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.
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
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
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
The Whole Sunflower: Delicious Down to the Stem
Did you know that more than just the seeds of a sunflower are edible? Almost every part of a sunflower are completely safe and delicious when cooked correctly.
Read More
Arid Agriculture: Strategies to Reduce Heat Stress in Crops and Livestock
Become more resilient when the temperatures are on the rise to reduce heat stress and produce food in even the most arid environments.
Read More
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
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
How to Save Tomato Seeds
As your favorite variety of home grown tomatoes start ripening on the vine this summer, be sure to save those seeds for next year’s planting. It takes a bit of care to get the seeds out of the gelatinous tomato goo they’re suspended in, but once you’ve done it you can use those seeds to…
Read More
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
Dilly Beans: Voted The “Best Snack Ever”
For those who love fermented foods, we now welcome you into the wonderful world of dilly beans. There’s nothing quite like a dilly bean. Whether they’re next to a plate of cheese and crackers, on a sandwich, or taken straight from the jar in the middle of winter when you’re sick of potatoes and pasta,…
Read More
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
How to Make Whole Fruit Jam
This tried-and-true jam recipe relies on the natural sugars in fruit to provide a balanced flavor and sweetness that can’t be beat.
Read More
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
Capturing the Crunch: How to Harvest and Store Cucumbers
As the weather heats up, now’s the perfect time to grow and pick cucumbers! With these easy tips and tricks, you’ll be prepared to successfully harvest and store the cucumbers you grow until they’re ready to eat. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs copyright © 2017 by Andrew Mefferd. The following is an excerpt from The Greenhouse and…
Read More
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
Don’t Bawk: The Wild and Wonderful Chicken Tractor
Aside from the sheer pleasure of telling your friends, straight-faced, that you maintain your garden using something called a “chicken tractor,” there are a slew of other benefits to working the land with a few of your animal friends. Getting rid of pests without chemicals, for one; letting them do the work of weeding and…
Read More
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
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
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
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 form The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments by Nigel Palmer. It…
Read More
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
Can’t Find the Perfect Garden Tools? Make Your Own
Is hoeing hurting your back? Is your trowel cramping your wrist? Are the tools at your local hardware store just not cutting it? Gardening can be such laborious work, but what you put into your garden is what you get back. With a few simple do-it-yourself modifications you can find and alter your tools to…
Read More
Summer Vegetable Tian: Simple and Elegant
The term tian simply refers to a dish of thinly sliced vegetables that have been cooked in fat of your choice and baked au gratin. This crispy and colorful Summer Vegetable Tian is the perfect side to showcase the medley of mouthwatering veggies that the season has to offer! The following excerpt is from The Heal Your…
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
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