DIG IN
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.
Can’t Find the Perfect Garden Tools? Make Your Own
Is hoeing hurting your back? Is your trowel cramping your wrist? Are the tools at your local hardware store just not cutting it? Gardening can be such laborious work, but what you put into your garden is what you get back. With a few simple do-it-yourself modifications you can find and alter your tools to…
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Summer Vegetable Tian: Simple and Elegant
The term tian simply refers to a dish of thinly sliced vegetables that have been cooked in fat of your choice and baked au gratin. This crispy and colorful Summer Vegetable Tian is the perfect side to showcase the medley of mouthwatering veggies that the season has to offer! The following excerpt is from The Heal Your…
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Top-Bar Beekeeping: A List of Pros and Cons
Beekeepers are facing tremendous challenges, from pests such as varroa and tracheal mites and from the mysterious but even more devastating phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Yet in backyards and on rooftops all over the world, bees are being raised successfully, even without antibiotics, miticides, or other chemicals. More and more organically minded…
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Mull it Over: Mulberries, Memories, and Muffins
Mulberries have a special power of unlocking memories. Catching a whiff of a pie in the oven or taking that first delicious bite will transport you back to not only the first time you had mulberries, but each and every time. These sweet berries very well might be in your own backyard, your neighbor’s yard,…
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How To Make Homemade Fresh Mozzarella
There is something so fun and rewarding about pulling out a gallon or two of milk and deciding to make some homemade mozzarella. It is super delicious: creamy, salty, all the best things when it comes to cheese. Have faith that with a little practice, you can enter into the world of cheesemaking and make…
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Drill, Plug, Wax, Wait: 6 Simple Steps to Growing Mushrooms Outdoors
Mushrooms: they’re versatile, they’re delicious, and they’re extremely simple to grow in your yard or garden. We have a mushroom growing method that’s so simple, you have no excuse not to try it out. All you need is a log or tree stump, some mushroom starter, and a couple of basic tools. And you will…
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Make Way For the Queen! Natural Queen Bee Rearing
Queen Bees are essential for a hive. No colony can truly “bee” successful without one. How do you get this almighty queen? It’s all in the honeycomb. Below is a formula for natural queen bee rearing that will help you run a productive hive. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs copyright © 2023 by Eric and…
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How to Brew Mead at Home: Ginger-Apricot Mead Recipe
When Jereme was in North Carolina for the 2016 Mother Earth News Fair in Asheville, he picked up a local honey made from summer wildflowers. Why? He was inspired after visiting Fox Hill and sampling their Special Reserve Mead, which has hints of ginger and a unique blend of buckwheat honey and some lighter varietals.…
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Plant Spotlight: The Joyful Juneberry
All hail the joyful juneberry! While these rich and sweet berries taste wonderful when they’re fresh, you can also preserve them, use them as a substitute for blueberries in dessert recipes, and used to make wine, beer or cider. To create these delicious dishes, you first need to find and harvest juneberries. Get ready to set…
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Grow Mushrooms on Your Jeans. Seriously.
Do you have an old, worn-out pair of jeans in your dresser? Instead of throwing them out, try to grow mushrooms on them. Follow this simple step-by-step outline to start growing mushrooms in the unlikeliest of places…on your pants! The following is an excerpt from Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation by Tradd Cotter. It has…
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The Hunt for Wild Huckleberries and Buckwheat Huckleberry Buckle Cake
Huckleberries are a true prize for fruit foragers. Describing them as “intense, juicy, and addictive,” author Sara Bir has the lowdown on where and how to harvest them. And if you’re one of the lucky ones who brings home a bountiful harvest, the recipe below for Buckwheat Huckleberry Buckle is a MUST-make. Trust us. It’s…
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A Cluckin’ Good Time: Why Chickens Rule the Roost
If you’ve ever wondered what your life is missing, the answer is probably chickens. These feathery friends can help fertilize your soil, mow your lawn, and even lay the eggs you eat for breakfast. What could be better than that? To celebrate our favorite member of the poultry flock, we’ve rounded up some wisdom from…
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Summer Rainbow Pickled Vegetable Plate: A Taste of Summer
Few things scream “summer” more than a fresh, colorful plate of seasonal veggies. With this recipe for a rainbow pickled veg plate, you’ll transform simple vegetables into a delectable dish that your guests will be craving all season long. The following is an excerpt from Salt and the Art of Seasoning by James Strawbridge. It…
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What’s the Buzz With Beekeeping?
For all the beekeepers and future beekeepers out there, this one is for you. The benefits of bees are numerous: honey, beeswax and let’s not forget pollination. Raising honey bees increases pollination of flowering plants and honey bees are the heroes of pollination efforts for modern agriculture. Anyone can master the skills necessary to be…
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Getting to the Root: Growing & Harvesting Carrots
Curious about carrots? There is no better time than now to get to growing. Before you get started, check out these insights on growing & harvesting carrots from gardening expert Will Bonsall. The following is an excerpt from Will Bonsall’s Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening by Will Bonsall. It has been adapted for the…
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The Case for Beef
The narrative on beef is constantly changing. From paleo to veganism, we are continually told conflicting information about the healthiness of beef and whether or not it should be in our diets. Former vegetarian and environmental lawyer turned rancher, Nicolette Hahn Niman, makes the following case for beef: “I also firmly believe a person should…
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An Endangered Scavenger: Searching for the California Condor
Toward the end of his Big Year, birder Arjan Dwarshuis stopped at Pinnacles National Park in California to hopefully sneak a peek at one of the most elusive and intriguing birds in existence: the California Condor. This large and endangered bird is not only a marvel to look at, it is one of the largest flying…
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Kvass: A Nourishing, Fermented Beverage
Looking to add another recipe to your fermenting repertoire? Try your hand at kvass! This nourishing beverage calls for just a few simple ingredients and only takes a couple of days to ferment. Use beets or get creative with various fruit combinations like Blueberry Lemon Mint or Ginger Apple Lime. The following recipes are from The Heal…
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What is Biochar and How Does it Work?
Some of the most productive and resilient soils in the world contain significant quantities of “natural” biochar. Like many human discoveries, biochar has likely been invented, lost, and reinvented multiple times. It’s the oldest new soil enhancer that you’ve never heard of! Biochar is a stable solid that is rich in carbon and is made…
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Are you Team Duck or Team Chicken?
Thinking about adding a laying flock to your backyard, but having trouble deciding between ducks and chickens? Agonize no more. Ducks are easy to herd, have routine egg laying hours, and are superior to chickens in terms of pest control. Chickens are more readily available, usually cheaper to purchase, and are a better confinement animal,…
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Make Rice Koji in 12 Easy Steps
Looking for a new cooking project? Try your hand at rice koji! Follow these steps by two renowned chefs to make delicious rice koji at home. The following is an excerpt from Koji Alchemy by Jeremy Umansky and Rich Shih. It has been adapted for the web. Making Basic Rice Koji the Traditional Way Let’s walk…
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How to Grow and Maintain Fruit Trees: General Fruit Tree Management
Thinking of growing fruit trees? While it’s no small undertaking, fruit trees are much more forgiving than annual crops once established. Fruits like apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, nectarines, pears, pluots, and plums can easily be grown on trees in your backyard — you just need to know the correct management practices before you get started.…
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From Seed to Table: Buckwheat Pancakes
According to a column in Agricultural Research from September 1974, “buckwheat has an amino acid composition nutritionally superior to all cereals, including oats,” due to its high content of lysine. Not only that, but hearty buckwheat pancakes are just as tasty, if not tastier, than those made from wheat. So what are you waiting for?…
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How Cattle Grazing Improves Soil Diversity: Saving Our Soil
In Our Wild Farming Life, Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer recount their experiences as they create Lynbreck Croft—a regenerative Scottish farm rooted in local food and community. As they build their farm, Cassells and Baer bring new livestock to their land and learn techniques to help them truly understand how they can farm in harmony with…
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Foraging For Wild Strawberries
Have you ever stumbled across wild strawberries? Growing along the sunny banks and around a forest edge, along roadsides, hillsides or even in your own back yard, wild strawberries are delicious. Wild strawberries are much smaller than those hollow, crunchy, off-season truck farm monstrosities most of us allow to pass for strawberries. Cultivated in-season berries, the…
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