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.

Close-up of red onions with a maroon banner displaying 'Pickled Anything! Garlic Honey & Garlic Confit'—advertising garlic pickled products.
Banner promoting a Summer Rainbow Pickled Vegetable Plate with a green 'A Taste of Summer' subtitle.
Banner of fresh asparagus with a green strip reading 'ASPARAGUS An Aspiring Spear'.
Book cover: 'Reaping the Harvest — Tools for the Harvest' with four knives on a wooden bench beside a red sheath on the right.
Fields of leafy crops beside trees with a brown caption overlay showing the title 'Embracing Sustainable Food Production: Integrating Trees and Crops'
freezing vegetables

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.

Read More
making jams and syrups

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!

Read More
cows grazing

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.

Read More
reduce heat stress

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.

Read More
fruit-infused vinegars

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.

Read More
Compost

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.

Read More
soil in hands

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.

Read More
Cows from Barefoot Biodynamics

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.”

Read More
sheep and goats

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.

Read More
BioChar on the Farm

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…

Read More
summer drinks

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…

Read More
sprouts

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…

Read More
daylillies

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,…

Read More
tips for harvesting

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 from The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments by Nigel Palmer. It…

Read More
Healing Earth in hands

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…

Read More
garden tools

Can’t Find the Perfect Garden Tools? Make Your Own

Get the most out of your tools and transform your gardening game! Is hoeing hurting your back? Is your trowel cramping your wrist? Are the tools at your local hardware store just not cutting it? Put your tools to work for you!

Read More

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…

Read More
mulberries

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,…

Read More

How To Make Homemade Fresh Mozzarella

Make fresh mozzarella that you’ll be making on repeat! It is super delicious: creamy, salty, all the best things when it comes to cheese. Who else loves making homemade mozzarella?

Read More

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,” Sara Bir has the lowdown on where & how to harvest them.

Read More
chickens

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…

Read More
bee

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…

Read More
Beef Steak with Rosemary

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…

Read More

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…

Read More
Bio Char in Field with Workers

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…

Read More