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According to a study published in the June 2003 issue of “Conservation Biology,” there are 561 known butterfly species in the U.S. and Canada. Not only are these insects beautiful, they’re important pollinators and vital to the health of their natural habitats. You can encourage these gentle creatures to visit your yard by using easy-to-make butterfly food and feeders.

Butterfly Food and Nectar

• Think “rotten” when choosing butterfly food. Butterflies like a variety of food sources, especially over-ripe fruit and rotting vegetation. If you own an apple, plum, cherry or pear tree, allow fallen fruit to ferment on the ground to create a favorite feeding spot. Look in the quick-sale area of your grocer’s produce section, and you might even get the produce manager to donate one or two unsaleable pieces of fruit. Consider saving extra bananas in the freezer, which you can defrost and place in a feeder at any time.

  Make your own butterfly food by mixing a solution of 10 parts water to 1 part granulated sugar (use tablespoons or teaspoons depending on the size of your jar), boiling the mixture until the sugar is dissolved, then letting it cool. Extra solution can be stored in your refrigerator for up to a week. An alternative recipe is to cut up a dozen over-ripe bananas into chunks, add two cans of cheap beer, one or two bottles of molasses, and a pound of brown sugar and let it ferment for about a week. The easiest recipe of all is to save any overripe fruit, add a squirt of honey, blend it coarsely in a blender, then divide the mixture into freezer containers.

Butterfly Feeders

• Take a ceramic or glass pie plate, plastic or terra cotta plant saucer—or any dish with a sloping rim—and suspend the plate with flower pot hangers or a macrame-style holder made from household twine. Decorate around the twine with the stems of silk or plastic flowers to make it visually appealing to butterflies, and hang the feeder from the bough of a shady tree, before adding butterfly food. Replace food if it dries out or becomes moldy. Place brightly colored yellow and orange kitchen scouring pads in the dish with the liquid butterfly food solution. You’ll attract butterflies and give them a resting place while they drink.

  Making a jar feeder. Use any small glass jar that has a tight-fitting lid. Punch a small hole in the lid of the jar using a small nail and a hammer, then cut a portion of a sponge and pull it through the small hole, making sure it fits tightly. Soak the sponge with a sugar-water solution, and fill the jar with the solution as well. Use string to tie around the jar to make a hanger, then hang the jar with the sugar water upside-down so that the butterflies can feed on the juice from the sponge.

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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

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A DIY Compost Tea Brewer

Running through the equipment and materials needed—from bucket to drill to pump and aeration stones—and following up with a step-by-step demonstration of how to put this together, it certainly makes you wonder why some folks are spending extraordinary amounts of money on compost tea makers. Essentially, these are just aeration devices designed to keep oxygen moving in a tub of water and compost. That’s it. This video shows the bare basics of how to make that happen.

Learn how to brew and apply compost tea

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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!

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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.

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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.

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This is such a fun idea from PrudentBaby.com for turning a regular watermelon into a beautiful drink dispenser that will amaze your friends and family at your next party.

It’s simple and really cheap to make, requires only a few tools and makes a great DIY project to do with your kids. Plus you can turn the scooped out watermelon fruit into a delicious Agua Fresca drink – with vodka if it’s only for adults!

Get the full tutorial to make this watermelon keg and Agua Fresca drink…

VIEW THE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE @ PRUDENTBABY.COM

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All you need for your garden are straw bales (not hay), newspaper to go underneath the bales for weed control, fertilizer for conditioning, some potting soil and a trowel for making planting holes. A soaker hose on a timer placed on top will come in handy since the hardest task is to remember to water daily.

To make the garden, place the bales with the cut end of the straw facing up. A couple of weeks before planting begin the composting process by watering the bales daily. To speed the process, on days 3 to 7 sprinkle ½ cup urea (46-0-0) over the surface. Cut this back to ¼ cup on days 7 to 9. A good organic alternative to urea is blood meal. Keep the bales damp on succeeding days. They are ready to plant when you can stick your hand into the middle of the bale and it has cooled to body temperature.

To plant seedlings, simply make a hole, tuck the plant in and fill the extra space with a little potting soil. To plant seeds, place a small layer of potting mix on top of the bale and plant the seeds according to packet directions. As the plants grow the straw will continue to break down and supply nutrients, but it’s a good idea to supplement with a liquid fertilizer every few weeks.

Visit StrawBaleGardens.com for some great information.

Download this great guide from Washington State University on how to start a straw bale  garden.

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