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Can We Feed the World? More Importantly Will We Choose To?
Oct 16th, 2008 By Sharon Astyk
This is a draft excerpt from _A Nation of Farmers_ by Sharon Astyk and Aaron Newton forthcoming in Spring, 2009 from New Society Publishers. In order to draw attention to World Food Day, in a world with more than 100 million new hungry people in the poor world, in an America where one in 10 Americans depend on food stamps, and where the people of Iceland, one of the richest nations in the world are increasingly uncertain that there will be food on the shelves, we offer this contribution to the discussion of whether we can feed everyone.
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Featured Articles
Immune Health and a Low Energy Lifestyle
Oct 5th, 2008 By Guest Post
I think I should call myself “The Lazy Herbalist”. Last week the kids and I went for our regular chiropractic adjustment. Before we even got to his office, the doctor heard my daughter’s rattling cough and exclaimed, “That cough! How ...more >>
Growing Herbs for Your Medicine Cabinet: Part One
Sep 18th, 2008 By Guest Post
This is a guest post by Susan Wittig Albert. She is a self-taught herbalist who gardens in the Texas Hill Country. She is the author of a series of mysteries featuring Texas herbalist China Bayles (the latest: Nightshade), as well ...more >>
A Lesson From My Neighbor
Sep 13th, 2008 By Sharon Astyk
This is a Guest Post by Mary Elizabeth Allen. A little over a year ago, a new family moved into the house across the street. Their arrival was greeted with great excitement by my daughters, then 7 and 10, because they ...more >>
Black Magic
Sep 9th, 2008 By Edson
Can a lost civilization teach us to double crop yields and produce carbon-negative energy at the same time? In 1542, Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana described large cities, extensive roads, and fertile croplands in the heart of the Amazon Basin. These claims ...more >>
An Interview With Bob Waldrop
Aug 24th, 2008 By Aaron Newton
This spring I had the pleasure of talking with local food activist Bob Waldrop as part of a series of interviews done for the forthcoming book A Nation of Farmers. Bob is a native, 4th generation Oklahoman, who was ...more >>
Growing Security
Aug 9th, 2008 By Guest Post
This is a guest post by Richard Heinberg. Richard is the author of eight books including The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies (New Society, 2003, 2005). His latest book is Peak Everything (New Society, 2007). ...more >>
The ‘Good Enough’ Farmer
Aug 7th, 2008 By Guest Post
This is a Guest Post by Kathy McMahon: Kathy McMahon, Psy.D. is an adjunct professor, a clinical psychologist, certified sex therapist, trainer, and a newbie chicken farmer in Massachusetts. Believing that the ‘personal IS political,’ she thinks a lot about ...more >>
Gardening
Saving Scarlet Runner Beans
Oct 15th, 2008 By Deanna
No, I’m not talking about saving scarlet runner beans from extinction, I’m talking about seed saving. My daughter’s preschool has a small patch for their playground and the director has somehow managed to squeeze in a mini dwarf apple tree and pear tree. I didn’t know that last spring she had planted scarlet runner beans [...]
In Praise of Weeds
Oct 12th, 2008 By Sharon Astyk
A few years ago, I decided not to mulch a good chunk of our garden, in the interest of seeing how hard it was to maintain if mulch materials became scarce. I love permanent mulch - I love the way the soil improves under it, I love the way that the soil stays moist when it [...]
Food
A Quick Look Into the Pantry
Oct 27th, 2008 By Matt Mayer
I thought it might be kind of fun to share photos of the food we’ve put up for the winter. Or, at least a portion of it. If you and your family have done a good job putting up food for this winter take a quick snap shot and send it to me at mattamayer [...]
Quick and Easy Root Cellar Ideas
Oct 27th, 2008 By Deanna
As we head into deep into fall, and the desire to store apples, potatoes, garlic, onions and the like through the winter is at a peak, those of us without a root cellar get despondent. Okay, maybe not completely despondent, but we wish we had a way of storing these foods for long periods of [...]
Reviews
Book Review of Fresh Food From Small Spaces
Jan 5th, 2009 By Matt Mayer
This book is great. There, I said it. There is really no reason to go further about it. No matter how much space you have you would benefit from this book. There is information about using containers, using reflected light, transplanting and fitting berries and fruit into small spaces. Information about cultivating mushrooms and sprouting [...]
Returning to Resistance
Oct 29th, 2008 By Edson
I think most people who are environmentally conscious, peak oil aware, or otherwise green-leaning (or should I say “brown-leaning“?) will agree than monoculture is bad. Growing a hundred (or even a thousand) contiguous acres of a single crop is asking for trouble. Doubly so if that crop is vegetatively propagated, since the individual plants are [...]
Lifestyle
Green Fatigue
Aug 14th, 2008 By Edson
Go Green!
Think Green! Live Green! Be Green! Buy Green!
Green Products! Green Living! Green! GREEN!
GREEEEEEEEN!
Are you getting burned out on this yet? ‘Cause I am.
Remember when organic meant that food was grown using minimal inputs and natural methods? Now we have Certified Organic. Government sanctioned and full of loopholes and tricks and regulations and fees, [...]
Tending the Garden
Aug 10th, 2008 By Shasha
— Dear readers, this is part of a series of letters written to my children—
Dear Children;
When we moved from the city I packed up a special bucket which contained numerous heirloom seeds. Some were seeds that we purchased, and others were seeds that we saved from the previous year. When we unloaded our belongings into [...]
Energy
Public Energies, Private Energies
Sep 11th, 2008 By Sharon Astyk
I’ve been thinking about the above distinction in terms of my own peak oil plans for some time, but I thought it might be a helpful tool for thought for others as well. Whenever I talk about going to lower energy usage, a percentage of people shout out something like “But that would mean going [...]
Do It Yourself Solar Oven
Jun 2nd, 2008 By Matt Mayer
Solar ovens, if you aren’t aware of them, are ovens that use the sun to cook food. They function sort of like a crock pot, in that you put the item in the oven, point it towards the sun, and forget about the item until it should be cooked.
Animals
Raising Urban Chickens Part 2a-Building a Coop
Nov 2nd, 2008 By Matt Mayer
While I won’t portend to be quite as well spoken as Wendy from the previous article, I will attempt in this edition to display my chicken coop and enclosure as well as discuss some aspects of it for your information.
The picture above is the original area of my yard that the chicken coop and run [...]
Cow vs. Goat!
Oct 28th, 2008 By Edson
First off, my apologies to anyone who thought this would be a funny YouTube video. Maybe you’d enjoy Lion vs. Ferrret, Ferret vs. Jalapeno, or possibly Hedgehog, Dachshund & 2 Ferrets. Apparently ferrets are better than cows or goats at making funny videos. Possibly better than any animal.
So…. If you’re thinking about getting into [...]
