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The latest articles from Chelsea Green and our authors: offering tips and techniques about how you can bring our books to life in your kitchen, backyard, or community.

drying prune plums

Drying Prune Plums (Plus Figs, Apricots, Peaches and Nectarines)

Learn the ropes on drying prune plums! Whether you’re a pro at preserving or you’ve never tried it out before, anyone can make these delicious snacks.

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The Importance of Planting Cover Crops

If you want to improve your soil, one of the most important things you can do is to plant cover crops. But they need to be selected with a purpose.

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Natural Cheesemaking: A Love Letter to Milk

Cheese is milk’s destiny. Be inspired by the celebration of milk-in all its forms-especially the transformation of milk into cheese through natural cheesemaking

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Weeding: Work Smarter, Not Harder

Weeds are the bane of every farmer and gardener’s existence. Before you go crusading against the weeds in your garden follow these tips and tricks!

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Preserving Veggies: Tips for Freezing Vegetables

Try your hand at preserving veggies by freezing them! Freezing vegetables is a quick, simple way to preserve them for winter meals.

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A Guide to Making Jams and Syrups With Wild Ingredients

The possibilities are pretty much endless with wild ingredients — use almost any fresh fruit or juice and a sweetener to create your own custom jam or syrup!

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All About Cows: What has Four Legs, Says “Moo,” and Could Save the Planet?

Cows can help rebuild soil and restore land to its rightful state—improving carbon sequestration, natural water cycles, and soil fertility and nutrient density.

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The Whole Sunflower: Delicious Down to the Stem

Did you know that more than just the seeds of a sunflower are edible? Almost every part of a sunflower are completely safe and delicious when cooked correctly.

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Arid Agriculture: Strategies to Reduce Heat Stress in Crops and Livestock

Become more resilient when the temperatures are on the rise to reduce heat stress and produce food in even the most arid environments.

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Fruit-Infused Vinegar: How to Make Vinegar With Blueberries and Blackberries

Looking for something to do with the berries you’ve been growing all season? These recipes for infused vinegars allow you to get creative with unique flavors.

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A Guide to Great Compost From Eliot Coleman

Compost is the key to an abundant garden. Learn the basics of making compost from gardening expert Eliot Coleman, and enjoy the joy of growing your own food.

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How to Save Tomato Seeds

As your favorite variety of home grown tomatoes start ripening on the vine this summer, be sure to save those seeds for next year’s planting. It takes a bit of care to get the seeds out of the gelatinous tomato goo they’re suspended in, but once you’ve done it you can use those seeds to…

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Focusing on Soil Remediation with Fungi

Nature does what needs to be done if we let her. The fungi and the plants will sing this soil redemption song for us. As the fungi and the plants always have.

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dilly beans

Dilly Beans: Voted The “Best Snack Ever”

For those who love fermented foods, we now welcome you into the wonderful world of dilly beans. There’s nothing quite like a dilly bean. Whether they’re next to a plate of cheese and crackers, on a sandwich, or taken straight from the jar in the middle of winter when you’re sick of potatoes and pasta,…

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Biodynamic Farming: Unlock Fertile Fields with Cows & Compost

“An immediate halt to chemical fertilizing and returning to the use of compost instead would turn degeneration into regeneration.”

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How to Make Whole Fruit Jam

This tried-and-true jam recipe relies on the natural sugars in fruit to provide a balanced flavor and sweetness that can’t be beat.

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The Art of Grazing: What Is “Good” Silvopasture Grazing?

If you’re not familiar with silvopasture, you should be. The integrated system offers both the promise of land regeneration and economic livelihood.

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Capturing the Crunch: How to Harvest and Store Cucumbers

As the weather heats up, now’s the perfect time to grow and pick cucumbers! With these easy tips and tricks, you’ll be prepared to successfully harvest and store the cucumbers you grow until they’re ready to eat. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs copyright © 2017 by Andrew Mefferd. The following is an excerpt from The Greenhouse and…

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Land Degradation: The Secrets of Fixing the Soil with Biochar

Some of the world’s most productive and resilient soils contain significant quantities of “natural” biochar.  Author Kelpie Wilson challenges us to “change our perspective from ‘too much carbon in the air’ to ‘not enough carbon in the soil.’ We are good at being miners and exploiting resources, so let’s mine the air and stash the…

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Don’t Bawk: The Wild and Wonderful Chicken Tractor

Aside from the sheer pleasure of telling your friends, straight-faced, that you maintain your garden using something called a “chicken tractor,” there are a slew of other benefits to working the land with a few of your animal friends. Getting rid of pests without chemicals, for one; letting them do the work of weeding and…

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5 Creative Summer Drinks to Help You Cool Off

With the “dog days” of summer underway, the heat can feel a little unrelenting. On hot days, there’s no better way to cool off than with a refreshing, cold beverage. Here’s a list of some perfect cool-down summer drinks made with organic ingredients sourced right from your garden or local wild places.  The following excerpts have…

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Perennial Veggies: The Benefits of Perennial Vegetables

Think about how much work your perennial flower beds take compared to your annual vegetable garden. In a busy year, your perennial garden largely sails through despite neglect. Once your perennials are established, and if they are suited to your climate and site conditions, they can be virtually indestructible. An annual vegetable garden, as we…

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Daylily Dangers and Delights

Got some daylilies taking over your garden? Instead of weeding them out, try eating them instead! A common vegetable in China and Japan, the daylily is  more than a pretty flower. These wild plants are easy to forage and packed with flavor that will serve as a perfect addition to seasonal recipes. Before trying them,…

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Reaping the Harvest: Tips for Harvesting and Preserving

Tending to your garden is fulfilling in its own way, but the real reward is when everything is ready to be harvested! See below for some tips for harvesting and preserving that’ll keep you nourished for months to come. The following is an excerpt form The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments by Nigel Palmer. It…

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Healing Our Bodies, Healing Our Earth

How can we protect ourselves from the pollution, chemicals, and toxins that pervade our environment? Dr. Jenny Goodman connects the health of our planet with our own well-being, addressing the questions that very few doctors ask. Ultimately the goal is to empower you to look after your own health—and that of the planet because “healing…

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