The Mother Earth News Premium Issue will help you live off your land and save money! Inside you’ll find the top tools for a half-acre homestead; learn to pressure can meat; source truly high-quality garden seeds; read how to raise sheep; and more.

Learn the most important self-reliance skill ever by mastering six habits to getting the right work done, the right way. Read the best staple crops for building food self-sufficiency, and fill your pantry and boost your food security by growing 10 space-efficient, calorie-rich staple crops that return high yields and store easily sans fossil fuels. Discover the benefits of the American Guinea hog; a perfect size for smaller homesteads, this heritage breed is easy to manage and provides choice meat and lard.

Other articles include:

• Winter’s Glowing Root Vegetables – Brilliant beets and cold-hardy carrots can help light up your winter meals.
• How to Make Compost – Choose from the many easy ways to make compost for increased garden productivity.
• Expert Advice for Greenhouse Growing – Build a greenhouse in your backyard and you’ll be amazed at its many use.
• Raise Sheep: Low-Maintenance Livestock – Requiring less space and capital than cattle, sheep can provide homegrown, pastured meat with terrific flavor and a powerful nutrient profile. Many sheep breeds can also help turn rocky, dry hillsides into productive pasture.
• 5 Delicious Wild Greens – Give up the war on weeds and embrace the fortifying vegetables right outside your door.

This new revolutionary, one-year subscription software makes vegetable gardening so much easier. The planner helps you do everything from plant placement to pest prevention to plant varieties to planting schedule.

Make the most of the fall season with the help this guide offers! You will find out how to grow your best fall garden, taking advantage of the cooler temperatures that will make your vegetables taste crisp and sweet. If you protect your vegetables, you can continue harvesting fresh, crisp produce through several fall and winter months! Speaking of cooler temperatures, choose the best wood-burning stove for your home with the expert advice contained in this guide, and find the best firewood types for your needs! Other articles include: • Eight easy projects for instant energy savings – Implement these inexpensive strategies to reduce your carbon footprint and slash your energy bills. • Choose Fermented foods for health and flavor – Humans have used fermentation for centuries to preserve food. Today, we know that fermentation also makes some foods more nutritious. • Outdoor root cellars – Try these five ways to store fresh food for winter right in your garden. • Brew your own beer – Home brewing is kettles of fun, and it’s the perfect way to make your own uniquely flavored, affordable drinks. • Sweet cider roundup – Make delicious cider with this advice on the best apples and how to press them. • Emergency power options – With the right generator, you’ll be prepared when storms or blackouts leave you without electricity.

This first installment of our new Wiser Living Video Series DVD features some of our most popular workshops, taught by leading experts on do-it-yourself, sustainable projects. From learning the basics of pickling vegetables to making your own all-natural household cleaners to extending your garden season with easy-to-build mini-greenhouses, the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Video Series features a broad spectrum of information. Recorded by professionals, each 10- to 20-minute workshop is brought to life through vivid imagery, crisp audio and step-by-step instructions that will guide you on your path to self-sufficiency.
DVD Menu:

Gardening and Backyard Chickens

• Poultry 101 – Hank Will
• Gardening With Chickens – Cheryl Long
• Cover Crops – Cheryl Long
• Season Extension – Cheryl Long
• Raised Bed Gardening – Cheryl Long
• Herbs for General Wellness, Herbs for Health Pt. 1 – Jessica Kellner

MOTHER’s Kitchen

• No-Knead Bread – Karen Will
• Pickled Beets – Jennifer Kongs
• Chicken Stock From Scratch – Robin Mather
• Bread Made Easy – Karen Will
• Herbs for Skin Wellness, Herbs for Health Pt. 2 – Jessica Kellner
• Rendering Lard – Robin Mather
• Making Bacon – Robin Mather
• Fermentation and Sauerkraut – Jennifer Kongs
• Herbs for Mental Health, Herbs for Health Pt. 3 – Jessica Kellner

Healthy Home

• DIY Household Cleaners – Jessica Kellner
• Medicinal Oils and Salves – Gina DeBacker
• Making Tinctures – Allison Martin
• Herbs for Nausea, Herbs for Health Pt. 4 – Jessica Kellner

About the talent:
As a writer, farmer and the Publisher and Editorial Director of MOTHER EARTH NEWS, Bryan Welch is well known for his optimism, sense of humor and his commitment to empowering people to live their own versions of the good life. His work demonstrates unequivocally that it’s possible to do well in business without destroying natural or human resources.
MOTHER EARTH NEWS Senior Associate Editor Robin Mather grew up in a rural village in Michigan, where her classmates at school were the sons and daughters of farmers. She frequently stayed with friends whose families ran farms, and loved everything about their lives — from bucking bales of straw and hay to bottle-feeding calves.
Cheryl Long is the Editor-in-Chief of MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine and a leading advocate for more sustainable lifestyles. She lives on an 8-acre homestead near Topeka, Kan., that is powered in part by solar panels. There, she manages a large organic garden and a small flock of Welsummer chickens.
Hank Will, Editor-in-Chief of Grit magazine, has been farming and selling farm products for almost 30 years and believes that demand for heritage breeds is poised to explode. His family’s seed company and nursery business inspired his academic career in genetics, while childhood experiences instilled a fascination with animal husbandry.
Mother Earth Living Editor-in-Chief Jessica Kellner is enthusiastic about sharing the simple, commonsense ways we can connect with nature to better our health, homes and lives — including using herbal remedies to prevent or treat common ailments and cleaning our houses with affordable, natural ingredients.
Karen K. Will is editor of The Heirloom Gardener magazine and operates Prairie Turnip Farm in Osage County, Kan., with her husband, Hank Will. She is a freelance writer, photographer and blogger, and the author of Cooking With Heirlooms: Seasonal Recipes With Heritage-Variety Vegetables and Fruits.
Allison Martin is Managing Editor of Mother Earth Living, and previously spent five years on staff at The Herb Companion magazine, where she learned about plant medicine traditions. She lives in Lawrence, Kan., with her family, two bulldogs and cat.

CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $17.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Mountaintop removal (MTR) does exactly what it says: A mountaintop is stripped of trees, blown to bits with explosives, then pushed aside by giant equipment … all to expose a layer of coal to be mined. Hundreds of thousands of acres of ancient forested mountains have been ''removed'' this way and will never again support the biologically rich and diverse forest and stream communities that evolved there over millions of years. Instead, they've been sacrificed to support a flawed national energy policy. Mountain Justice tells a terrific set of firsthand stories about living with MTR and offers on-the-scene (and behind-the-scenes) reporting of what people are doing to try to stop it. Tricia Shapiro lets the victims of mountaintop removal and their allies tell their own stories, allowing moments of quiet dignity and righteous indignation to share center stage. This book includes coverage of the sharp escalation of anti-MTR civil disobedience, with more than 130 arrests in West Virginia alone during the first year of the Obama administration. This is an international issue, with campaigns against this massively damaging method of mining taking place in the United Kingdom, India, Canada, New Zealand and Burma. The proposed destruction of a number of habitats, from mountaintops to heath land to jungle, is a loss for us all.

In Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry, food preserving expert Cathy Barrow presents a beautiful collection of essential preserving techniques for turning the fleeting abundance of the farmers’ market into a well-stocked pantry full of canned fruits and vegetables, jams, stocks, soups, and more.

As Barrow writes in her introduction, “A walk through the weekend farmers’ market is a chance not only to shop for the week ahead but also to plan for the winter months.” From the strawberries and blueberries of late spring to the peaches, tomatoes, and butter beans of early fall, Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry shows you how to create a fresh, delectable, and lasting pantry—a grocery store in your own home.

Beyond the core techniques of water-bath canning, advanced techniques for pressure canning, salt-curing meats and fish, smoking, and even air-curing pancetta are broken down into easy-to-digest, confidence-building instructions.

Under Barrow’s affable direction, you’ll discover that homemade cream cheese and Camembert are within the grasp of the weekday cook—and the same goes for smoked salmon, home canned black beans, and preserved and cured duck confit.

In addition to canning techniques, Practical Pantry includes 36 bonus recipes using what’s been preserved: rugelach filled with apricot preserves, tomato soup from canned crushed tomatoes, arugula and bresaola salad with Parmigiano-Reggiano and hazelnuts, brined pork chops with garlicky bok choy.

Tips for choosing the best produce at the right time of season and finding the right equipment for your canning and cooking needs—along with troubleshooting tips to ensure safe preserving—will keep your kitchen vibrant from spring to fall.

Whether your food comes by the crate, the bushel, or the canvas bag, just a few of Barrow’s recipes are enough to furnish your own practical pantry, one that will provide nourishment and delight all year round. Canning and preserving is not just about the convenience of a pantry filled with peaches, dill pickles, and currant jelly, nor is it the simple joy of making a meal from the jars on the shelf—creating a practical pantry is about cultivating a thoughtful connection with your local community, about knowing exactly where your food comes from and what it can become.

Cathal Armstrong celebrates the food of his homeland and chronicles his culinary journey from Dublin to Washington, D.C., where he runs seven beloved and critically lauded restaurants.

David Lebovitz remasters the classics, introduces lesser-known fare, and presents 100 sweet and savory recipes that reflect the way modern Parisians eat today.

Many people find that DIY mushroom cultivation is not nearly as complicated as they expect, but a knowledgeable and experienced mentor is crucial to success. Whether your goal is to harvest homegrown gourmet mushrooms for your table, supplement your income by selling to friends and neighbors, or start a full-fledged niche business, Mycelial Mayhem is packed with the advice and resources you need to succeed with this rewarding and valuable crop.

CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $35.00. AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Mycelium Running is a manual for the mycological rescue of the planet. That’s right: growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment, and in this groundbreaking text from mushroom expert Paul Stamets, you’ll find out how.

The basic science goes like this: Microscopic cells called “mycelium”--the fruit of which are mushrooms--recycle carbon, nitrogen, and other essential elements as they break down plant and animal debris in the creation of rich new soil. What Stamets has discovered is that we can capitalize on mycelium’s digestive power and target it to decompose toxic wastes and pollutants (mycoremediation), catch and reduce silt from streambeds and pathogens from agricultural watersheds (mycofiltration), control insect populations (mycopesticides), and generally enhance the health of our forests and gardens (mycoforestry and myco-gardening).

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll find chapters detailing each of these four exciting branches of what Stamets has coined “mycorestoration,” as well as chapters on the medicinal and nutritional properties of mushrooms, inoculation methods, log and stump culture, and species selection for various environmental purposes. Heavily referenced and beautifully illustrated, this book is destined to be a classic reference for bemushroomed generations to come.

Mycorrhizal fungi have been waiting a long time for people to recognize just how important they are to the making of dynamic soils. These microscopic organisms partner with the root systems of approximately 95 percent of the plants on Earth, and they sequester carbon in much more meaningful ways than human “carbon offsets” will ever achieve. Most of these soil fungi are mycorrhizal, supporting plant health in elegant and sophisticated ways. The boost to green immune function in plants and community-wide networking turns out to be the true basis of ecosystem resiliency. A profound intelligence exists in the underground nutrient exchange between fungi and plant roots, which in turn determines the nutrient density of the foods we grow and eat.

All the information and suggestions in Natural Antibiotics and Botanical Treatments will make it easier for you to achieve health and wellness in your life, both physically and emotionally.It begins with a section on natural antibiotics and how herbal remedies work to support our body's own defenses. More than 20 common disorders are listed from A-Z so that you can find just the right herb and dosage for your disorder. Arthritis, sinusitis, bladder infections, and tonsillitis can all be treated with natural antibiotics. Also featured are often-asked questions, source information, and additional recommended forms of therapy, making this a truly useful resource to have at your fingertips.

This newly revised second edition contains more than 250 simple, but remarkably effective recipes for cleansers and scrubs, toners and skin refreshers, creams, lotions, shampoos, conditioners, and nail and lip-care treatments.

Beauty in modern America is a multibillion-dollar industry, and consumers spend hundreds of dollars on beauty products only to discover that they aren't satisfactory or effective. In this new edition, author Janice Cox has refined more than 20 years' worth of simple and self-indulgent recipes for body and soul.

Ross Conrad brings together the best "do no harm" strategies for keeping honeybees healthy and productive with nontoxic methods of controlling mites; eliminating American foulbrood disease without the use of antibiotics; selective breeding for naturally resistant bees; and many other detailed management techniques, which are covered in a thoughtful, matter-of-fact way. Now revised and updated with new resources and including full-color photos throughout, Natural Beekeeping offers all the latest information in a book that has already proven invaluable for organic beekeepers. The new edition offers the same holistic, sensible alternative to conventional chemical practices with a program of natural hive management, but offers new sections on a wide range of subjects.