Country Living Skills

Via: TwinCities.com

“Tell me a farm story, Grandma.”

That’s what Mildred Kalish’s granddaughter used to say when Kalish walked the little girl to school some 20 years ago.

“I started to tell her stories of my life, and then it dawned on me to put them down for the rest of the grandchildren,” Kalish recalled in a phone conversation from her home in northern California. “So I worked at it sporadically for years, writing down this and that.”

Kalish’s jottings were the basis for her popular memoir “Little Heathens,” which is what her grandmother called the kids when they mis-behaved.

Subtitled “Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression,” Kalish’s book was published in 2007 when she was 85 years old. Her friendly voice and easy writing style made her story an instant success with critics and readers.

Kalish says another impetus for writing “Little Heathens” was that her life was so different from her friends’ lives.

“When I would tell a story about things I learned on the farm, everybody said I should write a book,” she recalls. “I just always knew more than they did about how to cope. I remember being invited to a fancy party by poet Louis Simpson. When I cut the meringue pies, I asked his wife for a big glass of hot water (to dip the knife into). She said, ‘Millie, I never in my life knew how to do that.’ “

“Little Heathens” begins when Millie Armstrong was 5 years old and her grandfather “banished my father from our lives forever for
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some transgression that was not to be disclosed to us children. …” She and her three siblings lived part of the year on one of her grandfather’s farms and part of the year in the little town of Garrison with their grandparents so they could walk to school. Those grandparents had tough rules about how to behave, and their philosophy was “waste not, want not.” But Grandma sure could cook.

Kalish offers recipes, from mouthwatering apple cream pie to head cheese (not so mouth-watering), as well as down-home remedies for removing warts, ways to catch raccoons and how to find morel mushrooms.

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Via: washingtonpost.com

As gardeners, we are at the forefront of the new Green Revolution.

Thirty years ago, most home landscaping consisted of lawn, foundation plantings, a few trees, and perhaps a bed for flowers or vegetables. Plants were chosen for their color when flowering and their availability at garden centers. Maintenance included mowing, fertilizing, spraying, pruning and watering.

But we now know that native plants can endure without synthetic chemicals or fertilizer, or much watering or labor, once established. And that insects that depend on native plants are important food for birds.

Knowing this, gardeners can take steps to promote sustainability in their landscapes. It involves how you use your property — everything you own. Here are some key steps that will help you to create a sustainable gardening culture and promote renewable energy:

· Use plants, trees and shrubs that are native to your area. They are already adapted to local growing conditions.

· Keep the soil in good condition with homemade compost and mulch, saving energy by using on-site materials.

· Collect rainwater to irrigate plants and to clean your tools, deck, patio and car.

· Control your use of pesticides and herbicides. Employ natural remedies such as soap sprays and hand-removal of weeds. Use the least toxic methods of control. Encourage beneficial insects such as ladybugs and parasitic wasps. Research the techniques of integrated pest management, use them in your landscape.

· Recycle materials on your property, including compost and masonry. Pots, pans and teapots make great containers for planting. Scrap lumber can have another life as fencing material. Carryout containers are perfect scoops for potting soil and fertilizer and save you a trip to the garden center. Plastic jugs with holes punched in the bottom will water your plants during dry spells.

· Increase food production. Plant more fruits, berries and vegetables so you can eat locally and seasonally, decreasing the need for food to be transported from all over the world. Make your edible plantings as beautiful as flowerbeds by training them on trellises, arbors or other structures. Mix in beneficial flowers, such as marigolds, which are natural insect repellents. Don’t forget herbs.

· Encourage diversity. Install a wide variety of flora that allows plants, birds and insects to cohabitate.

· Use all spaces to install greenery, including patios, porches, balconies and window boxes, to reduce your carbon footprint even further.

· Use less energy. Disturb the land as little as possible. For example, heavy machinery uses fuel. Create berms for sound protection and privacy. Plant swales to reduce rainwater runoff, which can cause water pollution. Use plants to provide shade to reduce cooling costs and windbreaks to reduce heating costs. Make use of muscle power and not horsepower as much as possible. Even small devices, such as hedge trimmers, waste nonrenewable energy.

· Make garden chores more efficient. Take time to compost, mulch, plant and harvest.

· Take responsibility. Educate yourself and others. Investigate community resources, such as community gardens. Evaluate practices used in your garden, and decide whether they are environmentally responsible.

· Evaluate any feature or plant before installing it on your property by asking if it will require a lot of water, fertilizer, pesticide, electricity, gasoline or other fossil fuel. If it does, alter the plan to make it more sustainable and energy-efficient.

Sustainable landscapes are practical. They save energy, money and labor. Creating them may take a little more thought and effort at the beginning, but the end results will better sustain all of us.

Via: NaturalNews

A new study that was recently published sheds more evidence to what many have been saying for a long time, that DNA does not control the body or predestine you to being overweight, ill, sick, weak or anything else, but that the majority of our health and destiny lies within our own power.

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Via: iTWire

An American study has shown that Old Order Amish adults–who have a gene that gives them a higher risk to be obese–reduce that tendency to gain alot of pounds by doing one thing. Can you guess what it is?

It is known to the scientific community that the Amish eat a normal diet that is high in fat, calories, and refined sugar. All three groups would normally doom any American from maintaining a slim-and-trim waistline.

However, the Amish keep from getting overweight and/or obese by doing what many of us have removed from our lifestyle.

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Even if you are not located in Idaho, this might be interesting and informative for you.

Via: U of I Master Gardenerat the Idaho Statesman

Now that the initial shock of “what I didn’t get done this summer” has worn off, it’s time to think about what can be accomplished before the snow flies.

According to the National Climate Data Center, Boise’s average first frost date is Sept. 22.

If you already have an herb garden, watch for the basil to die back. It’s the most frost tender of all herbs and is a signal that nights are getting cold and all other annuals will soon be gone.

If you have perennial herbs in pots that need to be brought inside for the winter, do so soon after the basil dies back.

If you don’t have an herb garden but have been thinking about starting one, first find a suitable space. Most herbs need full sun but will tolerate afternoon shade. That makes the east, northeast or southeast parts of the yard the best areas for an herb garden.

Some herbs are annual, some biannual and some are perennial. Some are grown for their leaves, some for their seeds. A Purdue University Advanced Master Gardener put together a list of herbs and the culture of each one. You can download the list and keep it for future use. Purdue University is in Zone 5, so any herbs that can be grown there can be grown in our Zone 6.

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