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The New Pioneer
#255The New Pioneer is your guide to everything the land has to offer. Every issue is packed with useful how-to information for back-to-the-landers, plus spotlight pieces on couples and families that have actually “been there, and done that” with success! The New Pioneer is also chock full of expert advice on must-have tools and homestead gear, planting and farming, strategies for achieving energy independence and buying rural land, do-it-yourself projects and how to get the most out of living the rural life.
in this issue
survive & thrive
The first issue of TNP was published about 10 years ago, when the economy had hit bottom during the Great Recession. The lessons learned during that crisis will stand all of us in good stead as we confront the COVID-19 virus. But it presents us with an unprecedented set of challenges. As I write this, it’s way too early to tell how damaging it will be to our health and well-being. While the steps the CDC asks us to take, especially “sheltering in place,” make good sense and can indeed limit the spread of the virus, they are transforming our daily lives in unforeseen ways as well as a global economy already reeling from the effects of the virus. So how do we handle a situation in which attempting to…
breaking news
TNP is now on Instagram at Instagram.com/thenewpioneer . Be sure to stop by our page, give us a follow and share your photos with us by using #thenew pioneer or #thenewpioneermagazine. Keep your helpful Facebook comments and emails coming so we can provide the information you crave. Your letters prompt us to order feature articles. We do read your comments. If you know a family who might be a good cover story , let us know. We also want more of your helpful “It Worked For Me” stories. Cut and paste your 350-word manuscript into an email and attach a high-resolution photo (between 1 and 5 MB) or two for illustration purposes. We’ll pay $100 upon acceptance. Please email us at editdesk @athlonoutdoors.com.…
the phenoms of fermenting
Author Kirsten Shockey spent years telling people that her passion for fermentation began when her mother put a crock full of sauerkraut under the Christmas tree. But recently, she came to understand that the crock was not, in fact, the first spark that ignited a decades-long devotion. As a young homesteader she made cheese with her family’s dairy animals. Nobody referred to the task as fermentation, but that’s exactly how gallons of cows’ milk get turned into pounds of cheddar. “The vocabulary around fermented foods was not in place back then,” Kirsten says. “You thought wine. Beer. Sauerkraut. But cheesemaking is fermentation.” Now, however, fermentation is part of the national zeitgeist, with slews of workshops, shelves of new books and artisans from Oregon to Maine diving deep into the mysteries and traditions…
christopher’s careerjuggling tips
Chucking it all to pursue a life in the country appeals to many, and for good reason. Paved-over, traffic-clogged suburban and urban life challenges even the most grounded among us. The idea of a quiet life in the country, with more wildlife sightings per day than vehicles? That enchants. Christopher and Kirsten Shockey followed their passions and convictions more than two decades ago when they moved their family of six from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where they had a house on an acre, to a 40-acre homestead in remote southwestern Oregon. At the time, in 1998, Christopher was working in product development for Hewlett-Packard in Corvallis, OR and the couple lived nearby in Albany. When HP assigned Christopher to a Bay Area team, the company let him work remotely, saying he could work…
how toferment veggies
Rinse cabbage or other vegetables in cool water and prepare according to the recipe directions; transfer to a large bowl. Add half the salt in the recipe and, with your hands, massage it in, then taste. You should be able to taste salt, but it should not be overwhelming. If it’s not salty enough, continue adding small amounts and tasting until it’s to your liking. The vegetables will quickly look wet and limp. Some liquid will begin to pool in the bowl. Let them stand, covered, for 45 minutes, then repeat the massage. Transfer them to a crock or jar and press them down with your fist or a tamper to release even more brine. Some should be visible on top when you press. (Don’t worry if the brine “disappears” between pressings.)…
pioneering you tubers
“YOU’RE GOING TO BE BLOWN away by how easy this is,” Kevin Mathews says as he whisks together flour, yeast, salt and water for a loaf of hard-crust, no-knead bread. Wearing a flannel shirt and ball cap, Kevin demonstrates step-by-step how he mixes the dough, plops the sticky lump onto parchment paper in a pre-heated Dutch oven, then slides the cooking pot into his kitchen oven. While the bread bakes, Kevin grabs a camera and films his wife, Sarah, milking their dairy goats. The down-home bread-baking lesson, complete with Sarah’s goat-milking tips, will be seen by thousands upon thousands of people worldwide who keep up with the Mathews family on their Living Traditions Homestead YouTube channel. Although the couple prepared for years before making their dramatic lifestyle leap from high-dollar corporate jobs in…
