Grit

When my jar of sliced sweet pickles is gone, I save the juice and cook my beets in it. The juice gives the beets a nice flavor, and they’re seasoned just right with spices, sugar, and vinegar. MARY ANN WIERSMA WHITINSVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS Here’s a sim

Over-the-counter sales of specific medically important livestock antibiotics in the United States will end June 11, 2023. These medications will still be available, but they’ll require veterinarian prescriptions going forward. Owners have remarked th

The gardening season never really stops, does it? Sure, there’s a bit of a slow-down come late fall and winter, especially if you live somewhere that regularly experiences temperatures below freezing, but that translates into more of a change in acti

“These for your dogs?” the rancher-asked us at the farmers market, as my husband and I loaded our cooler with three beef hearts, 10 pounds of sliced liver, and a magnificently huge beef tongue. “We eat them!” we replied. The rancher leaned forward in

Recently, I was going through your November/December 2021 edition, which has a Rhode Island turkey story (“Turkeys by the Bay”). For 30 years, I’ve lived in a small town. I’ve had deer walk by my mailbox; foxes walk by, just look at me, and walk on;

I’ve used several homemade brooders for brooding and raising quail over the years. Storage tote models work well, especially if you’re just starting out. After brooding several generations of chicks, though, I decided to design a sturdy, durable broo

Many of us might’ve chuño, Andean-style preserved potatoes, without even knowing it. Every few years, you might be down in the basement storeroom or under the sink and find something rock-hard and shriveled that could be useful for scrubbing off call

Flowering quince bushes are old-fashioned harbingers of spring, producing abundant displays of bright, colorful flowers in late winter as the plant’s leaves begin to open. The Chaenomeles genus is made up of three species of flowering shrubs, native

The bitterly cold evening in early February was unproductive. I spent 90 minutes still-hunting across our 38 mostly wooded acres in southwest Virginia, and then stand-hunting next to a massive sycamore pocked with squirrel dens. But every time a bush

Atop a high hill in the heart of Appalachia in 1988, I first learned about salt-rising bread. I was making soap at my neighbor’s house, and as we entered the kitchen, I noticed a unique, pungent smell that was new to me. The smell turned out to be sa

While flowering quince has fallen out of favor since the mid-20th century, some select retail nurseries and specialty catalogs still carry a few cultivars. Note that the popular ‘Double Take’ series shrubs are sterile and won’t produce fruit. The cul

Why learn to graft fruit trees? Because it can save you a lot of money—that’s my favorite reason. My second-favorite reason is the immensely satisfying “Look what I did!” factor. Michael Janik—the “Apple Guru” of Reno, Nevada—taught me to graft my fi

In late March of 2022, hordes of migrating black ducks and mallards descended on our farm pond and departed the next day, only to be replaced by another wave. In Maine, where we live, that’s the time of year when migrating birds pass through in massi

The quest for a self-reliant lifestyle seems to be as relevant today as it was 30 years ago when I began my journey. While many different roads converge to bring one to a place of less dependency upon others, a major component of self-reliance for ma

Last spring, I planned to teach an apple-grafting class. I found a supplier and discussed ordering rootstocks. I asked friends if I could collect scions from their trees, and they graciously said yes. Fast-forward a month—almost time for the class—an

Not all areas find more the following year of the country are blessed with rich, loamy soil. In northern New England, where I live, we have to deal with the remnants of glacial retreat, meaning our topsoil is so thin that barely anything takes root,

Four-Season Food Gardening hands you all the know-how you need to make growing food 365 days a year your new superpower! With a hearty dose of enthusiasm and expertise, author Misilla dela Llana presents this season-by-season guide to growing edible

Raising rabbits in colonies can give them a more natural life, one where they live in groups and can socialize, rather than each rabbit having a cage to itself. This allows rabbits to play, groom one another, and possibly — depending on the style of

No matter where you are on the sustainable lifestyle journey, The Best of Mother Earth News Collection Set is packed with information that’s relevant and helpful. Featuring hundreds of our top articles from years past, it won’t take long for you to f