John Jeavons
Grow the Earth. Grow Biointensive. Grow Abundance.
Category: farming/gardening
Gardening is About Living Things!
Each year around this time, following months of freezing cold and heavy rain, Northern California experiences a “false spring” – the sun shines, the temperature is balmy and pleasant, and the grey and wintry landscape is suddenly covered in a bright green veil as… Continue Reading “Gardening is About Living Things!”
Soil is the Solution
This month (December 2018) a commentary piece, Put More Carbon in Soils to Meet Paris Climate Pledges, was published in the journal Nature. It was written by scientists specializing in climate change and agriculture who serve on the science and technical committee of the organization… Continue Reading “Soil is the Solution”
Quantum Level Transformation
A thanksgiving tradition at dinner tables across the country is to ask each person “What are you thankful for?” It’s an interesting question, because it is so vitally linked with the other fundamental questions we all ask ourselves in one way or another: What… Continue Reading “Quantum Level Transformation”
A Little “Culture”
As harvest season draws to a close, it’s time to preserve the bounty. And what better way to do it than with the time-honored method of fermentation? With the earliest known examples of fermented foods appearing in the Fertile Crescent over 8,000 years ago,… Continue Reading “A Little “Culture””
Cookstoves and Coppicing
With winter approaching, people in rural areas of the developed world are thinking about heating and cooking. And firewood. And stoves. Around the globe, in the developing world, it isn’t a seasonal thought – it’s a daily thought. “More than half of the world’s… Continue Reading “Cookstoves and Coppicing”
Cover Crops! Interplanting with Legumes
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”
Keeping the Harvest
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”
Ease Your Mind: Herbs for Mental Health
It’s no secret that gardening is good for the body and spirit. Gardeners have known the peace and calm that comes from tending their plants for centuries – I certainly feel it when I’m watering, weeding, harvesting or just being in the garden, feeling… Continue Reading “Ease Your Mind: Herbs for Mental Health”
Lost Crops of the Incas
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”
Lost Crops of Africa
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”
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