the seeds themselves.

Practically the same thing happened with a library in Minnesota, except there, the seed officials showed up in person.  Library staff there were also told they had to discontinue their seed library.

But good news folks!  If you don’t live in Pennsylvania, or Minnesota, there are lots of places in other states that seem to be getting away with having their own seed libraries.  Just check your state and local laws.  During the time of the problems in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, there were already at least 300 across the U.S., so it never occurred to them that it would be a problem.  To learn about your state’s seed laws, visit the American Seed Trade Association website.  The site features a map of all states, and when you click on a state you can read its own individual seed law and whatever restrictions there may be.

So, With All This Drama, What’s the Point of a Seed Library?    

Many gardeners are already ordering seeds and planning for spring.  And still, others are alloecwing a few of their plants from each crop go to seed instead of picking the fruits or veggies from them, then saving those seeds for next year.  Why bother when it might be easier to simply buy more seeds in the spring?  Well, other than saving money and a trip to the store, many feel there is more guarantee that seeds collected from plants that they already have and know are healthy, will also be healthier, and seeds adapted to their soil and climate, not to mention local pests, will be even more robust.

Our local library has taken this idea one step further by helping patrons share those healthy acclimated seeds.  Now the “book” library also contains a seed library made up of heirloom seeds that can be “checked out” by anybody who has a library card and signs up.   

As a way of getting started and enticing participation, our library gained donations of heirloom seeds from such companies as Baker Creek, Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE).  The library now has over 100 varieties of heirloom seeds for vegetables, herbs, and flowers.  There is no charge for the seeds, but it is hoped that people will gather seeds from their crops at the end of the summer and donate some back to the library in order to continue the tradition.

The focus is on heirloom seeds because seeds of crossbred plants will not “remain true”, meaning that they won’t turn out the same as the original plant, but seeds from heirloom plants can be gathered and used from year to year.

Thus, while the seeds checked out this season will be heirloom varieties, they won’t be as adapted for this area yet.  The ones donated in future years will become more and more and hardy.     
Other reasons for seed libraries are to preserve seeds that have not been genetically modified, since there is growing concern about what effect GMO foods might have on our health, in addition to fears about its effects on the environment.

NOTE: I am using words such as “concern,” “theory,” “idea,” etc. in this discussion because I don’t feel that I have explored both sides of this highly-debated science extensively enough to feel confident about taking a side.  I’m just putting these ideas out there for your consideration.

Many feel that GMO seeds will destroy the food chain because they often contain pest-control features which could result in the reduction of insects that are part of the food chain, thus diminishing that insect’s predators, and then the predator’s predators, and so on.  Then there is the fact that we rely on good insects, such as honey bees, to both fertilize our vegetables as well as produce honey; both are a part of our own food chain.

For some of us, money is the biggest factor.  Sometimes you don’t need all of those seeds they sell in those packets and the packets can be pretty expensive if you buy enough of them.  Why not share and share alike, so we all save a few pennies?

While genetically modified seeds are developed to yield the biggest and best fruits and vegetables, they are often hybrids, so the seeds of the plants they produce will often not remain true, meaning that your next crop won’t look the same as the previous one.  It will revert back to the original, lower-quality strain it was hybridized from.  There are also issues regarding the patents on the seeds.   
However, heirloom seeds saved at the end of each growing season and replanted the next year become acclimated to the same area year after year, and will become stronger and better each year.

Here is one more scary theory about GMOs.  Since most GMO crops are engineered to tolerate a certain type of herbicide, the weeds these are supposed to kill are building up a resistance to the herbicides and coming back bigger and stronger and then needing more toxic pesticides to kill them.  Wow, I guess when you think about how we develop vaccines for the flu each year and then have to create new versions because the disease mutates, it all makes sense.

Oh, the Stories We Hear at the Seed Library!   

Those who are interested in preserving heirloom seeds are often those who are interested in preserving history.  They may want to carry on their grandmother’s favorite rose or a treasured, old, apple tree from their parents’ homestead.  Maybe they feel those pumpkins grown from a specific strain of seeds are the secret ingredient to the wonderful pumpkin bread Mom made when they were young.

We’ve been hearing lots of stories from our patrons at the library who have brought seeds to share, and we’ve enjoyed their enthusiasm as they’ve told us how proud they are of the huge pumpkins they grow each year with their special, family seeds.  We’ve also been seeing a lot of young couples selecting seeds for their first home.  It is almost as if they are more than just seeds; they are hope and potential memories.

During the weeks following my father’s death, I spent a lot of time going through old framed pictures, documents, and photo albums at his house.  In one album, along with my grandmother’s passport from Hungary, which enabled her to enter the United States through Ellis Island in the early days, I also found a yellowed, letter-sized envelope labeled “Hungarian Paprika Seeds”, and within were folds of tissue paper with about a dozen dried seeds in each fold.

I imagined my grandmother coming to America to marry the man she had met when he visited his own relatives in Hungary a few months before.  Imagined her tucking envelopes of seeds into her suitcase so she could carry on her gardening tradition from the old country.  Then I wondered if those seeds would still be viable if they were really brought over in the 1920s.  Maybe they were sent over later.  Maybe she saved them from her own garden in America.  Nevertheless, as far as I could figure, they had to be at least 20 years old.

I decided to try putting a few in a wet paper towel and watching to see if they would germinate.  They did not.  But then I tossed some into several outdoor planters, and voila!  I started getting pretty, green plants that were quite healthy.  But I couldn’t stop asking myself, “Is it possible that seeds as old as 10 to 20 years would still grow?  Or did much fresher seeds somehow find themselves in an old photo album that hadn’t been looked through in years?”

My endless curiosity lead me to the internet in search of how old a seed can be and still be viable.  Apparently the oldest mature seed that has grown into a viable plant was a Judean date palm seed about 2,000 years old, recovered from excavations in Israel.  It was germinated in 2005.  Amazing!

Some seed companies that are capitalizing on the idea that we will eventually have some sort of apocalypse, either zombie or otherwise, sell “survival seeds” which they say can last up to ten years because they have been dried in a very precise way.  Drying methods do apparently make a difference.

Also, I found that germination is not an on/off state, as if all seeds in a pack go bad at once.  As seeds get older the percentage that germinate will start to drop off, and then at some point will fall to zero. 

Now that I think about it, I probably tossed a dozen of my grandmother’s paprika seeds into those pots and only got a few plants.

So, back to the companies selling seeds for the apocalypse.  These companies say that properly dried seeds still have a 50% germination rate after 15 years.  But then, how are you going to maintain a proper vegetable garden with zombies stomping through it all of the time?

The Science of Seed Saving 

According to information from a U.S. Department of Agriculture website, seed is best stored through the winter at 50 degrees and at 50 percent humidity.  A good way to store unused seed packets is to place them in a sealed jar with powdered milk or rice at the bottom to absorb moisture.  Store your seed jar in the refrigerator or a cool area such as a basement.

There is an excellent book on seed saving titled The Manual of Seed Saving: Harvesting, Storing and Sowing Techniques for Vegetables, Herbs and Fruits by Andrea Heistinger.  In it, she gives detailed collection and storage methods for seeds from different varieties of plants.

She explains how to set aside a few plants each year and let them go to seed, and then how to harvest the seeds.  How easy or hard it is to collect seeds depends on the particular plants you are collecting them from.  Some are as obvious as tearing a bean-like pod apart and skimming the seeds out, while others may require soaking until they ferment, or using a sifting device to separate them from the husks and hulls, or sometimes just a little breeze will do the job.

They separated wheat from the chaff in the early days by tossing it in the air so that the wheat seeds fell more heavily to the ground while the chaff (extra stuff), blew away in the wind.  This reminds me of a memorable scene in movie, but I can’t remember the name of the movie.  It was a beautiful scene: women wearing long skirts and white blouses with scarves on their heads, standing in front of a pretty red barn, tossing the wheat into the air, the chaff floating on the breeze, the sunset in the distance… What the heck was that movie?

But, seriously, seed libraries are awesome.  I’ve never felt like I could afford to buy very many packets of seeds, but now I can get them free and return a few at the end of the summer, though I’m not obligated to do so.  Everyone understands that it’s not always possible to save and return your seeds, especially in the first year. 

A Larger Seed Exchange 

In addition to small libraries like ours, where we might have 20-30 people borrowing and sharing seeds, there are also some very large, commercial-type seed-sharing businesses, like the ones that donated seeds for our library to get started.  Most of these offer opportunities to become involved in the saving and sharing process either through donations of money or seeds.  Others may purchase seeds from farmers, giving them an opportunity to make some extra money.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is able to operate on a larger scale without fear of government intervention because they store seeds in climate-controlled areas and they perform their own germination testing in order to ensure it meets both federal and Southern Exposure standards.  Test results are printed on the packet to help you determine planting density and quantity needed.

Southern Exposure is located on a 72-acre farm between Richmond and Charlottesville, Virginia, they work with over 50 small farms across the U.S. that provide the seeds, and they are always willing to take more.

“We’re always happy to talk to farmers who are interested in diversifying their income streams by growing seeds for us,” they state on their website.  “Despite working with many growers who come to us with little experience saving seed, we find that the seed we buy from them at the end of the season is more reliably true-to-type than the seed we buy wholesale.”

 Cha-ching! Sounds like opportunity knocking.

The post Check Out These Seeds! Grow Hardy Plants and Preserve the Food Chain with a Seed Library appeared first on Homestead.org.

Another benefit of raising heritage turkeys on the homestead is you can choose the length of the project.  You can choose to purchase turkey poults every year, making this a short-term annual project or you can keep a tom and a few hens and let them hatch out poults for you.  If you want layers, you MUST keep a heritage breed.

Heritage turkey breeds are the only choice for you if you want to keep a flock of turkeys and hatch their eggs out each year.  Heritage breeds are able to mate naturally whereas the turkeys you buy at the supermarket, Broad-breasted White Turkeys, have so much breast meat they are unable to mate naturally.

If you want to breed heritage turkeys, keep one tom for every ten hens.  Turkey mating occurs in spring.  It takes 28-31 days for the fertilized eggs to hatch and 6-7 months for the poults to reach maturity.  Turkey poults cost $10 a bird so if you have the time and space for a few extra birds on your homestead, it makes economic sense to hatch out your own.

Blue slate turkeys, bourbon red turkeys, Narragansett turkeys, and black Spanish turkeys are excellent heritage breeds.  Young toms reach 23 pounds and the young hens reach 14 pounds.  The Royal Palm Turkey is a smaller heritage breed, with young toms reaching a weight of 16 pounds and the young hens reaching 10 pounds.

Spend some time in the winter, before your growing season gets busy, researching the breed of turkey that is best for you and your farm.  Put some feelers out in your area, and contact your best customers, in order to have an idea of the number of turkeys you will be able to sell. Continue creating a customer list by advertising at farmers markets, Facebook and other social media platforms, and word of mouth.

Turkey poults are extremely sensitive at the beginning of their life.  That is why you need to have a clean, secure brooder ready before you receive your poults.  Build your brooder in early spring before you become busy with spring and summer homesteading chores.

Order your poults in June.  Make sure you are ordering from a reputable hatchery and inquire about any guarantees when you order. Thoroughly check over your poults when they arrive and immediately place them in their brooder.

In addition to being secure and clean, make sure the brooder is warm.  Attach a 250-watt clamp-style lamp in order to keep their nest around 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week.  Gradually lower the temperature each week until they no longer need an extra heat source and are out on pasture, around week seven.

Check on your poults hourly throughout the day for the first week or two.  Baby poults are prone to flipping onto their backs and suffocating. Check for drafts as well, and continue to check the temperature.  Aerate and clean the bedding daily.  They need adequate feed and fresh water at all times.

While they are in their brooder, create a turkey run on pasture.  A mobile poultry tractor works great because it allows the birds to receive adequate, fresh pasture and can be moved frequently, allowing your land to rest.  The coop should have at least 3 square feet per bird and it should be tall enough that the birds can stand upright.  Provide areas for turkeys to roost.

Once the turkeys are strong enough to leave the brooder, they are easily integrated with chickens.  As long as there is plenty of space, and the feed can be separated, chickens and turkeys will thrive on pasture together.

Start your poults on a high-protein feed and be certain they have fresh water at all times.  The starter feed should be fed for eight weeks.  From 8-16 weeks, you can decrease the protein to 20%.  Their finishing diet (16 weeks to slaughter) should contain at least 16% protein.  Protein sources can include fish meal, soybean meal, or peanut meal.  Provide your turkeys with grit as well.

Over the course of 20 weeks, toms on a commercial diet will eat 100 pounds of feed each, and hens will consume approximately 64 pounds of feed.  Providing access to good-quality forage will decrease the amount of purchased feed while allowing your birds to benefit from exercise and natural sunlight which promotes good health, as well as tastier, more nutritious meat.

September is the time to contact everyone who expressed interest in purchasing a holiday turkey.  Remind them of their interest, quote your prices and ask if they will be purchasing a turkey for Thanksgiving.  Tell them you will call again in November to arrange a pick-up or drop-off date.

Some people who expressed interest earlier will decide not to purchase a turkey from you. You should know how many turkeys you need to sell after contacting your customer base. Ramp up your advertising in order to sell all the turkeys you have raised.

It can be difficult to know how to price your turkeys.  You will not be able to compete in price with the turkeys sold in supermarkets, nor do you want to.  Commercial poultry farms are gargantuan in size and the turkeys are crammed in as tight as possible.  Birds bred for weight and large, white breasts cannot mate naturally.  They are medicated in an effort to prevent the diseases that sunlight and exercise prevent naturally.

The minimum amount you should charge for a pastured heritage turkey is $4 per pound, and it is not uncommon to create a set price of up to $75 per bird.  Research prices in your area.

Pastured turkeys are ready to harvest and process at 20-24 weeks.  If you are selling to neighbors and local individuals, you can process the turkeys yourself.  If you are selling to restaurants or other retail outlets it is best (legally and financially) to let a local processor do it for you.

If you are selling your turkeys as “fresh, never frozen”, the week of Thanksgiving is going to be a busy one.  Get your harvesting and processing area ready Sunday night so you can get right to work Monday.  Keep your processed turkeys as cold as possible without freezing and deliver fresh turkeys on Tuesday.  An alternative to processing all of your turkeys in one day is to give customers the choice of receiving a frozen turkey.  Frozen turkeys can be done in batches before the fresh turkeys need to be harvested and delivered.

Mount a turkey-sized killing cone to the side of a building.  Have two or more sharp knives ready, along with a cull bucket and a water hose. Set up a processing table close to the scalding area.  You need a pot large enough to in which to dunk and swirl the birds, and a heat source that can reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  Finally, have a large cooler filled with ice next to the processing table.

To harvest each turkey, hold it upside down and carry it to the killing cone.  Pull the head through the bottom of the cone and slit the jugular vein and carotid artery.  To do this, cut just behind the tendon where the beak and tongue attach.

Holding the feet, dunk and swirl the turkey in your pot of 140-degree water.  In just a few seconds, the feathers will remove easily.  Pull out of the water and pluck.

Rinse the bird.  Remove the feet and head.  Eviscerate, taking care to not cut into the intestines.  Cut the muscle tissue around the neck, then bend and break through the bone to remove the neck.

Once the bird is processed, rinse with cool, running water inside and out.  Place the bird in the cooler filled with cold water, making sure the turkey is completely submerged.  Chill for one hour before patting dry and packaging.

There are other ways to make money from your turkey farm after you have sold the bird to grace a holiday table.  First, if you are hatching turkey eggs, hatch out extra and sell the poults.  Remember, these sell for $10 a bird – much more than day-old chicks.  Second, after processing, collect and dry the feathers.  You can sell them to local crafters or incorporate them into your own crafts.  Finally, turkey manure is an excellent compost, either alone or mixed in the compost you have.  Bag it up and sell it to your local gardening club.

Turkeys are an easy way to make holiday cash on your homestead.  Give it a try this year with a small flock. If you enjoy it, and you make money with it, you can grow your operation.

The post Raise Heritage Turkeys for Holiday Cash 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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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