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.
Medlar Cream Cake: so simple yet so good
If you’re looking for a simple cake to serve guests, try this medlar cream cake. What’s a medlar? The fruit of the medlar tree, Mespilus germanica, tastes like lightly spiced apple butter scooped soft right out of the russeted skin. The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in California has a small but significant collection of…
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Stocks and Broths: The Etymology
Question: When you make soup, do you start with stocks or broths? Answer: It depends. To help clear up any culinary confusion here’s an excerpt from Mastering Stocks and Broths by Rachel Mamane Understanding The Etymology of Stocks and Broths There is much modern-day confusion about the difference between stock and broth. Culinary definitions vary from…
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Your Baby’s Microbiome: The 10 Steps that Establish It
Research is emerging almost daily on the role of the microbiome in human health. But how do we acquire this mysterious community of microbes and more importantly how do we make sure the good bacteria outnumber the bad? According to a new book by Toni Harman and Alex Wakeford, Your Baby’s Microbiome, it all starts…
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You won’t have a revolution if you don’t ask for one
Get ready for the era of Big Organizing. In Rules for Revolutionaries, authors Becky Bond and Zack Exley lay out the 22 Rules the fueled the Bernie Sanders campaign and which provide a way forward for activists looking for ways to move forward post-Election Day. This model, which the authors call “Big Organizing” is the…
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We are Farmily: Everyday Life on Sole Food Street Farm
Food is the medium. The message is nourishment in its most elemental and spiritual form. That’s how author Michael Ableman sees the role of Sole Food Street Farm and the food it sells to markets, restaurants, and individuals. In the following excerpt from his new book, Street Farm: Growing Food, Jobs, and Hope on the…
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Why Modern Wheat Is Making Us Sick
Why is modern wheat making us sick? That’s the question posed by author Eli Rogosa in her new book Restoring Heritage Grains. Wheat is the most widely grown crop on our planet, yet industrial breeders have transformed this ancient staff of life into a commodity of yield and profit—witness the increase in gluten intolerance and…
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To Create Climate-Secure Foodscapes, Think Like a Plant
The techniques and prophetic vision for achieving food security and foodscapes in the face of climate change contained in Gary Paul Nabhan‘s Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land may well need to be implemented across most of North America over the next half-century, and are already applicable in most of the semiarid West, Great…
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LDN Treatment Helps to Kill Cancer Cells
According to a report in The International Journal of Oncology, giving low dose naltrexone (LDN) to cancer patients can improve the immune system’s ability to kill cancerous cells, as well as improve the efficacy of standard cancer treatments and immunotherapy. This major breakthrough gives research credence to what some doctors have observed in their cancer…
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Good Grazing Makes for Healthy Pastures, People, and Planet
In her new book, The Art of Science and Grazing, nationally known grazing consultant Sarah Flack identifies the key principles and practices necessary for farmers to design, and manage, successful grazing systems. This book is an essential guide for ruminant farmers who want to crate grazing systems that meet the needs of their livestock, pasture…
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RECIPE: Grilled Nopalitos with Herbs and Cotija
Native to Mexico and prevalent throughout the Southwest and California, the prickly pear or nopal cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, is a stunning drought-hearty landscaping plant, natural barbed-wire fence, and a source of nutritious food – both pads and fruit are edible. Inside the prickly pads lies a cooling, mucilaginous flesh with flavor akin to green beans.…
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The Carbon Farming Solution: Q&A With Eric Toensmeier
A Q&A with Eric Toensmeier, author of The Carbon Farming Solution: A Global Toolkit of Perennial Crops and Regenerative Agriculture Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food Security. Q: “Carbon farming” is a term that isn’t yet widely recognized in the mainstream. And even among people who are familiar with the term, not everyone agrees on…
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The Bio-Integrated Farm: Authors Shawn Jadrnicek and Stephanie Jadrnicek
Q: Let’s start with the title: What is a “bio-integrated farm?” A: When a component in a farm or landscape—which could be a water garden, greenhouse, or chicken coop—performs seven functions, the component becomes alive, and I call this bio-integration. The concept is derived from Bill Mollison’s definition of permaculture design “…assembling conceptual, material and…
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Tracing the History of Cheddar with Cheesemonger Gordon Edgar
Cheddar is the world’s most ubiquitous and beloved cheese. You can find it nearly everywhere from macaroni and mousetraps to McDonald’s and mansions. Any cheese with so many fans has a story to tell, and Gordon Edgar is just the cheesemonger to tell it. In his book, Cheddar, Edgar traces the unexplored history of America’s most iconic cheese.…
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Fruit Explorers, Guerrilla Grafters, and Other Useful People
The editors here at Chelsea Green are constantly seeking out what’s new and important in the world of sustainable living. As part of an occasional blog series, our editors are sharing what they’ve been reading, researching, or just plain pondering. Below Senior Editor Ben Watson talks about “guerrilla grafters” and why the world could use a lot more of…
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Why You Need to Drink Wet-Hopped Beer Right Now
Wet-hopped beer is the ultimate in seasonal and local brews. It is made from fresh hops picked right off the bine in order to capture the aromatic hop flavor when it is most potent. The tricky part is fresh hops have virtually no shelf life, so brewers must spring into action as soon as the hops…
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How to Distinguish Permaculture from Natural Farming
Just what are the differences between permaculture and natural farming? How are they connected, and where do they diverge in philosophy and principle? Those questions are answered in One-Straw Revolutionary, a book that delves into the philosophy and work of Japanese farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka. In this passage, author Larry Korn compares and contrasts two…
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Taking Permaculture Beyond the Garden Gate: Q&A With Toby Hemenway
The Permaculture City begins in the garden but takes what we have learned there and applies it to a much broader range of human experience; we’re not just gardening plants but people, neighborhoods, and even cultures. Author Toby Hemenway (Gaia’s Garden) lays out how permaculture design can help towndwellers solve the challenges of meeting our…
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Abundant Kudzu: Uncovering the Many Uses
Tao Orion, author of Beyond the War on Invasive Species, and Katrina Blair, author of The Wild Wisdom of Weeds, share alternative approaches to understanding and managing Kudzu. Classification: Pueraria lobata Geographic location: Southeast Description: Kudzu is a group of plants that are climbing, coiling, and trailing perennial vines. The plant climbs over trees or shrubs…
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Oxeye Daisy: A Plant for the Pollinators
As Invasive Species Week continues, Tao Orion, author of Beyond the War on Invasive Species, and Katrina Blair, author of The Wild Wisdom of Weeds, are sharing alternative approaches to managing and using plants considered to be “invasive.” In this excerpt, they discuss the oxeye daisy. Classification: Leucanthemum vulgare Geographical location: Western states, Pacific northwest…
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Too Much St. John’s Wort? Look to the Cows
No matter what part of the country you live in, non-native plant species take root and thrive. Dubbed “invasive,” these species are often considered an annoyance at best and aggressively eradicated with harmful chemicals at worst. They are deemed enemies of the land and have become targets of an ongoing war fought with a steady…
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Urban Permaculture: The Social, Cultural, and Ecological Potential
As more people flock to urban areas to live, nowhere are the empowering principles of permaculture more needed and desired. In his latest book, bestselling permaculture author Toby Hemenway (Gaia’s Garden) demonstrates that the same nature-based approach that connects the pieces of our landscape together in harmonious ways applies perfectly to our need for water,…
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Cheesemaking: An All-Natural, Traditional Approach
Get ready to change the way you look at cheese. David Asher, author of The Art of Natural Cheesemaking, practices and preaches a traditional, but increasingly countercultural, way of cheesemaking —one that is natural and intuitive, grounded in ecological principles and biological science. Most DIY cheesemaking books are hard to follow and call for the…
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Recipe: Barbecued Eggplant Stacks with Coyote Mint Sauce and Chèvre
With summer in full swing, many are making good use of their outdoor grills. Tender grass fed steaks or free range chicken are often the go-to options, but the possibilities for a grilled meal are endless. At the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, a summer favorite is Barbecued Eggplant Stacks with Coyote Mint sauce and…
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Permaculture Q&A: Perennial Plants for Temperate Climates
Our award winning author Eric Toensmeier (Perennial Vegetables, Paradise Lot), and two authors from our UK publishing partner Permanent Publications, Anni Kelsey (Edible Perennial Gardening) and Stephen Barstow (Around the World in 80 Plants), unanimously agree that perennial plants are perfect for cold weather climates. Perennials require less maintenance than typical annual crops and are…
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Solar Cooker & Dehydrator: How to Design Your Own
In today’s world, nearly everything we use, from phones and computers to cars and kitchen appliances, requires energy derived from fossil fuels. Wouldn’t it be nice to offset some of that energy use by harnessing the renewable power of the sun? Josh Trought, founder of D Acres—an educational center in New Hampshire that researches, applies,…
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