Care of the Soil
Caring for the soil is the farmer’s number one task; if the soil is healthy, the crops will look after themselves. As the average age of America’s farmers continues to rise, we face serious questions about what farming will look like in the near future, and who will be growing our food. Many younger people…
Read More
The Ketogenic Diet for Cancer: Five Reasons to Consider It
The concept of food as medicine is nothing new. What’s different now is that cancer research has given us a deeper appreciation of the changes that drive cancer at the cellular level. Evidence supporting the benefits of ketogenic diet therapies continues to mount, there is little to guide those who wish to adopt this diet…
Read More
Medlar Cream Cake: so simple yet so good
If you’re looking for a simple cake to serve guests, try this medlar cream cake. What’s a medlar? The fruit of the medlar tree, Mespilus germanica, tastes like lightly spiced apple butter scooped soft right out of the russeted skin. The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in California has a small but significant collection of…
Read More
Our History: A Look at Oil, Power, and War
For centuries, humans have had a very strong interest in oil and it’s only getting more intense. Our dependency is reaching a concerning level which Matthieu Auzanneau speaks to in his book Oil, Power, and War. The following article was written by Frank Kaminski and was published on Resilience.org. In Oil, Power, and War, French…
Read More
Farming and Finances: Profit or Loss from Farming
Most people don’t start farming to crunch numbers and expenses. Like any business, even small-scale farmers need to consider their income and expenses. In his chapter on economics, Mike Madison breaks down everything he reported on his Form 1040, Schedule F: Profit or Loss from Farming to give readers a good idea of what kind of accounting…
Read More
What is Bioregulatory Medicine?
Finding out you have a chronic or degenerative illness can be overwhelming and mind-numbing on its own. Add to that already spinning emotional rollercoaster the possible treatment options, and you may find yourself unable to move forward. For those who are looking for alternative methods to traditional treatment plans, Bioregulatory Medicine could provide a solution.…
Read More
How One Small Town Banned Pesticides: Freedom from Poison
Years of apparent collusion between companies producing pesticides and other chemicals and regulatory agencies such as the EPA. So how did a tiny town in Northern Italy prevail against big agriculture and make their town a pesticide-free zone?
Read More
All Purpose Potting Soil Recipe: The Perfect Mix
Check out this easy, all-purpose recipe for potting soil! The above excerpt is from The Community-Scale Permaculture Farm by Josh Trought. It has been adapted for the web. Annual plants require an early start to bear fruit in the short growing season of New England. The planting medium, daylight length, and temperature conditions are crucial factors for…
Read More
Recipe: Summer Herb Flower Vinegar
Olivia’s mom, Lola, is famous for her potato salad that seems so simple, but has a certain je ne sais quoi—the secret ingredient: chive-flower-infused vinegar. She recalls, “As a child I was enchanted by the apothecary bottles lined up on our kitchen shelves, stuffed with purple pompoms—I just knew there was magic happening inside.” By…
Read More
Cooking with Mesquite: Ancient Nourishment
Mesquite has been a staple in desert dwellers’ diet for far longer than maize or even livestock. With its nutritional value (it’s filled with both complex carbs and protein!) and endless possibilities for preparation, it’s no wonder it was once an integral source of sustenance for such a large region. If you happen to get…
Read More
The 20 Rules of Slow Democracy
As millions of people head to the polls today to cast their vote, we got to thinking about the idea of democracy and how we need it now more than ever before. But what does democracy look like now and do we need to rethink it? Reconnecting with the sources of decisions that affect us,…
Read More
The Man Who Loved Labor And Hated Work
In response to one of the nation’s darkest labor-history chapters, Congress passed a law in 1894 making the first Monday of every September “Labor Day,” to pay tribute and honor the achievements and contributions of American workers. While the passing of the law helped to improve conditions, standards, and relations there was still work to…
Read More
The Wild in Us and Us in the Wild
In the following Q&A, Martin Lee Mueller, author of Being Salmon, Being Human, discusses the importance of rethinking the human-Earth relationship, why salmon are the perfect creatures to start the conversation, and what we can do to give back. Q: Part of your inspiration to write this book came from an opinion piece about the…
Read More
Organic No-Till: Farming like the Earth Matters
If we could do one thing for the planet it would be to ditch the plough. When we turn over soil, the air and sun wreak havoc on the microbes, which is why we need chemicals to bring the fertility back. No-till creates thin furrows in the soil and drops seeds in. It’s difficult to…
Read More
Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
Authors Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas discuss Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind—a “most delectable potpourri of tales about a whole host of nonhuman animals”—with writer and friend Marc Bekoff. Q: Why did you write Tamed and Untamed ? Liz: Tamed and Untamed is a collection of columns we wrote for…
Read More
The Bio-Integrated Farm: Authors Shawn Jadrnicek and Stephanie Jadrnicek
Q: Let’s start with the title: What is a “bio-integrated farm?” A: When a component in a farm or landscape—which could be a water garden, greenhouse, or chicken coop—performs seven functions, the component becomes alive, and I call this bio-integration. The concept is derived from Bill Mollison’s definition of permaculture design “…assembling conceptual, material and…
Read More
You won’t have a revolution if you don’t ask for one
Get ready for the era of Big Organizing. In Rules for Revolutionaries, authors Becky Bond and Zack Exley lay out the 22 Rules the fueled the Bernie Sanders campaign and which provide a way forward for activists looking for ways to move forward post-Election Day. This model, which the authors call “Big Organizing” is the…
Read More
LDN Treatment Helps to Kill Cancer Cells
According to a report in The International Journal of Oncology, giving low dose naltrexone (LDN) to cancer patients can improve the immune system’s ability to kill cancerous cells, as well as improve the efficacy of standard cancer treatments and immunotherapy. This major breakthrough gives research credence to what some doctors have observed in their cancer…
Read More
Recipe: Barbecued Eggplant Stacks with Coyote Mint Sauce and Chèvre
With summer in full swing, many are making good use of their outdoor grills. Tender grass fed steaks or free range chicken are often the go-to options, but the possibilities for a grilled meal are endless. At the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, a summer favorite is Barbecued Eggplant Stacks with Coyote Mint sauce and…
Read More
Why You Need to Drink Wet-Hopped Beer Right Now
Wet-hopped beer is the ultimate in seasonal and local brews. It is made from fresh hops picked right off the bine in order to capture the aromatic hop flavor when it is most potent. The tricky part is fresh hops have virtually no shelf life, so brewers must spring into action as soon as the hops…
Read More
Solar Cooker & Dehydrator: How to Design Your Own
In today’s world, nearly everything we use, from phones and computers to cars and kitchen appliances, requires energy derived from fossil fuels. Wouldn’t it be nice to offset some of that energy use by harnessing the renewable power of the sun? Josh Trought, founder of D Acres—an educational center in New Hampshire that researches, applies,…
Read More
Tracing the History of Cheddar with Cheesemonger Gordon Edgar
Cheddar is the world’s most ubiquitous and beloved cheese. You can find it nearly everywhere from macaroni and mousetraps to McDonald’s and mansions. Any cheese with so many fans has a story to tell, and Gordon Edgar is just the cheesemonger to tell it. In his book, Cheddar, Edgar traces the unexplored history of America’s most iconic cheese.…
Read More
Cheesemaking: An All-Natural, Traditional Approach
Get ready to change the way you look at cheese. David Asher, author of The Art of Natural Cheesemaking, practices and preaches a traditional, but increasingly countercultural, way of cheesemaking —one that is natural and intuitive, grounded in ecological principles and biological science. Most DIY cheesemaking books are hard to follow and call for the…
Read More
Urban Permaculture: The Social, Cultural, and Ecological Potential
As more people flock to urban areas to live, nowhere are the empowering principles of permaculture more needed and desired. In his latest book, bestselling permaculture author Toby Hemenway (Gaia’s Garden) demonstrates that the same nature-based approach that connects the pieces of our landscape together in harmonious ways applies perfectly to our need for water,…
Read More
A Mini-Festo for Earth Day – Rebuild the Foodshed
For the days leading up to Earth Day in years past, author Philip Ackerman-Leist runs a Twitter MiniFesto campaign – each day sending out a new tweet designed to spark conversation and pass along some lessons he learned whilst working on his book, Rebuilding the Foodshed. You might also know Philip as the author of…
Read More