8444 MEN Prem. Homestead DIY Projects

Table of Contents Planning an off-grid photovoltaic system requires more care and thoughtful examination of what you need on a daily basis.

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4 Back to Basics: Make

Your Own Shampoo, Deodorant, and Toothpaste

Whip up these three recipes to save money and avoid the potentially dangerous ingredients hidden in many commercial products.

6 Make Your Own

Natural Laundry Soap

When you’re the soap-maker, you’ll no longer have to guess about the mysterious chemicals in your wash.

8 Brew Better Soda at Home Make your own root beer, ginger ale, and grape soda with these easy recipes.

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MOTHER EARTH NEWS • Homestead DIY Projects

12 Make Paper From

Grasses and Leaves

Connect with an age-old process and the life cycle of plants to make fragrant, textured paper.

17 Cordage: How to Make

Natural Threads

Extract fibers from plants to make your own strong, sustainable string.

26 How to Build

a Chicken Feeder

Feed your flock securely without encouraging mold or supporting the local mouse and starling populations.

Build Your Own Utility Knife

29 To customize your own knife,

order blade blanks online and find some spare wood for the handle.

20 Nifty Potting Bench Plans

33 Everyday Solar Cooking

23 How to Restore Old

36 Rainwater Harvesting

Build a convenient in-garden work surface with storage for small tools and supplies.

Wooden Furniture

An introduction to antique furniture restoration.

29

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and cook with free power from the sun.

Think beyond the rain barrel: This simpler approach will help you harvest more water for your garden!

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52 38 How to Tan a Deer Hide

Follow these hide-tanning steps, complete with time requirements and tool recommendations, to create your own beautiful, quality leather.

43 DIY Greenhouse

for Winter Growing

Growing food in this solarheated structure will be far more productive and economical than doing so with electric light indoors.

48 Learn to Build Boxes

Think “inside the box” to build cabinets, shelves, and more.

52 Making Hay the

Old-Fashioned Way

A little muscle and a few hand tools are all you need to put up tons of provender.

54 Portable Chicken

Mini-Coop Plan

With this unique design, anyone can keep a few chickens, even in small backyards.

56 Do-It-Yourself Porch Swing Everyone needs a comfy spot to relax and sip some iced tea, and this plan works even if you don’t have a porch.

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56 61 Build an Outdoor Oven

This easy-to-construct clay oven fires up quickly and stays hot for days. Cook dinner at night and bake bread in the morning with its stored heat.

66 Construct a

Cozy Built-In-Bed

61 86 Build a Homestead Classic:

The Outhouse

For homesteaders in remote areas, a properly managed privy might be a better idea than a full-blown septic system.

90 Off-Grid Solar

Explore the components and considerations for creating your own off-grid photovoltaic system.

Use this hands-on know-how to build a one-of-a-kind bed.

70 How to Make Compost

Choose from the many easy ways to make compost for increased garden productivity.

75 Root Cellar Plans

Turn a never-used concrete septic tank into an old-fashioned root cellar to store your potatoes, winter squash, and so much more.

78 DIY Natural

Backyard Pond

Learn how to build a beautiful pond that stays clean and algaefree without the use of pumps, filters, or chemicals.

82 Build Your Own Ski Sled

This ski sled combines the speed and agility of a steel-runner sled with the comfort and deep-snow running ability of a toboggan.

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95 DIY Pergola Plans

Keep your cool under a pergola that brings beauty and comfortable outdoor living to your property.

98 A Solar Cabin in

Two Weeks for $2,000

After finding himself without a home, LaMar Alexander moved onto inherited land and built a 400-square-foot cabin by himself.

100 Build This Easy

Hoop House

Extend your garden’s growing season like never before for less than $1,000.

106 Build a Home With

Earth and Straw

Hand-sculpt your custom, mortgage-free home from dirt-cheap local materials.

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Table of Contents

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SELF-RELIANCE 6 Financial Planning

for an Off-Grid Homestead

A young couple from Idaho shares their savings plan and investment decisions for purchasing land and building their dream home.

8 Build a More

Resilient Homestead

A longtime energy and resilience expert offers advice on how to make your home and land disaster-resistant.

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15 Self-Reliance

Is a Family Affair

The Atwell family is working together to build a homestead haven in Hawaii, complete with hardy crops and a solar-powered home.

16 Targeting Tractors

A closer look at your farm and acreage is the first step when considering a new – or newto-you – tractor purchase.

20 Small Farm, Real Profit

This inspiring half-acre urban farm in Oregon is proving that size doesn’t matter when it comes to profitability.

24

24 Cob Construction:

Build With Earth and Straw

Hand-sculpt your custom, mortgage-free home from dirt-cheap local materials.

30 How to Choose the

Right Chainsaw for Your Homestead

Find a chainsaw to fit your needs, and then follow these simple maintenance tips so you can put it to work for years to come.

COVER PHOTOGRAPH: GETTY IMAGES / RACHEL DEWIS

How to create permanent garden beds and paths.

Modern Homesteading • Collector Series

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40 34 Start a Self-Sufficient,

1-Acre Homestead

Live off the land with these strategies for establishing selfsufficient food production, including advice on crop rotations and raising livestock.

LIVESTOCK 40 Hatch a Flock

Get insider tips on incubating eggs.

43 Feed Your Flock to

Boost Omega-3s

Three poultry management rules will help you provide healthful, omega-3-maximized eggs and meat for your family and your customers.

46 Build Your Own Incubator A poultry farmer offers up the lessons she learned after constructing her own incubation cabinet to hatch rare heritage chicks.

49 Mob Grazing Made Simple A mob of cows in a paddock system can help you cut hay expenses, improve soil and pasture health, and maximize herd performance.

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49 52 The Multiple Benefits

of Grass-Fed Meat

Grazing ruminants play an important role in maintaining our health and protecting the environment.

57 Turn Food Scraps

Into Poultry Feasts

Give your chickens additional nutrition by balancing their rations with good and garden waste.

60 Backyard Chicken Basics

They’re less work than house pets and more fun than a tire swing.

64 Heritage Breeds: Why

They’re Important

Traditional animal breeds benefit both homesteaders and consumers with their hardiness, adaptability, flavorful meat, and genetic diversity.

DO-IT-YOURSELF 69 DIY Outdoor Cookers

You can build a fire pit or assemble a clay-pot smoker in just one weekend.

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57 72 Solar-Powered Pumps Pump water with the power of the sun.

77 Cordage: How to Make

Natural Thread

Extract fibers from plants to make your own strong, sustainable string.

80 Homestead Hacks

Our readers share clever projects that will help you live a selfsufficient life in the country, the suburbs, or the city.

83 5 Affordable DIY

Rocket Stoves

These compact cookers are the perfect addition to any campsite, homestead, canning operation, or backyard.

86 Build This Cozy Cabin

Anyone with basic carpentry skills can construct this classic one-room cabin for just about $6,000.

92 Craft Your Own

Coonskin Cap

Turn a raccoon hide into a warm and hardy hat.

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99 96 Rainwater Harvesting

Think beyond the rain barrel: This simpler, cheaper approach will help you harvest much more free water for your garden!

GARDENING 99 5 Expert-Recommended

Tools for No-Till Plots

These ingenious implements allow you to raise crops organically while preserving the health of your soil.

102 Grow a Community

Giving Garden

With ingenuity, creativity, and a touch of grit, this small North Carolina town cultivated a garden to produce healthy food for neighbors in need.

105 Tips and Techniques for

Water-Wise Gardening

Tap these efficient gardenwatering systems to save on your water bill while still growing food despite drought and heat.

110 How to Make

Cheap Garden Beds

105 114 Eat From Your

Garden All Year

With these expert-recommended techniques and crop varieties, you, too, can break through season barriers in your climate.

119 Prune for Small-

Space Fruit Trees

This revolutionary pruning method will enable you to grow any type and variety of fruit in small spaces.

123 Control Weeds

Without Chemicals

Practice organic weed-control methods and watch your vegetable garden thrive.

FOOD & RECIPES 127 Pawpaw Mead

Foraged fruit + fermentation = funky firewater.

130 Brewing Beer: The Basics Bottle your own beer by using four ingredients and following four steps.

134 Pickle Recipes

for the Picking

Ferment or quick-pickle your harvest with this assortment of ideas from Mother Earth News bloggers.

140 Easy, No-Knead

Artisan Bread

Methods guaranteed to make everyone a baker!

146 Pressure Canning Basics Learn how to use a pressure canner to safely preserve food, and you’ll save money on groceries all year long.

150 Freezing Fruits and

Vegetables From Your Garden

Tap these straightforward freezing tips to turn your garden harvests into sensational, off-season meals.

154 Grab ’n’ Go Homemade

Convenience Foods

Need quick snacks and meals?

Opt for these healthful edibles that work well in a pinch.

158 Herbal Heart Tonics

Here’s how – and why – to create permanent garden beds and paths, and why framed or raised beds may be optional.

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119

Incorporate these five delicious herbs into your daily routine to strengthen and gladded your heart.

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BACK TO BASICS

Minty-Fresh Peppermint Toothpaste The cool, clean taste of peppermint is the quintessential toothpaste flavor. In cosmetics and bath products, mint is used as a skin soother, deodorizer, and cleanser. Yields 2 ounces.

Make Your Own Shampoo, Deodorant, and Toothpaste

1 tbsp fresh peppermint leaves, chopped ⁄4 cup water 1 ⁄2 tsp cornstarch 1 ⁄2 tsp sunflower oil 1

Whip up these three recipes to save money and avoid the potentially dangerous ingredients hidden in many commercial products.

G

iven all the concern about the many harmful chemicals present in our environment, you would think that the personal care products we use every day — items such as deodorant, shampoo, and toothpaste — would be regulated to confirm they’re safe.

Manufacturers, however, aren’t required to test these common toiletries for safety.

In fact, manufacturers don’t even have to list each product’s ingredients on the label.

For example, the cocktail of compounds found within a fragrance is considered a trade secret, which means no ingredient has to be listed individually. Testing has revealed an average of 14 hidden, unlisted compounds per fragrance formulation.

The nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) has been covering this issue for more than two decades, and the organization explains that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the personal care products industry to police itself through the industry’s own Cosmetics Ingredient Review panel. But such voluntary self-regulation rarely works well, and the EWG reports that in the panel’s more-than-30-year history, it has declared only 11 ingredients or chemical groups to be unsafe. Plus, the panel’s recommendations about banning certain ingredients are not binding.

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Here’s how the EWG explains the potential dangers of some toiletries: “People are exposed to cosmetics ingredients in many ways: breathing in sprays and powders, swallowing chemicals on the lips or hands, or absorbing them through the skin. Biomonitoring studies have found that cosmetics ingredients, such as phthalate plasticizers, paraben preservatives, the pesticide triclosan, synthetic musks, and sunscreen ingredients, are common pollutants in the bodies of men, women, and children.

“Many of these chemicals are potential hormone disruptors,” the report con-

tinues. “Cosmetics frequently contain enhancers that allow ingredients to penetrate deeper into the skin. Studies have found that people exposed to common fragrance and sunscreen ingredients have health problems, including increased risk of sperm damage, feminization of the male reproductive system, and low birth weight in girls.”

Most marketing claims on personal care products are unregulated, and companies are rarely, if ever, required to back them up. The FDA says descriptions such as “hypoallergenic” and “natural” can mean anything or nothing at all. Head

on over to www.fda.gov/cosmetics for additional information.

Avoid harmful ingredients and take a stand against labeling confusion in personal care products — and save money in the process — by making your own toiletries with the recipes shown here.

Skin Deep If you want to research your favorite commercial products, the EWG’s website features the Skin Deep Database (at www.ewg.org/skindeep), which includes information and safety ratings for more than 69,000 body care products, including shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, makeup, and more. Take this wealth of knowledge on the go by downloading the EWG’s free Skin Deep app, which lets you scan the barcodes of cosmetics and bath products for an instant safety rating based on ingredients and environmental impact.

Homemade Deodorant Recipe Making batches of homemade deodorant is simple and cost-effective.

The MOTHER EARTH NEWS editors have tested this recipe, and they report that it’s definitely not the pits. You can use either arrowroot flour or cornstarch as the thickening agent, but arrowroot flour is less abrasive. Some people report experiencing irritated skin after prolonged, topical applications of baking soda.

For a baking-soda-free deodorant recipe, go to goo.gl/g3SXTB.

Because of coconut oil’s low melting point, store your finished homemade deodorant in a glass or metal container kept in a cool location to prevent it from oozing liquid oil.

Yield: 8 ounces. ⁄2 cup baking soda ⁄2 cup arrowroot flour or cornstarch 1 ⁄2 cup coconut oil, melted 20 drops essential oil of your choice Container for deodorant, sterilized and dried 1 1

Mix baking soda and arrowroot flour or cornstarch in a small bowl. Slowly add melted coconut oil, stirring until your mixture becomes a thick paste, about the consistency of glue.

Add essential oil of your choice and mix thoroughly. Pour deodorant paste into your sterilized container, and place in fridge for 1 hour until it sets up. Store homemade deodorant in a cool, dry location.

— Old School

Shimmer and Shine: Basic Shampoo LEFT: DREAMSTIME/FRANNYANNE; RIGHT: HANNAH KINCAID (2)

By Hannah Kincaid

Place chopped mint leaves in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring mixture to a boil. Remove pan from heat and let cool 15 to 20 minutes. In a separate bowl, stir cornstarch and oil until smooth. Strain the mint out of the water, and then add the cornstarch mixture to the pan. Stir well. Return the pan to the stovetop and apply medium heat. As soon as the mixture reaches a boil, turn off the heat and allow it to cool completely. Stir well, and place finished toothpaste in a clean container.

— Janice Cox

This tress-cleansing concoction will seem thinner than most store-bought shampoos, but the effectiveness will be equivalent.

Yield: 4 ounces.

⁄4 cup water ⁄4 cup liquid castile soap, such as Dr. Bronner’s 1 ⁄2 tsp light vegetable oil (omit if you have oily hair) 1 1

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Pour the shampoo into a clean squeeze bottle or empty shampoo bottle. Apply to wet hair. If enhanced with egg, be sure to rinse with cool water.

Shampoo Enhancers For dry hair, mix 1 tablespoon of honey with 1 tablespoon of Basic Shampoo.

For oily hair, mix 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice with 1 cup of Basic Shampoo.

For normal hair, mix 1 raw egg with 1 tablespoon of Basic Shampoo.

— Janice Cox

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SMALL FARM, REAL PROFIT This inspiring half-acre urban farm in Oregon is proving that size doesn’t matter when it comes to profitability.

By Josh Volk

Y

ou don’t need a large space to be productive or to make a decent, sustainable living as a farmer.

Across the United States, from urban rooftops to rural holdings, farmers are proving you can grow on a small scale just about anywhere with decent soil, water, and people.

Cully Neighborhood Farm is an encouraging example. This successful urban farm operates on 1⁄2 acre in

Portland, Oregon, and markets its mixed vegetables through a CSA program whose members purchase a share of vegetables. Friends Michael Tevlin and Matt Gordon started Cully in 2010 on an urban lot attached to a church property.

After attending church council meetings and talking to the church leadership, Michael wrote up a proposal for a lease. The agreement allows Cully to operate on the land as long as the workers deliver some produce to the

church’s food pantry, help the church’s school cultivate a portion of the land as a garden for the students, and generally maintain the site. In the first year, they farmed only 1⁄4 acre and sold produce at a small farmers market. In their second year, Michael and Matt helped start a garden-education program for the church’s schoolchildren; the Cully Young Farmers Project was funded by a grant from the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District.

After two seasons, Michael moved to

From left: Cully Neighborhood Farm co-founder Matt Gordon uses the BCS walk-behind tractor. Matt’s sister, Anna, and his daughter, Ayla, plant garlic. Martin Vandepas harvests onions with a custom farm cart from www.farmhandcarts.com, a project started by author Josh Volk.

California, but Matt has continued the farm, slowly growing into the space and experimenting with various markets.

Education wasn’t part of the friends’ initial vision, but it fit well with the site and their desire to give back to their community. The project dovetails nicely with their original intent to have a little urban farm close to where they live, and to demonstrate a productive use of vacant land in a neighborhood with many large lots and yards.

What follows is a snapshot of Cully Neighborhood Farm’s 2016 and 2017 seasons. Perhaps it will motivate gardeners with bigger aspirations to start growing for their communities; show overwhelmed farmers that scaling down is an option; and encourage people who are already farming on a small scale to keep up the great work.

FROM FAR LEFT: “JOSH VOLK; MATT GORDON (3

The Basics One corner of the property is the children’s garden, which is run separately but supported by the farm.

Students use the children’s garden for most programming, but all the participants take a full farm tour at some point during the season. Each class visits the garden about once a week during spring and fall.

The farm grows for its CSA members (60 in 2017) and provides produce to the neighborhood farmers market.

CSA members mostly pick up their shares at the farm, but seven shares are boxed and delivered to the employees

of a nearby nonprofit. The CSA season runs from mid-May to mid-November.

All labor is part-time at the farm, allowing everyone to have other jobs and participate in other activities.

During the busy season of May through October, the farm is run by three or four people per workday, and there are two workdays per week, Monday and Thursday, which are also the CSA distribution days. During the season, Matt puts in 20 to 30 hours per week, mostly on those two days but some on other days to manage irrigation. During December, January, and February, Matt works an average of 10 to 15 hours per week on farm-related activities and hires a bit of extra help. Labor ramps up during spring and back down in fall.

Municipal water is a major expense for the farm. In 2016, the farm paid about $2,000 for water, and workers spent a significant amount of time switching water from one section to another because of the limited flow from available spigots.

The farm’s water is fed by typical garden hose spigots and runs first through a submeter to get an accurate accounting of the quantity used (so it can be paid for separately in the water bill).

The water is then distributed to different areas of the farm through 3⁄4-inch polyethylene tubing. Battery-operated timers ensure the water doesn’t run too long; pressure regulators ensure the pressure is optimal for the application method — both drip irrigation

(T-Tape) and sprinklers (K-Rain and Wing Sprinklers from DripWorks).

The drip is set up to run about twenty 75-foot lines at a time, and each bed has two lines (it’s 4 feet from the center of one bed to the center of the next bed). The sprinklers will water four or six beds at a time, and only one 75-foot line of sprinklers can be operated at a time. Everything must be watered twice a week during summer.

The farm uses Logan Labs in Ohio for soil testing and subscribes to OrganiCalc (www.growabundant.com) to get recommendations for amending the soil.

Based on this advice, Matt adds feather meal for nitrogen; soft rock phosphate for phosphorus; agricultural lime for calcium; gypsum for calcium and sulfur; Azomite or kelp for trace minerals; and occasional small applications of Solubor for boron. All of those materials are available locally through several farm supply stores that specialize in serving small organic farms.

Matt also adds at least 1⁄4 inch of compost to beds before planting, and plants cover crops in beds when they aren’t being used for cash crops. He buys compost from a local company that breaks down yard and kitchen waste. His cover crops of choice in the cool season are crimson clover or a mix of cereal rye and vetch. The clover can be seeded until the middle of October; for later seedings, he uses the rye and vetch. In summer, buckwheat and Sudan grass are his preferred cover crops.

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A dairy cow can supply milk, cream, butter, yogurt, cheese, and whey, plus lots of manure to build soil fertility.

Multipurpose chickens for eggs, meat, manure, and pest control are the top livestock choice on most homesteads.

milking duties while you’re gone. So let’s plan our 1-acre farm on the assumption that we are going to keep a dairy cow.

• Plot 3: Brassicas (cabbage family) • Plot 4: Root vegetables (carrots, beets, and so on) • Grass again (for four years) With this kind of crop rotation, every year a quarter of your arable land will be a newly plowed, 4-year-old field, complete with intensely fertile soil because of the stored-up fertility of all the grass, clover, and herbs that have just been plowed in to rot with four summers’ worth of cow manure. Because your cow will be in-wintered on bought-in hay and she will be treading and dunging on bought-in straw, you will have an enormous quantity of marvelous muck and cow manure to put on your arable land.

All the crop residues that you cannot consume will help feed the cow, pigs, or poultry, and I would be surprised if, after following this crop rotation and grazing management plan for a few years, you didn’t find that your acre of land had increased enormously in soil fertility, and that it was producing more food for humans than many a 10acre farm run on ordinary commercial lines.

1-Acre Farm With a Family Cow Half of your land would be put down to grass, leaving half an acre arable (not allowing for the land on which the house and other buildings stand). The grass half could remain permanent pasture and never be plowed up at all, or you could plan crop rotations by plowing it up, say, every four years. If you do the latter, it’s best done in strips of a quarter of the half-acre, so that each year you’re planting a grass, clover, and herb mixture on an eighth of your acre of land. This crop rotation will result in some freshly sown pasture every year, some 2-year-old field, some 3-year-old field and some 4-year-old field, culminating in more productive land.

self-sufficient homestead, careful grazing management will be essential.

Tether-grazing on such a small area may work better than using electric fencing. A little Jersey cow quickly gets used to being tethered and this was, indeed, the system that the breed was developed for on the island of Jersey (where they were first bred). I so unequivocally recommend a Jersey cow to the 1-acre farmer because I am convinced that, for this purpose, she is without peer. Your half-acre of grass, when established, should provide your cow with nearly all of the food she needs for the summer months. You are unlikely to get any hay from the half-acre, but if the grass grows faster than the cow can eat it, then you could cut some of it for hay.

Smart crop rotations and proper grazing management will build richer soil.

Grazing Management At the first sign the grass patch is suffering from overgrazing, take away the cow. The point of strip-grazing (also called intensive rotational grazing) is that grass grows better and produces more if it’s allowed to grow for as long as possible before being grazed or cut all the way down, and then allowed to rest again. In such intensive husbandry as we are envisaging for this

Half-Acre Crop Rotation The remaining half of your homestead — the arable half — would be farmed as a highly intensive garden. It would be divided, ideally, into four plots around which all of the annual crops that you want to cultivate follow each other in a strict crop rotation.

An ideal crop rotation may go something like this: • Grass (for four years) • Plot 1: Potatoes • Plot 2: Legumes (pea and bean family)

A dairy cow won’t be able to stay outdoors all year. She would horribly overgraze such a small acreage. She should spend most of the winter indoors, only being turned out during the daytime in dry weather to get a little exercise and fresh air.

Cows don’t really benefit from being out in winter weather. Your cow would be better, for the most part, if kept inside, where she would make lovely manure while feeding on the crops you grew for her in the garden.

You would let her out in summer, night and day, for as long as you find the pasture is not being overgrazed. You would probably notice that your cow doesn’t need hay at all during summer, but she would be entirely dependent on it throughout winter, and you

Intensive Gardening Some might complain that having half of their acre down to grass confines gardening activities to a mere half-acre. But actually, half an acre is quite a lot, and if you garden it well, it will grow more food for you than if you were to “scratch” over a whole acre.

Being under grass (and grazed and dunged) for half of its life will enormously increase the half-acre’s soil fertility. I think you will actuDORLING KINDERSLEY ILLUSTRATIONS (6)

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Livestock Tips for the Self-Sufficient Homestead

Heavily manured, intensively planted garden beds will produce more per acre than most larger farms.

Go the creative route by crafting your own chicken coop. This ark can be made out of used fertilizer bags for nearly nothing.

36 MOTHER EARTH NEWS COLLECTOR SERIES • MODERN HOMESTEADING

ally grow more vegetables on this plot than you would on a whole acre if you had no cow or grass break.

Dry your homegrown wheat on simple tripods assembled from wooden poles.

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Do-It-Yourself

By Steve Maxwell

T

here’s nothing like enjoying a summer breeze while sitting on an outdoor swing you’ve built yourself. The design described here features a swing and matching support stand that are beautiful and easy to build. Most of the parts use standard construction-grade softwood and cedar lumber.

Begin With the Seat First, build four L-shaped assemblies that support the seat and back of the swing, each made from one back support and one seat support. The two supports for the middle of the seat are shorter than the outside seat supports (see template on Page 58). As you work, be sure to create two right-hand and two left-hand

versions — carefully noting how the back supports overlap the seat supports. Use glue and four No. 10, 21⁄2-inch corrosionresistant screws at each joint. The angled ends of these parts determine the angle of the back to the seat, and the recommended angle is included on the templates. A slight variation from the template will work, but all four frames must be cut at the same angle.

You can drive screws in the ordinary way and leave them exposed, but covering screw heads with wooden plugs creates a much more refined appearance. For information on making and using your own tapered wooden plugs, see “A Special Touch,” Page 60.

Arrange all four L-shaped assemblies upright on your work surface and parallel with each other, just as they’ll be in

Some Tips Before You Start

Start by studying the plans on Page 58. Hidden components that must be especially strong are made of spruce or pine. More prominent parts are made of rot-resistant cedar.

Most joints in this project are glued and screwed together for strength and durability. But not all wood glue can last outdoors long-term. The challenge is moisture, and that’s why this project requires an adhesive that’s specifically rated as weatherproof. Use a wood glue carrying “type II” or “type III” water-resistance ratings, such as Gorilla wood glue.

This project includes a number of curved parts. For the best results, make full-size templates prior to cutting these items. One approach to templates involves enlarging the grid diagrams on quarter-inch plywood or hardboard, then cutting out the shapes and using them for tracing templates on your lumber. Find this article at www.motherearthnews.com to download the full-size templates for the curved parts of this project. Print out the files, cut out the patterns, and temporarily glue the outlines onto your wood as a guide for your jigsaw. After cutting the pieces, peel off the paper, sand away any glue residue, and you’re ready to move on.

the finished project. There should be 16 inches between each back support member, totaling an overall length of 54 inches. Connect these parts using glue and No. 10, 3-inch screws to fasten the back brace to the bottom back corners of all four L-shaped assemblies (lowest parts of the back supports and back ends of the seat supports). The bottom edge of the back brace should be flush with the bottom ends of the back supports. Also, the 16-inch spacing between each of the L-shaped assemblies is critical for a balanced look and proper support.

The front brace fastens to the front of the seat supports with glue and screws, but before you get this far, you should do more than cut the front brace to length. The front brace also requires a 10-degree bevel along the top edge to match the angle where it will meet the front seat slat later. This may sound complicated, but it’s not. If you have a table saw, simply tilt the blade 10 degrees from vertical as you cut the top edge of the front brace. You can achieve similar results using a hand plane. When it’s time to secure the front brace with glue and screws, take another look at the plans (Page 58). They show how this part fits between the two outside seat supports, tight to the front ends of the inside seat supports. A pipe clamp and extra hands make this work much easier.

To f i n i s h t h e m a i n f r a m e work of the seat, secure the back top rail into the notches cut in the top ends of the back supports. Use glue and screws as you did for the other joints.

RIGHT: MARK BURSTYN

PORCH SWING

Everyone needs a comfy spot to relax and sip some iced tea, and this plan works even if you don’t have a porch!

Relax and enjoy a summer breeze in this classic swing.

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1/2” pipes, 12” length

wooden handle

Cooking grate assembly

1/2” tee 1” to 1/2” reducer 1” close fitting 1” tee

Fire Pit Materials Retaining-wall blocks, 10 to 20 per course 1 metal ring insert for a fire pit, 40” to 48” diameter Gravel Concrete block adhesive

45° elbow 1” pipe

1/4” bolt

cap

5/16” hole caps

fire pit ring 1¼” pipe sleeve

iron sleeve

40” to 48” 18” to 24” deep hole

so it won’t interfere with the metal fire ring and blocks when you install them.

5 Build the pivoting cooking grate assembly. Use standard iron pipe and fittings, as shown in the cooking grate assembly drawing above. Thread the parts together and tighten all the joints firmly with pipe wrenches. (You can fiddle with the size and design to match your site and cooking needs.)

6 Install the grill. I used a 22-inch replacement grill and wired it to the arms of the assembly in four places.

Make the cooking grate’s height adjustable by drilling a few 5⁄16-inch-diameter holes spaced 2 inches apart near the bottom of the pipe leg. Use a 1⁄4-inch bolt to peg the height you need.

7 Position and level the metal fire-ring insert. Set the first course of retaining-wall blocks around the pe-

70 MOTHER EARTH NEWS COLLECTOR SERIES • MODERN HOMESTEADING

69-71 Outdoor Cookers.indd 70-71

ILLOS:

For cooking grate assembly Black iron pipe and fittings — length and number will vary according to grate size Concrete mix 1 cooking grate Wire 1 bolt, 1⁄4” x 2”

silicone grate support wood chips pie pan

metal fire-ring insert

3 Excavate the area between the circles to a depth of 6 inches. Add 4 inches of gravel. Even out the gravel using a level taped to a long, straight 2-by-4. If you don’t intend to build a cooking grate, skip ahead to Step 7.

4 Dig a hole. Use a posthole digger to dig a 6- to 8-inch-diameter hole that’s 18 to 24 inches deep for the iron pipe sleeve that will support the cooking grate assembly.

The ideal position for the pipe sleeve is just kissing the inner surface of the metal fire-ring insert, as shown in the illustration above. Insert the pipe sleeve so it’s level with the top of the metal fire ring (or slightly taller) and stands perfectly plumb.

Mix and pour the concrete to fill the hole around the pipe; keep the top of the concrete just below the soil surface

eye bolt

rimeter of your fire pit. If the last block doesn’t fit, pull each block an inch or so farther away from the metal insert and try again until the blocks form a full circle. Use a level to make sure the first course of blocks is level.

Add a couple of inches of gravel along the outer perimeter of the first course to lock the fire pit’s blocks in place and to bring the gravel fill up to ground level.

8 Apply concrete block adhesive to the top of the first course of blocks.

Position the first block of the second course so it’s centered over a joint between a pair of blocks below.

Add the remaining blocks for the second course. Keep adding courses to reach your desired height; three or four courses are typical for backyard fire pits.

Some retaining-wall systems include cap blocks to create a more finished look for the top course. Determine ahead of time whether you want to install cap blocks; if you do, then take them into account when calculating your fire pit’s final height.

Clay-Pot Smoker 1 Purchase materials. Follow the materials list on Page 71. Because you’ll acquire parts to build this homemade smoker from a variety of sources, measure as you go and purchase the parts in the following order: • Electric hot plate. The smaller, the

hot plate

Make a smokin’ smoker: Accessorize a clay pot with a grate, hot plate and a lid.

FROM LEFT: BRUCE KIEFFER ILLUSTRATIONS (2); TOM THULEN; BRUCE KIEFFER ILLUSTRATION

90° elbow

better, but make sure it runs on at least 1,000 watts to maintain the temperature required for smoking meats.

• Clay pot. The bottom must be large enough to accommodate the hot plate and control knob, with a little room to spare.

• Grate. You can find a grate at hardware stores or online. The one you choose must be of the right diameter to nestle inside your clay pot about a quarter of the way down the sides.

• Cover. Find a pot tray or a clay pot that will fit over, inside of, or directly on top of the lip of the larger pot. The cover should create a decent seal and not be prone to sliding off the larger clay pot.

• Handle. Make sure the handle assembly hardware will work with the cover you chose.

2 Drill a hole. Use a masonry or glassand-tile bit to drill a hole — or enlarge an existing hole — in the bottom of the large clay pot for the hot plate’s electrical plug to pass through. To minimize the chance of damage as you drill the hole, cradle the pot on a bag of sand for support.

3 Assemble a handle for the lid. Use the eye bolt, bolt, washers, nuts, and a 6-inch length of wood or wood dowel.

Drill a hole in the bottom of the clay cover for the handle assembly (see illustration above).

4 Test-fit the parts. Position a few 2-inch-thick brick or patio block scraps inside the pot to prop up the hot plate for air circulation. Place the pie pan for wood chips on top of the hot plate, insert the cooking grate, and then add the cover.

When everything fits, you’ll be ready to start smoking. Prop the pot on three bricks or patio blocks. If your cooking grate wobbles or tilts, create three support lips for the grate to rest on using dabs of silicone caulk on the inside of the larger pot.

5 Get smokin’. Position the smoker outdoors on a noncombustible surface in a sheltered area. On the trial run of my homemade smoker, a 5-pound brisket took 41⁄ 2 hours to get to the recommended internal temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

Some trial and error will be required

Smoker Materials

Electric hot plate, 1,000 watts or greater Clay pot, 12” to 16” diameter Smaller clay pot or tray for lid Circular cooking grate, sized to pot interior 5 to 7 pieces of 2”-thick brick or patio block scraps Metal pie pan Oven thermometer with range up to 220 degrees Fahrenheit For handle assembly 1 eye bolt, 3⁄8” or 1⁄2” x 6”, with 2 washers and 2 nuts 1 bolt, 1⁄4” x 2”, with washer and nut 1 wood dowel for handle, 6” long

to find the hot plate setting that will keep your DIY smoker within the desired temperature range — between 210 and 220 degrees. Use gloves to handle the hot components of your smoker, and keep curious children and pets away from the designated smoking area.

DO IT YOURSELF • WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 71

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