MOTHER EARTH NEWS December - January 2017

Ireceived word recently that several native bees have been added to the endangered species list, and while I’m distressed by the news, I’m encouraged too. Fundamentally, I wish we didn’t need an endangered species list, nor the political posturing and environmental game-playing that surround it. At the same time, I am guardedly pleased that bee health is getting some real attention — mostly in Hawaii, in this case — and I hope that the classification will lead to real environmental stewardship and help diverse interests come together in a meaningful way to create effective practices that will spread throughout the mainland. It’s tough for me to imagine a world without bees in it, even as I watch a nearby oilseed sunflower crop dry down ahead of harvest quite suddenly, thanks…

“I’m happier now than I’ve ever been, and I’ve learned that you can ‘have it all’ at any age.” EDITORS’ PICK Archive Gold I’m currently reading the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Archive on DVD for a second time. I took so much away from my first perusal, but wanted to go over it again in case I’d missed something. I’m enjoying some of the articles so much that I wanted to suggest the Archive to your readers who haven’t yet purchased this gold mine. Some of the contributors are extremely entertaining. I’ve just read Sharon Kruse’s “Living the Homesteading Life” (September/October 1976) and it left me laughing so much that I had to hold my stomach! Kruse writes of her experience in the Ozarks and describes in great detail the pros and cons of an…

In August 2016, President Barack Obama signed a bill into law to establish a “National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard.” The legislation, cowritten by Republican Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas and Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, does require the establishment of national guidelines for labeling GM foods, but it falls short of the transparency many were pushing for. A key element to this transparency problem is that instead of labels being required to actually read “made with genetically modified ingredients” or “contains genetically modified ingredients,” a package may simply be adorned with a QR code, one of those blocky, black-and-white symbols that can only be scanned and read with a smartphone. This means a smaller percentage of the public will get the information, because not everyone will scan the code —…

Until recently, organic seed growers encountered an educational gap when seeking mentors and comprehensive courses covering both theoretical and practical applications related to seed. To fill that need, the nonprofit Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) teamed up with the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA) to create a national internship program, which launched in 2015. As part of the program, organizers developed an extensive course on growing organic seed. The online portions of the six-month course are also available free of charge to folks outside the internship program. This includes monthly webinars and reading lists, as well as discussion forums for participants to hash out all things seed-related. Each webinar covers a new area of organic seed production, such as variety trials and seed selection, diseases and pests, harvesting how-to and equipment,…

Having access to stored root vegetables gives a sense of comfort to the gardener-cook. There they are, always ready to bulk up a meal with their earthy flavors. But sometimes we long for the wide variety the garden yielded in summer, and then it’s time to try some new storage crops that are popular in cooking but not often grown at home. How about planting a bed of sweet potatoes? And, for a gourmet treat, a row of shallots? Both are easy to grow and easy to keep, since neither requires (or does well in) the moist cold of a root cellar. They even pair well in cooking — one luxuriously sweet and the other pungent, with a subtle flavor all its own. Sustaining Sweet Potatoes Sweet potatoes are one of the…

Both shallots and sweet potatoes caramelize beautifully when roasted, their flavors intensified. Together, they make a sweet and savory winter meal, especially when accented with sage and smoky bacon. They make a good side dish when cooked together in a pan, but you can also strew them around a pork roast or a roasting fowl. If they’re the main event, serve them with a salad of winter greens, such as cabbage or kale. Yield: 4 to 6 servings. Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry the bacon cubes briefly in a small pan over very low heat to render some of the fat, stirring frequently and being careful not to get them too brown. Remove them with a slotted spoon and set them aside, leaving the fat in the…