January/February 2024

Grit

Rural American Know-How

Grit1 min read
Grit
ISSUE EDITORS KARMIN GARRISON, Lead Editor EDITORIAL TEAM JESSICA ANDERSON • INGRID BUTLER REBECCA MARTIN • ILENE REID KALE ROBERTS • AMANDA SORELL JEAN TELLER • CARLA TILGHMAN AUDRA TROSPER ADVERTISING DIRECTOR BRENDA ESCALANTE; BEscalante@OgdenPubs
Grit2 min read
Our View
What a profound word, prayer. Though humble in appearance on the page, how it manifests in each person’s life can be personal and dynamic. For some, prayer looks like folded hands and kneeling; for some, a deep meditation; for some, dancing and singi
Grit3 min read
Feeding The Family
My 81-year-old brother-in-law, Henry Milam, often discussed his childhood and teen years with me. His memories follow. I was 2 years old when my parents, older brother, and sisters moved from a farm on Route 360 near Danville, Virginia, to what seeme
Grit2 min read
Livin’ Gritty
My old German Shepherd, Gozer (nickname “Dude”), doesn’t drink enough water, though we keep it fresh and available. We also prefer to raise our own meat or purchase from local farmers, which means I end up with more bones than I’d get if I purchased
Grit5 min read
Rewild Your Outdoor Spaces
Healthy ecosystems contain a host of interacting native species of plants, animals, and other organisms that collectively perform important functions. These ecosystems provide food for insects, birds, and other animal species and attract bees and oth
Grit1 min read
Photos Taken By The Grit Community
Share your visual perspective! Post your photos at www.facebook.com/GritMagazine, tag us on Instagram (@Grit 1882), or email us at Letters@Grit.com. Share your best shots and we just might select one of your photos for a future issue of the magazine.
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Cold Comforts
Hundreds of people die in the U.S. each year as a result of cold temperatures, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This doesn’t include illness due to flu, which peaks in winter. Also, deaths by heart failure increase by 37% during extr
Grit6 min read
Shetland Sheep Make a Comeback
If you had asked me in the early 1990s, I’d have told you I didn’t care for sheep. Fast-forward to 2023, and I’ve raised sheep for 30 years, served on a breed association’s board of directors for 15 years (and now work for the association), and count
Grit5 min read
Eat Your Invasive Plants
This past spring, my wife, Elaine, asked me to gather some greens for a salad. So, naturally, I headed for our fenced-in garden to see what had appeared. Between two of our raised beds grew several dandelions, and I clipped a number of their leaves a
Grit2 min read
Wineberry Treats
This is a versatile sweet bread that works well as a snack, a breakfast treat, or a dessert for company. The berries offer an enticing sweet and tart vibe, which adds to its appeal. We freeze 3 or 4 gallons of wineberries every summer so we can enjoy
Grit6 min read
Butterflies and Moths IN YOUR GARDEN
As a child, butterflies delighted me. In late 2001, I was inspired to create a butterfly garden, beginning with three butterfly bushes and a lot of research into other plants. The following spring, I took my list of plants to a gardening store to buy
Grit1 min read
American Lady Butterfly Vanessa virginiensis
Family: Nymphalidae (brush-footed butterfly) Flight period: May to November Flight period in Deep South: All year Wingspan: 1¾ to 2⅝ inches Identification: The dorsal (upper side) is mainly orange. The forewing has black marks and white spots near th
Grit1 min read
Orange Sulphur Butterfly Colias eurytheme
Family: Pieridae (whites or sulfurs) Flight period: March to December Wingspan: About 19/16 to 29/16 inches Identification: Generally, the dorsal (upper side) is yellow. Males sport a solid-black border and females have an uneven black border with a
Grit9 min read
Farmers Market For Beginners
Farmers markets have long been a staple of agricultural communities as a way to connect farmers with their customers, to build local economies, and to distribute high-quality goods you may not be able to find elsewhere. For those on the small-to-medi
Grit9 min read
Everything’s Ducky
My animal knitting patterns are born out of collaboration with two of my children, who record the sightings in nature and sketch them for me to draft. The patterns are also the culmination of a lifelong love of both knitting and animals. Animals make
Grit8 min read
Marvelous Aged Cheese At Home
My cheese-making journey began almost 20 years ago with a couple of online resources, a few informative recipe books, an abundance of fresh milk from my goats and cows, and a desire to figure it all out. Of course, I made some mistakes along the way,
Grit7 min read
Heatless Habaneros
Standing in a friend’s garden, I was assured that the small, red pepper in my hand would be safe to eat. “Take a bite!” she said. “I swear it’s not hot.” The pepper in question looked and smelled exactly like a habanero, one of the hottest peppers in
Grit5 min read
Comfort Foods: Nostalgic Recipes
Sometimes, all it takes is the whiff of a familiar food to propel us back to our younger years and the meals we enjoyed. Many of us can recall a favorite stew, meat, or casserole dish we had again and again when we were a child, or maybe just a certa
Grit10 min read
GRIT RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS for Wiser Living
Plant Juice is an organic solution made with carefully selected ingredients that promote explosive growth and pest-free plants. It contains over 250 species of beneficial bacteria and fungi, along with organic worm castings, alfalfa, and kelp meal to
Grit3 min read
Can Chickens Hatch Ducks?
My experience hatching duck eggs led me to ask: Will chickens foster eggs from another species and raise them? The answer: Absolutely! I have female and male ducks, but only female chickens. My ducks lay daily and stop laying to sit on eggs if enough
Grit10 min read
Make A Profit With GRASS-FED BEEF
Every businessperson wants to make a profit, but profit margins are often small for livestock raisers. Nevertheless, raising grass-fed beef offers opportunities for livestock producers to succeed. Because regenerative grazing is based on working with
Grit5 min read
Haulin’ Class
Hauling livestock or horses can be uncomplicated and safe — or cumbersome and risky, depending on the experience and judgment of the person driving the rig. Even if you’ve never pulled a stock trailer before, it’s not difficult for a good driver mind
Grit6 min read
Plan a Garden to Feed Your Family
A common question asked by many people whose goal is self-sufficiency is, “How many vegetables should I plant to feed my family for a year?” This is difficult to answer, because so many variables must be considered. I grow nearly all of my family’s v
Grit4 min read
Incubating Quail Eggs
I’ve been homesteading 10 years. Each spring, our incubator was loaded with fertilized eggs in hope that chicks, ducklings, goslings, keets, and even turkey poults would soon grace the property. However, after several years, the joy (and fun) of incu

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