Category: farming/gardening

Exotic Additions: Perennial Vegetables

Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier

With winter setting in and visions of lush spring gardens already dancing in our heads, here is something to intrigue and inspire you or your favorite gardener: a book/DVD combination on how to grow 100+ perennial vegetables. From asparagus, rhubarb, and ramps to taro,… Continue Reading “Exotic Additions: Perennial Vegetables”

Miraculous Abundance: 1/4 Acre, Two French Farmers, and Enough Food to Feed the World

Miraculous Abundance Book Cover

For years, scientists and practitioners of sustainable agriculture have been aware that our food chain is vulnerable. Soil depletion, resource scarcity, population growth, and the many and varied impacts of global climate disruption can and do impact our ability to grow and source food.… Continue Reading “Miraculous Abundance: 1/4 Acre, Two French Farmers, and Enough Food to Feed the World”

Growing Strong: What’s Wrong with My Plant? (and how do I fix it?)

🌻🌞Happy Summer to the Northern Hemisphere!🌞🌻 A new gardening season is here, and we want it to be an excellent one! The COVID-19 lockdown experience is a difficult for us all, but one of the silver linings that I can see is that so… Continue Reading “Growing Strong: What’s Wrong with My Plant? (and how do I fix it?)”

What to Read Now: Warm Climate Gardening

Warm Climate Gardening Book Cover

It’s winter here in the northern hemisphere, and farmers and gardeners everywhere are dreaming and planning about what to plant in the spring and summer! While all gardens have their challenges, those who grow food and flowers in warm and/or arid climates need a… Continue Reading “What to Read Now: Warm Climate Gardening”

Eye Spy: A Book for the Budding Naturalist

Eye Spy: A Book for the Budding Naturalist

William Hamilton Gibson was an American illustrator, author and naturalist (1850-1896), well-known for his work in Harper’s Monthly. He also wrote several books including Pastoral Days: Or, Memories of New England and Highways and Byways. Eye Spy, — Afield with Nature Among Flowers and… Continue Reading “Eye Spy: A Book for the Budding Naturalist”

Foraged Flavor: Finding Our Culinary Roots in Wild Food

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that everything we buy or grow to eat now was once a wild species. Our ancestors have done the bulk of the work identifying and domesticating the foods we now take for granted in our gardens and stores. But… Continue Reading “Foraged Flavor: Finding Our Culinary Roots in Wild Food”

The Book of Barley

In 1981, while Ecology Action was preparing to relocate its GROW BIOINTENSIVE farming program to from Palo Alto to Willits, CA in 1982, I received a letter from Lorenz Schaller, an amazing grainsman, noting that the Kusa Seed Society—”a voice for the precious edible… Continue Reading “The Book of Barley”

“What I Stand On”: Sustainable Inspiration from Wendell Berry

What I Stand On box set cover, cropped

According to Wikipedia, Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. He is an elected member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, a recipient of The National Humanities Medal, and the Jefferson Lecturer for 2012. He is also a 2013 Fellow… Continue Reading ““What I Stand On”: Sustainable Inspiration from Wendell Berry”

Back to Our Roots: How Learning from Prehistoric Agriculture Can Help Grow the Future

Prehistoric Agricultur Edited by Stuart Struever

A healthy, productive agriculture relies on LIVING SOIL – truly the most important resource in the world. We live in a time of when healthy, living, farmable soil—as well as farming nutrients in organic and synthetic fertilizer form, fresh water, and energy—are all diminishing in… Continue Reading “Back to Our Roots: How Learning from Prehistoric Agriculture Can Help Grow the Future”

Gardening Without Poisons: A Constructive Answer to the Pesticide Problem

According to Wikipedia, human agriculture arose independently in at least eleven regions of the old and new world dating back to at least 20,000 BCE. Use of irrigation, crop rotation, and fertilizers began in the Neolithic age, but were greatly refined and expanded over… Continue Reading “Gardening Without Poisons: A Constructive Answer to the Pesticide Problem”