Kombucha cultures typically contains many strains of beneficial yeasts that turn sugar into alcohol. One particular strain of bacteria, Gluconacetobacter xylinus ferments the alcohol from the yeast into acetic acid. This lowers the alcohol content in the Kombucha and increases the probiotic metabolite content. Learn more about Kombucha

Kombucha Tea Recipe – 1-Gallon

Scale up or down depending on the size of your vessel

Supplies

• 1 cup sugar
• 4-6 bags tea –  for loose leaf, 1 bag of tea = 1 tsp
• Kombucha Starter Culture – SCOBY
• 1 cup starter liquid
• purified/bottled water
• tea kettle
• brewing vessel
• cloth cover
• rubber band

Steps

1. Boil 4 cups of water.
2. Add hot water & tea bags to pot or brewing vessel.
3. Steep 5-7 minutes, then remove tea bags.
4. Add sugar and stir to dissolve.
5. Fill vessel most of the way with purified water, leaving just 1-2 inches from the top for breathing room with purified cold water.
6. Add SCOBY and starter liquid.
7. Cover with cloth cover and secure with the rubber band.
8. Say a prayer, send good vibes, commune with your culture (optional but recommended).
9. Set in a warm location out of direct sunlight (unless vessel is opaque).
10. Do not disturb for 7 days.

• After 7 days, or when you are ready to taste your KT, gently insert a straw beneath the SCOBY and take a sip. If too tart, then reduce your brewing cycle next time.  If too sweet, allow to brew for a few more days.  Continue to taste every day or so until you reach your optimum flavor preference. Your own Kombucha Tea Recipe may vary.
• Decant & flavor (optional).
• Drink as desired! Start off with 4-8oz on an empty stomach in the morning, then with meals to help with digestion or as your body tells you it would like some more! Drink plenty of water as it is a natural detoxifyer and you want to flush the newly released toxins out.

(Recipe Source)

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Preserve your fall harvest by storing your vegetables in a homemade outdoor root cellar.

The Garbage Can Cellar

Keeping water out is one of the challenges of a hole-in-the-ground pit cellar, but using a garbage can will help. Dig a hole slightly larger than the diameter of the can and deep enough so that the can’s lid will sit 6 inches or so below the soil level. Set the can inside the hole, then layer in the veggies with some straw or dead leaves. Set the lid on the can, use a stick to pack soil all the way down into the gap around the outside of the can, and then flare the soil out at a tidy angle around the opening. Long-keeping root vegetables will live happily down there, even in the coldest weather. Good storage apple varieties will too, but keep your veggies separate from them. (Apples release ethylene gas as they ripen, which will shorten the storage life of vegetables.)

Cut a couple of 2-inch-thick pieces of extruded polystyrene foam slightly larger than the diameter of the lid and place the foam on top of the can to keep out frost. Cut another circle of three-quarter-inch-thick exterior-grade plywood to about the same size and place it over the foam, with a stone on top to keep it securely in place.

This technique also works well with other containers — such as an old chest freezer or a wooden barrel — buried in a similar fashion.

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Avoid harsh and unhealthy petroleum-based paraffin, artificially scented candles. Instead use a simmer pot to make your home smell like you’ve been baking delicious goodies all day!

Instructions: Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add the ingredients from your favorite recipe, continue to boil for a few minutes, then turn the heat down to simmer. Add water as needed, usually every 30 minutes or so.

Caution: Set your timer for 30 minutes so you remember to top up with water. You don’t want the pot burning dry. Do not leave the house with this left heating on the stove.

Recipe #1
Cinnamon sticks
Apple peels
Orange rinds
Whole cloves

#2
Apple juice
Cinnamon sticks
Whole cloves

#3
Vanilla (a few drops)
Orange peels

#4 – Christmas Potpourri Simmering Pot
3 sprigs evergreen or handful pine needles
2 cinnamon sticks
2 TBS whole cloves
2 bay leaves
2 pieces orange rind
2 pieces lemon rind

#5
2 TBS whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
5 star anise
1 orange peel

#6
Whole cloves
1 tsp nutmeg

#7
Peel from a whole orange
Whole cloves
2 Cinnamon sticks

#8
5 bay leaves
1 TBS whole cloves
2 sticks cinnamon

#9
Peel from 1 lemon
Peel from 1 orange
2 bay leaves
3 cinnamon sticks
2 TBS whole cloves

#10
1/8 cup cloves
1/8 cup allspice
2 cinnamon sticks

#11
6 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp vanilla

#12
1 cup dried lavender
1 tsp anise
1 TBS nutmeg
1 TBS whole cloves
1 Cinnamon stick

#13
2 sticks cinnamon
Peel from one lemon
Fresh rosemary
Whole cloves

(Source)

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Elderberry Syrup

Take a tablespoon daily to ward off illness and a teaspoon every 2-3 hours while sick. For children under 2, add the syrup to hot water to kill any microbes in the honey. You can even drizzle the delicious syrup over pancakes, yogurt, or ice cream!

Elderberry Syrup Recipe

– 1 cup fresh or 1/2 cup dried organic Elderberries (harvest blue or black, avoid poisonous reds)

– 3 cups water

– 1 cup raw local honey

– 1 organic Cinnamon stick, 3 organic Cloves, and organic Ginger (optional)

Place berries, water, and spices in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Smash the berries to release remaining juice and strain the mixture. Allow liquid to cool and stir in honey. Will last for 2-3 months stored in the fridge.

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Do you use your freezer to preserve herbs, vegetables, or fruit? The freezer can be a powerful, overlooked method of preserving. Pesto, strawberry puree, tomato soup — stash them away now for colder times! One of my favorite ingredients, a handful of fresh herbs from the garden, is one of the simplest things to preserve in the freezer, and I just learned a new, better way to freeze herbs: In oil!

8 Steps for Freezing Herbs in Oil

1. Choose firm, fresh herbs, ideally from the market or your own garden.
2. If you wish, you can chop them fine. Or leave them in larger sprigs and leaves. Here I froze a combination of finely-chopped and whole herbs such as rosemary, fennel stalk, sage, and oregano.
3. Pack the wells of ice cube trays about 2/3 full of herbs.
4. You can mix up the herbs, too; think about freezing a mix of sage, thyme, and rosemary to add to winter roast chickens and potatoes!
5. Pour extra-virgin olive oil or melted, unsalted butter over the herbs.
6. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
7. Remove the frozen cubes and store in freezer containers or small bags.
8. Don’t forget to label each container or bag with the type of herb (and oil) inside!

(Source)

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Growers in colder climates often utilize various approaches to extend the growing season or to give their crops a boost, whether it’s coldframes, hoop houses or greenhouses.

Greenhouses are usually glazed structures, but are typically expensive to construct and heat throughout the winter. A much more affordable and effective alternative to glass greenhouses is the walipini (an Aymara Indian word for a “place of warmth”), also known as an underground or pit greenhouse. First developed over 20 years ago for the cold mountainous regions of South America, this method allows growers to maintain a productive garden year-round, even in the coldest of climates.

Here’s a video tour of a walipini that even incorporates a bit of interior space for goats:

How a Walipini works and how to build one

© Benson Institute

It’s a pretty intriguing set-up that combines the principles of passive solar heating with earth-sheltered building. But how to make one?From American sustainable agriculture non-profit Benson Institute comes this enlightening manual on how a walipini works, and how to build it:

The Walipini utilizes nature’s resources to provide a warm, stable, well-lit environment for year-round vegetable production. Locating the growing area 6’- 8’ underground and capturing and storing daytime solar radiation are the most important principles in building a successful Walipini.

The Walipini, in simplest terms, is a rectangular hole in the ground 6 ‛ to 8’ deep covered by plastic sheeting. The longest area of the rectangle faces the winter sun — to the north in the Southern Hemisphere and to the south in the Northern Hemisphere. A thick wall of rammed earth at the back of the building and a much lower wall at the front provide the needed angle for the plastic sheet roof. This roof seals the hole, provides an insulating airspace between the two layers of plastic (a sheet on the top and another on the bottom of the roof/poles) and allows the sun’s rays to penetrate creating a warm, stable environment for plant growth.

SilverThunder/via

This earth-sheltered greenhouse taps into the thermal mass of the earth, so that much less energy is needed to heat up the walipini’s interior than an aboveground greenhouse. Of course, there are precautions to take in waterproofing, drainage and ventilating the walipini, while aligning it properly to the sun — which the manual covers in detail.

Best of all, according to the Benson Institute, their 20-foot by 74-foot walipni field model out in La Paz cost around $250 to $300 only, thanks to the use of free labour provided by owners and neighbours, and the use of cheaper materials like plastic ultraviolet (UV) protective sheeting and PVC piping.

Cheap but effective, the underground greenhouse is a great way for growers to produce food year-round in colder climates.

(Source)

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Get rid of raccoons

Are the masked night marauders poking around your trash can, creating a mess and raising a din? A few tablespoons of Epsom salt spread around your garbage cans will deter the raccoons, who don’t like the taste of the stuff. Don’t forget to reapply after it rains.

Deter slugs

Are you tired of visiting your yard at night only to find the place crawling with slimy slugs? Sprinkle Epsom salt where they glide and say good-bye to the slugs.

Fertilize tomatoes and other plants

Want those Big Boys to be big? Add Epsom salt as a foolproof fertilizer. Every week, for every foot of height of your tomato plant, add one tablespoon. Your tomatoes will be the envy of the neighbor-hood. Epsom salt is also a good fertilizer for houseplants, roses and other flowers, and trees.

Make your grass greener

How green is your valley? Not green enough, you say? Epsom salt, which adds needed magnesium and iron to your soil, may be the answer. Add 2 tablespoons to 1 gallon (3.7 liters) of water. Spread on your lawn and then water it with plain water to make sure it soaks into the grass.

Clean bathroom tiles

Is the tile in your bathroom getting that grungy look? Time to bring in the Epsom salt. Mix it in equal parts with liquid dish detergent, then dab it onto the offending area and start scrubbing. The Epsom salt works with the detergent to scrub and dissolve the grime.

Regenerate a car battery

Is your car battery starting to sound as if it won’t turn over? Worried that you’ll be stuck the next time you try to start your car? Give your battery a little more life with this potion. Dissolve about an ounce of Epsom salt in warm water and add it to each battery cell.

Get rid of blackheads

Here’s a surefire way to dislodge blackheads: Mix 1 teaspoon Epsom salt and 3 drops iodine in 1/2 cup boiling water. When the mixture cools enough to stick your finger in it, apply it to the blackhead with a cotton ball. Repeat this three or four times, reheating the solution if necessary. Gently remove the blackhead and then dab the area with an alcohol-based astringent.

Frost your windows for Christmas

If you are dreaming of a white Christmas, but the weather won’t cooperate, at least you can make your windows look frosty. Mix Epsom salt with stale beer until the salt stops dissolving. Apply the mixture to your windows with a sponge — for a realistic look, sweep the sponge in an arc at the bottom corners. When the mixture dries, the windows will look frosted.

Fade Bruises

To lessen the appearance of bruises, make a compress by soaking a washcloth in cold water mixed with Epsom salt – use two tablespoons per cup – then apply to the skin.

Remove Splinters

According to the Epsom Salt Council, Epsom salt increases osmotic pressure on the skin, which draws foreign bodies toward the surface. Dissolve one cup of Epsom salt in a tub of water and soak the affected area.

Natural Hair Volumizer

For big, bouncy hair, give it a volumizing mask by mixing one part hair conditioner to one part Epsom salt and work the mixture through your locks. Leave on for 20 minutes, rinse and style as usual.

Grow HUGE Pumpkins

The world’s largest pumpkin, grown by pumpkin whisperer Ron Wallace, weighed in at 2,009 pounds. Wallace’s secret weapon? Epsom salts. “People think that you use it for your feet but it’s also a great form of fertilizer,” said Wallace.

(Source)(Soure)

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1. The Plymouth Rock:

The Plymouth Rock — a breed that comes in several varieties, the most popular varieties being white and barred — is a docile and friendly breed that makes a great starter bird for new hobbyists. They reach a considerable size of up to 9.5 pounds, which makes them excellent meat birds. They are also great brown egg layers. For this reason, Plymouth Rocks are considered a dual-purpose breed, a term denoting breeds that can be used for either meat or egg production.

2. The Rhode Island Red:

These rust-feathered chickens are the quintessential backyard chicken breed and can be found in many hobbyists’ collections. While they do not achieve as great a weight as Plymouth Rocks, the Rhode Island Red is also a dual-purpose breed and lays brown eggs.

3. The Leghorn:

The Leghorn is one of the best chicken breeds for those raising chickens for eggs. Originally from Italy, Leghors have one of the highest rates of lay out of any chicken breed. This is largely due to specialized breeding. Leghorns may be more flighty and noisy than some other breeds.

4. The Jersey Giant:

Aptly named, this American breed can achieve an astounding weight of up to 13 pounds. Thus, Jersey Giants are a popular backyard breed for those raising chickens for meat. There are several varieties of this breed, all reaching the same average size.

5. Ameraucanas:

This breed is easily recognizable due to the fluffy feathers around its head. Ameraucanas are perhaps most known for raising blue eggs. They make great pets and also relatively good egg layers, though they aren’t intended to be raised for slaughter.

Whatever breed of chicken you choose, you will find that each breed has unique characteristics and will add its own personality to your backyard chicken hobby.

(Source)

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Home gardens are a great way to produce healthy, nutritious fruits and vegetables. But healthy eating doesn’t have to stop when gardens quit producing. You can preserve the healthy, home-grown nutrition you value and make it available all year round with canning!

Here are two free guides to get you started:

USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning

Intro to Canning Guide by Ball

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