MOTHER EARTH NEWS June - July 2019

Last March, I attended a conference devoted to understanding how soil health affects plant health and nutrient density, which collectively affect animal (including human) gut microbiomes and, ultimately, animal health. It was the highlight of my entire life — in the realm of conferences, anyway. During that event, I learned that sheep eagerly eat some less-palatable but nutritious forages in the afternoon only after eating a more-palatable forage in the morning. The science behind it goes something like this: The plant secondary compounds in the breakfast graze counteract the ill effects of the secondary compounds in the afternoon graze. How do the sheep know? Well, a sheep’s microbiome is adept at letting it know when something good is happening by facilitating the release of “happy hormones” when eating the “right” things…

Sage Safety Advice I read Joel Salatin’s article on safety (“Homestead Safety,” The Pitchfork Pulpit, December 2018/January 2019) to my husband, who’s legally blind. He has always been very safety conscious, which serves him well now. He has given away his large chainsaws, but he still_uses, among other power tools, a small chainsaw. I now consider myself our household’s safety officer. However, if it weren’t for my husband’s years of safety awareness, he wouldn’t be able to continue doing the things he loves. We were fortunate to have Mr. Salatin speak in our small Southern California community a few years ago. We appreciated that he traveled to speak to us, especially since it involved 40 miles of mountain driving. Celia De Frank Big Bear City, California…

Readers, we received quite a response to Editorial Director Hank Will’s “Obvious Solutions” in the August/September 2018 issue. Hank wrote about building swarm traps to capture wild honeybees on his farm. Here are our favorite letters from you. — MOTHER Hard to Bee-lieve I really like the idea of catching swarms, and will have to try baiting them with semipermeable vials of lemongrass, as Hank suggested. My wife uses essential oils, so I’m sure I can find what I need. I went into winter with six hives. On a warm day in February, I checked and found two hives with activity in them. By spring, I was down to a single hive. I’m more of a bee purchaser than a beekeeper, as I seem to have bad luck with overwintering them. I’ve tried…

“Your magazine should be read by all who care about the environment, their health, and the Earth.” Spring Chickens I discovered MOTHER EARTH NEWS last year when I borrowed an issue from our town library. Informative, interesting, and entertaining, your magazine should be read by all those who are concerned and care about the environment, their health, and the Earth. I grew up on a farm, and I remember that the fried chicken my mother served was crisp and tasty. The size of the spring chicken, at 2½ pounds, was just right for us seven hungry children. I’m interested in ordering a shipment of two spring chickens on a trial basis, to be repeated if everything is satisfactory. Lita Ferrer Wethersfield, Connecticut Thanks for the mouthwatering memories, Lita! You can locate local farmers who sell spring chickens…

As the energy the U.S. receives from solar power increases, more land is allocated to hosting the solar panels that produce it. And in many cases, landowners have written off the grasses and plants below the panels. But that may not have to be the case — new research about the viability of such land is proving how productive this vacant space could be. In a study published by PLOS One in November 2018, Oregon State University researchers describe their findings that shade cast by solar panels installed on parched or waterstressed land creates a beneficial microclimate, increasing moisture retention and water efficiency, and boosting the health of the plants and soil below the panels. The plants showed higher nutritional value and productivity — the researchers measured a 90 percent increase…

Imagine a home that produces more energy from the sun than it uses. Now, envision building that home and turning it into a vacation retreat with a stunning view of snow-capped mountains — a place that won’t drain your checkbook, but will instead earn you thousands of dollars a month. A few years ago, my wife, Alex, and I started dreaming about just these things. We had already achieved a piece of that dream — we’ve lived in a net-zero solarpowered house since 2011, when we built Seattle’s first zero-energy home for the price of a smaller townhouse in our neighborhood. It was such a positive experience that we wanted to try building a vacation retreat in Washington’s Methow Valley. Could our dream come true? Shared Ownership At the time we began to…