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Photographer, Rose Marasco, has developed a large collection of photographs of the aging Grange halls of Maine. The halls in her photographs are at once regal relics of the past and a little spooky, leaving us both nostalgic and slightly unsettled by their slight disrepair. See a sampling of the collection on her website. A […]

What’s in a prize? The politics of distribution versus growth. On October 14th in Des Moines, Iowa, the Food Sovereignty Prize will be awarded to the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, run by African-American farmers of the southern United States and to OFRANEH—the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña). The next day, hundreds […]

Calling all farm crews and musical historians! Mettabee Farm & Arts in Hillsdale, NY is hosting a two day worksong concert and workshop with Edith & Bennett. To see the event description in full click here Concert Saturday October 17th, 7:00 pm-10:00 pm  $10-$20 suggested donation Bring a tent and gather 'round the campfire to sing songs and […]

[ted id=1356] Lest we forget why we care so much about this whole sustainable ag movement... Tyronne Hayes and Penelope Jagessar Chagger on "The Toxic Baby," or how the chemicals in our world-- especially in our food-- affect our unborn children. AGRICULTURAL REFORM HAS NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh3LWzRCnzQ] This. Conversation. We think it's the one the whole country should be having. (Get money out of politics. It's a no brainer.) This

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgib25VYUJA] Check out this dorky awesome video. Commence agricultural trance.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl1Z9d_RRBI&w=560&h=315]

But we don't think that we're the only reason that you should pre-order it. The cover (like a good cover should) speaks for itself: ffreelancing co-ops, abandoning the perpetual growth model, and a fascinating look at the potential of abandoned villages in Southern Europe and the diverse communities they might encompass. STIR Magazine is a "quarterly […]

Next week, in conjunction with its current exhibition Eyes on the Land, the Shelburne Museum in Vermont is holding a Working the Land Symposium. From 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Sunday, October 10, regional scholars will present on the histories, stories, archeology, and symbolism of the working landscapes of New England. These presentations will be followed by a panel discussion […]

WASSAIC, N.Y. — When Bowie Zunino is interviewing candidates for residencies at the Wassaic Project, she spends a lot of time trying to talk them out of coming. “I tell them, it’s rough,” she said. “Your studio will be in a barn. If there’s tons of water outside, chances are there’s going to be a […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ihrPOrhbg&w=560&h=315]   From 9x9, nine short (and really amazing) films about agriculture. Read more and check out the rest of the films here.

Any commercial fisherman used to be able to fish in U.S. seas. Not anymore. Today, the right to fish belongs to a number of private individuals who have traded, bought and sold these rights in unregulated markets. This system, called "catch shares," favors large fishing fleets and has cut out thousands of smaller-scale fishermen. How […]

As the Union of Concerned Scientists unveiled in their July 2015 report, The Climate Deception Dossiers, Exxon internally recognized climate change as fact in 1981-- right before they went on to spent $30 million on research that would support climate change denial. Are we surprised? No. Is it important? Yes. Read more at The Leap.

Birthing a New Compton Matthew Williams, September 14, 2010, KCET '"My neighborhood, explain it...it's joy, peace, love, and happiness, and the best riding we can do," Richland Farm resident and town horseshoer, Andrew Johnson explains at the end of Birthing a New Compton, a short documentary video produced by high school students from Environmental Charter High […]

Excerpt from: How Pope Francis is Reviving Radical Catholic Economics- Some Catholics have been quietly practicing them all along. By Nathan Schneider September 9, 2015 My friend Ryan Patrico, a doctoral
student in history at Yale, noticed something curious while studying the German nuns whose convents wound up in Protestant regions in the early, bloody days […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X69sSSegiDk] A 2013 Lecture by Pierre Belanger at TU Delft, Faculty of Architecture, Chair of Landscape Architecture within lecture series "How Do You Landscape?" Starting with the claim that Americans are "geographically illiterate," Belanger explores the concept of urbanity, especially as it relates to our landscape infrastructure, and you probably haven't heard anyone speak […]

New farmland-mapping research shows that up to 90 percent of Americans could be fed entirely by food grown or raised within 100 miles of their homes. Professor Elliott Campbell, with the University of California, Merced, School of Engineering, discusses the possibilities in a study entitled "The Large Potential of Local Croplands to Meet Food Demand […]

Many in the food world were shocked by this week’s announcement of the sale of Niman Ranch to poultry giant Perdue. As one of the go-to brands behind Chipotle’s antibiotic-free pledge, and a relatively accessible alternative to industrially-produced meat, Niman Ranch has carved out an important niche in a market where demand for antibiotic-free and […]

Drawing on a lifetime of travel in search of real-world alternatives that work, John Thackara describe how communities the world over are creating a replacement, leave-things-better economy from the ground up. Each chapter is about creative ways to tackle timeless needs that matter: restoring the land, sharing water, making homes, growing food, designing clothes, journeying, […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku9edEKvGuY] Staying on theme, The Hacker Wars (embedded above) is a full-length documentary about the war over who controls information on the internet. You catch it all on youtube for free-- which might be an excellent way to round off the Labor Day weekend. Anonymous writes, "The Hacker Wars tells the tales of the anarchic […]

Because, as George Monbiot writes, "Activists are treated unfairly by the press more often than any other group of people except gypsies, travellers and asylum seekers,"we are delighted to link you, today, to An Activist's Guide to Exploiting the Media." "Reaching the media is as time-consuming, as demanding and as necessary as building lock-ons or […]

Listen to radio interview here: http://rootstock.coop/featured-post/rootstock-radio-severine-von-tscharner-fleming/ Rootstock CROPP Cooperative: "We recently had the great pleasure of speaking with farmer, activist and professional organizer Severine von Tscharner Fleming. This woman is a force of nature for the Millennial generation. Not only is Severine a farmer herself, when Rootstock Radio host Theresa Marquez spoke to her in mid-2015, she […]

  ‘This Changes Everything’ Trailer: Climate Change Documentary Based On Naomi Klein’s Bestseller Set For Toronto Premiere Watch Trailer Here: http://deadline.com/2015/08/this-changes-everything-climate-change-docu-tiff-premiere-trailer-1201506754/

[vimeo 23705248 w=500 h=375] We are beyond delighted to announce that Brian Donahue, author of Reclaiming the Commons, will be speaking on the Maine Sail Freight Panel in Cambridge on September 2!

Scientists at the Climate/Energy Design and Research institute (CEDAR) have just announced the discovery of an astounding new energy source that promises to solve several of humanity’s thorniest dilemmas at once. “This is a paradigm-shifting moment,” says Dawn O’Newday, the engineer in charge of the project. “Whatever your game is, this changes it. Big time.” […]

"The regeneration of soil is the task of our generation." The video is great, but their petition is even better. Learn more about the Story of Soil on the group's website. which is a project dedicated to convincing the California legislature to allocate $160 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to help rebuild healthy soils.

We know that our microbiome (or the collective bacteria in and on the human body) has been shown to play important roles in our digestion, metabolism, and possibly even our sleep cycles. But recent research is revealing that it also might profoundly affect our psychological disposition. In a June article in the New York Times (feature below), […]

Iowa photographer Marji Guyler-Alaniz gets it. She just gets it. In her own words, "Too often in our world, the beauty of a woman; of an image, is judged by a face. These are beautiful women, doing beautiful work and my goal is to bring an appreciation to what they do." The photographs in FarmHer, Guyler-Alaniz's long term […]

In our continued enthusiasm for Maine Sail Freight, we are very excited today to bring you a little piece of traditional nautical ear candy. For hair-raising harmonies, visions of rocky beaches, and dreams of salty beards, download and listen to Rolling Home to Old New England.

Schematic of farm environment using co-management approach for food safety and environment. In 2006, a deadly Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak in bagged spinach was traced to California’s Central Coast region, where >70% of the salad vegetables sold in the United States are produced. Although no definitive cause for the outbreak could be determined, wildlife was […]

MARCH 1978 http://www.downeast.com/march-1978/  Features Maine’s Surprising Legislature Lawmakers in Augusta are getting younger and more independent. And more and more of them are women. By Bill Caldwell. Bringing Her Down East A greenhorn learns the ropes on the Gazela Primeiro. By W.B. Leavenworth. Good News for the Countryside A new breed of health practitioner is bringing improved […]

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has funded a number of projects evaluating ways to extend the growing season and crop options for high tunnel farmers in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties; photo: Michael Davis, Willsboro Agricultural Research Farm. Can cucumbers, basil, ginger, green beans and zucchini be more profitable […]

  RESILIENCE http://waldenlabs.com/about/ WaldenLabs.com is a community where people who pursue self-reliance and freedom come to get ideas on: Growing and Preserving Food Capturing, Storing and Purifying Water Generating Your Own Energy Building Your Mortgage-Free Home (On or Off-Grid) Appropriate Technology & Tools for Self-Reliance Getting Resilient and Prepared for the Unexpected

This is the true story... of seven strangers and farm animals... picked to live on a 17th century farm...working together with only the tools available in the year 1620 .... Tune in to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real... Spoiler alert: everyone on this show is always polite […]

Herbivorous Solar Conversion and Sequestration in the Shenandoah Valley By Joeal Salatin, Rural America, August 16th, 2015 Soil is a world. A community of beings as unbelievable as you can imagine. If you could go out right now and look at the soil through an electron microscope you’d see this kind of 4-legged-aqueous-cow creature walking […]

NPR's The Salt on "Why 500 Million Seafood Meals Get Dumped in the Sea." Because I am willing to bet that-- at least when it comes to the readers of this blog-- the woman quoted at the end of the article is wrong. "People don't want to know all this," she says. "In general, they just want […]

American History, it's not boring. (And it's worth knowing.) Just ask J.L. Bell, a historian who writes on his well-curated blog about the start of the American Revolution in and around Boston. How can we sell you on studying up on your American history? Well, we could give you the 3 a.m. infomercial-style pragmatic sales […]