Mother Earth News

Jan 22, 2025 | motherearthnews.com | Carlos Daniel DeJesus |Robert Hutchinson

I’m an athlete—a competing bodybuilder—and a few years ago I was faced with a problem. In order to train for competition, I needed ready access to bodybuilding equipment for six days a week. And though I was working out at a nice spa that featured quality equipment, I couldn’t get enough time on the machines. The establishment was always crowded, and it was closed on weekends and holidays. As memberships increased, so did interruptions.

Jan 15, 2025 | motherearthnews.com | Chris Colby

Gain knowledge of how to grow barley for beer, including harvesting, threshing, and how to malt barley. Barley is a cereal grain, in the same botanical family (Poaceae) as wheat, maize, rice, oats, rye, and sorghum. A cool-season crop that matures relatively quickly, barley grows best in climates where highs reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the weeks before harvest. It can be planted in late fall as winter barley, in which case it’ll sprout, overwinter, and then mature in early spring.

Jan 14, 2025 | motherearthnews.com | Laura Gummerman

Are you hoping to reduce waste in your laundry room? Make a wool dryer balls DIY project to save time and energy and say goodbye to wasteful, one-use dryer sheets!Supplies NeededWool yarn in several colors (make sure it’s not “washable”)Crochet hook or yarn needlePantyhose Fabric scissorsLet’s Begin1. One 3.5-ounce skein of yarn will make 2 dryer balls; you’ll need about 4 balls for any load of laundry, so gather 2 full skeins, plus more for additional color, if desired. 2.

Jan 13, 2025 | motherearthnews.com | Renée Benoit

So, I’m out in the dog pen this morning. We have a big dog pen so the dogs have a safe place to get exercise and shelter from monsoon thunderstorms. It’s 35 feet by 85 feet and has a lovely grape arbor in the middle. It’s also completely fenced with chicken and goat wire. Weeds would take over if I didn’t clear along the perimeter and mulch the middle. So, I’m merrily chopping away and that’s when I see her – a 3-foot-long Sonoran gopher snake.

Jan 13, 2025 | motherearthnews.com | Alan Tennant

When I began wildlife consulting at the Austin, Texas, Natural Science Center, I quickly learned how intensely some people react to snakes. The vast majority of North American snakes pose no threat to humans (those that do are coral snakes and the pit vipers: rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouths). But for those who called the Center, no other issue carried the same urgency as a snake in their vicinity. One of my first such emergencies entailed a supposed tree-climbing cobra.