Here's a great resource for farmers interested in making their own low-cost, cleaner fuel, directly from their own farms, from our friends at the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (also known as ATTRA). This incredibly informative report on how to make biodiesel is available free of charge and includes lots of information and links to get you started.

The simple life — it has been written about and debated for centuries. Each generation defines it differently. Today, most folks would agree that living a simple life involves growing some of your own food, shopping at thrift shops, living in a smaller house and in general owning less stuff. And, despite a commercial culture that pushes us to buy more and bigger, there is a movement gaining momentum in the country to buy less and smaller, to be satisfied with things that are serviceable, even if they are not in the latest style.

For much of the later half of the 20^th century, Helen and Scott Nearing epitomized the quest for a simpler life. Their homesteads in Vermont and Maine, which they wrote about in Living the Good Life, were a study in self-sufficiency and dedication to walking gently on the earth. Both Scott and Helen were invited to lecture around the world and their organic, vegetarian farm was open to the public. There is another Mainer, William Coperthwaite, whose search for simplicity has led him down a much less public path than the Nearings choose.

Coperthwaite lives in a three-story wooden yurt that he designed and built. He is a philosopher, educator and craftsman who writes eloquently on his relationship to all aspects of life — housing, friends, food, education and politics, in his book, A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity, now available in paperback.

Since his childhood, Coperthwaite has been fascinated by design, not just of material things, but also of how we craft our lives at work, school and play. Beauty, purpose, functionality and a sense of adventure are all aspects of Coperthwaite's handmade life.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading his book. I know that I will never aspire to his level of simplicity, but it has provided me with a unique perspective in my own search to live a simpler and more satisfying life. I highly recommend it.

There's a lot of scary stuff in the news these days about food-borne illness. Whether it's E.coli in spinach and meat, or salmonella in eggs, it's hard to know what is safe.

In a study from Harvard Medical School, three nasty types of bacteria were identified as frequent offenders. It's not surprising that E.coli and salmonella made the list, but were you aware that antibiotic-resistant campylobacter was found in 17 percent of chickens sampled from supermarkets in four states, according to a 2001 report published by the New England Journal of Medicine

Research has shown that factory-farming practices exacerbate the problem with overuse of antibiotics and filthy living conditions. Hopefully someday regulations will exist to clean up our food production systems, but until then, how do you stay healthy? Here are some general food safety precautions:

1. Buy fresh, buy local.
2. Know how to handle raw meat, and how to cook it properly.
3. I know you don't want to waste, but dispose of food that's past its prime. (Here's another good guide.)

These days, you can't afford to be careless.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that when food is produced with the primary goal of obtaining maximum yields, you're going to sacrifice some degree of quality. If everyone in the Netherlands asked Van Gogh to paint 'Starry Night' for them, we would not have the priceless piece of art we so value today. You see, that's what happens when you attempt to mass produce something. You have to cut corners to meet demand. You try to get away with less time and other inputs for the highest possible net gain. You lose sight of the main purpose of what you are doing.

This applies to almost every scenario you can think of, and large-scale farming is no exception. This study from The Organic Center shows that we are consuming higher amounts of empty calories from foods with lower levels of nutrients, all in the interest of higher yields.

The solution lies in restoring our nation's network of small farms. Pay close attention to the farm bill that is now working its way through the Senate. The current bill will expire at the end of this month, and word through the grapevine is that we'll see little more than an extension of a system that has already proven to be a failure in many respects.

Last week I vacationed along the coast of Maine. As you can imagine, it was beautiful and relaxing. But an unexpected benefit of the experience was a visit to the Four Season Farm of authors and market gardeners Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch on Cape Rosier near Harborside.

I certainly did not expect to see such lush and productive garden plots in September, a time I think of as the end of the gardening season. But Eliot is serious about gardening in all four seasons and has his system for doing so down to a science. Two of his books, The New Organic Grower and Four Season Harvest lead readers through the steps necessary to be a successful market or backyard gardener. We saw plants in every stage of development from tiny lettuce seedlings getting their start in row houses to beds of mature lettuce, leek and kale, the largest and healthiest I have ever seen.

One of the secrets of the bountiful gardens is the copious compost, which is just one of the soil amendments they use to create amazingly nutrient-rich soil. The photo, above, is of one of his compost piles in the making. So creative! It is a room-sized 'container' made of hay bales. All kinds of garden clippings were visible in the pile, beginning their transformation into wonderfully rich compost material. The compost pile is larger than my entire backyard vegetable garden.

Needless to say, the produce was an epicurean delight – but that is the topic for the Whole Foods blog next week. Be sure to watch for it.

A recent article from the Common Dreams News Center cited a study from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization that was extremely alarming to me: Our tendency to rely on the production of only the most popular livestock breeds is putting one-fifth of the world's breeds at risk of extinction. That translates into about 2,000 breeds.

Why does this constitute a major crisis, you ask? Biodiversity is vital to the health and survival of every species, not just the threatened or endangered ones. It's the consequences we've failed to consider that make this so scary.

Take this example from the article: Indigenous livestock breeds, like native plants, are well-adapted to their environment. When Uganda's cattle producers started to phase out their native Ankole cattle in favor of imported, high-milk-yielding Holsteins, they had a rude awakening. Drought struck, and when the farmers attempted to walk the Holsteins to a distant water source, entire herds were lost. Those who kept their Ankole herds were able to weather the storm. Plus, evidence has shown that diversity in a species' genetic make-up helps combat the spread of disease.

Where vegetation is concerned, note that a certain breed of periwinkle was discovered to be helpful in the treatment of leukemia. It begs the question: Is the cure for AIDS out there?

I believe a certain degree of caution is in order here. Before we carelessly send an entire species to its ultimate demise, let's at least think twice.

Some of the previous blog posts in this topic, 21 Century Homesteading, have been reminiscent in nature —county fairs, homemade tomato sauce and visits to the general store. You may wonder why we continue to report on these 'old fashioned' topics. In the July 13, 2007, blog, What is Homesteading, we described homesteading as being all about self sufficiency wherever you live. And in today's high-tech world, doing things for yourself, by hand is sometimes thought to be old fashioned. But isn't that what self sufficiency is all about — doing things for yourself, by hand whenever possible? So, what does this have to do with aprons.

When you think of aprons, you are probably imagining Donna Reed (from the 1950s) in her shirtwaist dress, covered by a frilly apron, cooking dinner for the family. Today's apron wearer is more apt to be a man barbecuing ribs on the patio. But aprons, whether covered with barbecue sauce or flour from the week's bread making session can be an essential accessory to the 21 century kitchen.

Remember how excited we were when polyester blend clothing hit the fashion world? Wash and wear — skip the ironing all together. It was a snap to do laundry, compared to dealing with all-natural fabrics such as cotton and linen, which always required ironing, and took more time to dry in the dryer or on the line. Well, polyester is out now and natural fibers are in — again. So, if you want to cut down on the amount of necessary laundry — use an apron and keep your natural-fabric clothing clean for another day's wear. You'll save time and energy.

You can find all kinds of new aprons — bib, bistro and barbecue — online and in kitchen stores. But if you want to be fun and funky, explore the aisles at flea markets for used aprons in great retro fabric. Wherever you acquire your aprons, start using them! It is just one more way to care for yourself and the planet.