Category: crops
Posted on November 25, 2020
by John Jeavons
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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”
Category: about crops, books, crops, farming, farming/gardening, GROW THE EARTH, interesting practices, perennial, perennial plants, practical guides, vegetablesTags: chelsea green, crops, eric toensmeier, farming, gardening, how-to, John Jeavons, perennial plants, plants
Posted on February 7, 2020
by John Jeavons
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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”
Category: about farming, books, crops, farming, farming/gardening, fruits, GROW THE EARTH, interesting practices, plants, practical guides, sustainability, sustainable practices, unusual techniques, vegetables, warm climate, water conservation, water conservationTags: arid, Barbara Pleasant, book, dry, gardening, how-to, humid, warm climate, warm climate gardening
Posted on October 9, 2019
by John Jeavons
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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”
Category: about crops, about farming, barley, books, compost crops, crops, ethnobotany, farming, farming/gardening, grain, grains, GROW THE EARTH, history, history of agriculture, plants, practical guides, varietiesTags: 60/30/10, Barley, book of barley, farming, grain, history, kusa seed society, Lorenz Schaller, Tsampa
Posted on June 17, 2019
by John Jeavons
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As a farmer and a researcher, I am constantly reminded that agriculturalists from earlier times are often the best teachers. Experiments with Plants (6th ed.) written in 1911 by Harvard Associate Professor of Botany Dr. W.J. V Osterhout, is a good example of this… Continue Reading “Maybe Read This: Experiments with Plants, 6th Edition”
Category: about crops, books, crops, farming/gardening, GROW THE EARTH, interesting practices, plants, plants and seeds, practical guides, unusual techniquesTags: Botany, Experiments with plants, Osterhout
Posted on March 13, 2019
by John Jeavons
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In the 1980s, Ron Whitehurst of ACRES U.S.A. wrote: “Central Florida is being mined down sea level for phosphate clay; and spiraling natural gas prices are making synthetic nitrogen fertilizer exorbitantly priced. Even using all the solid and liquid wastes from the cities, there… Continue Reading “Feed the Soil”
Category: about crops, Biointensive, books, compost, compost crops, cover crops, farming/gardening, green manure, GROW THE EARTH, legumes, nutrient cycling, plants, practical guides, soil, Soil Fertility, sustainability, sustainable practicesTags: Biointensive, cover crops, edwin mcleod, feed the soil, gardening, green manure, kusa, legumes, Lorenz Schaller, nitrogen fixers, nutrient cycling, soil, soil fertility
Posted on October 2, 2018
by John Jeavons
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With summer drawing to a close, it’s time to start thinking about your winter garden, and that means cover crops! Here are some things to consider when planting your cover crops this year: Normally, a gardener or farmer planning a crop rotation (over time)… Continue Reading “Cover Crops! Interplanting with Legumes”
Category: about crops, Biointensive, books, compost, compost crops, cover cropping, cover crops, crops, farming/gardening, grains, GROW THE EARTH, interesting practices, interplanting, my writing, practical guides, soil, sustainability, sustainable practicesTags: compost crops, cover crops, grains, GROW BIOINTENSIVE, interplanting, John Jeavons, legumes, Managing Cover Crops Profitably, nitrogen fixation, SARE, USDA
Posted on August 27, 2018
by John Jeavons
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John Keats famously called Autumn the “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” and I couldn’t agree with him more. Just when the summer seems like it will last forever, the turn of the seasons begins to make itself known in a subtle change of… Continue Reading “Keeping the Harvest”
Category: about crops, books, farming/gardening, food security, fruits, GROW THE EARTH, harvesting, My favorite things, practical guides, Preserving food, vegetablesTags: d'agen plums, food storage, french plums, gretchen mead, Harvest, keeping the harvest, nancy chioffi, story books, Trees of Antiquity
Posted on July 23, 2018
by John Jeavons
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Everyone seemed to enjoy the Lost Crops of Africa so much, I thought I’d mention another treasure from the National Research Council: Lost Crops of the Incas (published in 1989). This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in ethnobotany and heirloom varieties,… Continue Reading “Lost Crops of the Incas”
Category: about crops, books, Carribean America, Central America, crops, ethnobotany, farming/gardening, food security, grains, GROW THE EARTH, history, Latin America, native plant, native plants, plants, South America, vegetablesTags: central america, crops, ethnobotany, inca, latin america, National Research Council, native crops, plants, south america
Posted on July 18, 2018
by John Jeavons
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This 3-book series Lost Crops of Africa (Volumes I, II and III on Grains, Vegetables, and Fruits, published in 1996, 2006 and 2008, respectively) is a treasure for us all, but especially for the African continent, with the hope it presents of growing food… Continue Reading “Lost Crops of Africa”
Category: about crops, Africa, books, crops, ethnobotany, farming/gardening, food security, fruits, grains, GROW THE EARTH, native plants, vegetablesTags: Africa, books, crops, food security, native plants
Posted on June 19, 2018
by John Jeavons
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Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is a dynamic late autumn, winter and early spring grain crop that is somewhat higher in calories that other short-day crops. Added to soups, it tastes great, and thickens the broth beautifully. It can also be used as a fodder crop… Continue Reading “Barley – A Versatile Crop”
Category: barley, compost crops, crops, farming/gardening, grains, grains, GROW THE EARTH, varietiesTags: Barley, Cereal Crops, farming, gardening, John H. Martin, John Jeavons, Warren H. Leonard
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