Deirdre Heekin discusses her path to writing Libation
Deirdre Heekin is the author of Libation: A Bitter Alchemy. In this video she explains how she and her husband, Caleb Barber, her exploration of spirits across many cultures. She explains her quest for the revitalization of lost wines.
Looking for something to do? We have some of our favorite 'how to' projects — building a cold frame, growing mushrooms in your home, making your fridge carbon-free, or cooking kale and apples — ready for reading and viewing on our website.
We hope these projects will inspire you as they have thousands of others. And, as an added bonus we're passing along a special discount to our online community - 25% off your next purchase at our online bookstore. At Checkout, just enter the code DIY25 ...
Imagine a man who lived some time ago.* From an early age, he was drawn to religion. He went to the formal service every week, sometimes even taking notes. He believed everything his church taught him, never felt a need to challenge the teachings, and tried to live as he [...]
There is a growing realization in organized religion that something is awry in our industrial food delivery system. Churches are actively urging their members to become more involved directly in local and family gardening and farming. This is great news for those of us who have been fighting this battle [...]
Okay guys, here is a flow chart with some of the plethora of steps you might encounter when building a licensed cheesemaking facility. Some the steps are highlighted in pink- these you may only encounter as options or mandatory steps in California. The green steps should all be decisions made [...]
Physicians who prescribe opioid drugs to patients with neuropathy (nerve pain) ought to consider recommending cannabis as an alternative therapy, according to a peer-reviewed paper published online this week in the Harm Reduction Journal.
“There is sufficient evidence of safety and efficacy for the use of (cannabis/cannabinoids) in the treatment of [...]
Using the words “Science” and “Salvation” in the same breath needs some preparation so people in both camps don’t hyperventilate. “Science” means “knowledge.” It can’t guarantee that the knowledge is good, or that it will still be considered true in a year. “Salvation” can mean “to save,” or to make [...]
Here is the January Transition podcast, lovingly spliced together in order to offer a more in depth look at three of the stories from last month’s round-up. You’ll hear about how Transition Chesham’s local produce market was recently voted the greenest market in Britain, how Transition Town Whitehead are planning [...]
Recommendations:
1. Spread the word that the “terminator technology” is not dead – we must join the international campaign to stop it.
2. Sign-on to 2012 as International Year of the Family Farming with the UN and FAO
3. Set up a fund so that a delegation of US farmers can attend the [...]
President Obama is exceptionally lucky when it comes to the weaknesses of the Republican field and its stunning penchant for mutually assured destruction. Who would have expected, for instance, that Newt Gingrich's billionaire-backed super-PAC, aiming to destroy front-runner Mitt Romney, would produce a documentary advertisement on private equity slightly to [...]
We know that a baby’s birth and early life story shape behavioral styles that are often carried through adulthood. We express it through aphorisms: “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree”; “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Others link childhood trauma or abuse with adult behavior. [...]
Governor Peter Shumlin's efforts to challenge the safety of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power plant does not mark the first time that a Vermont governor went toe to toe with the plant. In 1985, when I was Governor, I learned that the plant had falsified inspection reports for years and [...]
CSA in the People’s Republic of China
Little as I know about Taiwan, I know even less about China and it is so vast and, like the US, so full of contradictions. I offer here what I observed during an intensive 4-day visit.
Little Donkey Farm is located in Ho Sha [...]
As we’ve learned the hard way, the core of our modern capitalist economy is finance, and finance is run entirely by a few large Wall Street firms. But here’s the ultimate irony: while modern capitalism depends on Wall Street, Wall Street no longer depends on capitalist principles. In finance a [...]
Dairy Farmer Spoils Cows with Waterbeds...Apparently, the cows are happier because their joints feel better, and make better quality milk. Who knew? Follow link below for a local news article and video clip.
Link: http://www.fox8.com/news/petplace/wjw-dairy-farmer-spoils-cows-with-waterbeds-txt,0,2493141.story [...]
‘In Transition 2.0? is nearly ready to be unveiled to the world! We are very excited about this inspiring reweaving of the Transition story, and want to tell you more about it here, and about how it will be rolled out over the coming months. To get us started, because [...]
A few weeks ago I was bumming around on Amazon.com, reading a few of the reviews that readers can post after reading (hopefully thoroughly) someone’s book. The particular author in whose reviews I was snooping around is a favorite of mine. His book on life with goats is particularly poetic [...]
Few people would expect a radically modern attitude toward religion or the gods from the oldest story in the world. The epic of Gilgamesh is a story over a thousand years older than the Iliad or the Bible. It was only discovered – written in Cuneiform on hundreds of baked [...]
Part I: Taiwan
Today’s citizens of China, Korea and Japan whose agriculture of a century ago F.H. King described so vividly in Farmers of Forty Centuries have almost forgotten the traditions that inspired so many of us in organic farming in the west. Fortunately, the traces have not totally disappeared. [...]
After the conversations we had here recently about old tractors, I began to hear about a problem that really does affect their longevity. Ethanol in gasoline is not the wonder fuel it has been made out to be. It is causing problems when used in off-road vehicles— lawn motors, chain [...]
In the run up to the Republican Convention, we've heard everything and nothing. We've heard Newt, Mitt and Ron go on about issues that have little if any impact on jobs and national security, but not a single word about the real reason we have massive and permanent unemployment. We've [...]
MIT engineer warns of nuclear Armageddon, urges preventative measures
There are nearly 450 nuclear reactors in the world, with hundreds more either under construction or in the planning stages. Imagine what havoc it would wreak on our civilization, and the planet's ecosystems, if we were to suddenly experience not just one [...]
December 21, 2011 - AlterNet
“Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans, nearly 1 in 2, have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income."
“Study: 1 in 5 American children lives in poverty."
“In 2010, 17.2 million households, 14.5 percent of households [...]
The fledgling Raw Milk Institute is in trouble.
The grandiose plan for a national organization that will at once establish raw milk production standards, educate farmers on improving their safety protocols, lobby for raw milk legislative expansion, and back research into raw milk's benefits finds itself hobbled by internal dissension out [...]
It was just a couple of handfuls of soil and a few drops of water, but for the world of modern farming, it might as well have been a bomb dropping on the staid headquarters of the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Washington. It actually happened, or at least first [...]
Chances are you've experienced it at least once -- studies say 75 percent of adults have. Veisalgia, or what we more commonly call a hangover, is one of the more persuasive negative side-effects of overindulging. The French have my favorite term for it, "Gueule de bois," which translates loosely to [...]
We are told to appease the market gods or face eternal financial damnation.
The markets are “jittery,” “upset,” “skittish” and “unnerved.” They are “confident” or “unsure.” They are “demanding” that political leaders “put up or shut up.” And they are “reacting unfavorably” to Obama’s newfound populism.
These are just a few of [...]
The Peer 2 Peer University is a grassroots open education project that organizes learning outside of institutional walls and gives learners recognition for their achievements. P2PU creates a model for lifelong learning alongside traditional formal higher education. Leveraging the internet and educational materials openly available online, P2PU enables high-quality low-cost education opportunities.
"Half a year ago we teamed up with Anya Kamenetz to bring a social wrapper to her ...
How2Heroes is a how-to online video destination that celebrates people’s passion for food – the flavors, the presentation, the secrets to success, the cultural inspirations, and of course the “heroes” who share their knowledge and experience.
Didi's passion for wildly innovative and radically fresh flavors really shines in these videos, as it does in the book ...
Submitted by jmccharen on February 3, 2012 06:46 AM
"Michael Shuman answers a lot of questions I've always wondered about, and in the process paints a practical vision of exactly where we need to be headed in this country. Consider this book an excellent investment!"—Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth and The End of Nature
Submitted by jmccharen on February 2, 2012 07:00 AM
Author Mat Stein joins FTMWeekly Radio to discuss his latest book, When Disaster Strikes: A Comprehensive Guide for Emergency Planning and Crisis Survival. Mat shares disaster survival skills and his insights into why emergency planning should be a vital component of your family's overall gameplan. The show specifically discusses the disaster potential of a major solar storm or an EMP (electromagnetic pulse).
Submitted by jmccharen on February 1, 2012 09:00 AM
In their February/March 2012 issue, Herb Companion magazine is printing an excerpt from Peg Schafer's new book, The Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm. It's available to read on their website now.
Here's what some growers and herbalists have to say about this exciting new book:
"Peg Schafer is the best artisanal grower I know. For this book, she has distilled the knowledge of the small group who, over the past two decades, has pioneered North American production of Chinese medicinal herbs, and tested it through direct experience. This ...
Submitted by jmccharen on January 29, 2012 01:01 AM
You hear it all the time in this free-market worshiping country: vote with your dollars.
It's a paltry excuse for representation, politically speaking, I mean, I'm assuming you're just a regular person like me, with a rather small amount of "votes" to spend. It's not exactly in fitting with that old chestnut "one person, one vote", is it? But in the realm of consumer products it works a little better, and in the blissfully anarchic world of social media and online shopping it really works. A purchase on Amazon, for instance, is tabulated and ...
Submitted by webeditor on January 27, 2012 02:06 PM
DENVER — Proponents of marijuana have argued for years that the drug is safer than alcohol, both to individuals and society. But a ballot proposal to legalize possession of marijuana in small amounts in Colorado, likely to be on the November ballot, is putting the two intoxicants back into the same sentence, urging voters to “regulate marijuana like alcohol,” as the ballot proposition’s title puts it.
Given alcohol’s long and checkered history — the tens of thousands of deaths each year, the ...
Submitted by webeditor on January 25, 2012 08:00 AM
One of the great things about a northeastern winter is the strong sense of community the harsh weather inspires. A great way to feel that sense of community is to check out your local organic farming organizations.
Hang out with small farmers, sample delicious local foods, attend workshops by renowned experts, and learn a thing or two to improve your farm, garden, or home.
Many of our authors are leading these workshops. Take a ...
