Gretchen Kruesi

mushrooms

Growing Shiitake Mushrooms in a Garage or Yard

By Gretchen Kruesi / October 30, 2024 / Comments Off on Growing Shiitake Mushrooms in a Garage or Yard

Learn how to grow shiitake mushrooms in almost any environment, including your yard and even your garage!

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Sweet Brunch Delights: Doughnut Holes, Breakfast Cake & Fruit with Tahini Yogurt

By Gretchen Kruesi / October 29, 2024 / Comments Off on Sweet Brunch Delights: Doughnut Holes, Breakfast Cake & Fruit with Tahini Yogurt

Looking to elevate your brunch recipes? Treat yourself to this delightful trio that promises to satisfy your sweet tooth & will have guests asking for seconds!

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mini-forests

The Magic of Mini-Forests

By Gretchen Kruesi / October 24, 2024 / Comments Off on The Magic of Mini-Forests

“Hannah Lewis describes a gift to a despairing world…There may be no single climate solution that has a greater breadth of benefits than mini-forests…[and] can be done by everyone everywhere.”—Paul Hawken, from the foreword Mini-forests are simple to create, satisfying, and can get us closer to improving our climate and future. Read the foreword by Paul…

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kale

All About Kale: The Evolution of This Popular Green

By Gretchen Kruesi / October 8, 2024 / Comments Off on All About Kale: The Evolution of This Popular Green

Once considered an undesirable vegetable mainly fed to cattle, kale has evolved over the years to become a powerful superfood!

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apples

Out of the Kitchen, Into the Garden: Apple Cider Vinegar

By Gretchen Kruesi / October 4, 2024 / Comments Off on Out of the Kitchen, Into the Garden: Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar isn’t just for the kitchen, it’s also extremely useful in creating amendments for your garden. Before you reach for that bottle in your pantry, if you have an apple tree (or a crab apple tree) use the ground apples to make your own! After your apple cider vinegar is brewed, you’re ready…

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fall picnic

Foraging Up A Fall Picnic: Wild & Fresh Recipes for Fall

By Gretchen Kruesi / September 30, 2024 / Comments Off on Foraging Up A Fall Picnic: Wild & Fresh Recipes for Fall

You just laid out your blanket & the leaves are turning colors. The only thing that could make your fall picnic even better is if you foraged for the ingredients yourself.

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Basics of Cider Making: Preparing Apple Cider

By Gretchen Kruesi / September 27, 2024 / Comments Off on Basics of Cider Making: Preparing Apple Cider

To make the best cider, you first need an understanding of the processes and the science behind them. Become a cider making expert with help from these tips!

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mushrooms

Brew Outside the Box: Making Mushroom-Infused Beer

By Gretchen Kruesi / September 24, 2024 / Comments Off on Brew Outside the Box: Making Mushroom-Infused Beer

For the adventurous brewer infusing mushrooms into brews is a great way to combine the medicinal benefits of fungi with one of the world’s most consumed drinks.

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squash

What’s In A Name? The Story of Squash

By Gretchen Kruesi / September 16, 2024 / Comments Off on What’s In A Name? The Story of Squash

Squash varieties are delicious vegetables that play a vital role in some of our favorite dishes. It has come a long way, with a rich history and an admirable journey toward becoming the successful meal staple it is today.

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Cooking as a Radical Act: Food As Medicine

Cooking as a Radical Act: Food As Medicine

By Gretchen Kruesi / September 13, 2024 / Comments Off on Cooking as a Radical Act: Food As Medicine

Eating nutritious, real food is the most important step toward a long and healthy life. Embrace your food as medicine without sacrificing flavor for bone health or plant-based diets!

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vermicast bin

Vermicast Structures: Worm Real Estate

By Gretchen Kruesi / September 6, 2024 / Comments Off on Vermicast Structures: Worm Real Estate

Farmers rely on earthworms to create vermicomposting systems to improve seed germination, enhanced seedling growth and increased plant productivity.

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root cellar

Building Your Own Root Cellar for the Fall Harvest

By Gretchen Kruesi / September 3, 2024 / Comments Off on Building Your Own Root Cellar for the Fall Harvest

Building a root cellar is a great way to keep your harvest fresh through the cold months. With protection from weather and animals, these cellars can be just as good as a regular refrigerator. They can be built into a wall in your basement, dug into the ground, or simply buried.  The following excerpt is…

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Rosemary Bread

From the Garden to the Bread Basket: Rosemary Bread, Scones and Stuffing

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 30, 2024 / Comments Off on From the Garden to the Bread Basket: Rosemary Bread, Scones and Stuffing

Rosemary bread is the perfect compliment from cream cheese to strawberry jam to squash soup! The results are quite fantastic. Indulge in the trio of recipes below from rosemary bread, rosemary walnut scones to rosemary stuffing.

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pickles in a jar

How To Make Sour Pickles

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 28, 2024 / Comments Off on How To Make Sour Pickles

Sour pickles have a deep, robust taste. They are wonderfully sour and crisp with a flavor that’s guaranteed to make you smile.

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compost

Composting as if it Mattered

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 26, 2024 / Comments Off on Composting as if it Mattered

Composting is more than a way to minimize waste and a garden supplement. It is a method, when practiced and perfected, can supply all the needs of your crops and soil.

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Cheese

Natural Cheesemaking: A Love Letter to Milk

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 16, 2024 / Comments Off on 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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cows grazing

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

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 7, 2024 / Comments Off on 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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reduce heat stress

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

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 2, 2024 / Comments Off on Arid Agriculture: Strategies to Reduce Heat Stress in Crops and Livestock

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

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fruit-infused vinegars

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

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 1, 2024 / Comments Off on 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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Compost

A Guide to Great Compost From Eliot Coleman

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 30, 2024 / Comments Off on 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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soil in hands

Focusing on Soil Remediation with Fungi

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 26, 2024 / Comments Off on 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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Cows from Barefoot Biodynamics

Biodynamic Farming: Unlock Fertile Fields with Cows & Compost

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 24, 2024 / Comments Off on 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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sheep and goats

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

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 22, 2024 / Comments Off on 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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BioChar on the Farm

Land Degradation: The Secrets of Fixing the Soil with Biochar

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 18, 2024 / Comments Off on 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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summer drinks

5 Creative Summer Drinks to Help You Cool Off

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 16, 2024 / Comments Off on 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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