The enzyme fertilizers work like magic, boosting harvests and helping produce a profusion of huge, show-quality blooms. Some gardeners have even reported that their long unfertile fruit trees suddenly started flowering and fruiting profusely after several applications of the remarkable enzymes. Additionally, enzyme fertilizer mixed with compost makes an excellent natural and very effective mixture for enriching depleted and poor soils. Enzymes can help with deterring pests, and even have some handy household uses.

How Enzyme Fertilizer Works

Enzymes are proteins that act as biocatalysts speeding up chemical reactions in cells. Some enzymes help break large molecules into smaller pieces while other enzymes help bind two molecules together to produce a new molecule. Enzymes are naturally present in the soil, excreted by bacteria, fungi, and other soil microbiomes. There they play a significant role in helping break down organic matter and making nutrients more available for plants to use. That way, they make the soil medium free from dead roots and other debris and increase the levels of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). In order to do their job, enzymes require cofactors and coenzymes, which are derived from trace minerals and vitamins present in healthy soils and compost. By cleaning the soil from debris and adding lots of nutrients, enzymes remove the breeding ground for harmful bacteria and pathogens making plants disease free and vigorous, while the more readily available nutrients boost growth, harvests, and blooms.

Besides boosting enzymatic activity in the soil, the ingredients used in the enzyme fertilizer add natural oils and compounds that have antifungal and pest repelling properties. Therefore, the diluted fertilizer can also be used as a spray to prevent and treat various plant problems such as mildew and insect infestations.

How to Make Your Own Enzyme Fertilizers

Enzyme plant fertilizers can be easily made yourself from almost any plant material. Good examples are fruit peels, fresh vegetables, and other plant scraps. Using materials such as citrus or pineapple peels will make the smell pleasant. Adding garlic, onions, or spices will make your fertilizer have the double function of also repelling pests. While adding cinnamon will both add a fragrance as well as make the fertilizer a good fungicide.

To make the enzyme fertilizer, shred or chop the plant material of your choice and combine with brown sugar or molasses at a rate of 1 part plant scraps to 3 parts sweetener, and 10 parts warm filtered water. Combine the above ingredients in an airtight bottle, (a simple plastic soda bottle works well), and shake vigorously. If there are some plant scraps floating on the surface exposed to oxygen, then put some stones or other weight on top to prevent mold. Leave the bottle to stand in a cool dry place for the enzymes to start working. Open the cap once in a while to let the co2 out (if using citrus peels, this will be pleasant). After about 3 months, your enzyme fertilizer would be ready to be used in the garden. The enzyme fertilizer can be stored in a cool, dry place away from sunlight for 5 to 6 months.

Using Enzyme Fertilizer in the Garden and Beyond

For use as a fertilizer, dilute the enzyme liquid at a rate of 1 tablespoon to a gallon of water. Dilution ratios of 1:100/500/1000 all work well depending on the pH requirements of the plant. Since the undiluted enzymes are acidic, using a more concentrated fertilizer for acid-loving plants such as blueberries will be beneficial. Fertilize your plants with the diluted enzyme fertilizer once every one to two weeks. You will not need to wait long, soon your plants will be thriving, blooming, and fruiting with vigor.

The enzyme fertilizer can also be used as a great natural way of keeping your plants pest, fungus, and disease-free. Spray the diluted liquid on plants or add it to the surrounding soil to control pests and fungus as well as stimulate the plants to defend against diseases.

Undiluted enzyme fertilizer can also be added to compost or dug into the soil and will greatly improve both of them. Spraying enzyme fertilizer on unfertile land along with the addition of incorporated compost is a very effective way of transforming bare sandy soil into fertile loam.

Enzyme fertilizers are also very helpful in the home. Undiluted enzyme liquid can be used to clean and polish practically anything. It will effectively remove grease, dirt, and mold from a wide range of surfaces.

Citrus Peel Enzyme Fertilizer Recipe

Have you wondered what you can do with all your lemon, orange, and tangerine peels? Here is an excellent way of using them in the garden and beyond. My personal favorite, this recipe is especially wonderful because of its pleasant fragrance and the fact that it is done in winter when most citrus peels are abundant. Making your own citrus enzyme fertilizer is a nice project for the cozy home on winter days when there is not much to do in the garden, and the 3-month curing time will make it just ready for spring gardening.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (100 g) brown sugar
• 3 cups (300 g) citrus peels
• 4 1/2 cups (1 liter) of water

Mix sugar and water in a plastic bottle. Add the cut or shredded citrus peels and shake vigorously. Tightly close the cap and place it in a cool dry place for three months. Occasionally open the cap to let out the co2. After three months, the liquid will become dark brown and have a white film on top. Use the delightful smelling citrus enzyme fertilizer in keeping your garden pest- and disease-free, flourishing, and abounding with blooms and fresh harvest.

The post Enzymes for Plants: The Secret to Boosting Harvests and Blooms appeared first on Homestead.org.

What if we, homesteaders, landowners, and herb gardeners, became the sustainable change, and tossed the notion of the ideal lawn right out to the curb with the lawnmower? That’s right, when you plant a wildflower lawn, or let it pop up naturally, you will no longer need a mower. You can replace it with a scythe.

Soon you will be back in the land of hand tools, as you swap your lawn for a lush wildflower meadow that invites birds, bees, snakes, and insects you have never met before, right into your backyard.

Benefits of Wildflower Lawns

Protection of Biodiversity

As opposed to a few species in a lawn, you can grow many in a wildflower meadow. It all depends on your location, soil type, amount of sun and shade, but any number of plants past 20, and you are onto something good. Surpass 30 species and your new lawn is just about as diverse as it can get. The real challenge comes in identifying the many plants common to a wildflower lawn.

Here are some perennial plants to consider adding to your wildflower lawn to get you started:

• Butterfly weed – Asclepias tuberosa
• Queen of the Prairie – Filipendula rubra venusta
• Black Eyed Susan – Rudbeckia sp.
• Bloody Cranesbill or Hardy Geranium – Geranium sanguineum
• Echinacea – Echinacea purpurea
• Lupines – Lupinus perennis
• Daisies – Leucanthemum superbum

Plant a diversity of native wildflower seeds that are region-specific, and expect nothing. Some seeds may sit for longer than you would like, others will come up unexpectedly, whether they have been sitting dormant in the soil, or brought in by birds and other critters from distant lands.

Attract Pollinators

If you have an orchard on, or nearby, your homestead, likely you’ll be interested in beekeeping. You’ll also know that bee populations are in decline, you may have even heard about Colony Collapse Disorder. It is very real and very frightening, but there is something we can do about it: plant flowers, whole yards, and meadows of them, as we diversify the species that are in them.

See, all of these benefits of wildflower lawns flow into and out of each other. One simply serves to enhance the next, and it shows just how much the life cycle of a lawn is very one-sided. Who does it serve, other than your bare feet? Naturally, a grass lawn is better than bare soil, yet the earth desires to be covered in richness. To have luxurious richness, we need to attract pollinators and go full circle.

Wildlife Haven

If you wish for your lawn to provide a natural habitat for others, be ready to welcome larks, robins, warblers, finches, and even barn owls to your wildflower haven. Winged insects will fly in by the hundreds to take refuge from the stark, short-grass landscape that surrounds them, just as bees will find a diverse assortment of pollen to help them through the hardship of following the one-time blossom of mass agriculture.

But, it is not just about the bees, you’ll also be hosting moths, wasps, beetles, hoverflies, and bumblebees. All of these beneficial insects are essential if we aspire to have a bountiful crop of just about anything, and the more, the better. Rather than sticking to the concept of a conventional lawn, which feeds not more than grubs and acts as a habitat loss for all living creatures, invest in a wildflower lawn and you too will hear hedgehogs nibbling on fallen fruit during the night. On occasion, you may even see bats flying overhead, while out on your refreshing evening stroll.

Natural Beauty

As much as our eyes enjoy sameness, they also crave distraction. A wildflower lawn gives you a feast for the senses and so much more. Flowers will randomly pop up with their own variations of color. Large blossoms will stand proudly in the sun, while others will remain hidden underneath the layers, shyly hanging out and attracting pollinators.

The summer breeze will gently release the scents of blossoms, combining the fragrance of different species together. The fall winds will softly rattle the dry stalks of plants, and in winter, it will be the perfect backdrop for watching rabbits hop through your yard. Spring, of course, is where it all begins again, as the lawn turns from shades of tawny brown to hues of green, yellow, and purple.

Opportunities for Education and Recreation

A flourishing wildflower lawn has diversity in all shapes, sizes, and colors. It is the perfect place for the artist or the hidden painter in you. A wildflower meadow can also gain from the keen eye of a photographer, who, in turn, will educate onlookers with the help of a macro lens about the diversity of species and how magnificent our natural reality is.

Homeschoolers can also benefit from visiting such diverse lawnscapes, as they learn to identify new plants, butterflies, and insects, delving deeper into what it means to live with nature, not above it. Draw, sketch, get down on your knees and discover what is crawling all around. Then get familiar with easy to forage plants that can be made into herbal teas and healing salves: plantain, borage, dandelion, chicory, chamomile, poppy, and more.

Low Maintenance

Easy maintenance and low cost go hand in hand. Meadows are naturally drought tolerant, so there will be no more watering. Once they are established, they can take care of themselves, providing their own seeds—which means low input from you.

All you have to do is scythe it, or mow at the highest level your mower will allow, as little as twice a year. What to do with all that leftover grass and wildflower stems? We suggest you let it dry out sufficiently, as in making hay, and use it in your no-dig garden. Letting the grass grow long, is a win-win situation. The bees benefit from a diversity of pollen for much of the summer, and your garden gets mulched with it when the flowers are done.

Another benefit of wildflower lawns is that they will grow in nearly any type of soil, even nutrient-deficient areas. Leave it to nature and the worms will come in and restore the soil as the land becomes less and less disturbed.

Wildflower Lawns Promote Sustainability

Whereas a typical lawn has shallow roots, a meadow has a variety of root types that dig deep into the ground, bringing essential nutrients to the top of the soil. Once you learn to read your weeds as soil indicators, you’ll discover that they are actually beneficial next to the garden, as many insects prefer to dine on what grows wild.

It can also be said that wildflower lawns are beneficial in raising air quality, as they remove a range of pollutants from the air. Wildflower lawns also have amazing potential for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As we face a changing climate, any way and everywhere we can sequester carbon is a good place and time to do it.

When you factor in the reduced mowing time (even just once or twice a season!) and the removal of herbicides and pesticides to maintain your flourishing space, this will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution associated with having a “lawn”.

A Place of Tranquility

Earthing and forest bathing are two wonderful ways to restore and relax in nature; wildflower meadows are the next best thing. If you only have a small plot of land, you can create a wildflower oasis with little effort. Take out your wooden stool, early in the morning or close to sunset, and sit among the waving flowers and the buzzing/chirping insects. Feel, as you are, one with nature.

Green spaces provide long-term joy and wonderful benefits for our mental health, one only needs to feel it, breathe it in, and release it back out to believe it.

Are you ready to give up your lawn and return your land back to Mother Nature? She needs all the wildflowers and trees she can receive as we face an uncertain climate in the future. Who knows, you may even decide to allow your homestead to become a Certified Wildlife Habitat as you silently, and beautifully, prove that lawns, and traditional lawn care, are definitely a thing of the past.

The post 8 Benefits of Wildflower Lawns appeared first on Homestead.org.

Ancient people watched the Moon disappear and reappear in the sky, and they came to structure their world around its phases; they planted and harvested by her and even made her the center of their religious ceremonies.  To ancient people, the full Moon became a symbol of fertility, ovulation, and birth, and it’s a widely held belief even today that more births occur near a full moon than at any other time of the month.  The Moon affects every aspect of life here on Earth; its gravitational pull even moves the fluids in our own bodies; some physicians won’t even perform surgery during a full Moon, claiming the risk of increased bleeding is too great.

The Moon’s effect on Earth’s water was known even in the days of the Romans.  Plutarch, the Roman historian (c. 46 -120 AD) said, “The moon showeth her power most evidently in those bodies which have neither sense nor lively breath; for carpenters reject the timber of trees fallen in the full moon as being soft and tender, subject also to the worm and putrefaction, and that quickly by means of excessive moisture.”

Lunar Gardening Logic

The first Indian tribes that roamed the plains of America kept track of the seasons by giving every recurring full moon a special name, one for each month.  The Moon When Eyes Are Sore from Bright Snow was for February, The Fish Spoils Easily Moon was for June, and The Moon When the Wolves Run Together was for December. August was the Sturgeon Moon and November the Beaver Moon.

Black Elk, a famous Oglala Sioux medicine man, arranged a treaty signing with the United States during the Moon of the Falling Leaves (also November), and meetings of all the Lakota tribes took place during the Moon of the Changing Season (October).  The Indians saw the moon as a symbol for fate and time, and as the great Earth Mother.

People of old farmed, hunted, and shepherded according to the rhythms of the earth and moon; understanding how the two worked together was critical to their survival.  The moon in the night sky fascinated them, so they watched it, studied it, and learned how it coincided with their own environment.  They observed that during the full moon, tides, lakes, and rivers rose, then there was more water in the ground, planting during these times produced greater crop yields, and they surmised that the increased water content in the ground was the reason why.

If you desire to produce a garden that is in total harmony with Mother Nature and the cycles of life, one that won’t further pollute and offend our great Mother Earth, then you should consider lunar gardening.

Begin your study of the Moon by watching it:

The New Moon always rises at sunrise.

The 1st quarter rises at noon.

The Full Moon always rises at sunset.

The last quarter rises at midnight.

The cycle from one new moon to the next is about 29 ½ days long.  When you look up in the night sky and see the right side of the moon shining brightly, the moon is waxing, or growing in light; when you see the left side of the moon shining brightly, it’s waning, or decreasing in light.

To understand lunar gardening, a lot of sources must be considered; much of this information is obscured by the annals of history, and some is cloaked in myth.  Because of this, skepticism and doubt have been the scourge of this tried and true, yet ancient, system of gardening.

Following only the Sun in brightness, our Moon is the second-largest moon in the solar system.  Reflected sunlight is what makes the moon shine, and the moon’s phases are caused by the different angles from which we see the sunlit side of the moon.

The moon can come as close to Earth as 218,000 miles, causing reactions in our atmosphere, oceans, and Earth’s surface.  You have witnessed the moon’s most famous influence, the tides, as it pulls them to and fro.  As the moon orbits the Earth, it causes the tides to rise and fall, affects our air currents, and is a major factor in causing thunderstorms.  Not only are the tides pulled from side to side during the moon’s phases, but all water on the earth is put in motion; tides in rivers and lakes rise, the water that is on the earth’s surface, even the water in the cells of plants and in our own bodies, is affected.

Water absorption in the Earth is highest during a full moon when its gravitational pull is the greatest, and there’s a definite decline in the water on Earth during the new moon.  Even the cells in our own bodies have been shown to respond to the pull of the moon, and some surgeons won’t schedule surgeries during this time because the moon’s pull causes excess bleeding.

The Waxing and Waning Moon

The two basic lunar activities that you need to be concerned with if you want to garden by the moon are its waxing and waning, which are the two activities that make up the lunar month.

Both waxing and waning are designated by the new and full moon.  The moon is waxing, or growing in light, when it’s in the first and second quarters; you’ll know the moon is waxing when you see its right side lit up.

The moon is waning, or decreasing in light, when it’s in the third and fourth quarters; you’ll know the moon is waning when you see its left side lit up.

Also consider this: tides reach their highest point every 14.6 days, or twice a month.  Rainfall cycles mirror the tide cycles in response to the position of the moon, therefore you can look forward to the highest rainfall just after a new or full moon.  Take advantage of this when planning your garden.

The position of the moon in the sky is another factor to consider when planting by the moon, and there are two terms you need to know: Perigee and apogee.  When the moon is at perigee, it’s closest to the earth, and the tides are pulled 30% higher than they are when the moon is at apogee, or farthest from the earth.  If the tides are pulled higher, we can assume that the entire water table of the Earth is affected more strongly as well.

How the Moon Influences the Earth and Why Lunar Gardening Makes Sense

“We may achieve climate, but weather is thrust upon us.”  O’Henry.

When the moon is waxing, its gravitational pull on Earth’s water is greater, and there is more water to be had for plants.  When the moon is waning, Earth’s water is receding, and there is less of it for plants to take up into their root systems.  Any fruit or vegetable meant to be eaten immediately is best if harvested during a waxing moon, when water content is at its highest, and many farmers have found that crops harvested and stored during a waning moon, when the earth’s water content is lowest, keep better and for longer periods of time.

How to Take Advantage of the Waxing Moon

• Sow your lawn during a waxing moon, also plant wheat and grains.
• Sow leafy vegetables and flowers; they produce their yield above ground and don’t rely on extensive root development.
• If you want flowers that are beautiful and smell good, plant them in the first quarter of the waxing moon.
• Raspberries, blackberries, and gooseberries should be planted in the second quarter of the waxing moon.
• If the area where you live is in a drought, sow seeds when the moon is waxing, as close to the full moon as possible.
• Grafting should be done in the first or second quarter of the waxing moon, as well as transplanting and repotting of houseplants.
• Water your plants during a full moon.
• Harvest grapes that you plan to use in winemaking.
• Gather herbs that you intend to use for essential oils now; their oil content will be more concentrated.
• Water your compost heap.

How to Take Advantage of the Waning Moon

• Now is the time to sow crops that produce their yield below ground.  Root vegetables like beets, carrots, and potatoes are among these.
• Plant trees and saplings in the third quarter of the waning moon; this will encourage a strong root system.
• Kill weeds and thin out any plants that you need to now.  This is also a good time to prune.
• Perennials should be divided in the third or fourth quarter of a waning moon.
• Fertilize with potassium at the waning moon; this is when potassium absorption is at its peak.
• Harvest all crops that will need long-term storage, like cabbage, potatoes, and apples.
• Fruit trees should always be sprayed during the fourth quarter of a waning moon.
• Harvest flowers and seeds now that you plan to store until next year, dig herb roots, leaves, and bark that will be used for medicinal purposes as well.
• All drying activities should be done now, as well as spreading and turning compost.

Lunar gardening encompasses both the phases of the moon and the signs of the zodiac; many lunar gardeners simply study the moon and plant according to its phases.  But if you want to incorporate the signs into your planting, you need to know which phase the moon is in as well as which sign it’s passing through before you decide to plant.

For instance, if you’re planting crops that produce their yield above the ground, like okra and tomatoes, plant them when the Moon is in the first or second quarter and also when it is passing through a fruitful sign such as Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces.  The Moon moves through the zodiac signs, and each sign is associated with one of the four elements: fire, earth, water, or air.  Plants are believed to favor certain signs; for instance, flowers prefer air signs like Libra, Gemini, and Aquarius. The fire signs of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius are dry and barren, and are a good time to do your weeding.  Annual plants like the fertile water signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.

Of the twelve zodiac signs, all the fruitful and semi-fruitful signs are feminine, except Libra.  Libra is the exception to the rule; it’s a masculine air sign and is considered semi-fruitful.  You should consider planting in Libra when your goal is to produce beautiful plants.  The fruitful signs include Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces; the semi-fruitful signs include Taurus, Libra, and Capricorn.

The barren signs of the zodiac are all male signs, and they include Aries, Gemini, Leo, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Aquarius.  Virgo is the exception to the rule here; its symbol is the virgin, and a virgin is a non-producer, so it makes sense that it would be barren.  Libra, whose symbol is the scales, could be neutral, and this is why it’s not a good producer of anything except flowers and other ornamentals.  Libra is also good for seeds and things that produce seeds, like grain.

The Four-season Garden

The post Gardening by the Moon appeared first on Homestead.org.

The measurements below don’t need to be exact. Make as much or as little as you like; these are what I used for this batch.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the chips:

• 2 flour tortillas
• 2 T. melted butter
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 2T. sugar

For the salsa:

• 1 8-oz. can crushed pineapple (if you prefer fresh, add as much of the juice from the pineapple as you can, or a couple teaspoons of lemon or orange juice.)
• 1 tart apple (I used Granny Smith)
• 1 banana
• 1 c. raspberries
• 2 c. strawberries

First, make the chips.  Preheat the oven to 375.  Cut the tortillas into triangles or strips with a pizza cutter or sharp knife and brush the tops with melted butter.  Mix together your cinnamon and sugar and generously sprinkle it over the buttered tops. Bake for 8-10 minutes until crispy.

While the chips are baking, prepare the salsa.  First, add the pineapple with juice into a bowl.  Finely dice (about ¼-inch cubes) the apple, banana, and strawberries, stirring them into the pineapple as you go.  You can then add the raspberries whole (they will break up some in the salsa) or, as I did, you can smash them a little with your fingers or the back of your spoon.  Once you’ve combined all the fruits, mix them all together well, and there you have it!  Scoop out a warm chipful of cool summer and enjoy!

The post Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips appeared first on Homestead.org.

Figs, the oldest cultivated plant,  are originally from Southern Europe, Asia, and Africa.  Spanish Franciscan missionaries coming to set up Catholic missions in southern California brought them to North America.  There are hundreds of varieties, all having a soft flesh and tiny, edible seeds.  The most popular varieties available today are the green-skinned, white-fleshed Adriatic fig; the pear-shaped, violet-to brown-skinned Brown Turkey fig; the large, squat, white-fleshed, green-skinned Calimyrna fig; the medium, pear-shaped Celeste fig, with purple skin and pink pulp; the small, thick-skinned, yellow-green Kadota fig; and the purple-black Mission fig.

Figs grow well in Zones 8-10 without much protection.  There are cold-hardy cultivars for Zones 6 and 7.  For homesteaders north of Zone 6, don’t despair!  Figs lend themselves well to container cultivation.

Choosing the Right Tree

When you choose your tree, look for a cultivar that is adapted to your climate.  The varieties “Brown Turkey” and “Celeste” are excellent choices for colder climates.  If you are buying your tree online, make sure it is a self-pollinating variety.  Reputable nurseries will only sell self-pollinating varieties.

Planting a Fig Tree

Your young fig tree can be planted in your yard at any time of the year, although fall is often the less stressful time—for tree and gardener—to plant a tree.  To plant your tree, dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball in a sunny area that is fairly well protected from blustery winter winds.  Mulch the tree with compost and keep well watered during dry periods.  You can apply a seaweed-extract foliar spray or compost tea once a month during the growing season to keep the tree healthy and to encourage fruit production.

If you are growing your fig tree in a container, choose a large plastic container.  You want a planter large enough to support a tree.  Plastic will help reduce the weight of the plant, which is very important if you are going to have to move the tree to a protected area during winter.  Use organic potting soil and top-dress with compost.  Plant the tree at the same height as it grew at the nursery.  Set the pot in a spot that gets plenty of sunshine.  Make sure you do not let the container dry out completely, as this will stress the tree and dramatically reduce fruit production.  Water when the soil is dry an inch below the surface.  Move the container to an unheated but protected area, such as a garage or shed, for winter.  Continue to water them during their winter dormancy and bring them back outside once the last frost date passes and the weather warms.

You can protect cold-hardy cultivars when temperatures drop to 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and below, by encircling them with a hardware-cloth cage filled with straw.  This provides insulation but will not steam your tree.  Do not leave your fig trees unprotected in temperatures below 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Propagating Figs

There are two easy and free ways to grow your fig orchard.  First, as your tree grows you will notice suckers sprouting from the roots.  Use a shovel to remove them from the mother tree.  Immediately replant the suckers any place you would like to grow another fig tree.  You can expect to see figs growing from these suckers in two seasons.  Another way to propagate your fig tree is to bend a low-growing branch down and secure it to the ground with a U-shaped wire.  Cover lightly with soil.  Place a rock on top of the branch to keep the branch anchored and buried.  Once the branch has rooted, cut it from the mother tree with pruning shears.

Harvesting Figs

Depending on your climate and the cultivar you have chosen, your fruit will be ready to harvest between June and October.  In warm climates, you can expect to harvest twice a year.  You should get your first harvest in June and your second harvest in late summer.  Know what color your particular fig should be when ripe—some are brown, others gold, purple, or green.  The fruit will begin to hang down on the branch, change color, be soft to the touch and their skin may begin to split.  Watch for the birds—they seem to know when the figs are about to ripen.  You can protect your trees from birds with nets, by hanging aluminum pans on the branches, or you can just share with the birds.  Gently twist the ripe fig off the branch. Avoid getting the milky sap on your skin—it can be an irritant for some and it is sticky on everyone!  Let the figs cool slightly indoors before putting them in the refrigerator.  Make sure you check your fig stash daily.  One fig gone bad can spoil the whole bunch.

Enjoying the Harvest

Figs are delicate but will keep up to a week in the refrigerator.  Peel and eat them as is, right off the tree, for a delicious treat.  You can also peel them and use them on cereal, ice cream, or yogurt.  For a quick breakfast or healthy snack, drizzle some honey over fresh peeled figs and serve with milk or cream.  Fresh figs are also a tasty and beautiful addition to simple green salads.

Preserving Figs

If you have a bumper harvest, you can simmer them in a small amount of water, or fresh lemon juice, and honey for twenty minutes.  Mash them into a puree and freeze.  You can use this fig puree as a filling for layer cakes and cookies, a topping for ice cream, or a quick spread for biscuits or pancakes.

Figs can also be dried.  Because of their high water content, it is sometimes difficult to sun-dry figs.  It works much better, with more consistent results, to use a food dehydrator for figs.  Once dried, you can use in homemade granola, eat them straight out of the bag like candy, or rehydrate them to use in baking recipes.  Dried figs lend themselves well to spiced cakes and quick breads.

There are also several ways to can figs.  Of course, you can preserve them whole or make jams, but if you want a fig recipe that wows, try making fig mostarda.  Mostardas are Italian fruit mustards.  They can be made with all types of fruit, but the fig mostarda is really a winner.

Fig Mostarda

• 2 ½ c.sugar
• 1 c. water
• ½ c. dry white wine
• 2 lbs. fresh figs, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 T. bottled lemon juice
• 3 T. dry mustard powder
• 2 T. mustard seeds

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water and 1/4 cup of white wine.  Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until syrup is clear and slightly reduced, about five minutes.  Add the figs and lemon juice. Reduce the mixture to a simmer and cook for about thirty minutes, until figs are translucent and the mixture is thick.  Remove from heat.  In a small saucepan, whisk together the remaining ¼ cup wine, mustard powder, and mustard seeds.  Cook this mixture over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick and smooth, about three minutes.  Add the mustard mixture to the syrup mixture.  Whisk to combine.

Ladle hot fig mostarda mixture into hot, sterilized canning jars, leaving half an inch of headspace.  Poke a skewer to the bottom of each jar several times to release any trapped air bubbles.  Place a sterilized lid on each jar, and ring, tightening to “finger tight”.  Place in the canner, covering the jars with two inches of water and bring to a boil.  Once water begins its boil, process in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes.

Remove the processed jars and place on a folded towel on the countertop.  Leave undisturbed for 24 hours.  Press the center of each lid to make sure it has sealed properly.  Once sealed, this will store for up to one year.   If a jar does not seal, store in the refrigerator.

Fig mostarda is a delicious condiment when served with roasted beef, lamb, or pork.  It is a fantastic way to preserve an abundance of figs, and it makes a yummy and thoughtful gift from your homestead.  Fig mostarda commands a nice price at local farmers’ markets and specialty shops, and it looks lovely stacked next to bags of fresh figs.

I encourage you to seriously consider adding figs to your homestead.  They make a beautiful addition to any property, are easy to plant and maintain, and earn their keep with harvest after harvest of delicious fruit.

Put a Little Wolf Song in Your Life

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In 1985, my family moved to a small farm in Sharpsburg, Maryland. The wooden-frame house was built sometime around the turn of the 20th century, and I’m guessing it was about this time that the owners planted sugar maple trees around the front and sides of the house. We moved there in August when the daytime temps were in the 90s, yet there was no need for air conditioning. The large canopies of the maple trees blocked the sunlight and kept the house cool all summer.

(We were sad to lose one of the maples to a lightning strike one summer, and years later, we lost another one that had begun to crack and break up from old age. The trunk on that one was as wide as our front door, and some of the lower limbs were a foot in diameter. We got several cords of firewood out of the wood, which kept our wood stove fed for a couple of winters.)A good landscaping plan can make a home significantly more energy-efficient. Strategically placed trees and shrubs can do double duty, providing cooling shade in summer and insulation against heat loss in winter. According to the U.S Department of Energy, properly selected, placed, and maintained landscaping can reduce household energy bills by as much as 25 percent. While landscaping can involve a significant expenditure up front, it will pay for itself over the long haul in lower energy bills.

Landscaping strategies for conserving energy depend largely on where you live. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, shown below, divides North America into 11 planting zones to help homeowners determine the best landscaping choices for their region. Each growing zone is 10°F warmer (or colder) in an average winter than the adjacent zone. If you see a recommended hardiness zone in a gardening catalog or plant description, chances are it refers to this map.

Create an Effective Windbreak to Reduce Winter Heating Costs

Landscape windbreaks, such as a row of trees or a hedge, are commonly dense evergreen trees and shrubs. A row or hedge of evergreens is preferable to deciduous trees for blocking the wind because their mature heights in relation to typical home heights are ideal for wind blockage. They are also dense enough to stop most of the wind and have foliage that extends to the ground. In addition to planting banks of large trees and shrubs, planting smaller shrubs next to a home further reduces the impact of wind. The figure below illustrates a typical plan for windbreaks.

Plant Deciduous Trees Around the House to Reduce Summer Cooling Costs

When the summer sun beats down on your home, blasting the air conditioner or running ceiling fans are the only ways to cool your house. Fans don’t use much electricity, particularly if set to a low speed, but they just move the air around rather than cool it. Air conditioning, on the other hand, uses a lot of electricity. If you’re like me and want to run the air conditioning as little as possible, a good landscaping plan can, over time, help to lower summer cooling costs. The cooling provided by an even partially-shaded house means a lower energy footprint and more green in your wallet.

Trees planted on the west and south sides of the house provide the greatest savings since they provide shade from the afternoon’s hottest summer sunlight. Deciduous trees are better than non-deciduous (evergreens) trees, as they will lose their leaves in the fall and allow what sunshine there is to effectively do the opposite and provide more warmth to the home. Be sure to plant trees that are tall enough to shade the roof, windows, and walls for the months of June, July, and August.

The ideal shade tree is 25- to 50-feet tall with a big canopy. A tree that size will partially shade the roof of a one-story home, but will not reach an unmanageable size. As a general rule of thumb, large trees should not be placed closer than 15 feet from the foundation so the roots won’t cause a problem with the foundation. Keep in mind how big the trees will get at maturity so they will be properly spaced and provide the desired shade.

Smaller trees and shrubs also have a role to play in energy conservation. They can be planted closer to the house than tall trees to shade east- and west-facing walls and windows in the morning and afternoon when the sun is lower. Spreading evergreen shrubs with dense foliage, such as yews or junipers, planted close to the house, can fill in rapidly to shade walls and windows (as a bonus, these shrubs can provide sheltering places for birds in harsh weather or a quick place to hide from aerial predators.) In wet and humid areas, avoid planting up against the house so air can circulate freely. Check with your local extension office or garden center before buying a landscape shrub for advice on species that are invasive or prone to serious pest or disease problems in your area.

The high cost of home heating and air conditioning is pushing more homeowners to explore ways to reduce home energy use. Outdoor landscape plants—which help control erosion and are pleasing in themselves—can play a large part in controlling household energy use. For that reason, it’s important to consider the entire landscape plan in relation to energy conservation on the homestead.

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Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 large red onion
• 1 teaspoon sugar or sweetener
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-2 cups rice vinegar, white wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar

The following are optional and adjustable to your taste.  Use as much or as little as you like, or none at all.

• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 5-10 black peppercorns
• 5-10 allspice berries
• 3 springs of thyme
• 1-3 small dried chilies

Start out by putting 6-8 quarts of water on to boil.

While you wait for the water, slice the onions in thin rings or half-moons and place in a colander or strainer in the sink.

Place the herbs and spices you have chosen in the bottom of an airtight pint-size container, such as a canning jar, and set aside.

Mix the sugar, salt, and vinegar together and also set aside.

Once the water boils, slowly pour it over the onions to lightly blanch them.

Carefully pack the onions into your jar (they’ll be a little hot) and cover with the vinegar solution.  If the onions aren’t completely covered, add enough vinegar to do so.

Cover tightly, give a good shake, and refrigerate.

They’ll be good after 30 minutes, but even better the longer they sit in the fridge.  I made mine a month ago and they’re still crunchy and even more delicious.

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The worst place I ever got poison ivy was in my belly button. At that time, I had one of the worst cases of poison ivy that I had ever experienced. Angry, red rashes that resembled chemical burns were plastered all over my body, but the little rash inside my belly button was the worst. When I got hot or moved the wrong way, the folds of my belly button rubbed together exacerbating the awful burning itch exponentially.

The amazing thing was that I hadn’t come into contact with any poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac plants for the previous few days. My husband and I had been on a camping/canoeing trip, and I had been very careful not to expose myself to the plants.

Unlike me, my husband does not get poison ivy, oak, or sumac. He can roll in it and not get so much as a bump. So when we came to our riverside campsite and found that the tree under which we wanted to pitch our tent was covered with an old, dead, fuzzy-looking poison ivy vine, I told my husband we’d have to find another site. My husband liked the seclusion of the spot and so went to work ripping the old vine down with his bare hands and tossing it far into the woods beyond. I watched from a safe distance. Now that the threat of the plant was gone, neither of us thought anymore about it. As far as we were concerned, the matter was taken care of, I was safe, and we worked together setting up our campsite. The trip was wonderful, but two days later, I was in utter agony. So how did I end up with such a bad case of contact dermatitis from a plant I didn’t even touch?

My husband gave it to me.

In order to understand how, you need to understand the nature of the poisonous triplets: poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. These three plants all contain a resin known as urushiol [oo-roo-shee-awl]. This oil is the culprit that causes the angry, red rashes. Anytime this oil comes in contact with the skin, it will attach itself to the outer layer of skin cells and to the layer of live cells below. In approximately 85% of people, this will cause an allergic reaction. The degree of your rash will depend on your sensitivity.

Urushiol is just as potent outside of the plant as it is inside the poisonous triplets. So you do not have to come in direct contact with any plants. If you touch an object that has urushiol on it, it will still cause contact dermatitis. That is how my husband gave it to me. Once he touched the vine he had urushiol on his hands. Everything he touched from there became contaminated, until he washed his hands. The camp ax, our towels, our life vests, the camping gear, the cooking utensils were all compromised. If he touched something, handed it to me, and I grabbed the area that he touched, my hands were contaminated. Once my hands were contaminated, every time I touched a part of my body, I got urushiol on it.

The tricky thing about urushiol is that the same patch of oil can reinfect you time and time again. So if you were weed eating and urushiol got sprayed on your shoelaces from hitting a poison ivy plant, it can get on your hands every time you tie your shoes. Last year’s garden gloves, with which you pulled weeds, could still be contaminated. Pets that run through plants can get the oil on their coats. Contaminated clothing can transfer the oil to furniture. It is possible for urushiol to remain active on surfaces for years. Until contaminated items, or pets, are washed, they can infect a sensitive person.

Once the oil touches you it can take between 12 to 48 hours for a rash to develop. The length of time it takes for the rash to appear varies depending on the sensitivity of your skin. Rashes resulting from the same incident of contact may take different lengths of time to develop. For example, if your hand comes in contact with urushiol, and then you touch your face, the rash on your face may develop two days before the one on your hand will. This is because the skin on your hands tends to be thicker, and therefore less sensitive, than the skin on your face.

Poison Ivy Myths

The characteristics of urushiol have given rise to a few myths about poison ivy, oak, and sumac.

Myth # 1: Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac rashes are contagious from person to person or from one spot of your body to another. If you touch the rash in one part of your body it will transfer to another part of your body.

Myth #2: Poison ivy, oak, and sumac can travel through your bloodstream to produce new rashes.

Myth #3: Popping the blisters on a rash will release more urushiol that will spread the rash.

Poison ivy is spread through the dissemination of the urushiol resin. Wherever the resin has touched a sensitive person’s body, the rash will spring up. Because there can be a delay of 12 to 48 hours, it can seem as if a person is doing something to cause it to spread even after it has been washed off the skin. Blisters are the body’s reaction to the oil and do not contain urushiol.

Myth #4: Drinking poison ivy tea or eating it will make me immune.

Consuming any of the poisonous triplets will only give you some very nasty gastrointestinal problems and could cause death in some cases. These plants are not safe for human consumption.

Myth #5: I can’t touch the leaves of poison ivy, but I can touch the stem.

Myth #6: Poison ivy is safe to touch in the winter.

All parts of the poisonous triplets contain urushiol, so, if you are allergic, neither the leaves, the stems, or the roots are safe for you to touch with bare skin. The poisonous triplets contain their highest amounts of urushiol in the spring and summer. Wintertime may lessen the amount of urushiol in their surviving plant parts, but it is still there, capable of giving contact dermatitis even in the coldest temperatures. Not even dead plants are safe to touch.

Once you come in contact with the oil, most people usually have a window of opportunity to wash it off before they become affected. Opinions vary on the length of this window, but the shortest one is about ten minutes. If you know you have come in contact with one of the poisonous triplets, wash the area as soon as you can.

There are many suggested methods of washing urushiol off your skin. Using soap, dishwashing detergent, rubbing alcohol, vinegar, commercial cleansers, and mineral spirits are all possibilities that can aid in removing the offending resin. Washing with hot water will open skin pores and possibly allow the urushiol to penetrate deeper so use cool water instead. The most important thing is that you get the oil off your skin without spreading it to other parts of your body.

But what about those times when you are out in the woods, ten miles away from the nearest sink, and you don’t have any rubbing alcohol, mineral spirits, or even soap with you? If all you have is a water bottle, you can get some of the urushiol off with that. It may not be 100 % effective, but it will help. Recalling folk remedies of using mud to draw poisons from a body, I personally have used it and puddle or creek water to get the oil off when I had nothing else. It was effective. I just gently smoothed soft watery mud over the affected area and then rinsed it off. I would avoid hard rubbing or using sand as this might create scratches in your skin, therefore making it more welcoming for the urushiol to soak in.

Relief for Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and Poison Sumac: The Poisonous Triplets

If you have a rash, despite your efforts to avoid the plants and the urushiol, many methods exist for you to choose from to alleviate your pain. There are many over-the-counter washes that can aid in treating and soothing your rash. In most pharmacies, they even have their own section. Just ask your pharmacist where they are. If you have any drug allergies, double check with your pharmacist to make sure it is ok for you to use the product.

When you live far away from a pharmacy, or when a rash springs up during an inconvenient time, a home remedy may help. If you prefer a home remedy you can see which of these suits you: salt, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, vodka, oil of oregano, osha-root tincture, a baking soda paste, aloe vera, soaking in oats, witch hazel, or tea tree oil. Methods of application for all of these are easily found on the Internet. As with most home remedies, trial and error will help you determine what is most effective for you.

All of those may be fairly well-known, but there are two Appalachian folk-remedies that may be of interest: coffee and jewelweed.

Washing the poison ivy rash with cold, plain, black coffee is one old remedy. The interesting thing to note is that an anti-inflammatory, chlorogenic acid, is contained in the coffee bean. Although not proven by scientific studies, some people have found relief from it.

Jewelweed is another remedy that is a personal favorite of mine. Jewelweed grows in abundance in our area. We find it around the moist, shady banks of creeks and streams. Also known as the “Touch Me Not”, this plant produces yellow to orange flowers with red spots that look like pendants, or slippers. If you do not know this plant, it is well worth getting acquainted with. According to Peterson’s Field Guide for Medicinal Plants and Herbs, a 1957 study found that out of 115 people treated, 108 found it effective. This plant contains a compound called lawsone in its leaves. Lawsone is an anti-inflammatory and an antihistamine.

Some people drink the leaf-tea as a preventative for poison ivy. Although I cannot attest to jewelweed tea’s efficacy in rash prevention, I can say my family and I have found jewelweed very effective in soothing that horrid, burning itch. Because the plant is not available year round, but poison-ivy rashes are, I have made herbal salve from jewelweed that has proven very useful. I made this particular batch at least two years ago, and according to my son, it was still effective this very morning.

Jewelweed Salve Recipe

• 1 to 2 stalks of jewelweed, chopped
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil (any kind except olive, which burns when heated)
• beeswax
• 2 vitamin E caplets

Gently simmer the chopped stalks of jewelweed in the oil for approximately five to ten minutes.

Strain the mixture through a coffee filter or clean cloth.

Put mixture in clean, empty baby food jar or 1/2 cup mason jar.

Place mason jar in a pot or pan of water, making double-boiler or water bath.

Add contents of two capsules of vitamin E (poke the capsule with a sharp knife or needle and squeeze into the jar.) Stir to mix.

Grate beeswax and place in jar.

Heat and stir gently until beeswax is melted

Test consistency by taking a small amount out on a spoon and letting it cool. If the consistency is too runny for your tastes simply add more beeswax.

Store in the refrigerator.

I left my concoction a bit runny. When in the refrigerator, it is rather hard and I often use a fork to help me separate a chunk for use. Once in my hands, it begins to melt and I rub it straight onto the rash. Although the vitamin E helps to preserve the salve, like anything in your refrigerator, it can turn moldy over time, so inspect it before each use.

If you do not have the ingredients to make the entire salve, I have found sources that said some people found relief by making a tea and freezing it into ice cubes. Rub an ice cube over the rash to help soothe the rash.

Prevention offers the best protection to those of us who are sensitive urushiol. Getting rid of plants in areas of your yard where you or your pets can come in contact with it is important.

There are several commercial herbicides that will take care of offending plants. However, for those of us that do not want to use them, there are a few other options. One method is to find someone like my husband and have them rip out the whole plant, roots and all. If you have to try to do it yourself, wear thick disposable gloves. Put the ripped up plants in a trash bag; be very careful handling the trash bag after you put the plants in them. Remember that once you touch the plant, you’ve got urushiol on you. If you then touch the trash bag, it will have urushiol on it.

Even though it may be very tempting, do not burn the plants. Doing so can cause the urushiol to become airborne. Inhaling it can cause serious respiratory tract problems and even death.

Another method of getting rid of the poisonous triplets is to employ a goat. There are many animals that are not affected by eating poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac. That could be the one saving grace of these plants: they feed wildlife, such as deer that graze on the leaves and birds that eat the berries.

My misadventures with poison ivy have guided me to learn more about urushiol and how it works. The knowledge leaves me forearmed. Although I would like to live a life free from worry of the poisonous triplets, I know I can’t. I won’t always be able to control who touches what and when they touch it. However, now I feel confident that I can deal well with the wicked three (and their hell-spawned urushiol), and teach my family to do the same.

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North America is home to 47 species of bats. Most are insect-eaters, the exception being three species found in Arizona, California, and Texas that feed on nectar and pollen. Texas holds the title of “battiest” state in the union—32 bat species call the Lone Star State home at various times of the year. According to Bat Conservation International, bats make up about one-fifth of the world’s mammal population.

They are nocturnal, hunting in the dim hours between sunset and sunrise. Contrary to popular perception, bats are not blind. They can see, though most bat species use a form of sonar known as echolocation, a sensory system where they literally hear their way through the night sky, crying out through the darkness in high-pitched (ultrasonic) noises and listening for the echoes to return. The sound waves bounce off insects and solid objects and send back a “picture” of sorts that helps the bat navigate in the dark.

As the primary predators of night-flying insects, bats are critical to reducing insect pest populations, including those pesky mosquitoes that take some of the fun out of being outdoors in the summer, and bring us such mosquito-borne diseases as West Nile and Zika virus, among others. Bats on the homestead, and around the world, are part of a healthy ecosystem and integral to the balance of nature. Without them, we would be overrun with insect pests and forced to use more and stronger pesticides that also kill beneficial insects like bees, ladybugs, and dragonflies.

Brown and Red Bats

The most common of native North American species, the big brown bat, is found in every part of the country except for the southern portions of Florida and Texas. Russet to dark brown in color, this bat averages between four and five inches in length with a wingspan of about 13 inches. Their favorite roosts include attics, barns, bell towers, behind window shutters, and man-made bat houses. These efficient feeders prey on a wide variety of nocturnal insects including June bugs, flies, beetles, moths, and mosquitoes.

Little brown bats look a lot like big browns, but smaller, between three and three and a half inches long. Common throughout most of the country, they can be identified on the wing by their swift, erratic flight. They voraciously consume thousands of insects in one outing, eating as many as 1,000 insects in an hour! Mated females form maternity colonies inside abandoned buildings, hollow trees, rock crevices, or similar areas. Males and unmated females roost under shingles, the eaves of buildings, loose tree bark, and rock outcroppings.

Every summer, a small number of little brown bats take up residence in our porch eaves. Over the last few years, we let our property grow up to create a diversity of food, habitat, and cover to attract bats and other wildlife. Our neighbor’s pond helps to lure bats to the homestead by attracting many of the water-breeding insects on their menu. We embrace these insect-eating machines that spend their nightly forays dining on mosquitoes, stink bugs, moths, beetles, and a host of other insect pests. In fall, when the nights start getting colder and insects get hard to find, our furry visitors fly off to their winter hibernation site to wait for spring.

One of North America’s most colorful bats, the eastern red bat, ranges in color from rusty red to yellow-brown. Long, pointed ears and swift flight at low levels mark this bat as it forages for crickets, flies, beetles, and cicadas. They are known for congregating around corn cribs, where, much to the delight of farmers, they feast on grain moths. Red bats are found in wooded areas east of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to as far south as central Florida, roosting in trees where they resemble dead leaves or pine cones.

Free-tailed and Long-nosed Bats

The Mexican free-tailed bat is found at lower elevations throughout California, across southern Nevada, and southern Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of Oklahoma. Colonies are also found throughout the southeastern U. S. from Mississippi down through Florida and over to South Carolina. Their colonies can number in the millions. Besides caves, free-tailed bats roost in culverts, old buildings, tunnels, and under bridges. With their long, narrow wings, Mexican free-tailed bats are speedsters in the bat world, designed for fast, long-distance flight. They get their name from their tail, which extends freely beyond the membrane connecting their tail to their hind legs.

When hungry free-tails come out at sundown, humans reap the benefit. In central Texas, for example, 100 million free-tailed bats emerge from Bracken Cave every night to cruise over lawns, gardens, farm fields, and orchards, gobbling up insect pests. According to Fran Hutchins, director of the Bracken Cave Preserve, “As the bats munch their way through nearly 300,000 pounds of bugs each and every night during the growing season, they provide a huge service to U.S. agricultural communities.” And that’s not all. Studies revealed that these free-tailed bats were eating 44 different agricultural pests, 20 of which are migratory, meaning that the bats are having an invisible effect, intercepting vast insect migrations from reaching downwind crop areas, places that may never see bats.

Long-nosed bats are a keystone species in the Sonoran Desert ecosystem of the southwestern U.S. The bat’s head shape and long tongue allow it to delve into flower blossoms and extract both pollen and nectar. As they travel from flower to flower, they transfer pollen that becomes attached to their bodies, which causes the plants to produce fruit. Worldwide, over 500 species of plants rely on bats for pollination, many of which we use for food and medicine. In addition, bees, moths, lizards, and many birds depend on plants pollinated by long-nosed bats, either for food or shelter. If they were to disappear, there would be a serious disruption to the region’s ecosystem.

Special Needs

Because bats have highly-specialized habitat requirements, they do not adjust well to environmental changes. Most produce only one offspring per breeding season, and they often live in large colonies that can be wiped out in a single catastrophe, leaving them extremely vulnerable to extinction. With many species suffering population declines due to loss of roosting habitat, loss of wetlands (which serve as insect-breeding grounds), and pesticide poisoning, homesteaders can do their part to encourage bats by making their landscape more bat-friendly.

Welcoming bats to the homestead will pay dividends in terms of organic pest control. These winged wonders play an important role in nature’s systems of checks and balances. In a healthy, diverse ecosystem, for every insect pest we might find, there is a natural predator. One of these is the silent hunter of the night, the underappreciated bat.

How You Can Help Bats on the Homestead

 As more and more land is gobbled up by development every day, bats are losing suitable habitat. People can help provide these useful creatures with places to live and feed by making a few adaptations to their landscape.

• Bats will live in man-made bat houses if they are placed on a south-facing structure away from natural predators. Bat houses and kits can be purchased online, or you can make your own using plans from Bat Conservation International.
• Bats prefer habitat with a mix of open and wooded areas. Plant a variety of perennials, herbs, and night-blooming flowers like moonflower, yucca, datura, evening primrose, cleome, nicotiana, night-blooming jessamine to lure nocturnal insects.
• Bats are drawn to aquatic areas, where insect populations tend to be greater. Adding a pond or wetland to your landscape will help to ensure lucrative foraging for bats. They will also make use of a birdbath.
• Avoid using pesticides that can harm nontarget organisms such as bats and other wildlife. Some pesticides are more “environmentally friendly” than others, and should be considered for sites where bats are known to forage.

Going Bats! The Benefits of Bat Houses on Your Homestead

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Acorns

Acorns have been harvested for many years by the Native Americans and were known as “grain from trees.” It is believed that many more millions of tons of acorns have been consumed by humans than wheat, rice, and other grains. The nutritional benefits of acorns are many: they contain complex carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals and they are very effective at controlling blood sugar levels. They have low sugar content but leave a pleasantly sweet aftertaste and are also low in fat (for a nut) but high in fiber. Acorns can be ground into a flour or used in stews as a thickener.

One drawback of the acorn is that it tastes bitter due to the tannic acid it contains. This bitterness varies from species to species; Red Oaks (the leaves with the pointed tips) tend to be the most bitter and require more leaching whereas acorns from White Oaks (leaves with rounded lobes, pictured here) usually need little or no processing.

The nuts will be ready to harvest in September to October; just be sure to get them before the squirrels and other wildlife arrive. Lay them out in a sunny place to dry and to kill any insect eggs or spread them in a single layer on cookie sheets and bake on low for an hour or so. Then comes shelling—pop the cap off and crack with pliers or a nutcracker until the yellowish nutmeat can be reached. Place the nutmeat into boiling water and boil until the water is dark brown (about ten minutes), strain, place in another pot of already boiling water; continue until the nutmeat is no longer bitter (about three to four water changes). The moist nut meat can be used right away in cooking but if you are looking to save it or turn it into flour, dry it in a dehydrator or in a low oven. Acorn flour should be stored in a refrigerator or freezer since the oils in it can make it go rancid.

By the way, the dark water from the leaching process is full of tannin and can be used for all sorts of things. It can be used as a dye for clothing if combined with a fixer and it can also be used as laundry detergent. Add a couple of cups to each load of wash but this is best avoided with whites. The water is also medicinal—it is antiseptic and antiviral and can be used to help with skin irritations like poison ivy and rashes, gargled for sore throats, used as a tea for diarrhea, and it helps externally with hemorrhoids. And, as the name suggests, it can be used to “tan” animal skins.
Apache Acorn Cakes by Jackie Clay

• 1 cup acorn meal, finely ground
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup honey
• pinch of salt

Mix the ingredients with enough warm water to make a moist, but not sticky, dough. Divide into 12 balls. Let rest, covered, for 10 minutes or so. With slightly moist hands, pat the balls down into thick tortilla-shaped breads. Cook on an ungreased cast iron griddle; you’ll have to lightly peel an edge to peek and see if they are done. They will be slightly brown. Turn them over and cook on the other side.

Modern Pemmican by Jackie Clay

• 1 lb. lean stewing meat, cut quite small
• 1/2 cup dehydrated wild plums or berries
• 1/2 cup acorn meal

Boil the lean stewing meat. When it is tender, drain and allow it to dry in a bowl. Grind all of the ingredients together in a meat grinder using a fine blade. Grind again, mixing finely, distributing the ingredients very well. Place in a covered dish and refrigerate overnight. (Or you can eat right away, but like many foods, refrigerating allows the flavors to blend nicely.) You can serve this on any flatbread, such as a tortilla. It is best served warm; you can reheat it in the pan in the oven like a meatloaf.

Puffball Mushrooms

Puffball mushrooms are good for the beginning forager because they are one of the easiest to safely identify. As the name implies, these mushrooms look like giant, white puffballs and once they are mature, any outside pressure will cause the spores to eject in a puff (don’t breathe in the spores as they can irritate airways). The best time and place to look for these mushrooms is after a warm, rainy day in the late summer or fall in fields, lawns, or on dead wood. Be sure that the mushroom is pure white throughout, with a consistency of cream cheese, and that there is no wet-dog smell, soft spots, worm holes, insects, yellow color inside, or powdery spores.

While larger puffballs are easy to identify, smaller puffballs could be confused with some other mushrooms. Immature amanitas look similar, but an amanita will have a stem and gills when cut open whereas the puffball will have neither. An immature stinkhorn will have layers of slime inside—fortunately, puffballs will not. Finally, poisonous earthballs begin small and white, but they are hard, and will remain hard as they eventually become black inside.

Puffballs have an earthy, pleasant flavor that can withstand most forms of cooking; they can be sautéed, simmered in soups, and baked in casseroles. Cooking times is about 7-15 minutes.

Puffball Marinara Sauce with Ramps from The Wild Vegan Cookbook by Steve Brill

• 1/4 cup olive oil, or as needed
• 6 cups wild leek (ramp) leaves or scallions
• 3 onions, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, sliced
• 2 cups puffballs or other mushrooms
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 3 26-oz. jars of tomato sauce
• 3/4 cups any wild or commercial wine
• 2 tbs. fresh basil or 2 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tbs. bayberry leaves or bay leaves, enclosed in a tea bag or tea ball if desired
• 1 tbs. parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper, ground
• 1/2 tbs. oregano, ground
• 1 tsp. sage, ground
• 1/2 tsp. rosemary, ground

1. Sauté the wild leeks, onions, celery, mushrooms, and garlic in olive oil over medium heat 10 minutes or until the onions are lightly browned, stirring often.

2. Meanwhile, bring the remaining ingredients to a boil over medium heat in a large saucepan, stirring often.

3. Add sautéed ingredients, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, covered, 1 hour.

4. Remove bayberry leaves.

Use with pasta, vegetables, loaves, or burgers. Makes 12 cups.

Ramps

Food writer Jane Snow once described the flavor of ramps “like fried onions with a dash of funky feet.” Ramps, or wild leeks, are a big deal here in southern Appalachia. Friends and neighbors surprise each other with brown bags full of ramps when a wild patch is found and entire festivals are held in honor of one of the first wild edibles to appear in the early springtime. Classrooms may become more stifling, not just because of springfever, but also because of the odor of ramps emanating from the students who have been indulging.

But ramps taste wonderful—a strong mix of onion and garlic. Even the smell is sometimes described as “strongly onion” or “strongly garlic” (and be sure that the plant you are looking to harvest does smell strongly, as the lily of the valley can look similar but is not edible). They are found in early spring, around April here in North Carolina, and are widespread along the Appalachian mountains and are found in smaller quantities in southern Canada. The bulbs look similar to scallions but their leaves are flat and broad. They can be used in any dish that calls for scallions or leeks (though you may want to use less of them than is called for until you’re used to the flavor) but traditionally, ramps are fried with potatoes, eggs, and/or bacon. An additional bonus is that ramps are considered a spring tonic (and science has shown that they contain high levels of selenium and sulfur).

Ramps with Bacon and Hard-boiled Eggs from Diane Rattray

• 1 pound ramps
• 4 to 6 slices bacon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 hard-cooked eggs

Cut cleaned ramps into 1-inch pieces; boil in salted water for 3 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, fry bacon in a heavy skillet until just crisp. Remove bacon and dice.

Drain parboiled ramps and place in hot bacon fat. Season with salt and pepper to taste and fry until tender. Serve garnished with bacon and boiled eggs, chopped or thinly sliced. Serves 4 to 6.

Berries

Yum, berries are one of the foragers’ favorites. It’s probably not necessary to go into the wonderful foraged food sources of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries—those are known to many. But most people don’t stop to consider the edibility of some other common berries, ones that might be sitting like jewels right next to the blueberries you’re already collecting.

Elderberries

Elderberries like to grow in rich, moist soil and can be found growing throughout the U.S. and Canada. They used to be planted on homesteads because of their food gifts and because they’re believed to ward off evil spirits and lightning, but now they are mostly wild plants. They’re usually a shrub of about five feet tall but can grow into tree heights of thirty feet. In June and July, tiny white blossoms on umbels appear. These can be harvested and are often turned into elder-flower fritters—just dip into pancake batter and deep fry.

Elderberries, however, are most delicious when they ripen into blue-black berries in late summer. Do not eat elderberries raw, avoid using the stems, roots, or leaves, and avoid the elders with red berries. But definitely harvest the ripe black berries and use them for elderberry wine (in fact, the liqueur Sambuca is flavored with elderberries). Many also claim that elderberries make the best pies.

Elderberries are an incredibly medicinal plant as well. Use the flowers and/or dried berries for teas that cure a wide range of ailments or make a medicinal syrup out of berries; the teas and syrups are highly effective for boosting the immune system and fighting colds and flu.

Elderberry Pie

Preheat oven to 350. Make a double pie crust. Mix one quart ripe elderberries thoroughly with one heaping cup of sugar, one tablespoon cornstarch, one tablespoon lemon juice or cider vinegar, and three tablespoons of melted butter. Pour them in the bottom crust. Cover with the top crust. Press the top and bottom crusts together, make some slits in the top to let steam escape, and bake the pie until golden.

Chokecherries (or Wild Cherry)

Not the most appetizing name around, for sure. But chokecherries are so abundant, and can be so delicious, that it would be a shame to not make use of this free foraged food source. Some believe that this large shrub/small tree is the most widely distributed tree in North America, ranging from the Arctic Circle down to Mexico and from coast to coast.

While the chokecherry prefers rich, moist soil, it can also be found in poor, dry soil, in open woodlands, near homesteads, and is even cultivated as an ornamental that attracts birds. One mistake that may cause people to turn down the chokecherry is picking the pea-sized fruits before they are ripe. The fruits should be dark purple, almost black, without a hint of red. Even then, it’s best to let them continue to ripen for a week, if you can keep the wildlife away. If the fruit is harvested too soon, it is very tart and astringent.

Chokecherries can be dehydrated, turned into juice or wine, or, most commonly, made into jelly or sauce. Cook whole, washed cherries until tender in a little water or apple juice. Remove the pits by putting them in a ricer or potato masher and mashing them. The flesh will press through the ricer, creating a sauce similar to cranberry sauce, while leaving the pits and skins in the ricer. Heat this sauce with sugar to taste. You could also make jam with the cherry flesh by adding an equal amount of sugar and the juice of one lemon, slowly cooking until it reaches the desired thickness, while stirring often.

Stinging Nettles

These weeds are not the easiest foraged food to harvest due to the tiny needles that grow along the leaves and stems—this plant hurts if you brush up against it accidentally! But it’s oh-so-good for you and delicious. The plants are dull green and square-stemmed, with heart-shaped leaves and clusters of greenish, yellow flowers; they are about two feet high. The weeds can be found just about anywhere, but I’ve always run into patches in damp spots near water sources.

The best time to harvest nettle is in the spring when the stems and leaves can be lopped off. If harvested later, the leaves can taste a little gritty. Nettles are one of the most nutrient-packed plants around, with high doses of protein (for a plant) and vitamins A and C, and other nutrients such as calcium, iron, and histamine (yes, it’s great for relieving spring allergies). Nettles are a wonderful spring tonic and are also very useful for pregnant and postpartum mothers. They can be steeped into a potent tea or steamed with some butter and lemon juice. I have also enjoyed nettles in lasagna—just use it in any recipe in place of spinach.

And, yes, the sting disappears as soon as nettles are dried, steamed, or cooked.

Wild edibles provide a combination of wonderful opportunities. While harvesting nature’s bounty, we have the chance to spend time out-of-doors, move our limbs, spend time with family, and prepare some of the most delicious and nutritious food possible—all for free!

Resources:

Go Wildcrafting!

The Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants by Bradford Angier

The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts by Katie Letcher Lyle

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