MOTHER EARTH NEWS December - January 2021

I admit it: I cause a bit of chaos for myself by not returning tools to their rightful place immediately after using them, and I have a tough time tossing stuff that really should be tossed, or at the very least “might be useful in some future project.” My office is a mess to most folks because I’m a piler. A stacker. But the piles and stacks represent projects in various stages of completion. The problem is that even when those projects are completed, the stacks still grow. This continues until something snaps, and then I purge. And I feel lighter and clearer-headed. I become more efficient and nicer to be around. Even the dogs notice. We hired in a roll-off dumpster from a local recycling place this week, and we’ve…

Coming of Age I’m writing to you from my farm in South Africa. We don’t have many books or magazines for the homesteader who wants to live more sustainably, so I’ve resorted to modifying the American way to suit the African one. To this end, and besides the mountains of books I’ve read, I started subscribing to MOTHER EARTH NEWS for its wholesome, balanced, and highly informative articles. You’re celebrating your 50th anniversary in my 50th year, and I feel like I’m finally coming of age. I started this journey three years ago after burning myself out in the corporate world. I looked back on my 33 years in the workforce and couldn’t find a single thing that made me want to carry on, not even the big paycheck. So I quit.…

“As a family, we all helped in the gardens, and I’m so grateful for the time we shared, and I feel so proud and excited with the bounty I’m able to grow.” A Family Matter I’m writing in response to Hank’s “News from MOTHER” editorial (“Roots Reconnected” February/March 2020). I first must tell you how excited I get whenever I receive a new issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS! My parents used to give me their old issues, and I loved them so much that I recently asked for my own subscription. You asked readers to share stories about growing adventures that had a profound effect on our lives. My parents and grandparents were all gardeners, selling the extra bounty to regular customers who would stop by. When we settled down and were able, I…

After recent racial justice uprisings across the United States, legislative leaders have been pressured to address the racism built into their locales’ actions and infrastructures — and for Arlington, Texas, that meant examining the effect a fracking well would have on the community surrounding it, and ultimately rejecting its drilling. Nationwide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, fossil fuel projects are more likely to be built near communities where people of color, specifically Black people, and people in poverty live. That proximity means those communities are disproportionately impacted by pollution — and thus by respiratory illnesses, such as asthma and COVID-19. This environmental racism holds true in Arlington, where French energy company Total was planning to drill a fracking well near a predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhood, where residents experience high…

If you had told me even five years ago that my husband, Brett, and I would live in the country, raise hens and pigs, tend a 2,000-square-foot garden, build outdoor structures, get excited about worms, host a women’s homesteading group, can our own food, attend homesteading conferences, write about farming, design and sew vintage-inspired aprons, cook everything from scratch, forage in the yard, and nurture all kinds of ferments and tinctures in the depths of our kitchen cabinets, I wouldn’t have believed you. As a matter of fact, no one who knew us ever saw this coming. I was the least likely suspect to ever embrace this life, in part or whole. I grew up outside New York City, and not so long ago, I was a suburban soccer mom…

Bucket Garden There I was, facing hip surgery, right at the beginning of the growing season. I knew the surgery wouldn’t take place until summer, but my motion was already somewhat limited, and I realized that bending over raised beds wasn’t going to happen for me this season. The solution? An excellent moment to try some ideas and plants I’d had in mind for a container garden! As usual, I started various seeds indoors in March, but this time, I chose several plants specifically designed for containers: dwarf okra, a dwarf cantaloupe, two different types of tomatoes, and dwarf peppers, in addition to lettuces, carrots, and herbs. My partner in crime, otherwise known as my spouse, was a champ who drilled holes in 28 buckets; filled them with soil, compost, and worm…