Articles: Farming
Sustain Your Land: Subsistence Strategies for the Long Haul
Peasants, indigenous agriculturalists, and old-time American farming families farmed first and foremost to feed their own families and those in need in their communities—only secondarily, if at…
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New Age Farm Partnerships: Finding and Keeping One
Anything involving farming almost always requires the help of another person, whether you’re feeding the animals or trying to decide if you want to expand the barn.…
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Composting with Animals: Common Applications
When you think of a typical farm, you probably think of going out to feed the animals with a bucket of scraps. This has been one of…
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Young Farmers: Back to the Land and Down to Business
If you haven’t been working on a farm since childhood or weren’t lucky enough to inherit one from your family, it can be difficult to build one…
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Why Farm Infrastructure is Important: A Farm is More Than Land
The basis for a good farm isn’t just about finding a piece of land with great soil. No, to truly succeed on the farm you need a…
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Farmers Aren’t Created Equal: The “American Farmer” Fallacy
For those who aren’t in the know, it may seem like all farmers are created equal, but that’s simply not the case. In fact, there is such…
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Black Rural Land: Black Land Matters
As a young black girl, Leah Penniman struggled to understand who she was and where she fit in with the world. There was one thing she did…
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Composting: Breaking Down the Core Principles
Composting is about more than just flinging your food scraps into a heap in your backyard. It’s about figuring out a way to give your unwanted food…
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Hydroponic Versus Soil Growing: Which Should You Choose
You probably learned when you were young that plants need soil to get the essential nutrients needed to grow. However, there is another way you can give…
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Types of Tomatoes: Deciphering the Many Varieties
If you love tomatoes, you probably already know just how many varieties of these delicious summertime staples there are. But do you know what makes each one…
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How to Use Climate Maps to Navigate the Winter Harvest
Continuing to grow your crops and harvest them well into the winter months seems like an impossible task. How can they grow when weather conditions are far…
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Four Books for Growing Food in Winter
Don’t let cold weather stop you from enjoying and growing food! For many, the coming of winter simply means cultivation moves indoors or under cover. Small farmers,…
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An Interview With Eliot Coleman: The Original Organic Pioneer
With over fifty years’ experience in agriculture and a penchant for inventing new tools and techniques, Eliot Coleman has solidly established himself as an organic farming pioneer.…
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How The Great Migration Led to Urban Farming
For centuries, humans have been migrating in search of better land, opportunities, and quality of life. For some, those migrations were voluntary while others were forced to…
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Lessons in Resilience: How to Plan a Successful Farm Business
Humans specialize in resilience. We have the capability to create wondrous things out of seemingly nothing and continuously reinvent ourselves. However, when the world is against us,…
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How to End a Food Apartheid
Apartheid ended in 1994, right? Not according to Leah Penniman, a young, black farmer living in the South End of Albany, NY where a modern day apartheid…
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Farming Against Nature
When you’re walking around the grocery store looking at all of the different vegetables, it’s probably hard to imagine that a century ago there was twice the…
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Vegetable Farm Tips: The Keys to Efficient Veggie Production
If the idea of running a vegetable farm sounds daunting, you’re not alone. How can you ensure success while also being environmentally conscientious? What can you do…
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Celebrate Homesteading Month with Chelsea Green
That’s right, September is International Homesteading Education Month, and throughout the month we’ll be publishing some of our favorite homesteading tips, techniques, recipes, and more. We’ll be…
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Agroforestry Versus Permaculture: Which Approach to Use for a Community Food Forest
Ok, so we’ve gone over some basics of community food forests: Now it’s time to figure out how to plan one. There are two schools of thought…
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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…
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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…
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Work Smarter, Not Harder: Goat Handling
If you have goats or are considering getting goats, at some point you’ll need to move them from one grazing area to another. Goat handling can be a…
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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…
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How to Distinguish Permaculture from Natural Farming
Just what are the differences between permaculture and natural farming? How are they connected, and where do they diverge in philosophy and principle? Those questions are answered…
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