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.
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 and Preserving 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:
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.
Check out 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).
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
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.”