Introduction

Growing and preserving your own food is one of the most important aspects of sustainability. Traditionally, food preservation was a way of life, and families passed down their skills to successive generations. When looking to preserve their harvest, today’s gardeners are confronted with a gap in cultural knowledge. Many did not grow up preserving their harvest or even growing a garden to harvest. Our grandparents may have preserved their own food, but with the arrival of the Industrial Age and the mass production and mass transport of readily available food, many people no longer considered food preservation a necessity, so the knowledge was not passed on. As a result, many people are unfamiliar with the different ways to preserve food. Using salt, sugar, oil, vinegar and alcohol are all interesting methods our ancestors may have used to keep their harvests. In this article we will briefly discuss five of the most common ways you can preserve food. We will first look at three methods that predominated for millennia before the Industrial Age, and then we will discuss two more recent approaches.

Natural Storage

Natural storage simply means to preserve fruits and vegetables in their natural state. It is an excellent way to store an abundant harvest. Some foods lend themselves to natural storage more than others. Nuts, beans, peas and grains store well in their natural state if you keep them in sealed containers to avoid bug contamination. To keep our onions and garlic, we braid their leaves and hang them from the porch eaves, where they will keep for months. You can store potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins and sweet potatoes in a cool place for up to six months. In northern climates, if you have a root cellar you can store apples, cabbages, carrots, turnips and similar produce there through the winter. Although root cellars are not as useful in the south for these winter crops, we store our sweet potatoes in a root cellar, and they keep from fall harvest until summer. Beets and carrots are crops you can bury in buckets of sand and keep cool in order to continue eating them fresh through the summer.

Dehydration

Dehydration has been used for centuries. It works by removing excess moisture and making the food’s water level insufficient for bacterial growth. Drying foods involves little cost, preserves more vitamins and nutrients than other methods and requires very little storage space because dried foods are so compact. Fruits are preserved well by dehydration, and there are many vegetables you can dry effectively. A hot, dry climate lends itself to solar dehydrating. In humid climates there are many kinds of dehydrators you can purchase for home use. Here in central Texas we have had success sun-drying fruit such as peaches, apricots and tomatoes.

Lacto-fermentation

Lacto-fermentation is probably, for most people, the least familiar way to preserve food. It preserves food by converting the natural sugars to lactic acid, thereby creating an acidic environment in which food-spoiling bacteria cannot survive. Usually salt is added as part of the process. Lacto-fermentation works best for vegetables and can even boost their nutritional value because it breaks down food in a way that makes the nutrients more available. For example, sauerkraut has 25% more vitamin C than the raw cabbage from which it was made. The food is simply sliced or shredded, salted and packed into containers, then allowed to sit at room temperature for three to six weeks or until the fermentation process is complete. Homemade sauerkraut is very simple to make and tastes far better than store-bought, canned sauerkraut!

Canning

In the early 1900’s Nicholas Appert discovered how to preserve food by heating it to 212 degrees (F) or higher to kill microorganisms that could cause spoilage. This gave birth to the canning industry as we know it today. As canning became increasingly popular, the more traditional methods began to slip into the background, and some have been nearly forgotten.

You can use boiling water bath or steam canning to preserve high acid foods such as fruits, jams, jellies and pickles. The food is packed into jars, covered with lids, then placed in the canner, brought to 212 degrees (F) and held at that temperature for a certain time, effectively killing all molds and any food-spoiling bacteria that can survive in a high acid environment. A canning reference book, like the Ball Blue Book, will list the correct canning time for each food.

Low acid foods such as meat, beans and vegetables, necessitate the use of a pressure canner. Pressurized heating allows the temperature to reach 240 degrees (F) inside the canner, which safely kills all food-spoiling bacteria that could thrive in low acid foods, including botulism. Although pressure canning is safe for low acid foods, the higher temperature kills beneficial enzymes and nutrients, likely sacrificing the food’s fresh flavor and some of its nutritional value. Despite this drawback, canning is a very dependable way to store food in our unpredictable Texas climate.

Freezing

In more recent years canning has given way to freezing. Freezing is convenient. It doesn’t kill microorganisms, but the low temperature hinders their growth. It preserves more nutrients than pressure canning. Most vegetables must be blanched before freezing, but fruits require very little preparation. Freezing is not truly sustainable in most climates because it depends upon a source of non-renewable energy, but if you are just beginning to build your food preservation skills, it is a good place to start.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have briefly touched upon natural storage, dehydration, fermentation, canning and freezing, but we have by no means exhausted all the ways you can preserve food. Aside from natural storage, each preservation method that we have discussed changes the food’s natural state by either removing moisture, heating, freezing or acidifying it. As you experiment with different approaches, you will find the one you and your family prefer for each crop. When you are first beginning to put up your excess harvest, one of the best ways to learn is to work with someone who has experience preserving food; or, take a class. As you gain experience, many books are available which give guidelines on food preparation, canning times and temperatures, blanching and dehydrating times and salt and acid amounts. Growing food and preserving the excess are big steps toward sustainability.

Kamut, also known as Polish wheat.

Wheat is the world’s most important grain crop, and approximately 70% of all agricultural land is planted to wheat, more than any other crop. For generations people have been sustained by this important food staple. However, recent research has raised questions about the possible detrimental health effects of wheat, most notably gluten intolerance, allergies and celiac disease. Increasingly, it seems a greater percentage of the population is suffering from these maladies, more than has historically been seen before. Since people have been consuming wheat in some form for millennia, researchers have begun to question the recent increase in these health issues. Some research has pointed to modern varieties of wheat that have been genetically selected and adapted for high yield and high gluten (protein) content. For centuries, farmers have been selecting plant varieties for better quality and yield, however continual selection for yield over other traits can lead to the loss of beneficial nutritional qualities. Wheat that has been bred for higher gluten content allows large, industrial baking operations to produce more bread per day per oven because the higher gluten content will cause the bread to rise more quickly. However, some dietitians and nutritionists believe that longer rise times as well as fermentation (sourdough) and pre-sprouting can develop more flavor and enzymatic activity which aids digestion and assimilation. Many older varieties of wheat require this slower artisan process in order to produce quality bread.

Red Fife Wheat

In addition, most modern wheat has been bred to grow shorter so that large combines do not have to deal with as much straw during the harvest. However, small-scale horse farmers prefer the taller varieties because they are more easily harvested by horse-drawn grain binders. Also, straw is a valuable commodity on a sustainable farm, serving as mulch, compost material (carbon source) and animal bedding.

Drying the Heads of Grain

This past year the research farmers at The Ploughshare searched and found several old varieties of wheat and are now growing them here on our research farm in order to determine which varieties perform best in our climate and soils. For the past 16 years we have grown and saved seed from Russian Beardless Wheat, an heirloom variety that has been a consistent performer. We are using this wheat variety as our control variety to measure and compare to the wheat varieties in the trial.

In addition to the wheat trial, we have several other agricultural projects underway.

Sourdough pizza

Using organic whole wheat flour and water, you can easily culture your own sourdough starter from scratch.  Organic flour naturally contains plenty of wild yeasts. In culturing a sourdough starter, you are simply providing an environment in which those wild yeasts can thrive and reproduce. Below is a step-by-step process to produce a starter that you can use in making all kinds of sourdough, including breads, bagels, pizza dough, pancakes and waffles.

Ingredients and Supplies

The ingredients

• 1/2 cup room-temperature, purified water. Be careful not to use chlorinated water because it may hinder the growth of your sourdough culture.
• 1/2 cup freshly ground organic whole wheat flour.
• Plastic wrap
• Clean, half-gallon glass jar

Steps

1. In the half-gallon jar, combine 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup water. Cover the jar with plastic wrap and let it sit 3-5 days until you begin to see bubbles forming on top of the mixture.

2. Once you see bubbles, discard all but 1/4 cup of the mixture. The jar may have a lot of dried starter on the side by this time, so you may want to transfer the 1/4 cup of mixture into a clean, room-temperature half-gallon jar. Feed the mixture by adding 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup room-temperature, purified water.

Active sourdough starter

3. Once a day, discard all but 1/4 cup of the starter and feed it by adding 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup room-temperature, purified water. Continue to do this daily until the yeast can double in size within 4-6 hours.  One way to keep track of the results is to mark the outside of the jar with a permanent marker immediately after feeding your starter. Then you can easily compare its growth to its original volume.  When it becomes vigorous enough to double in size within 4-6 hours, the starter is ready to use in making breads, bagels, pancakes, waffles and other recipes.

Preparing the hive for the package of bees

There are several ways to start your new hive. One is to begin by buying a package of bees from a bee supplier. When you order packaged bees, your supplier will set an arrival date, and he will mail the bees to you in time for them to arrive on that date. The bees will be shipped in a wooden box with wire screen on two sides for ventilation, and the package will contain three or four pounds of worker bees and a queen. Each package ships with a can of syrup to feed the bees during transit.

Three-pound package of bees

Preparing for Arrival

Before your bees arrive, there are several things you need to do to be ready for them.  First, paint your hive, allowing enough time for it to dry thoroughly, and set it in place. When your bees arrive, you will need to have each of the following on hand:

• Hive tool
• Pliers
• Spray bottle of sugar water (recipe below)
• Bee feeder for feeding sugar water to your bees (recipe below)
• Sugar water. To make sugar water, mix one cup of sugar with one cup of room-temperature water in a quart jar. You will use sugar water in your spray bottle and in the bee feeder.

Installing a Package of Bees

When your bees arrive, remove ten top bars from the hive, and place the bars next to the hive.  Your hive has one divider board. Place that divider board in the space that had been occupied by the tenth bar.  Since the new bees will have to work to keep the hive warm, it is best not to give them too much space.  Using the spray bottle of sugar water, lightly spray the packaged bees through the screen.  This helps calm them.  Remove the cardboard shipping label that covers the top of the bee package.  With a pair of pliers, remove the can of syrup.  Spray the bees again with sugar water. The queen will be in a queen cage that is hung in the package next to the can of syrup.  Using the hive tool, remove the staples that hold the queen cage in place.

Spraying the bees with sugar water through the screen.

There are two common types of queen cages.  One is wooden with three sections in it.  Two of the sections will have the queen and a few worker bees. The last section will be filled with sugar candy.  On each end of the cage is a cork.  Remove the cork on the end of the cage that has the candy.  After you have finished setting up your hive, the bees will eat through the candy and release the queen.

Wooden queen cage

The second type of queen cage is made of plastic and has a candy-filled tube extending from the bottom of the cage.  On the end of the tube is a cap. Remove the cap.

Plastic queen cage with cap removed

When the bees and queen are packaged, they are taken from many different hives, so the bees are not familiar with the new queen. As the bees eat through the candy, it takes time, and during that time they become accustomed to their new queen.  Take a nail and remove some of the sugar candy. This will help the bees release the queen much more quickly. Next take the queen cage and hang it between two top bars.  Place the two top bars and cage in the hive.

Wooden queen cage hung inside the hive

Plastic queen cage between two bars

Now take the package and begin pouring the bees into the hive. You will need to shake the package several times to remove all the bees that cling to the screen.

Shaking bees from the package into the hive

Once the bees are in the hive, spray them lightly with sugar water. This will keep them from flying everywhere. Fill the feeder with sugar water and place it in the entrance of the hive so the bees can access it from inside the hive.  It is best to feed your bees sugar water at least twice a week for the first three weeks. After that, feed them once a week until they fill one comb with honey. This full comb of honey will ensure that the bees have enough food.

Feeder at the entrance of the hive

Checking the Hive for the First Time

Check the hive six to seven days after you started it, to make sure the bees were able to release the queen. After removing the hive roof, take your hive tool and remove the top bar that is next to the divider. Then look inside. If the bees have not yet built a comb on the next top bar, slide it toward the divider board. Continue until you see the combs. Carefully remove the first bar with comb.

Freshly built comb. Handle with care. The comb is very fragile at this stage.

This comb will be very small and fragile. To find out whether the queen is laying and in good health, check the comb that you just removed for the presence of eggs. Look for eggs at the bottom of the cells. Each egg will look like a very small grain of rice. Continue with all the combs. If for some reason there is no sign of eggs, check the queen cage.  If the queen did not get out, you can release her by removing the screen and letting her walk out onto a comb.

The inside of the hive at the end of the first week

The bees will start to build comb very rapidly during the first week, and they will most likely build three to four combs. The second week, there may be as many as seven combs.  It is important to make sure the combs are built straight.  If one comb starts to get crooked, all the combs adjacent to it will be crooked.  It is easy to fix this when the hive is first starting. Take your hive tool and straighten the comb by pressing on it in the direction that it needs to go. You can also rotate the whole bar and comb so the spot that started to get crooked will be adjacent to the straight part of the comb next to it.

It is a good practice not to harvest any honey the first year, even if the hive has extra. The bees need as much honey the first year as possible to make it through the winter.

Projects made in the class

After our recent article about making a wooden spoon from a log, several people expressed an interest in taking our class on spoon making, so we’ve scheduled an additional class on Friday, June 1, 2012.  If you would like to take it, you can register here:

Spoon Making Class

More About the Class

Carving a wooden spoon by hand is relaxing and enjoyable, and the spoons and spatulas you can learn to make work very well in the kitchen and make great gifts. My family uses wooden spoons and spatulas in the kitchen on almost a daily basis, and we have a few that are over 20 years old and still in use.

In our one day hands-on workshop, you’ll make the four projects pictured above:

• a stirrer made of pine (top in the photo)
• a spatula (third in the photo)
• a spoon (second in the photo)
• and a ladle (fourth in the photo)

For the spatula, spoon and ladle, we’ll be using kiln-dried hardwoods. The hardwoods will vary from class to class.

In making the projects, you’ll be learning the basics of how to use a spoon gouge, a drawknife, and a spokeshave to shape wood. These are skills that will help you in other woodworking projects down the road.

You can register through our website using the link below:

Wooden Spoon Making Class

Perennial area in our model homestead garden

Gardening and farming are an important part of sustainable living.  When we farm and garden with traditional methods there is always more to learn that will help us raise food and care for our livestock and land more effectively. Therefore, we have a number of agricultural projects in progress right now, including:

• Soil Amendments — We keep an eye open for soil amendments that work well and that are either inexpensive to purchase or something you can make, yourself. Ideally, we prefer soil amendments that you can produce on the farm.  Two soil amendments we’re currently testing are Biochar and Sea-Agra-90. Biochar is made from charcoal, and you can make it on the homestead. Charcoal is able to absorb nutrients, and the idea behind Biochar is that it will absorb nutrients and release them slowly over time, so it may be useful if you have poor or sandy soils. Sea-Agra-90 is a mined sea salt that contains many trace minerals and is reported to boost yields.  Some people might object to putting salt on their soil, but thus far, we’ve seen no reports of problems due to salinity, and the salt is not used in large quantities. We’re conducting a multiple-year test with these two soil amendments to determine their effects on the yields and health of various crops.
• Low Gluten Wheat and Barley — Many modern wheats have been optimized for high yield and high gluten content. It seems that more and more people are experiencing health problems related to those high gluten wheats, so we’re conducting field trials of about twenty varieties of low gluten wheat and barley, some of which are rare and ancient varieties. Our purpose for this research is to identify varieties that will grow well here and that work well for making bread and other baked goods. We describe this project in more detail in A Wheat Trial of Ancient and Heirloom Wheat Varieties.
• Hydrology Research — Dr. Yelderman, a geology professor at Baylor University and his students are working with us with this project. On our 500 acre farm, we have several wells for irrigation and domestic use. We’ve begun using a number of methods to improve our pastures and increase water infiltration into the soils. Our goal is to bring our farm to a higher level of productivity and document the effect that our land management practices are having on our water table, our wells and our ability to grow grasses and other vegetation as feed for our animals.
• Micro-climate and Diversity — If you’re going to garden organically, it’s important to have diversity, both in regard to plants and in regard to beneficial bugs and other animals.  Frogs, lizards and bluebirds help control garden pests. Ladybugs and lacewings are very effective against aphids.  To attract the beneficial animals, you have to provide an environment that the beneficial animals want to live in — an environment in which they can flourish. That entails having plenty of ground cover and a diversity of plants, among other things. Micro-climate goes hand-in-hand with diversity and is also very important.  You can’t control the weather and the general climate for your area, but with things like windbreaks and mulch, you can make a difference in the “micro” climate of your garden, reducing wind speed so that plants don’t undergo as much stress and keeping soil cool and moist while improving water infiltration. In our model homestead, we’re planting a living windbreak composed of grapevines and fruit trees and considering putting in a small pond and taking other steps to attract more beneficial creatures.

If you’re interested in learning more about any of these projects, please let us know.

Joanne Hall

Recently, Joanne Hall, nationally known weaver and USA distributor of Glimakra counterbalance/countermarche looms, gave a 5-day workshop for advanced weavers at our Fiber Crafts shop.  Several years ago, we were able to purchase a 63” wide Swedish countermarche/counterbalance drawloom with a  Myrahead  attachment for damask weaves. Our sturdy draw loom of golden Swedish pine  has given us a deep appreciation for its simplicity of design and function. For nearly 500 years, counterbalance looms have been in continuous use for cottage industries, production weaving and weaving sustainable goods. In addition to our jack looms, we have begun purchasing several countermarche/counterbalance looms for our classes so that our students can experience weaving on them.

The workshop was held by invitation, and our instructors, apprentices and several advanced students attended, 13 in all.  Joanne shared her extensive knowledge of warping and weaving on the counterbalance and countermarche style loom.

Prior to the workshop, she helped us choose 8 different weaves, which we pre-warped on the looms for the following projects:

• Havdrall table-topper — a 2 block weave that looks similar to overshot
• Fingertip towel in Crackle — traditionally used for linens, draperies and upholstery
• M’s and O’s — a four shaft pattern also known as “poor man’s damask”
• Swedish Lace bread cloth — a similar weave to huck lace
• Monk’s Belt runner — useful for decorative borders
• Rep weave table runner — traditionally used for rugs and thicker fabrics
• Smalandsvav runner — Picking up the pattern threads with half heddle sticks, we were able to create drawloom style patterns on a counterbalance loom.

We appreciate Joanne giving this workshop, and we learned a lot from her during these 5 days.  Below are a few photos from the workshop. Click any photo to see a larger view. If you want more information on any of the above weaves, please leave us a comment.

Blacksmith's Tongs

It’s essential in blacksmithing to have good sets of tongs so that you can firmly the hold hot metal that you’re working with.  You’ll need different sizes and styles to match the thickness and shapes of the metal that you’re using in your projects. A blacksmith can’t have too many pairs of tongs.

We have recently developed a tong-making class for blacksmithing students who’ve taken our Blacksmithing I and II classes. This tutorial shows one approach to making a simple set of tongs. If you have some blacksmithing experience and haven’t yet made tongs, you may want to try this on your own. If you think you might need more help and oversight, then you may want to register for our new class, which will teach several methods of tong-making.

Tongs are made of three pieces of metal — two long side pieces that work similar to the side pieces in a pair of scissors and a rivet that holds the side pieces together and allows them to pivot. In each side piece, there are three segments — the jaw, the boss, and the rein.  The left and right sides of the tongs are identical in shape. In other words, they’re not mirror images of one another. If you flip one side over, it will fit together and line up perfectly with the other side.

For this project, we will use 1/4″ x 3/4″ x 8″ mild steel. This lightweight stock is easy to work with and will make a lightweight set of tongs that work well for holding light stock. Using slightly thicker 5/16″ x 3/4″ stock would make a very nice set of tongs for general work.

There are different styles of tongs. The set that we’re making here will hold flat and square metal, but you can modify the jaws of your tongs to hold other sizes or shapes of metal.

Mark the Stock with Soapstone

Mark the stock with soapstone, 1 1/4″ from the end to define the jaws and 1″ from that mark to define the boss.

Marking the jaw and the boss with soapstone

 Mark the Stock with a Center Punch

Because the soapstone will not be visible when the steel is hot, also mark the stock with a center punch. When doing this, mark opposite edges as shown in the diagram.

How to mark the tongs

Marking the edge with a centerpunch

Define the Boss

Using a half-face hammer blow on the far side of the anvil, define the boss by indenting both edges, as shown below. Later we will slit and drift the boss to make a round hole for a rivet that will be the pivot and joinery of the tongs.

Defining the boss

Drawing Out, Rounding and Plenishing

Draw out the reins to the desired length by hammering on alternate edges.

Drawing out the reins

As you draw out each section to its finished dimension, complete the work by breaking the corners (hammering the corners so as to round or bevel them) and plenishing (hammering at a lower temperature to smooth the steel and remove any large hammer marks, as shown below).

Break the corners and plenish

Compare and Adjust the Length

Hold the two side pieces side-by-side to compare the length.  If one is longer than the other, draw out the length until both pieces match.

Compare the length of the two sides

Twist the Jaw

Clamp a side piece in the vice and make a short 90 degree twist right at the junction between the boss and the jaw, as shown in the sequence of photos below. Repeat with the other side piece. Remember that these pieces should be turned the same direction.

Twist the jaw

Hammer the Jaw and Boss

Gently hammer the corners of the twist smooth, so that the jaw and the boss are smooth and square.

Hammer the jaw and boss

Mark the Hole for the Rivet

Use a centerpunch to mark the hole for the rivet.

Mark the location of the hole with a centerpunch

Cutting with the Slitter

Begin to cut the rivet hole using a slitter that is 3% bigger than the size of the rivet you will use. In this case, 3/8″ is the rivet size.  The reason for the 3% increase is both to allow for shrinkage that occurs when the steel cools and to enable the rivet to pass through easily.  Orient the slitter lengthwise through the boss.

Using the slitter

Mark the Hole from the Other Side

When you have cut most of the way through and while you still have a little heat left, flip the piece over, and you will see a shiny spot which is where the slitter will come through.  With the slitter, mark the hole in the center of this spot, and on the next heat, cut through from that side.

Shiny spot on the back

Drive the Slitter Through

Drive the slitter all the way through to open up the hole.

Drive the slitter through

Round the Hole Using the Drift

Using a drift that is 3% larger than the rivet, drive it through, working from each side alternately.

Using the drift

After Using the Drift

After you have used the drift, the hole will be round, as shown below.

Round hole for the rivet

Heating the Rivet

Use a rivet whose length is the combined thickness of both sides of the tongs plus 1 1/2 times the diameter of the rivet. In the fire, first pack the coke so that the rivet won’t fall through, then set the rivet on top. Keep an eye on it so that you don’t lose it or burn it up.

Heating the rivet

Insert the Rivet

Put the rivet through the hole and hammer it down.

Hammering down the rivet

Freeing the Tongs

When you finish setting the tongs, they should be too tight to move. Heat them  and work them back and forth while they’re hot in order to free them.

Work the tongs back and forth while hot

Adjust to Fit the Stock

Adjust the tongs in the vice to fit them to the size of the stock and align the reins.

Adjust the tongs to fit the stock

Work the Tongs While Quenching

Work the tongs while quenching them; otherwise, they will get stuck.

Work the tongs while quenching

The Finished Tongs

Below is a photo of the finished tongs, ready for use.

The finished tongs

If you make a set of tongs from this tutorial, please let us know. We’d like to hear how the project went and whether you ran into any difficulties.

This article is an excerpt from an interview with Frank Strazza, featured in the January 2012 issue of our SustainLife Quarterly Journal. Frank is an award-winning craftsman who teaches woodworking classes and seminars and develops woodworking curriculum at The Ploughshare.

Ploughshare: Can you elaborate on why you have more of a hand tool focus?

Frank Strazza: Working with hand tools really does slow down the process to where you can understand how the tools work and how the joints work. It gives you greater sensitivity to your work because when you’re working with a machine, a lot of times you’re disconnected from your work. You’ve got on all the safety equipment—ear protection, eye protection, dust protection—which tends to disconnect you from what you’re doing. You don’t experience it the same way as you can with hand tools.

When I’m working with a hand tool, there’s a whole different feeling. When I teach woodworking, I try to get students to listen to the sound of the plane when it’s going through the wood. They learn to feel how much or how little pressure to apply. They have to look, and see, “Oh, the shaving’s thicker on this side, and it’s not as thick on this side.” They have to feel the blade protruding. “Is it coming out more on this side?” So they’re using their senses. They’re smelling the wood; they’re experiencing it. You get to experience the work in a totally different way, a way that you don’t with power tools.

And what’s interesting is, a lot of times, people have a misconception about hand tools: that it’s a slow, archaic way of doing things. It’s not that hand tools didn’t work, but they just didn’t keep pace with the industrialization of society. So hand tools slowly fell by the wayside, and power tools took their place. And also, what a lot of woodworkers do is set up a mini-factory in their garage. But I find that many students say, “This is what I want to do. Hand tools are just so much more enjoyable”. You can do that in a small space, and it’s safe. You can still get cut with a hand tool, but it’s going to be far less severe than if you were to get cut with a machine.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a workbench class, and one of my students was hand planing the top of his workbench. Just imagine, this is a hard maple top, and it’s 31 inches wide and seven feet long, and he’s been planing it for quite some time. Someone walks in and says to him, “Well, what is that? That probably takes at least twice as long to do it by hand doesn’t it?” And I kind of just laughed inside because he’s missing the whole concept here. There are some things that the best way to them is by hand. All woodworking can be done totally by hand. Only part of it even can be done with a machine. If your aim is to mass produce something, it may be worth it to set up a machine that can efficiently mass produce it, but the finest pieces of furniture that were ever built during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were done entirely by hand.

I don’t mind using power tools for rough stock removal, but hand skills are necessary to do the finer joints and the finer details, such as the hand planing of the top. The truth of it is, there really would’ve been no mechanized way to flatten that workbench top without a huge industrial machine that very few shops could even have.  It would have to be something big enough to run the top through, in order to get it perfectly flat. But a hand plane will do it; it’ll get the top perfectly flat.

For more information on our woodworking classes, visit The Ploughshare’s School Of Woodworking Website. To preview or subscribe to our journal, visit: SustainLife Quarterly Journal.

Cap, veil, suit and gloves

If you are looking to get started with beekeeping and do not yet have equipment, here are the tools you’ll need:

• Hive Tool — This is a small, steel pry-bar. Because bees are always producing wax and always waxing the inside of their hive, the parts of the hive get stuck together by the wax.  In the winter, I’ve had Langstroth hives waxed together so well that you could pick up the hive by the lid, and the entire hive would come up in one piece, and these hives weren’t light. The hive tool is what you use to pry the parts of the hive apart so that you can work on and inspect the hive.
• Smoker — The smoker is a metal cannister you can fill with wood chips, grass and leaves then ignite. It makes smoke in a controlled way.  Whenever bees sense that something is coming to their hive (such as a bear or a beekeeper), they react by putting out an alarm pheromone–a scent that tells all the bees: “Danger is present.”  The smoke masks, or covers up, this alarm pheromone. When getting ready to look inside a hive,  I always use  a smoker, even at times when you could get by without it, because it keeps the bees calm, and that makes it safer–both for them and you.
• Cap and Veil — The veil protects you from getting stung on the face and neck.  Some beekeepers go without any protective gear, but it’s safer to wear it. In my classes, I always ask students to please wear a veil.
• Suit — The suit is not essential. I don’t wear one, but many beginning beekeepers will feel more comfortable around their bees if they do.  It’s basically a set of coveralls with a zipper front. Just be aware that it’s not foolproof–you can occasionally get stung, even with a suit, veil and gloves on.
• Gloves — Beekeeper’s gloves are usually made of leather and cloth. They protect your hands and extend up to the forearm so that if you’re wearing long sleeves, which I recommend, they’ll cover the end of your sleeve well, so that bees don’t crawl in.
• Bee Brush — When inspecting the combs or harvesting the honey, you can use this brush to gently brush the bees off the comb.

In terms of cost, most of these tools are fairly inexpensive. Smokers will run about $30-40, a veil and cap together are about $22, gloves are around $15 and a bee brush is under $5.  After you’ve gotten a hive, which you can purchase or build yourself, the bees are the biggest expense. A 3 pound package of bees, which is a good size to start with, runs about $110-130. Altogether, you should be able to start your first hive for under $400.

You can click any photo in the gallery below to see a larger view.