From Scratch

Backyard Farming • Homestead Living • Animal Husbandry • Homeschooling

Down on the Christmas Tree Farm

Special Holiday

Issue

{Life on the Homestead} December 2013/January 2014

Handmade Holidays

HomesteadResolutions

The digital magazine for the sustainable lifestyle.

FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

Letter from the Editor and Publisher

Welcome to our holiday issue! Inside you’ll find all sorts of recipes and gift ideas, along with information on how to

organize your homestead and an interview with the godfather of fermentation, San-dor Katz.We have an article on the rush and buzz at a Christmas tree farm, which is gearing up for its busiest time of the year.And, while we are very excited to bring our readers excellent content once again and to have a chance to sit down and celebrate the holidays with our family, we have to admit, we’re more excited to know this is-sue marks the end of our first full year of publishing From Scratch magazine.It seems like we just started the year and now its coming to a close. As we look back on what we managed to accomplish, we cannot help but be grateful and humbled by the response we’ve received from our readers, the homesteading community at large and everyone who has been a part of this journey.We made tons of new friends, some close to home, like Colleen Ann of Maple Hill, NC; and Khristi Nun-nally, the administrator of the Colored Egg Homestead blog; both of whom live just down the road from our own home-stead and HQ.We have worked closely with people we admire, like Lisa Steele, of Fresh Eggs Daily, and Chris McGlaughlin, our gar-dening editor.We met tons of people interested in living fuller, better lives through organic and sustainable agriculture at our first con-ference, the Sustainable Agriculture Conference hosted by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, including Anna

McDonald Dobbs and Rochelle Sparko, both of the CFSA.We’ve gotten the chance to interview some amazing people, including Joel Salatin, Cody Lundin, Dr. Pol and Theresa Lowe (and in this issue, Sandor Katz).We’ve gotten the chance to get to know some truly amazing people, like Terry Bak-er, of B&B Tractors; Willie Justice of Justice Christmas Tree Farm; and Julian Helms of Selma, AL.Through it all we have been supported by our amazing readers and fans on Fa-cebook, Twitter and Pinterest, as well as this website. And we cannot forget our advertisers, who help keep our publica-tion free and open to readers all over the world. Don’t forget, you can find out more about our advertisers by clicking on any ad shown in our pages.So, as we come to the end of our first year of publication, Thank You, from all of us here at From Scratch magazine.We have big plans for next year, with even more comprehensive coverage of all things related to sustainable living, homestead-

ing and organic agriculture and more. We hope to expand into new formats soon as well, giving our readers even more ways to read our magazine.If you have not subscribed already, go ahead and do it now. Our first year has gone great, and our readers and advertisers have inspired us to do even more in the coming years!

Melissa and Steven Jones

FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE: The Holiday Issue

FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

In this Issue

FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE: The Holiday Issue

Down on the - p. 14Christmas Tree Farm

Gingerbread Barn Raising- p. 8

Homestead Resource Inventory - p. 80

Simple Ways to Enjoy the Holiday Season - p. 28

The Colored Egg Homestead - p. 76 Fiber Arts - p. 62

The Fermentation Artist - p. 52 DIY Hypertufa Sink - p. 68

Handmade Homeschool Holiday - p. 38

Make an Advent Calendar - p. 24

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

Lisa SteeleChicken Columnist FreshEggs-Daily

Chris McLaughlinGardening Editor

A suburban farmer

Carol AlexanderHomeschool Columnist

Lessons From the Homestead

Bianca NeillLark Hollow

Karen BeatyMakingshift.com

Jennifer CazzolaBlack Fox Homestead

Jennifer BurckeFarm Food Columnist

1840 Farm

Emily McGrathOur Little Coop

Meet our Contributors

Happy Holidays!

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

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1. Allyson Young built this adorable chicken coop about a month ago.2. Joan-na and Carl Shepherd sent us this photo of their Berkshire pig on Cobblestone

Farm. 3. Rose Meister put up some peach jam this year.

1.

2.3.

Reader Photos

Do you have photos that you would like to share? Send them to info@fromscratchmag.com and your homestead could be in the next issue.

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

4. Kathy Hope sent us this picture of a garden shed built from “pre-used” ma-terials. She liked it so much it became the start of a new business: Ritzy Rust 5. Christine Thill sent us this photo of a praying mantis sunning itself in her garden. 6. This image was submitted by Michelle of White’s Farm in Winter-

port, Maine. It shows Red, a red wattle sow, spending a little time on the farm.

4.

6.

5.

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

Roaster • Roast ‘Em Up.

Gift Guide for the Modern Homesteader

Hand butter churn • Vat Pastuerizers

Classic wooden blocks • My Favorite Toy Box.

Hand powered corn grinder • Premier 1

Scale • Homesteader’s Supply

Incubator • Randall BurkeyBasic Beginner Outfit •

Kelley Beekeeping

Single Wheel Hoe • Hoss Tools

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

Primitive Country Plate Rack Kitchen Cupboard • redroosterbab • $159.99

Lodge 5-Piece Cast Iron Cookware Set • Amazon • $65

WinterCabin

Pendleton Blanket • Amazon • $96

Canvas Log Carrier • Amazon • $9.95

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

Elk Bookends • EQUINEbyLauren• $159.99

Pleasant Hearth 2,200 Square Feet Wood Burning Stove • Amazon • $1142.09

Hooked Wool HomecomingCupboard • Amazon • $36.99

Distressed Box Sign • Amazon • $9.95

WeatherRite LED Lantern • Amazon • $12.78

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

Trim the Tree

Pomander ornament • florasense • $35

Rooster Ornament • Amazon • $2.99

Crochet Christmas Star • SlumberSpun • $10

Wreath • WillowgaleDesigns • $39.99

Rooster & Weather Vane Clay Tag •

SimpleHomeLife • $5

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Perfect Pets (Dogs) Needle Felting Kit • Halcyon Yarn • $32.50

Felt the Halls

Mama Goat and Baby Goat Kid Ornament Duo • BossysFeltworks •

$32

Pin cushion / pillow - Christmas needle felted ornament • Agnes Felt

• $23

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

GINGERBREAD BARN RAISING

Nothing says the holidays more than the smell of gingerbread in the oven.

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Nothing says Christmas like a gingerbread house.These sweet creations often appear too beautiful to eat, but edible vari-

eties can be made and are very popular.Gingerbread dates back to the 10th Century in Europe. It quickly spread across the con-tinent, where it was believed to have me-dicinal properties.

The gingerbread used to make houses is a hard variety. Originally baked in Germany, bakers there created decorative molds, of-ten depicting major events of the time (cor-onations, battles, etc.).

It quickly became a building material for miniature houses and delighted children and adults alike.Since then, people have been building gin-gerbread houses (and sometimes the little gingerbread men to go with them) regularly around Christmas.

Gingerbread houses are easy to make, but can be built more complicated for those inclined to put some work into them. This versatility makes it a popular activity for parents to do with their children.

This recipe comes to From Scratch maga-zine from Kelley Marcaccio of Jacksonville, N.C., by way of Michigan.

Kelley used to make gingerbread houses with her mother while growing up.She’s continued the tradition and we’re pleased to share her recipe and technique with our readers.Enjoy!

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Gingerbread Recipe:While edible, this gingerbread house dough recipe is “structural.” It has no leaveners that would make it puff up and distort the shapes, and it’s firm so it can support lots of decorations.

This recipe is economical. It uses no ex-pensive spices and has only five ingredi-ents. Kids can use their hands to smoosh the dough together. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rest at room tem-perature for at least 30 minutes before rolling. It’s a good idea to bake the pieces one day and assemble the next day.

Ingredients:• 2 cups dark corn syrup • 1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown

sugar • 1 1/4 cups margarine• 9 cups all-purpose flour• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:Note: This recipe can easily be increased, if you want to make it a project for sev-eral kids by doubling or even tripling the ingredients. Instead of measuring out the flour, for a double recipe, use 1 (5-pound) bag plus 1 cup flour. For a triple recipe, use two (5-pound) bags plus 2 cups flour.Before you begin the actual recipe, print out a pattern (patterns are widely avail-able online). Cut it out and transfer to

light cardboard and cut again.

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, heat corn syrup, brown sugar and margarine until the margarine has melted and sug-ar has dissolved completely. Stir until smooth.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Add syrup-sugar-mar-garine mixture, making sure it’s cool enough for the kids to squish the dough until it’s smooth and comes away from the sides of the bowl.

Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest at least 30 minutes at room temperature. This is a good time to wash up the dishes and get your baking pans, rolling pin and pattern pieces ready.

If the dough is too hard or unmanage-able, you can microwave it for 20-30 sec-onds. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough 1/4-inch thick onto a sheet of parchment cut to fit your baking pan. Edgeless pans or those with only one edge are the best.

Lightly flour the cardboard patterns and place them on the rolled-out dough, leav-ing a 1-inch space between pieces. Try to fit as many as you can without crowding. For clean edges, cut with a pizza wheel. Remove and reserve excess dough.

Grab the opposite edges of the parchment paper and transfer to the baking sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until pieces are firm and lightly browned around the edges. Cool completely before removing from pans. Reroll dough scraps for the remainder of the pieces.

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

Royal IcingRoyal icing is the glue or mortar that holds a gingerbread house together, among other uses. I prefer using pasteurized egg whites (now available at grocery stores in cartons) instead of meringue powder because the result is smoother and it has better “stickability.” Be careful not to overwhip your royal icing, or it will crack as it dries and your house will collapse.

Makes enough for 1 decorated Gingerbread House

Ingredients:• 1 pound sifted confectioners’ sugar or

more as needed• 1/2 cup pasteurized egg whites (3 large

egg whites)• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preparation:Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and combine. Scrape down sides. Turn the mixer to high and beat until thick and very white. Mixture will hold a peak. This should take at least 7-10 min-utes.

When finished, cover with plastic wrap, making sure it touches the royal icing so a crust doesn’t form. Royal icing dries out quickly, so make sure it is covered all the time. Otherwise there will be lumps in the icing and they will never pass through an icing tip.

I prefer white icing, but you may tint it by using a small amount of paste food color. For 1/4 cup tinted icing, dip the tip of a toothpick into desired color, then into the icing, and stir well. Repeat until desired color is achieved. For strong colors, such as red, royal blue and dark purple, use 1/8 teaspoon color to 1/4 cup icing.

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Decorating and Assembly:Ingredients:• Sugar cones• Sprinkles (Green)• Peel-A-Part Licorice (30-35 bundles)• Coconut Flakes• Cereal (Chex, Life, etc.)• Assorted Food Coloring• 1-2 cans white frosting (Any brand)• Assorted Candies (gums, morsels,

beads, etc.)• Toothpicks, piping bags

1. Assemble gingerbread barn, using the royal icing. Be patient and allow each piece to fully dry before assembling the next. This is crucial for the structure to hold throughout the decorating process. (Don’t use the can of frosting for the barn assembly).

2. Allow for house to set and dry for 12-24 hours, before decorating.3. Combine Royal Icing and can of store bought to form a thicker consistency for the decorations (It should be a half to half ratio for each icing). Stir until completely blended.4. Use food coloring to change icing for specific parts of barn (red to adhere the licorice, green for the sugar cone trees, brown for cereal pieces).5. Use green frosting mixture to cover sugar cones. While frosting is still moist, pour green sprinkles over to coat the trees and give a sparkle effect.6. Mix green food coloring directly with coconut flakes to use as grass (Do not mix frosting with coconut flakes).

After each of the pieces of the barn are covered with candy, use icing mixture to assemble on tray. You may want to dust the barn with pow-dered sugar to give a snow effect.

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

Down on the Christmas Tree FarmBy Steven Jones

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

All around the world, peo-ple are decorating their homes, putting up Christ-mas trees and getting ready to spend some

much needed time with family.Willie Justice and his family are do-ing the exact same thing, except they will enjoy it differently.They will be decorating their busi-ness with handmade wreaths, put-ting up dozens of Christmas trees and gathering family, friends and neighbors to help them unload trac-tor trailers full of trees.The Justice family owns and operates the Justice Christmas Tree farm, and every year, they sell nearly a thou-sand Christmas Trees.The season is so busy, that often up-wards of 40 family members, neigh-bors and volunteers are on hand to keep up with the annual holiday

crush.It is such a busy time, they even bring in a crew of Marines.Most of them have no family nearby to visit for the holidays, so it gives them a chance to celebrate Christ-mas, even though they are away from home.When a truck arrives every year filled with Douglas Firs — the Douglas Firs do not grow in the coastal climate in Jacksonville — everyone pitches in.The Justice Christmas Tree farm opened in 1990, but the family started the business 7 years earli-er, planting hundreds of trees on 5 acres.“The first year, you just hope (the trees) will live,” Mr. Justice said.The family got into the business when an extension agent suggested it to them.“We didn’t have large enough fields

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

JUSTICE CHRISTMAS TREE FARM

Not having large enough fields to warrant planting corn or soybeans, the family got into the business when an extension agent suggested it to them.

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to warrant planting corn or soy-beans,” Mr. Justice said.Since starting the farm, it has grown.Each year, they sell nearly 1,000 trees. Last year, the tree farm even sold trees in the summer, when the Iron Man 3 movie filmed in Wilm-ington, about 45 minutes down the coast. The film production company bought a lot of trees to set a scene in the movie.Ivy Hinson, Willie Justice’s grand-daughter, helped load the trees.“It was very cool,” she said. “Nor-mally we don’t cut trees in the sum-mer. We were worried they would dry out.”Each year, they plant in a three to five ratio. For every three trees they sell, they plant 5. Currently, on the five acres the farm covers, they have about 4,000 trees growing.While they buy Douglas Firs from a

farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, about a five hour drive away, they grow every other variety, including: White Pines, Col-orado Blue Spruce, Leland Cyprus and Blue Ice Cedar. The farm is also working with the North Carolina Co-operative Extension Agency as a test farm for grafted trees, to see if tree farmers all over the state can grow even more types of trees.And while Christmas is their busiest time of the year, the Justice family is working hard on Christmas all year long.To sell about 1,000 trees, nearly 1,500 have to be planted every year. The trees are planted in a grid pat-tern in a field and spaced in such a way so a mower can cut between the rows in two different directions.During the growth process, the Jus-tice family has to fight aphids, bag

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worms, fungus and blight, among any other things that could go wrong.The trees are sheared twice a year, using three different types of shear-ers: A 10 feet long shearer, an 8 feet long shearer and a 6 feet long shearer.“I gave up the 10-foot one years ago. I gave up the 8-foot one this year,” Mr. Justice, a 75-year-old re-tiree, said.While shearing the trees, Mr. Justice said you had to watch out for wild animals.“When we’re out here shearing and we find a nest with little birds in it, we leave it,” he said.The more you shear a tree, the tighter it gets. But, if a shearer is not careful, Mr. Justice said, the shearing process can cause voids in the foliage, which reduces the value of the tree when it comes time to

sell it. Then, every year, just before Christmas, the family gets together and gets the farm ready for sales.They open officially on Thanksgiving, but they will not turn away anyone who shows up before then.The week before Thanksgiving, a tractor trailer arrives, trees are un-loaded and set up begins. All the trees bought in are hung on a frame work built at the edge of the fields specifically for that purpose.The wreath barn is stocked with freshly cut, hand-made wreaths and the farms gift store is cleaned up and stocked.Mr. Justice makes sure the tree shaker is working properly, the “tree-wheelers” (wheeled carriers built to haul trees after they’ve been cut) are ready to roll and his tractor with a train made from old barrels is brought around.

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Mr. Justice tries to make sure chil-dren who show up at the farm have something to do while there.“If you make the kids happy (people will keep) coming back,” Mr. Justice said. “They (children) can run and play. There’s nothing to hurt them.”After the farm is set up and open to the public people can come out to the farm, walk the fields with their children or their dogs and make a day out of it.Customers can pick out a live tree growing in the field, or one of the firs the farm brings in.Then, if they like, they can cut it down themselves or get one of Mr. Justice’s helpers to cut it down for them.After hauling the tree back on the tree-wheeler, farm hands put the

tree on the shaker to shake out any debris in the trees, including bird’s nests (the birds move out long be-fore the tree gets shaken).Then, the tree is netted and loaded on the tops of cars and taken home to be decorated.While at the farm, you can buy lights, ornaments and anything else you need for a Christmas tree.Mr. Justice said his trees are a lit-tle more expensive than what you might buy at a big box store, but it does not bother him much.“I’m not in competition with (big box stores),” Mr. Justice said. In fact, he classifies his business as much “agri-tourism” as he does a Christmas tree farm.“I’m selling services as much as I am merchandise.”

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Mr. Justice is 75. He retired from his “day job” at a funeral home about two years ago.Since then, he’s been so busy he has trouble finishing all the projects around the farm.Of course, it doesn’t help that his grandchildren are always trying to drag him off to do something. His grandson always wants to take him fishing with him.Mr. Justice shrugs.“You can’t say “no” to that,” he said.

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Poinsettias are making their annual trek to American households. The traditional Christ-mas potted plant is inescapable this time of year. The plant produces beautiful leaves which are used by many people as centerpieces, house plants and offer people a chance to add a splash of brightness to their sometimes white winters.

Did you know the plants were named for the first United States minister to Mexico? Or that it was used medicinally by the Aztecs?

Here’s more facts about the traditional Christmas plants:

• Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first minister to Mexico, introduced the plant to the United States in 1825. The plant is native to the tropical climate of Mexico.

• Cuitlaxochitl is the name of the plant in the Aztec language. It was valued by the Aztecs as a fever reducer and used to produce a reddish, purple dye.

• Poinsettias were first used in the 16th Century as Christmas decorations in Mexico by Franciscan monks.

• National Poinsettia Day is held on Dec. 12 every year, and marks the death of Joel Poinsett, in 1851.

• Poinsettias are toxic, but only mildly so. The sap of the plant can induce vomiting in pets and children, but their have been no reported deaths from consuming the plant, its leaves or its sap. Most cases do not require treatment.

• Poinsettias are perennials and can bloom every year, if the right circumstances are provided for the plant.

• Most of the growth and distribution of Poinsettias in the United States (about 70 percent) is controlled by the Ecke family. In the 1990’s, the family discovered a graft-ing method that allowed for bushier, more marketable plants. The process was later replicated by a University lab.

• The University of Iowa reports the plants must experience “shortdays” starting in October, where they receive fewer than 12 hours of sunlight per day. The plants will bloom by Christmas, if shortdayed properly. After Christmas, the plants can be put outside after temperatures rise above 60 degrees but must return indoors all other times.

All About Poinsettias

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Make Your OwnAdvent Calendar

By: Emily McGrath

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What you will need:-24 burlap bags. These can be pur-chased online or sewn at home. Size is of no importance unless you plan on packing the bags with larger ob-jects such as ornaments. Keep in mind that you will be hanging them and if you plan on doing so above your fireplace or other small area, you may want to keep them on the smaller size. -Red and Green fabric paint. -Number stencils 0-9-Two stencil brushes

-Twine or rope to hang your bags from.-Clothespins to hang your bags with.

Directions:1. Lay your number stencil on top of your burlap bag. 2. Using your stencil brush, apply a small amount of paint to the inside of the stencil until you have achieved the desired amount of coverage. *Take note that the paint will prob-ably soak through the bag and onto the other side. If this is bothersome

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to you, you may want to put a plas-tic bag inside to prevent the paint from soaking through. 3. As you paint your bags, alternate between the red and green paint.4. Paint your bags 1-24.5. Allow your bags at least a few hours to dry before hanging.6. When hanging your bags, begin with the number 24, counting back-wards. Don’t forget to remove each bag after it has been opened to al-low your children to see how many days are left until Christmas!

One of my favorite holiday mem-ories as a child is waking up in the morning, running to my advent calendar, prying open

the tiny little doors and seeing what surprise awaited me.

The last door was always the largest which meant one thing, Christmas was only a sleep away!

Today, with two children of my own, I wanted to create an advent calendar that would bring the same excitement to their holiday season mornings that I felt as a child.

With this simple DIY, you too can create a tradition for your family that will last for years and years to come.

Stuff the bags with ornaments to hang on the tree, little pieces of candy, notes, or create homemade coupons for adventures that you will take.

The possibilities are endless, the memories will last forever.

Follow Emily McGrath with Our Little Coop.

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Simple Waysto Celebrate

the Holiday Season...without breaking the bank

The holidays are a time to celebrate with our family and close friends but often times our schedule is so overloaded with holiday parties, shopping, and entertaining, that the sea-son can pass by without spend-ing quality time with our loved ones. Not to mention the fact that gift giving can be more of a financial burden than a bless-ing.

With that in mind, here are a few ways that will give the gift of quality time together, that shouldn’t break your budget.

Have a pre-holiday teaBegin the Christmas season with an intimate afternoon tea. Tea fare need not be fancy or expensive. It can be as elabo-rate as scones and finger sand-wiches, or as simple as a sin-gle tea cake. In addition to an assortment of teas, provide coffee, and perhaps punch or sparkling cranberry juice for the non-tea drinkers among your guests. Light lots of scented candles, play some soft music (Thomas Newman’s Little Wom-en Soundtrack is a good one) and provide an atmosphere of peace and tranquility where guests can visit and reconnect before the holiday rush sets in.

By: Jennifer Cazzola

Follow Jennifer Cazzola at Black Fox Homestead

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If schedules are already beginning to fill, consider allowing guests to come and go at their leisure.

Organize a Skating PartyWhether you are fortunate to live near a picturesque pond, or an out-door rink, invite your guests for an afternoon of skating together. Bring along a basket of scarves and mit-tens to keep warm, as well as a ther-mos (or two) of hot cocoa. Extend the afternoon by inviting everyone back to your home for chili or beef stew and old fashioned board games such as Yahtzee, Monopoly, or Sorry.

Host a Cookie ExchangeCookie exchanges are the most pop-ular and obvious way to lighten the

Christmas baking load while enjoying a nice visit with friends. However, it can be the gateway to a sugar over-load at a time when neighbors are already bequeathing you with tins of holiday fudge. If you feel you might be cookie-ed out over the holidays consider a soup exchange or even a casserole exchange instead.

Invite a small, intimate gathering of friends to bring a batch of favorite soups or casseroles and a visit over a cup of coffee or cocoa. Allow eve-ryone to leave with enough healthy food to get them (and you) through the rest of the holiday season. Don’t forget to ask everyone to include a hand written recipe with their offer-ing.

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Host a Gift Wrapping PartyA gift wrapping party is another way to lighten what can be a heavy load while getting in a visit. Provide a large table, a few snacks, and a marathon of classic Christmas flicks. You and your friends can en-joy the time together while accom-plishing a mammoth task that is often put off until the last minute.

Some Things to Consider in Advance Holiday schedules begin to fill quickly. Schedule your event and contact your guests as soon as possible.In an era of email and Facebook a handwritten invitation sent by post can be a gift in and of itself. To lighten your load and expense, allow guests to pitch in with the food.

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When I think back to the holidays of my childhood, I have wonderfully warm

memories of time spent in the kitchen with the women that helped shape my life. As a very young child, I recall sit-ting on the kitchen counter watching as my Mom made fudge each Christmas season. It seemed like magic to watch as the butter melted with the chocolate and then gradually became rich and thick.Years later, my Grandmoth-er took the lead role in our family’s holiday baking and turned out beautiful cook-ies. They ranged from light, airy meringues to hand rolled Rugelach. Each cookie was different and when gathered together, they were an im-pressive display for the eyes and taste buds.We have continued the tradi-tion here at 1840 Farm. We make fudge, candies, and cookies to mark the holidays. Each recipe sparks a memo-

ry from my childhood or my husband’s. As my children grow older, each bite helps to strengthen a memory that they are continuing to write with each passing year.When it comes to the choco-late crinkle cookies that we make each season, I reach for my grandmother’s recipe card box. I can walk through the memories of my childhood by simply reading the recipes stored inside. When I reach the handwritten recipe for her chocolate crinkles, it is as if I have welcomed her into our farmhouse kitchen.As my children roll each cookie in its powdered sugar coating, I find it impossible to repress a smile. I know that decade earlier, my grandmother had stood in her kitchen carefully rolling each cookie in pow-dered sugar before sliding the baking sheet into the oven. Three generations later, her grandchildren are visiting her memory by doing the same.

1840 FarmChocolate

Crinkle CookiesBy Jennifer Burcke

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I’ve made no secret that this recipe brings back a flood of childhood memories for me. I substitute Ovaltine chocolate malt powder for half of the co-

coa called for in the original recipe. The malt adds a depth of flavor that my family enjoys even if the malt flavor itself is very understated. If you prefer, you may omit the Oval-tine and double the amount of coco powder. If you do, I would add an-other 1/4 cup of granulated sugar to the dough in order to balance out the increase in bitterness from the unsweetened cocoa powder.

1840 Farm Chocolate Crinkle Cookiesmakes 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered sugar

• 1 stick (4 ounces) butter, softened• 1 cup (192 grams) granulated

sugar• 6 Tablespoons (30 grams) un-

sweetened cocoa powder• 6 Tablespoons (33 grams) Oval-

tine chocolate malt powder

Holiday Treat from 1840 Farm

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• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract• 2 large eggs• 1 2/3 cup (200 grams) All-pur-

pose flour• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahr-enheit. Line two baking sheets with nonstick liners or parchment paper.

Place powdered sugar in a shallow pie plate or casserole dish. Set aside as you prepare the cookie dough.

Cream the butter and sugar togeth-er using a mixer or food processor.

Add the cocoa, Ovaltine powder and vanilla and blend before adding the eggs and mixing until fully incorpo-rated.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt in one addition and mix just until combined. If time allows, the dough may be chilled in order to make forming the balls of dough a less messy task.

Form approximately 1 Tablespoon of dough into a ball, repeating until all of the dough has been formed into balls.

Roll each ball in powdered sugar and place on a cookie sheet spacing cookies about 2 inches apart from each other.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the surface of the cookie is puffed and cracked. Remove the cookies from the oven and set aside to cool for 15 minutes.

Remove from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Follow Jennifer Burcke at 1840 Farm

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Handmade Homeschool HolidayBy: Carol Alexander

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Handmade Homeschool HolidayBy: Carol Alexander

When it comes to making Christmas gifts, homeschool-ing on the home-stead provides all

kinds of perks. After all, we have the means to create lovely food gifts while we are putting up our own food. Homesteaders tend to accumulate more craft materi-als than non-homesteaders (or at least the ones I know do). And as homeschoolers, our children have more time to create those gifts than those that go off to school. So this year, start now, and help your kids create some fabulous gifts for their friends and family—homestead style.

Jams and JelliesI’m going to assume that when you put up your jams and jellies this year you did some in half-pint jars. That is the perfect size for gift giving. If you didn’t, try making some now with apples, pears, per-simmons, or citrus. Or, use some berries that you put in the freez-er. Once you have the jams made, have your child create labels on the computer, decorate the lids with fabric circles tied on with ribbon, and package in bags or baskets.

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JerkyAs I write this, hunting season is in full swing. The guys on my Christ-mas list like nothing more than veni-son jerky in their stockings. Package the gift with a picture of the child and the deer he got. Grandpas and uncles, especially, will like this.

Mixes in a JarPut the dry ingredients to your fa-vorite baked good in a jar. Write the recipe out on a decorative card and tie to the jar. Give as “Brownie Mix” or “Chocolate Chip Cookies.”

SeedsFor the gardener in your life, nothing speaks love more than seeds saved from your favorite heirloom varie-ties. Gift a jar of your prized canned peppers with a little envelope of the seeds tied on. Cut out a photo and description from a seed catalog and paste on a card.

Corn Husk DollsThis may have been the only doll your great-grandmother owned, but today it is no less special. Look up the directions in a craft book or on-line and help your little girls make a few for their friends.

Needlework ItemsWhether you knit, crochet, embroi-dery, or cross-stitch, any handmade item makes a wonderful gift. With scarves the new fashion statement, any novice can knit a beautiful gift for teen or adult.

Home VideoHave relatives that live in a far-away city? What better gift than a glimpse into life on the farm. Make short movies of normal farm life—collect-ing eggs, hog butchering, milking, making cheese, splitting firewood, and the like. Combine them on a DVD with other movies of the kids doing the things kids do—playing in-struments, acting out skits, making crafts, or playing games.

Greeting CardsUsing leaves, pressed flowers, seeds, or potato stencils, create a set of greeting cards. Combine in a basket with a nice pen, a book of stamps, and a rubber stamp monogram for a complete gift.

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Fire StartersCollect a bunch of pine cones. Driz-zle them with melted wax and sprin-kle with glitter. Let dry. Arrange in a basket and give to the friend or rela-tive with a woodstove or fireplace.

Shiitake MushroomsBuy some shiitake mushroom spores and inoculate a few logs. Give them

as gifts to the mushroom lovers in your family. The spawn can be pur-chased online.

Garden StakesCollect wooden strips from a build-

ing project and paint with the words: Tomato, cucumber, green bean, pumpkin, etc. Give to your garden-ing friend.

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Herbal ProductsMake herbal salves, lip balm, tinc-ture, vinegar, or tea bags to give for Christmas.

Play DoughFor the children on your list, or for your children to make for their friends, make a big batch of home-made play dough. Divide up and color it in different colors. Package in discarded baby food jars.

ApronHave any vintage tea towels lying around? Sew a wide ribbon on the side to make a waistband and tie and you have an apron. Of course, you can do this with any dish towel, if you want to buy new ones.

Coupon BookThe coupons can be handmade works of art, or done on the computer. Ei-ther way, make at least 10 coupons for things like homemade bread, a dozen eggs, a quart of raw milk, homemade butter, a basket of toma-toes, or other things you produce on the homestead. Staple the coupons together to make a little booklet. Put the booklet into a canning jar and surround with nuts, beans, candies, or something else equally delicious.

While creating all these wonderful gifts, don’t forget the decorations and wrappings. Nothing highlights a homestead Christmas like creative wrapping or homemade ornaments.

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Many homesteaders home-school their children. The rea-sons vary, but primarily,homeschooling par-ents want the same as every other parent, a chance to edu-cate their children in order to make them happy, well-round-ed, productive adults.A lot of parents want to home-school their children, but feel the process is too daunting. We recently spoke with Jack Hatfield of the South Caro-lina Association of Independ-ent Home Schools (SCAIHS) — one of the few government agencies in the country dealing directly and primarily with ho-meschooling — who answered some questions for us and helped demystify the process.

Why do parents choose to home school their children? This, in my opinion, is the most understood area of ho-meschooling. What was once seen as a pariah is now be-coming the norm. Home-schooling is the fastest grow-ing segment of education today. The reasons are going to vary — religious (or not taught enough about their religion), not getting enough teaching, or simply desiring a new ap-proach to topics than present-ed in schools. Children all over the world learn differently and when you can give them the approach that they desire to learn, it changes everything. Also, if the child has any learn-ing differences or hindrances. We are seeing a MASSIVE growth in homeschooling for the reason to opt out of the common core curriculum.

HOMESCHOOLING IS FAST BECOMING THE PREFERRED METHOD OF

EDUCATION FOR MODERN HOMESTEADERS

A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO

HOMESCHOOLING

Send your questions about homeschooling to info@fromscratchmag.com and we will do our best to answer them in our homeschooling column.

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Is homeschooling expensive? Ah, the wonderful exposure of this is needed. The average public or government school child costs $9963 per year.

The average homeschooler costs the parent $500 per year. This should strike a major chord with every concerned citizen. Home-schoolers are usually far and above (their publicly schooled peers) in most categories yet this mark is achieved with far less dol-lars thrown at the solution. When you realize that, it really creates a paradigm shift in the public school argument — Where does all the money really go?

Now, don’t get me wrong, a parent can spend as much as they wish, and if they have the means and can enrich the lives of their own children — perfect!

Homeschool Fact:

Dr. Gary Knowles (1991) studied more than 1,000 Michigan adults who had been ho-meschooled. A full 94% said that ho-meschool helped prepare them to be independent persons, and 79% said that it helped them to interact with those from other levels of society.

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What is the workload like for home school teachers and students?

This is going to vary depending on how much the parent wants to work the student and of course, how much the student will be able to handle. They can work as little as 4 hours a day 5 days a week, or go 3 hours a day non-stop. The parent and child can also decide what days to work or work double time to have some time off.

All of the scheduling options for schooling are there, whereas in the public school, cars line up at a cer-tain time, and miss a day requires catch-up. You get sick one day in ho-meschooling, you just start the next day where you were.

Do you know of any resources parents can use to create a curriculum?

If by create, you mean compile, there are hundred’s of websites that can help you with this. We, here at SCAIHS, actually have counselors that will help put the best curricula in your hands that will get your child on the path he/she has chosen. A lot of homeschoolers do what is called eclectic, whereas, they have one company for math and another for English. They get to choose the one they like and is the most effective.

What is the biggest misconception about homeschooling? SOCIALIZATION! (The belief that) only in public school are you ever sorted by age and learn only the so-cial aspects of that age group.

Exploring educational alternatives for your child? Let Oak Meadow help you bring the heart of learning back home.

Since 1975, Oak Meadow has crafted imaginative, experiential homeschooling curriculum for children in kindergarten to grade 12. Rekindle your child’s spark for learning with:

• a wealth of learning options to fit your child’s interests, talents, and style

• the flexibility to create a self-paced, joyful education at home (or on the road!)

• a treasure’s worth of homeschooling resources and an extensive web of support through our multiple social

media channels

• beautiful, accessible, and affordable materials

Oak Meadow’s curriculum can be used independently or through our fully accredited, teacher-supported distance learning school. Visit oakmeadow.com or call 802-251-7250 to speak with one of our friendly and knowledgeable educational counselors.

Bring the heart of learning back home today.

Bring Learning Home with Oak Meadow

oakmeadow.com

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Homeschoolers are now doing co-ops, field trips, choir, sports and all kinds of socialization.

What about the legal aspects? Are there general requirements for home-schooling parents should be aware of? This will vary from state to state. The laws of South Carolina are as follows: §59-65-40: The Local School Dis-trict (“First Option”): This option provides protection to homeschool-ers under the auspices of their local school district. §59-65-45. South Carolina Associa-tion of Independent Home Schools (Second Option): SCAIHS was the first legal alternative to district approval to home school.

§59-65-47. Home School Associa-tions (“Third Option”) This gives ho-meschoolers a wide variety of home school associations under which to conduct their schooling.

You also must possess a GED or high school diploma as a parent, gener-ally. How many days a week should parents home school their children? Can you elaborate on your answer please? Again, this is answered inside the scheduling mindset of the parent and the child. The law (in South Carolina) is 180 days, 4 hours aver-age instruction. It is up to the parent and the child to fit that in any way they desire!

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Outside of childcare concerns, does one parent have to stay at home for ho-meschooling, or can both parents work? Why or why not? This is becoming more of a life deci-sion parents are making. They are changing their lifestyles in sacrifice for the education of their children versus accepting the role of the pub-lic school system as a majority care-taker. Many families do in fact, have dual working roles, but sometimes they change shifts and sometimes they just put off the instruction until lat-er in the evening. When you really want something, you find a way to make it work. What advice would you give someone who is thinking about homeschooling or is new to homeschooling? Generally – anyone can homeschool. Before you make that leap, howev-er, make a good assessment as to the why’s and the how’s. Are you a parent who needs strict oversight? Are you ready to make the sacrifices necessary? It is best to write your reasons and goals down so that you have a great reference on those days when you are quietly screaming at the world – “No more, I can’t take it”. Prepare and understand those days may come, but the love of your child and the fact that you get to witness their growth and learning processes will make every bit of the journey sweeter!

Other bits of advice: Do not compare your child with any others (in your own family or out-side it), and do not compare yourself with other home schooling parents. Your child, your children, are totally unique, and so are you. Teach each child as the individual he/she is. The beauty of home schooling is that you can do just that. My advice to home schooling par-ents would be to enjoy this time with your children. Make learning fun and exciting. Your children will thank you some day for home schooling them. You are teaching your students much more than academics. Academic achievements are temporal; the spiritual life is eternal. Major on the spiritual, but do an honorable job of teaching academics.” The piece of advice I offer more than any other is to take the time to en-joy this opportunity, to get to know your child, and to appreciate him or her for who they are. Take the time to develop a clear rea-son that you are homeschooling and a vision for where you are headed (hopefully in the direction God is leading), and then never lose sight of those things. It can be very easy to become distracted or sidetracked along the way, but periodically step-ping back to see the big picture will help you to stay the course in the difficult times. Give your children words of encour-agement every day.

For more information about SCAIHS visit their website here.

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Off the Grid Kids

By: Bianca Neill

Homesteading and homeschooling work well together

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Growing up a homeschool student myself, I under-stand all the benefits of ho-meschooling from a child’s

perspective.

Now that I am teaching my own, my understanding of its benefits is complete.

It is especially wonderful to have them as part of our growing home-stead plans, with so much work to be done and so much opportunity for learning. It is neat to see the in-tricate role the kids will play in its success, for a “grid-less” kid there is no “someday when I’m done with school, I will learn to be a farmer/gardener/thinker.”

Instead they become what most kids have to wait until adulthood to experience: Responsibility, freedom and hands-on learning.

Here are my top reasons Homesteading and homeschooling work well together:

Learning by doingA homestead provides so many natu-ral learning experiences for children, and — with a little creativity — it is its own kind of curriculum. A garden plot my need to be measured and plotted for a math lesson. Perhaps that would spark a study of how na-tive Americans grew and harvested food for a history lesson. Identifying a sick animal from the flock allows for a quick science lesson. It is a ho-listic style of learning which uses life applications.

Being outdoors makes you more focused, keeps you more peacefulMost kids today spend 7 hours more on academics and 2 hours less on outdoor activities per week than they did 20 years ago. We spend several hours of our day, and do most of our schooling outdoors. This keeps kids engaged, regulated and — most im-portantly — happy to learn!

Everyone has a roleBefore the industrial revolution, most children had a real and vital role in there family and farm. Homeschool-ing on any sized homestead — ur-ban or rural — gives kids a sense of belonging and develops maturity and responsibility.

Cultivating self reliant kidsWe are the information age, yet, very few children today know how to be self reliant, and by that, I don’t just mean the ability to grow some-thing or raise an animal.

I mean simply being alone in nature with their own ideas, without a smart phone or friends or a TV program to watch. Very few children can just “be.” Today it is a practice that not only balances a child’s stress levels but also allows them time for crea-tive thought and innovations of their own.

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Sandor Katz: THE FERMENTATION ARTIST

INTERVIEW

Sandor Katz, author of The Art of Fermentation, which has become the bible for home fermenters all over the world.

Bestselling book on fermentation

Sandor Katz spent the first years of his pro-fessional life first as a school teacher, a com-munity organizer and as a municipal policy consultant in New York city.Then, in 1993, he moved to the wilds of Tennessee and became a member of an off-the-

grid extended commu-nity in Canon County.But first, he had a ma-jor life upheaval.“The moment every-thing shifted was in Au-gust 1991. I tested pos-itive for HIV,” he said.After that, he knew he had to make a change.“I had this year of feel-ing something huge had

to change in my life,” he said.He visited the commu-nity in Canon County a few times and just went with it.“It was a complete sur-prise,” he said.After that, Mr. Katz started milking goats and gardening. Sud-denly, he was faced

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with an abundance of fresh food from his gar-den.“I wasn’t practicing any fermentation until then,” he said.So he started ferment-ing his food.He started making sau-erkraut and sour pick-les and yogurt and all manner of fermented foods.He got so into it, his friends named him Sanderkraut.He started teaching classes on fermenta-tion.The first one was held in 1998. It was called Food for Life.“From the first time I did it, there was a sense of finding my calling,” he said.He published his first book on fermentation, Wild Fermentation, in 2003.Then he published The Art of Fermentation, which has become the bible for home ferment-ers all over the world and a best seller.Since beginning his ad-mittedly long journey into becoming a best selling author and a teacher, Mr. Katz ha re-introduced fermenta-tion to people all over the world, giving them a chance to bring back a tradition that left West-

ern kitchens in the 20th Century.His classes and work-shops are simple and dynamic, allowing stu-dents and attendees a glimpse into a process that used to be part of everyday life.

“I’ve always been in-terested in how you ex-plain things to people in a way they can under-stand,” he said.During his classes, he gives students a glimpse into the mi-croscopic life of fer-

MORE ABOUT KEFIRKefir is a fermented milk drink that is easily digested and made with kefir grains. It originated in the Caucasus Mountains and is slightly alcoholic. The kefir grains are a symbiotic culture of yeast and beneficial bacteria.

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mentation. Through the years he’s managed to put together an exten-sive knowledge of the microbiology behind fermented foods and at the same time he’s able to give students an “easy in.” He teaches the basics of fermentation, his book goes into greater detail and students walk away prepared to at least make a little sauerkraut and maybe even more.“During the 20th Century, certainly food production moved further and further away from the kitchen,” he said. “Most people were pretty con-tent not to have to do that stuff.”For him, bringing fermentation back to the kitchen is a way to bring a deeper connection to people and their food, hopefully making them healthier in the process.“Food is the embodiment of a web of relationships,” he said.Mr. Katz said fermented foods have a lot of benefits for people.“Preservation is a practical benefit of fermentation. Cheddar cheese is ex-actly the kind of food you could eat off of for months without refrigera-tion.”In addition, fermentation “pre-di-gests” food, making it easy to ab-sorb nutrients, helps make some nutrition more available, introduces beneficial bacteria to the body and helps remove toxins from food.And, Mr. Katz says, it’s surprising easy and safe.“You don’t have to be fearful,” he said. “You don’t have to buy any-thing special to make this food.”Whether people know it or not, many of the foods people enjoy now are fermented.“Chocolate is fermented, coffee is fermented, vanilla is fermented,”

he said. “what fills the shelves and cases of gourmet food stores are the products of fermentation.”Sandor Katz no longer lives in an off-the-grid community, but he is still in Tennessee.He still travels the world, preaching the gospel of fermentation.And he’s still fascinated with the pro-cess.Currently, he’s got fermented foods working at his home, including a 55 gallon drum of fermented vegeta-bles.He shows no signs of stopping, hav-ing taken a long, winding journey to find his calling/““I haven’t had too many regrets in the whole thing,” he said.

How to get started fermentingSandor Katz teaches people how to make sauerkraut during his classes. The recipe is almost too easy.At its basic level, there are only two ingredients: A head of cabbage and about 1 and a half tablespoons of salt.Shred the cabbage, stir in the salt and then squeeze it, until you get enough liquid that a hand full of cab-bage acts like a wet sponge, drip-ping liquid as you press it.Then, pack the mix into a mason jar.Cap it off and let it sit on the coun-ter, Mr. Katz says and every morn-ing, “burp” the jar, cracking the lid just enough to release gas — a natu-ral by-product of fermentation.Mr. Katz is always asked when its done. For him, it starts being done soon. He’s eaten sauerkraut three days after packing it and months af-ter packing it. It really depends on a

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person’s individual taste.To find out what your limit is, when you make it, start tasting it a few days after starting. If it tastes good, then stick it in the fridge. The low temperatures will halt the fermenta-tion process and the product will last for months.Then, as soon as you’re hooked on the process (and you’ll probably get at least a little bit hooked) you can start experimenting.“There’s no vegetable you couldn’t incorporate,” Katz said.The process lends itself to beets, on-ions, carrots — any number of veg-etables.Each one will add its own unique taste to the final product.You can also expand to other fer-mented foods — kimchi, kefir and kombucha — to name a few.As you get more into fermenting, you

can purchase a fermenting crock, which can produce liters of product at a time. Or you can make your own. Many containers lend themselves to fermentation, but Mr. Katz says to avoid metal. The acids produced during fermentation can cause rust and oxidation, creating bad flavors.Keep the material covered. Many fermenting crocks come with special lids to keep out oxygen. You can also cover it with a cloth, which keeps insects and dust out of the mixture.If you find any white material on top of the mix, don’t worry. Mr. Katz said it was just a sign of healthy bacte-rial culture growth. Just scoop it off when you see it or before you put it in the refrigerator.

For more information on Sandor Katz visit WildFermentation.com.

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Sandor Katz’s Sauerkraut

Ingredients:• 1 cabbage (about 3 pounds)• 2 carrots• 1 red onion• 1 and ½ to 2 tablespoons of salt (any kind)

Directions:Chop or shred the vegetables. Add the salt. Press or squeeze the mixture until soaking wet. Pack into a jar or crock and set aside for several days to several months, depending upon taste.

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Steven Jones, lives with his family on a homestead in North Carolina. He records his experiences in this column

A LETTER TO MY SONON THE DEATH OF HIS DOG

I am more sorry for your loss than you may ever know. It was of great comfort to me to know a sensitive and lovely boy such as yourself would find companionship with such a worthy animal, an honor I felt you both deserved and needed.

Dear Son, Recently, your dog, Fred, a Mountain Feist, was run over and killed. He was a beautiful dog and utterly devoted to you in a way that only happens with an animal a few times in a person’s life.I am more sorry for your loss than you may ever know. It was of great comfort to me to know a sensitive and lovely boy such as yourself would find companion-ship with such a worthy animal, an honor I felt you both deserved and needed.Because of this loss, your mother asked me to write a column about death.I suspect, since she was present when we found Fred’s body, she wanted me to write this col-umn as much for her benefit as for yours.Death is difficult to define, as dependent on philosophy and religion as it is on medi-cal science.But, essentially, all three disciplines seem to believe that death is the end of this life.What happens next is entirely dependent on whom you ask.Most of the world’s religions believe in some unending portion of existence: The soul, the atman, the essence, etc. The basic concept being, that upon death, this im-mortal aspect of living things transcends

its fleshy prison and moves into another existence, sometimes better, sometimes worse and sometimes, according to some belief systems, an existence which ap-pears to be pretty much the same.In some belief systems, the idea is this aspect is able to return to earth, clothed in a new body, born again to right wrongs or try to do life a little bit better than last time. This is a personal favorite of mine, as there is something workmanlike in the idea that our immortal selves are just try-ing to get a job done and are determined to come back and complete the task.Scientifically speaking -- and you must

know I am a fan of science, generally – basically life is a series of seemingly magi-cal systems which work together to create an organism which is considered “alive” (which is a concept that is probably more difficult to define than death).When these functions cease, life then ceases, resulting in death.At that point, science tells us the atoms

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and molecules which compose our exist-ence, and the systems which support that existence, become part of other systems: Bacterial systems, fungal systems and even the ecosystems of vertebrates and invertebrates that feed on our remains.Both viewpoints – religious and scientif-ic – pretty much agree that in some ways death is the end, and in some ways, death is a beginning.Religiously speaking, death is the begin-ning of an afterlife. Scientifically speak-ing, death is the beginning of the dis-bursement of the atomic “stuff” which makes up our bodies and consciousness.It may be of some comfort to know that death, in many ways is a transition, no matter your belief system.Unfortunately, however, it does not change the fact that death, especially for creatures such as ourselves, who know of the impending end of our life and the lives of our loved ones, is a hard and irrefuta-ble fact.

Everything – people, animals, plants, the planet, even the sun and the universe it-self – will someday die, that is, come to an irrefutable end.This fact seems particularly cruel when we are in mourning, or faced with our own demise.And, whether you ultimately choose sci-ence, religion or a combination of the two, it cannot change the fact that at some point in time (perhaps very recently in your case) you will wonder why living things must die.Again, there are religious and scientific answers for this question. I’m sure you have some passing knowledge of why: Be-cause thousands of years ago, the first hu-mans in existence did something (in a su-pernatural sense) to cause death to come upon us or because the genetic material which defines our makeup determines that it must be so, in order to allow chang-es which account for the existence of our species to occur.

He was a beautiful dog and utterly devoted to you in a way that only happens with an

animal a few times in a per-son’s life.

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from scratch magazine • 81

For me, and I suspect for just about any-one who thinks long enough about this question, these answers are ultimately unsatisfying.

******I didn’t fear death, truly fear death, until you were born.The very second I held your tiny, squall-ing body in my arms, I looked down upon you and knew I would never love anything as much as I loved my children.The second life alter-ing realization I had was that I would some-day die and that irrefu-table fact would take me from my children.As that fear and joy settled uncomfortably and welcome on my shoulders, like a stran-ger’s coat, I looked down at your bloody, wrinkled body and I wept.Since then, I watched you grow, and I tried to become a better per-son to be a better father.During that time, after thinking about my death, I came to a conclusion: Although I may never know why I – and everything else that lives – must die, it really does not matter.This is something I simply accept.Death is ultimately unimportant.Well, maybe not unimportant, but much less important than living.

No matter what the belief systems, be they scientific or religious, everyone pret-ty much agrees life, and what we do with it, matters.

The insignificance of our death pales in comparison to the things we do: Plant gardens, raise children, love each other, have some fun, do good work and care about things that matter to us.Even though, ultimately, our lives, and the universe, grind to and end, nothing about death changes what we do when we are alive.Religiously speaking, what we do when we are alive determines, to some extent,

what happens when we are dead.Scientifically speaking, everything we come in contact with, from the photons of light which bounce off our bodies to the heat generated as we breath, continues on, in some form or an-other, forever altered by our existence.And that may be some comfort to you, may-be not right now, but maybe later: The time we spend on this earth,

and everything we do with it, matters on a truly cosmic level.So while our time with each other, the world and devoted little dogs must come to an end, please know, this time is impor-tant, special and to be cherished. When it does end, mourn it and remember it fond-ly. If you do these things then, hopefully, someday, you will understand why death is just an insignificant part of life and can act accordingly.

I love you.

Your father

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from scratch magazine • 81

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FIBER ARTSBY: MICHELLE STEPHENS

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A couple years ago when

we bought the farm, the

intention was never to

have sheep. I am a veg-

etarian and dreamt of large gardens

with plump tomatoes and squash-

es. Never in my wildest dreams did

I think I would find myself a shep-

herd! When my husband brought up

the idea of getting sheep I started

researching breeds (sheep101.com

was very helpful). I came across the

profile for the Olde English South-

down Babydoll sheep and instantly

fell in love. They are a small, herit-

age breed of sheep originating from

England with teddy bear faces and

very soft and warm wool (great for

arctic northern NY where we live).

Their small height makes them a

great size to work with and feed is

minimal which is great while grain

prices are always on the rise. Our

sheep graze and only eat grain from

our hands as a treat, which makes

them inexpensive keepers!

After the sheep moved in I started

my journey in trying to spin wool.

My father had been an avid spin-

ner for as long as I can remember,

coincidentally. He was very gener-

ous, lending me a wheel and wool

to work with, and offering up help in

getting started. Spinning is a won-

derful way to start in fiber arts, it is

the gateway from sheep to sweat-

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er and offers endless capabilities to

turn your fleece into beautiful wear-

ables! I did not have the patience

or free time — with a new baby —

to master spinning right of the bat.

I started doing some research and

found needle felting.

Needle felting is the art of using

a small barbed needle to felt and

sculpt fibers into shapes. It is a fun

craft with endless possibilities. You

can begin a project with less than a

five dollar investment. The needles

are easily found online or in local

craft stores for a small cost, aside

from the needle and wool of course,

you need a sponge to hold under the

project and protect your work sur-

face. I started watching how to vid-

eos online and before I knew it I was

hooked! My children loved putting in

their requests for a bunny, or pea-

cock, or teddy bear. The more you

work with the wool the more enjoy-

able it becomes. The only danger is

poking yourself with the very sharp

and barbed needles. You can needle

felt figures such as birds, or snow-

men on their own by rolling the wool

into shapes and poking the wool in

place, the more you poke the nee-

dle into the wool the more dense it

becomes in that area. You can nee-

dle felt items as appliqués on other

felt, sweaters, or coats by placing

the wool in the area you would like

and poking through the wool into

the surface where you would like it

to stay. I found needle felt-

ing to be very therapeutic

and I love that I can take

it anywhere. I bring roving

and my felt gear to every

farmer’s market and craft

fair I do. I began needle

felting when my youngest

daughter was tiny, I would

take her out at nap time in

her stroller and sit in the

pasture with the sheep and

needle felt. This helped

them get used to me being

around, and trust me, plus

it provided great inspiration

for what I could felt next!

Basically anywhere you are

sitting or standing still you

can be needle felting!

Some projects are start-

ed by wet felting an item,

dryer balls, purses, head

bands etc. and then needle

felted on for decoration.

Wet felting is another fun

process using soap, hot,

and cold water, and some

elbow grease to felt the fib-

ers together. This process

works great for larger pro

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jects. We shear, wash, and card our

own wool here on the farm which

helps keep the cost of our projects

very low.

After the wool is washed, dried, and

carded it can be dyed easily in your

own kitchen with Kool Aid, Rit dye,

and natural dyes — such as berries

and beets — to give you a fun color

palette to work with.

Aside from wool there are a number

of fibers you can work with. Alpaca

is a wonderful fiber that people can

work with often even if they are al-

lergic to wool!

Angora goats produce a wonderful

lustrous fiber, and there are a num-

ber of rabbit breeds that are raised

for their fiber. On any scale, urban or

rural there are options for you to be

able to raise your own fiber animals

to produce your very own fiber arts.

It is such a rewarding feeling to be

a part of the process from start to

finish!

Even if you do not have the time to

care for fiber animals there are nu-

merous woolen mills out there that

offer wool roving and bats to work

with.

The cooler winter months are a great

time to try your hand at a new fiber

art. I love making Christmas orna-

ments and custom holiday gifts for

those hard to buy for people on my

Christmas list.

Click here to find out more about Michelle Stephens and Sweet Pea Farm.

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Hypertufa sinks or troughs made of faux rock are interesting and natural-looking contain-ers. If your heart is with food gardens, they make excellent herb containers for your yard or patio. But they’re probably at their best when they’re showing off succulents, cacti, small alpines, and dwarf conifers. Hypertufa is meant to imitate real tufa, which is a naturally occurring

porous rock. It’s not easy to find, and when you do — it’s expensive. While there are some lovely ones on the mar-ket, I think that making your own sink design is worthwhile. Plus, if get the kids in on the action with this project they can become holiday gifts. There are many versions of the hypertufa recipe, but this one is easy and straightforward.

Chris McLaughlinA perfect DIY gift for

the holidays

DIY HYPERTUFA

SINK

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{MATERIALS LIST}For Safety:

• Thick disposable gloves• Dust mask• Goggles

For the Project:

• Dishpan or another tub for mixing

• Cardboard box for the primary mold

• Smaller cardboard box for the center of the mold

• Dowels • Hand trowel• Cotton fabric• Wire brush• Water• 1 part Portland cement• 1 part perlite• 1 part dry peat (finely sieved)

Optional Items:

• 1 part fine builder’s (concret-ing) sand (you can add the sand if you’d like to make the sink a little heavier and more durable)

• Fiber mesh bonding agent (again, this will help prevent the sink from cracking or braking in areas that reach extremely low winter temperatures)

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

{DIRECTIONS}Please put on your goggles, dust mask, and gloves so you won’t ir-ritate your skin, eyes, or lungs. Mix one part each of the Portland ce-ment, perlite, and peat (and the sand if you’re adding it). Also, if you’re adding the fiber mesh, do that now.

1. First blend the dry ingredients well with your hands. Get all around the sides to be sure that everything is blended as evenly as possible.

2. Add enough water to the dry mix so that when it’s squeezed, it holds its shape and yet doesn’t drip water; it should look like cottage cheese. Your hand trowel can help mix at first, but most people end up using their hands.

3. Fill the bottom of the larger box with 1[dp] to 2[dp] of the mix. Spread it out evenly and then take the dowels and make a couple of drainage holes at the bottom.

4. Take the smaller box and center it inside the larger one. You can pour some sand in the smaller box for weight and stability if you’d like. Add the hypertufa mix into the crevices between the first box and the sec-ond to build the sides of the trough.

5. Once the sides have been filled to the top, make the piece of fabric wet and cover the project.

6. After 36 hours, dig your finger-nail into the trough. If you can make a dent, leave the trough alone for several more hours and try again. When it takes something as strong as a screwdriver to scrape it, then you can remove the sink from its cardboard mold.

7. At this point, you want to use the wire brush on the sides to give it texture.

8. Now place the trough in a shady area for two-and-a-half to three weeks.

9. After this final curing time, be sure that the lime from the Portland ce-ment is leached fairly well from the sink. Fill it for the next week or so and let the water drain out, and it’ll take the lime with it.

You can make your trough(s) under a protected area during the win-ter. Leave them there to harden for a week or so. After they’ve cured completely, place them outside until the spring. This will let the rain can leach the lime out of them before they’re planted. A stand-alone hy-pertufa garden is great all by itself, but they’re really special in a group setting, so feel free to make several.

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Chicken Scratch with Lisa Steele Ask the Chicken Expert

Q: I’ve noticed recently that my younger hens that I just hatched this past spring have started crouching down when I come near them. Do you know why they are doing this?

A: What you’re seeing is the Sub-missive Squat. Pullets (hens under a year old) who are just about ready to start laying will freeze in place, bend their legs and flatten their wings and backs to show their submission to a rooster, alpha hen, or in this case,

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you, because they view you as dom-inant. This is a sign of their sexual maturity, and a sign that you should start seeing eggs from them pretty soon. First year layers generally lay well through their first winter even with-out adding light to the coop to in-crease the hours of daylight.

Q: The guy at the feed store told me that I should be feed-ing my chickens scratch over the winter. What exactly is scratch?

A: Scratch, or scratch grains, is a blend of various grains usually in-cluding oats, cracked corn and bar-ley. Not to be confused as a sub-stitute for your regular layer feed,

instead you can supplement your flock’s diet in the winter months with some scratch grains just before dark. Digesting the grains overnight helps to keep them warm on cold nights, plus they love them. The grains are not nutritionally bal-anced or complete though, so should only be considered at treat and com-prise no more than 10% of your chickens’ daily food allowance. To help you judge the amount to feed, a laying hen eats approximately half a cup of food a day, more in winter, less in summer and less if they are allowed to free range. You can buy commercial scratch or make your own blend using various seeds and grains including millet, sunflower seeds unsalted peanuts or other nuts, raisins or flax seed.

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The Colored Egg Homestead

Tell us about the Colored Egg Homestead:

Colored Egg Homestead is our little farm in the city. We are located in Jackson-ville, NC.

What do you grow?

We grow a little of every-thing. This year we grew Lettuce, Spinach, Eggplant, Bell Peppers, Banana Pep-pers, Jalapeños, Cucum-bers, Squash, Green Beans, and 5 varieties of tomatoes. We also have a small bed of strawberries and various herbs around the property including basil, dill, rose-mary, mint and lemon balm. I enjoy growing flowers alongside our vegetables. Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Cone flowers and Sunflow-ers are some of my fa-vorites.

Why did you start homesteading?

Our journey into home-steading slowly snowballed into what it is today. A few plants in a small garden that continued to get a little bit larger with each pass-ing season. I enjoy digging in the dirt with my children, watching their eyes light up with wonder when we harvest something that we have nurtured from a seed. Then came the chickens. Its true what they say, chickens are indeed the gateway to a farming lifestyle. I’ll never forget the day my son, who was about 5 at the time said, “You know Mom, with our garden and chickens we almost have all the food we need right here in our backyard, maybe one day we won’t even need to go to the grocery store anymore.”

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The Colored Egg Homestead

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What kind of animals do you raise?

We have a mixed flock of laying hens who lay various colored eggs — hence the name, Colored Egg Homestead. We also have a pet mini Rex rabbit, a couple cats and a 70lb lap dog. We would love to have a few goats but unfortunately we are restricted from doing so by city ordinances.

Do you have a day job? What do you do?

Raising kids and chickens and tend-ing our little farm is my day job. I work evenings and weekends at a veterinary emergency hospital. I am a Certified Veterinary Assistant

and have been working in the vet-erinary field since 2000. When did you start blogging? Why?I created the Colored Egg Home-stead Facebook page in February 2013 to give friends and family a break from the constant onslaught of chicken, egg and plant pictures I was posting on a daily basis. The page also allowed for new friends and acquaintances from various on-line forums and local classes/events to be able to keep in touch with what we are doing here at Color-ed Egg Homestead. I was totally amazed by the amount of inter-est the page received. Around the same time I began writing regu-larly for a local magazine about our homestead and decided that maybe writing a blog was another way to

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be able to share and connect with more folks who are interested in the same things that we are. The blog launched in July 2013.

What are your favorite things about homesteading and blogging?

I think its pretty clear that I have a slight obsession with the chickens. They are such wonderful little crea-tures. Homesteading though, brings about a unique satisfaction in pro-ducing more and consuming less. I enjoy sharing our experiences here at Colored Egg Homestead on the blog in hopes to inspire others to do the same. What are your plans for the future?We would love to be able to expand Colored Egg Homestead in the fu-ture and leave the city.

I dream of a few rural acres where we can have goats, more chickens, and more space to grow vegetables & fruit trees.

Tell us about the jewelry you make and how you got started:

I started making jewelry when my daughter was just a baby. I began creating pretty little things for her and myself to wear. At the suggestion of my friends and family I opened an etsy store in 2009. Ktnunna (pronounced “kay-tee-none-ah”) has now grown to carry a wide variety of handmade jewelry and accessories. I have been surprised and humbled at the support and encouragement I have received since beginning this little business. Click here to find out more.

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One of the most invaluable resources I have on my

homestead is junk. Useful junk. Have you ever looked

inside an old barn? Farmers and ranchers are ex-

perts at holding on to what appears to be junk just in case it

someday becomes useful for repairing something else. When

the nearest Home Depot is thirty miles away, you don’t just

jump in your truck every time you need a two by four or a

door hinge.

Those of us who homestead in the city or in the suburbs

shouldn’t have to make those trips, either. Instead, we can

accumulate a nice little resource inventory at home that will

provide us with a constant, convenient source of materials for

solving problems on the fly at little to no cost.

Karen BeatyA resource inventory is a great way to recycle, reuse and

upcycle materials to save money and make your homestead

more sustainable.

Creating a Resource Inventory for your

Homestead

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Click here to learnmore about Karen Beaty at MakingShift.com

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What exactly is a resource inventory?A resource inventory is merely a

more or less organized accumulation

of salvaged materials intended for

some future use. Useful materials for

homestead use include: food-quality

containers, gardening containers,

wire, bricks, stones, gravel, screens,

lumber, plywood, pipes, wood pal-

lets, tires, and large sheets of card-

board. You may already have some

of these items at home and merely

need to organize and/or move them

to a more accessible or appropriate

location in order to make them a

functional resource inventory.

Why would I want to have these piles of junk a resource inventory?Because, simply put, a resource in-

ventory is going to save you time and

money. The more items you salvage

and the better you organize them,

the more time and money you will

save. As Peter Bane explains in The

Permaculture Handbook, “a sup-

ply of useful material enables many

small repair, retrofit or adaptive pro-

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jects to be done in odd bits of time

with little cost”. Like many folks, my

own homestead is maintained and

improved almost exclusively in odd

bits of time. I make a quick repair

to the chicken coop after dinner, I

shovel some compost between other

chores, or I build tomato cages in

my kitchen after the kids go to bed.

I have saved many trips to Home

Depot by using the materials I have

on hand to make repairs. I would al-

ways much rather spend an hour at

home, in my garden, with my family,

or puttering in the yard, than shop-

ping at a big box store (or really any

store for that matter).

How do I stock my re-source inventory?There are two main sources for

stocking your inventory: Your trash

and other people’s trash.

By “trash” I mean discarded items

that you can salvage, wherever they

may be found. Recycling bins, curb-

side trash collection, hand-me-down

networks, Freecycle, the Craigslist

free listings, and even dumpsters

can all provide you with items at

no cost. Garage sales, swap meets,

thrift stores, and the other Craigslist

listings can supply you with items at

low cost. I stock my own resource

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inventories almost exclusively with

free salvaged items. I live just out-

side the city of Austin, which pro-

vides curbside bulky trash pickup

twice yearly to all city residents.

When the neighborhoods nearest me

are scheduled for bulky trash pickup

I make the rounds in my minivan to

scavenge materials for my home-

stead. I have picked up hundreds of

dollars worth of materials this way

and I keep all of that “trash” out of

the landfill. (The “trash” I pick up is

perfectly usable building material.)

Don’t forget to salvage items out of

your own trash, too. Instead of recy-

cling those glass jars with lids, wash

them and use them to store food.

I save large plastic containers with

lids for storing animal feed or carry-

ing scraps to the chicken coop. Small

plastic containers are used to pro-

vide water for the cats, store small

hardware pieces, or hold grit for the

chickens.

Where do I put my resource inventory?When choosing a location for your

resource inventory keep the follow-

ing in mind: Organization, accessi-

bility, protection, and aesthetics.

In order to be useful your salvaged

junk must be organized in such a

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way that you can find pieces when

needed. Store items where you can

organize them easily, whether that

be on shelves, in boxes, or stacked

in a yard. Also, store items where

they are accessible for future use.

Heavy, bulky items should be stored

where you can load and unload them

by car. If given a choice, store heavy

items uphill from their future use.

It is easier to move gravel/mulch/

bricks downhill in a wheelbarrow

rather than uphill, for example.

Keep in mind that some items will

need to be protected from the el-

ements in order to maintain their

usefulness. (If left unprotected un-

treated wood will rot, plastic will get

brittle, metal will rust, and rubber

will crack.) Finally, you may want to

consider the aesthetics of your junk

pile, if only to appease those who

live with you. Indoor resource inven-

tories can occupy closets, drawers,

sheds, or garages. Outdoor inven-

tories can be protected from view

by trees, trellises, other buildings,

or the garden itself. In the suburbs

those useless strips of yard at the

sides of every house can make great

locations for outdoor inventories.

My own homestead’s resource inventoryI have several areas on my home-

stead that qualify as resource inven-

tories. A few examples are:

The Materials Yard- This is

a fairly large outdoor space adjacent

to the vegetable garden and the

driveway where I store large mate-

rials for future projects. Nearly all of

these large materials were salvaged

from the trash and brought home in

my van. For that reason I located

the materials yard adjacent to the

driveway where I could easily un-

load heavy, bulky items. These ma-

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terials include dimensional lumber,

landscaping timbers, landscaping

borders, metal fencing posts, wire

cattle panels, concrete blocks, rolls

of chicken and garden wire, a plas-

tic pond liner, a salvaged chicken

tractor, several dog houses, a rab-

bit hutch, and several wooden pal-

lets. This is all big, bulky stuff that

I don’t want to store directly next to

the house because I don’t want to

look at it on a daily basis. Most of

this area is hidden from view of the

house by trees.

The Carport- I keep plywood,

wooden shelving, buckets, old chick-

en feed bags, cans of paint, and small

wood scraps under the covered car-

port. Because these items are either

damaged by rain or are frequently

needed closer to home, they stay in

the covered carport attached to the

house.

The Workshop- This is an

outdoor room with more protection

from the elements than the carport.

I keep tools and hardware here. I of-

ten salvage hardware such as latch-

es, hinges, and other metal pieces

and then organize them in clear

plastic drawers for later use.

The Utility Room- The util-

ity room is located inside the house

adjacent to the kitchen. In addition

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to serving as the pantry (which is a

fabulous example of a resource in-

ventory), the utility room stores a

large collection of canning jars, oth-

er recycled glass jars, recycled plas-

tic food containers, and the recycling

bin itself. I visit the recycling bin

when I need a bit of cardboard for

the garden path, a plastic milk jug

to serve as a killing cone when we

slaughter chickens, or a cardboard

box to serve as a soap mold.

The Kitchen Junk Drawer-

Like I mentioned above, the junk

drawer is a great place to find some-

thing small and helpful like a bit of

wire, a rubber band, a clothespin, a

magnet, or a paper clip. Many small

homestead problems are solved with

such small and humble materials.

(My husband once repaired a speak-

er in his car with a twist tie from the

junk drawer and a twig.)

Most of us who are hard at work

creating a homestead have already

begun to collect useful materials in

one way or another. By changing

the way we view the already exist-

ing resource inventories around our

homesteads, and by better organiz-

ing them, we can turn what previ-

ously looked like junk or clutter into

a valuable stockpile of materials for

future growth.

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HomesteadResolutions

By Steven Jones

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New Year’s Eve is just

around the corner, which

means it is time to make

promises to ourselves and

then, probably break them.

People all over the world will vow

to quit smoking, lose weight, be

healthier and more.

At From Scratch magazine, we con-

sulted with our staff and put together

a list of resolutions that are perfect

for homesteaders, urban farmers

and anyone who wants to live a little

bit better.

Bonus: These resolutions will prob-

ably be easier and more fun to keep.

Get some chickensIf you do not already have chickens,

get some. Just about everyone in-

terested in homesteading or small

scale agriculture can afford a couple

or three chickens. Chickens are the

gateway drug to farming. They re-

quire very little room, comparative-

ly, do not cost much to feed and pro-

vide eggs! Just about everyone has

enough space to keep two or three

chickens (check your local zoning

laws).

They are also very entertaining. As

highly social creatures, they exhib-

it a lot of behaviors that are fun to

watch and even participate in (try

crowing, it will make you feel better,

I promise). Just be careful: Chickens

are so addictive, it is easy to become

the crazy chicken keeper.

Buy more local foodUnless all of the food you eat is lo-

cally produced, you cannot buy too

much. This year, promise yourself

and your family you will eat more

locally grown and produced food.

You can visit your farmer’s market,

join a CSA or even grow it yourself,

if your budget does not allow buy-

ing more local food. Even if it is not

certified organic, buying from local

farmers and producers is just a good

idea. It promotes a greater sense of

community, will probably be health-

ier and helps encourage and sup-

port local growers, leading to an im-

proved food supply for everyone. It

is almost guaranteed to taste better,

too.

Visit your extension officeAgricultural cooperative exten-

sion offices exist in every state in

the United States. The Cooperative

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Extension System is an education

program designed to help people

improve their lives. As part of the

USDA, the service is provided by in-

dividual states’ land-grant universi-

ties. The educational offerings are

usually agricultural, food, home and

family, environmental, community

economic development, youth and

4H.

Chances are, no matter where you

live, there is an extension office

nearby that can offer information on

a wide variety of subjects, including

crops, pest control and more. They

also offer classes, which leads to the

next item...

Take a classThe extension offices always have

a variety of classes for individuals

to take, usually provided at low or

no cost. The classes can be inten-

sive as a Master Gardener program

to as noncommittal as a few hours.

Which means anyone can go and

learn something new about sustain-

able agriculture, raising flowers and

vegetables and pest control.

If the extension office does not of-

fer anything that catches your fancy,

check out a nearby college or com-

munity college. Take a veterinar-

ian tech class and learn more about

those chickens you bought. Take a

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cooking class and learn

how to prepare all that de-

licious, locally produced

food you’re buying now.

No matter what, just take

a little time and learn

about the world around

you. You’ll fell better about

yourself for it.

Plant some herbsEven if you only have a

window sill of space avail-

able, it is still enough to

grow some wonderful me-

dicinal and culinary herbs

on (many times they can

be the same herbs). You

will not believe the dif-

ference cooking and us-

ing fresh herbs can make

in your life. Just knowing

that with a little bit of sun-

shine, soil and water, you

can harness the alchemy of

nature to make your food

taste better is a huge boost

in confidence. Soon, you’ll

be growing your own vege-

tables and looking for land

out in the country (don’t

say we didn’t warn you).

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Plant a new vegetableAgain, even if you don’t have a lot of

room available, it doesn’t mean you

can’t experiment some. This year,

instead of putting tomatoes out on

the patio, why not try a new veggie

to try out? We tried rutabagas this

year, and while we’re still unsure of

the success, we do know a lot more

about the brightly-colored plant.

Check with the Extension Office

when you visit and see if they have

some suggestions. Don’t be afraid

to be adventurous. The worst that

could happen is you don’t like it. If

you don’t, you learned something

new and you have something to add

to your compost bin. Which brings

us to...

Start compostingDesignate a space, either with a few

pallets nailed together, or a com-

mercially available rotating drum,

and start composting. Not only does

all that great compost make for

wonderful fertilizer, it also helps cut

down on the trash you might other-

wise send off to a landfill.

Don’t just throw everything in your

compost bin. Your local extension of-

ficer, and this website can give you

some idea of what to do.

No matter what your homesteading

New Year’s Resolutions are, just re-

member to engage with your world

and community and everything will

work out fine. Happy New Year, from

everyone here at From Scratch mag-

azine.

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HerbalFirst Aid

KitBy Steven Jones

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FROM SCRATCH MAGAZINE

If you are reading this, you prob-

ably worry about chemicals in

your food and water and how

that impacts your health.

So, you grow some of your own food,

herbs for cooking, maybe even live-

stock for eggs, milk or meat.

But what do you do about your medi-

cine cabinet?

You may believe when something

goes wrong — a little ache or minor

injury — there is no way to avoid

reaching for the familiar box with the

red cross, grabbing an aspirin or an-

other drug to deal with your every-

day health need.

But you’d be wrong.

There exists a body of knowledge that

stretches back generations on how to

use the plants and natural substances

to live a healthy life, including treat-

ing the ailments that strike suddenly

and without warning.

And it is not just about avoiding

modern medicine, it’s about getting

in touch with what your body needs,

according to herbalist and radio host

Rhonda Dial.

“You feed the body the food it needs,”

she said. “it has the god given ability

to heal itself.”

After spending 20 years as an herbal-

ist, she has found hundreds of ways

to treat common ailments, from

headaches to scrapes.

“I don’t use any chemicals,” she said.

“I have a menagerie of things in my

bathroom.”

Dial put together a short list of some

of her favorite remedies. You can use

it to create your own herbal first aid

kit at home.

PeppermintPeppermint has been historically used

at least since the Greek empire. The

plant, which grows easily in most cli-

mates, can be used to treat naseau,

indigestion and bloating.

It can be used as a fresh herb, dried

or as an oil

“Peppermint oil in my pocket all the

time,” Dial said.

She uses it topically to treat head-

aches resulting from sinus pressure.

Peppermint creates a cooling sensa-

tion when applied to the skin. Be-

cause of this, peppermint oil can be

used to treat hot flashes. Dial sug-

gests using 10 drops in two ounces of

water. The mixture is applied with a

fine spray mister for hot flashes.

For stomach issues, take peppermint

oil capsules orally, or gather some

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mint from your garden and make

tea with it. Boil sprigs of mint in two

cups of water. Use more or less mint

to suit your own taste. After the wa-

ter boils, let the tea steep for about

three minutes. Strain out the leaves

(they can be composted). If you

want to sweeten the tea, try local

honey and a little lemon juice.

Magnesium“Magnesium is a muscle relaxer,”

Dial said.

Dial said some headaches can be

caused by a magnesium deficiency

which causes stiff muscles in the

neck and shoulders.

Magnesium, Dial said, can be taken

in tablet form or can be absorbed

through magnesium rich foods.

“Dark chocolate is naturally rich in

magnesium,” Dial said.

Other foods rich in magnesium in-

clude kale, chard, pumpkin seeds

and avocado.

Magnesium, Dial said, is also good

for menstrual pain and cramps.

Activated charcoalActivated charcoal, which can be

taken in capsule form, can be used

to rid the body of toxins or poisons.

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Dial suggests travelers carry it when

they leave the country to treat di-

arrhea, excessive gas or stomach

aches.

Black ElderberryBlack Elderberry can be found in

warmer parts of Europe and North

America. It can be used preventa-

tive, Dial said, to prevent colds and

flu.

“That can be taken all winter,” Dial

said.

Elderberry can be consumed in con-

centrated capsules and pills, but you

can also make tea from wild elder-

berry.

Add three teaspoons of dried elder-

berry flowers into a half a cup of

boiling water. Simmer for about ten

minutes, strain and allow it to cool.

Pro Biotics“70 percent of your immune system

is in your large intestine,” Dial said.

As such, she suggests consuming

probiotics — either purchased in pill

form, or through foods rich in pro bi-

otic material — to help support gen-

eral as well as digestive health.

“You can eat foods that can help with

good bacteria: Yogurt, kefir, sauer-

kraut.” she said.

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Comfrey“That’s nature’s Band-Aid,” Dial

said. Comfrey is an herb that can

be cultivated nearly anywhere.

Also know as “knitbone” comfrey

is used topically to treat bruises,

sprains and minor scrapes. The

leaves, which are fuzzy, can be ap-

plied directly to the skin to promote

healing and reduce inflammation.

Most of the time, Dial said, it sticks

to the skin, but it can also be held

in place with a bandage.

WaterDial said staying hydrated is one of

the most important things you can

do to promote good health.

Staying hydrated helps the bodies

mucus membranes do their job, Dial

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said, and allows the body’s

natural healing process to

work.

Bee pollen and “plain old vitamin C”Both these substances can

be taken daily to help pro-

mote good health and sup-

port a healthy immune sys-

tem Dial said.

Editor’s note: As with any

health advice, consult a

professional before using

any treatment which could

cause adverse side effects.

Remember, always use

common sense.

About Rhonda Dial:Rhonda Dial is a Master

Herbalist, with over three

decades of experience who

lives and works in Hoover,

Alabama.

She teaches classes at Go

Natural Herbs weekly, hosts

a local television show on

an ABC affiliate in Alabama

as well as a weekly radio

show.

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