Gretchen Kruesi

woman running

The Sports Revolution: The New Science of Athletic Performance

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 9, 2019 / Comments Off on The Sports Revolution: The New Science of Athletic Performance

“Peak is a masterpiece of nutritional science from one of the world’s leading authorities on athletic health and performance. It’s a fantastic resource that provides a road map to reaching true wellness.” —Dr. Rocco Monto Dr. Marc Bubbs, ND, CISSN, CSCS, is the Director of Nutrition for the Canadian men’s national basketball team, a speaker,…

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strawberries in a basket

Vanilla Strawberry Beet Smoothie

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 8, 2019 / Comments Off on Vanilla Strawberry Beet Smoothie

Eating healthy doesn’t always taste the best, but combining your favorite treats with nutritious foods is the perfect balance! Though strawberries and beets may not seem like a good mix, combined with vanilla and cinnamon, they create a smoothie that’s not only healthy, but tastes delicious as well. The following is an excerpt from The…

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tick on leaf

The Tick-Born Epidemic

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 7, 2019 / Comments Off on The Tick-Born Epidemic

Summer is a time for taking hikes, walks, going camping, or sitting under a tree enjoying the outdoors. You might think that your biggest enemy is the sun, but there’s another one crawling around–ticks. These parasites can infect you and cause a wide variety of symptoms that interfere with how you live your life, and…

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emmett working in a field

Lessons From An Unusual Christmas Tree Farm: Resourcefulness and Craft

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 6, 2019 / Comments Off on Lessons From An Unusual Christmas Tree Farm: Resourcefulness and Craft

Emmet Van Driesche and his wife, Cecilia, operate the Pieropan Christmas Tree Farm in Western Massachusetts. When he’s not working on the tree farm or editing scientific manuscripts, he spends his time carving wooden spoons and teaching others to do the same. You can learn more about him at www.emmetvandriesche.com. The following is an interview…

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pile of okra

A Guide to Okra: Ok-RAH-RAH-RAH!

By Gretchen Kruesi / August 2, 2019 / Comments Off on A Guide to Okra: Ok-RAH-RAH-RAH!

Expert okra enthusiast Chris Smith writes regularly for The Heirloom Gardener, the Mother Earth News blog, and the Farmers’ Almanac blog. His presentations on the versatility of okra have delighted audiences at food and farming festivals and fairs throughout the Southeast. He is the Communications Manager for Sow True Seed in Asheville, North Carolina, and…

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seagulls on a stone wall

Notes on Gull Watching and Trash Picking in the Anthropocene

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 30, 2019 / Comments Off on Notes on Gull Watching and Trash Picking in the Anthropocene

“An important and entirely brilliant book.  It’s a love letter to gulls and their charged relationship with humans, but it’s also a deep meditation on difficulty and waste, on the beauty of the disregarded, and on what we make of matter out of place. There’s love and death here, fear, fascination, hope, and the breaking…

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Apple on cutting board

The Apple: America’s Fruit

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 19, 2019 / Comments Off on The Apple: America’s Fruit

Did you know that the apple traveled to North America the same way the Pilgrims did in the 1600s? Though apple trees are abundant all across the country, they aren’t native to these lands. Apples have a fascinating and complex history that lead them to become an American symbol. The following is an excerpt from…

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okra fries

Okra Recipe: Fabulous Fries

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 17, 2019 / Comments Off on Okra Recipe: Fabulous Fries

Ever think about eating fries that aren’t made out of potatoes? Why not try okra fries! These easy to make and fun to eat treats are the perfect side to your meal, or you might be tempted to have a whole bowl full. Author Chris Smith pulls this fabulous recipe from Chef Viviane Howard. The…

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pigs

Feeding Your Pigs: Tips and Techniques

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 15, 2019 / Comments Off on Feeding Your Pigs: Tips and Techniques

Feeding your animals is a daily and time-consuming activity on a farm. You need to take into consideration the types of animals and their individual needs, along with general best practices. This can seem like a big task to take on, but let’s start with feeding the pigs first! The following is an excerpt from…

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a variety of herbs on spoons

Treating Hyperthyroidism: Natural Herbal Formulas

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 11, 2019 / Comments Off on Treating Hyperthyroidism: Natural Herbal Formulas

Your thyroid is responsible for controlling many of your body’s functions including metabolism, temperature, and controls some hormones. Hyperthyroidism occurs when your thyroid overproduces hormones, which can lead to a variety of diseases including Graves’ disease. Though there are many different medications to relieve the symptoms of hyperthyroidism, there are also more natural options that…

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trimming a thicket of multiflora rose

Site Repair: Using the Land’s History

By Gretchen Kruesi / July 3, 2019 / Comments Off on Site Repair: Using the Land’s History

Buying a new property is exciting. You might have hundreds of ideas running through your head about where you want to put buildings or clear away trees or start planting. Immediately starting these projects may not be in your farm’s best interest, though, and can drastically impact the landscape. Often, features like meadows or ponds…

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save our planet carboard sign

A New Perspective on Our Climate

By Gretchen Kruesi / June 19, 2019 / Comments Off on A New Perspective on Our Climate

Tourism, infrastructure, electricity. What do all these have in common? They’re impacted by global warming. We like to think of global warming as ocean temperatures rising and more carbon dioxide in the air. That isn’t the whole truth. Our changing climate is at the root of many large issues, though the connection might have been…

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woman and child wearing an okra facemask

Making Your Own Okra Cosmetics

By Gretchen Kruesi / June 18, 2019 / Comments Off on Making Your Own Okra Cosmetics

Okra, slime is gold! This pod-producing vegetable is a nutritional powerhouse and has been used throughout history for medicinal, culinary and cosmetics purposes. Discover the benefits of okra when eaten or use the slime from okra for glowing skin, thick shiny hair and strong nails, among others. The following is an excerpt from The Whole…

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irrigation system and farmland

Minerals in Your Farm’s Water

By Gretchen Kruesi / June 14, 2019 / Comments Off on Minerals in Your Farm’s Water

Minerals from soil and outside water sources find themselves in irrigation systems. When you water your land, these minerals infiltrate the soil and change its composition. Your plants are more impacted by their presence than meets the eye, but what exactly is the relationship? The following is an excerpt from Water in Plain Sight by…

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brown and white speckled piglets

Getting Started Raising Pigs: Raising Piglets and Piglet Management

By Gretchen Kruesi / June 10, 2019 / Comments Off on Getting Started Raising Pigs: Raising Piglets and Piglet Management

Groups of piglets running around a farm or homestead seems like a dream come true. When it comes to making sure each one is healthy and growing properly, it can get chaotic trying to figure out which pig is which. Using identification strategies to keep them organized is not only in your best interest but…

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Hands creating heart on bare stomach with a flower in the middle

Tea for Diabetes and Obesity: Herbal Formulas for Metabolic Conditions

By Gretchen Kruesi / May 27, 2019 / Comments Off on Tea for Diabetes and Obesity: Herbal Formulas for Metabolic Conditions

Unhealthy diets, poor exercise habits, and environmental factors have led to a rise in metabolic conditions in the younger generations–a trend that is only increasing. Some of the food we eat contains high amounts of sugars with low nutrition, and when consumed over a long period of time, can be very harmful to your health,…

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carving out a living on the land

Your Starting Place as a Farmer

By Gretchen Kruesi / May 20, 2019 / Comments Off on Your Starting Place as a Farmer

We don’t often think about how, long ago, the towering and strong trees we see around us in communities and the rows of Christmas trees on farms began as tiny seeds. Much less often, do we think about the people who dedicate their lives to planting and caring for these tress. The first important step…

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cows in a field

A Guide to Sourcing Food: Quality Matters

By Gretchen Kruesi / May 16, 2019 / Comments Off on A Guide to Sourcing Food: Quality Matters

Living a healthy lifestyle can be challenging, especially when it comes to buying and sourcing food. You want to keep a budget but don’t want to sacrifice good quality or you’re not sure where to get the best products? The first step is to take the time and see what you have access to– farmer’s…

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runner getting ready at the starting line

The Revolution in Performance

By Gretchen Kruesi / May 15, 2019 / Comments Off on The Revolution in Performance

In the past decade, there’s been more time and research dedicated to understanding athlete’s health and working to implement safety measures to ensure their well being on and off the field. Accomplishing any athletic goal is more work than just working out and eating right. No longer can we look at sports and nutrition apart.…

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hand holding a green earth

Doing Well By Doing Good

By Gretchen Kruesi / May 6, 2019 / Comments Off on Doing Well By Doing Good

The list of issues impacting Earth’s rapid decline continues to grow at a highly alarming rate. Environmental concerns are entering the world of politics and business. Our quality of life will not be the same five years or ten years in the future; we are nearing the point of having to think about simply surviving…

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Drop of water and water

Water Connects Us All

By Gretchen Kruesi / May 1, 2019 / Comments Off on Water Connects Us All

Water is always changing and impacting the environment around it; storms form, droughts occur, and floods damage. It seems that the level of water on Earth is bouncing between extremes. These shifts are tied to the state of our climate. In the past, climate change seemed like a far-off concept; now it’s becoming more present…

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Leah Webb with kids in garden

Grain-Free Diets: When Crisis Compels Transformation

By Gretchen Kruesi / April 12, 2019 / Comments Off on Grain-Free Diets: When Crisis Compels Transformation

As the rate of chronic illness skyrockets, more and more parents are faced with the sobering reality of restrictive diets. And because everyone is busy, many families come to rely on store-bought “healthy” products to make life simpler, but many of these are loaded with sugar and hidden toxins. When faced with her own family…

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The breeding program at the Lockwood, Connecticut, Agricultural Experi- ment Station run by Dr. Sandra Anagnostakis. This program includes species from all over the world and extends through many di erent plant- ings. This particular planting is a mix of American chestnut and Ozark chinquapin and also includes genetics of Japanese and Henry chestnut.

The Epic Saga of the American Chestnut

By Gretchen Kruesi / April 10, 2019 / Comments Off on The Epic Saga of the American Chestnut

The American chestnut may well be the greatest and most useful forest tree to ever grow on this Earth. Its decline is considered by many ecologists to be one of the greatest ecological disasters to strike the US since European contact. But how did  it happen? And are we on track to bring back this…

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Leah Penniman ( left ) and Amani Olugbala ( right ) tend the beans during konbit at Soul Fire Farm

African Farming Traditions: Learning the Power of Tradition

By Gretchen Kruesi / April 5, 2019 / Comments Off on African Farming Traditions: Learning the Power of Tradition

Far before the release of her book Farming While Black, Leah Penniman had been helping countless Black and Brown farmers reclaim their right to the land. For years, Leah has been educating, inspiring, and working alongside so many individuals to make sure they truly understand the customs and traditions of their African farming ancestors and help…

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Landfill Feature

Gulls, Humans, and the Environment

By Gretchen Kruesi / March 28, 2019 / Comments Off on Gulls, Humans, and the Environment

Nowadays gulls are trash birds, the subnatural inhabitants of drosscapes. Their coming among us has lowered their sea-bird status. Today they are seen as déclassé and mongrelizing in their habits. Some have also been demoted from whatever former taxonomic security they had. All have become in-between birds in an in-between world. By moving towards us,…

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