Here are some useful gardening and preserving resources for sustainable living that we have found or created:
Gardening/Chicken/Bee Resources
Yes, there are plenty of harmful insects out there, but there are also a lot of beneficial insects out there that will eat the bad guys, pollinate your plants, and help your compost. Here’s my list of the most common beneficial insects in our valley.
Andrew Still and Sarah Kleeger’s seed saving booklet through Adaptive Seeds:
Seed Saving booklet in full page format (3.8MB pdf)
Seed Saving booklet in half-page duplex (3.5MB pdf)
Willamette Valley planting guide for summer and winter crops. Summer (green) dates developed by Nick Routledge, Andrew Still, and Sarah Kleeger over about 10 years in the Eugene area. If a bar has an “X” in it, dates before the X are for starting indoors, plant out any time after the X. Dates after the X can be direct sown in the ground. Winter gardening (blue) dates added by Kevin Prier.
Planting Calendar (editable .xls file)
Plus a companion winter gardening chart (pdf) with lots of details and notes.
How to grow and harvest garlic, by Andrew Still of Adaptive Seeds.
Pest control:
Keep cabbage butterflies away by hanging decoys around the garden. The butterflies are territorial and will leave your garden alone if they think there are already too many others in the patch. One or two per 50 sq. ft. should do it. Print this graphic on photo paper or other water resistant paper and hang from thread or tape onto thin wires in the ground.
For Coddling Moth control on fruit trees, a regular spray of a very dilute sugar solution (every 3 weeks) seems to be remarkably effective. Here is the article published on it: Sugar for the Control of Coddling Moth.
Find out about the yearly Spring Propagation Fairs in Eugene and now beyond — free sources of fruit tree cuttings for grafting and vegetable, herb, and flowers seeds. To help out (this effort is 100% volunteer-run), and current info, find us on Facebook as the Agrarian Sharing Network.
Falling Fruit is a collaborative web site that maps publicly accessible fruit trees, with variety, harvest time, and whether it is on private or public property.
Culinary and medicinal uses for over 800 different herbs:
A Modern Herbal, by Mrs. M. Grieve
Our favorite sources for gardening supplies, chicks, and equipment are:
City regulations for numbers of chickens/bees/goats in the backyard:
Fermenting, Preserving, Baking Resources
For the fermentation geek, here is a great scientific article on fermented vegetables:
Fermented Vegetables – Food Microbiology
The Oregon Extension Service has lots of resources for gardening, canning, and more:
Article on microplastics in sea salt:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272771418300647
A useful resource for gluten-free baking mixes (you might need to copy the spreadsheet to your own Google Drive to use the calculator function):
Soap/Balm/Salve Resources
For calculating the amount of lye and essential oils needed for a batch of soap, use:
Lye Calculator, from Majestic Mountain Sage
Fragrance Calculator, from Majestic Mountain Sage
Buy lye locally at True-Value/WilCo stores in Eugene and Springfield. It’s in the drain-cleaning aisle as Rooto 100% Lye Drain Opener. You can order it online for about the same price, but the hazardous shipping charges are more than the product charge and double your overall price.
Different oils have different properties as soap. Here is my compilation of the soap properties of most oils you are likely to find: oil properties for soap. The “iodine index” of oils is a good indication of their storage life (lower value = longer storage life) and also their quality as a seasoning oil for wood or cast iron (higher value is better). Here is my compilation of iodine index values for a variety of oils: Oils for cosmetics vs cast iron seasoning.
Other sources describing the soap qualities from different base oils: Southern Belle’s Soaps, Lovin’ Soap
Essential oils can be purchased locally from The Kiva, or ordered from Mountain Rose Herbs for delivery or pick-up at their storefront. For online purchasing, I have found the best selection and price at Bulk Apothecary.
Containers/molds:
The hexagonal molds I use in class (and at home) are 50ml weighing dishes used in science labs. I’ve been purchasing mine from Southern Labware.
I get the small, sturdy plastic lip balm jars (5ml) from Beauty Makeup Supply. You’ll want to buy at least 25 to make the pricing worth it.
I get the 1oz. plastic jars for skin cream/salve from Container and Packaging. Lids are sold separately.
Information about medicinal properties of herbs is at botanical.com
An academic review article about the potential of herbs in skin UV protection
Academic references for SPF properties of natural oils:
Red raspberry seed oil – one promising lab study (pdf), otherwise circumstantial at best
Carrot seed oil – no good studies, don’t use. One very flawed study (pdf, minus tables) shows a commercial sunscreen that includes carrot extract (and zinc, among other ingredients) has SPF 38–40.
Wheat germ oil – purported moderate SPF, but I haven’t been able to find any actual research
Coconut oil – minimal SPF at best
An academic review of plant-based insect repellents (full pdf, here’s the relevant table (pdf) by itself, and another table with potential hazards (pdf) from some plant compounds).
Essential Oil Resources
Here are some academic papers on the pharmaceutical effects of many essential oils:
General article with lots of further references: https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/aromatherapy/what-does-research-say-about-essential-oils
Medical effects of rose essential oils: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586833/
Benefits of lavender essential oil: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/expert-answers/aromatherapy/faq-20058566
Endocrine disruption by lavender and tea tree oils: https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/essential-oils/index.cfm, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17267908, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26353172
https://theherbalacademy.com/truth-phototoxic-essential-oils-use-safely/
Some essential oils should not be used directly on the skin as they are irritants or can cause photosensitivity (rapid sunburn) or phototoxicity (chemical burns in the sun). These include clove oil (irritant); lemon grass, citronella, and thyme (photosensitizers); all true citrus (except sweet orange, blood orange, and mandarin/ tangerine), mandarin leaf, bergamot, calendula, lemon verbena, rue, cumin, fig leaf, and angelica (phototoxic).
Note that these precautions are primarily for the essential oils and not the unrefined oils or other extracts from these plants. Essential oils are a very small part of the total oil in a plant, so a calendula (herb)-infused cream, for example, will not show the phototoxic effects that straight calendula essential oil will. The only exceptions are fig leaf oil and lemon verbena oil – there is no safe skin exposure level for these that will not react in the sun.
Cheese and Sausage Making Resources
Cheese making equipment and supplies can be purchased locally from:
Dozens of sausage recipes to complement the sausage making class:
Homemade Sausage Making Recipes from TheSpicySausage.com
My own plans for a simple and cheap, but effective, lever cheese press:
Other Sustainable Living Educational Resources
Aprovecho is a large campus educational center near Cottage Grove for sustainable living, permaculture, and natural building. They have live-in internships as well as weekend workshops.
Lost Valley is an education and events center for “practical application of sustainable living skills.”