Blog

Fiscal Cliff Deal A Disaster for New England Farmers Shelburne Falls, MA – January 3, 2013 New England farmers received a sour New Year’s surprise when a short-term extension of the 2008 farm bill was attached and passed along with the fiscal cliff deal.  The terms of the deal originated with Minority Leader of the Senate, […]

Bread and Puppet Theater’s THE CIRCUS OF THE POSSIBILITARIANS at The Whallonsburg Grange Hall, mainstage 15th February, 2013 a family friendly performance 7pm- pm $ Come one, come all, bring your friends from out of town. It isn’t everyday that Bread and Puppet comes thru the Adirondack region with their rollicking good humor, songs and […]

American Georgics: Writings on Farming, Culture, and the Land From Thomas Jefferson's Monticello to Michelle Obama's White House organic garden, the image of America as a nation of farmers has persisted from the beginnings of the American experiment. In this rich and evocative collection of agrarian writing from the past two centuries, writers from Hector […]

At the Hearst Ranch. Check out the videos HERE

[youtube=http://youtu.be/iBqPv6xO6es] "promised land"

Dear farmers and neighbors, As the micro-organisms work their magic in the sleeping winter soil, Todd Darling, documentarian, has been working hard on the film about Occupy the Farm. Today he is launching a Kickstarter campaign that will enable the film crew to finish editing, and start getting our story out to festivals and theaters. […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSM4G7O3rQw&feature=player_embedded] Rj's been on a bug fixing sprint, and added some tutorial videos.. just in time ! http://farmhack.net/tools/online-farm-hack-tools#wiki Winter, the best time to document existing tools, openly pine for ones you need, and bond with others digitally and in person-- around the creation, repair, and many hacks on the horizon. For our mechanical progress. Onwards! […]

[vimeo=https://vimeo.com/51529828] https://diy.org/anthem#play

Here are some meditations on OPENSOURCE by Dorn Cox of Greenstart NH-- a key leader of Farmhack. Here are some meditations on OPENSOURCE by Dorn Cox of Greenstart NH-- a key leader of Farmhack. "So many of the next steps we have talked about are around improving the value for the participant in farm hack, […]

The Walden Project takes public high school to the woods each day in western Vermont. In this 5-minute preview of a 30-minute film produced by Walden alumna Julia Walsh, check out the history, environment, community, discussions, food and philosophy of the Walden Project. For information about their related student art exhibit (also called Learning with […]

  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHi4Rkyb6e0&feature=player_embedded] With the start of part two of Circle of Blue and the China Environment Forum’s Choke Point: China series, the focus has broadened from looking more narrowly at water scarcity and energy to including the effects of food security and pollution in China too. “From an environmental point of view,” said Circle of Blue Senior Editor Keith Schneider, […]

we're diggin the story about farmhack AND civil eats' swanky new website! check 'em both out here: http://civileats.com/2012/03/20/farmhack-diy-farmer-collaboration/  

the seaweed man! [vimeo http://vimeo.com/30959868] Seaweed Man Produced by Perennial Plate Sometimes a few words can capture the essence of what makes up a person better than an extended interview. Such is the case with Larch Hanson, a Maine seaweed harvester/poet who shared with us his beautiful way of life.

By Michael Prager for the Boston Globe GLOBE CORRESPONDENT DECEMBER 03, 2012 GROTON — Susan and Paul Shay bought their four-acre dream spread years ago, with the idea of returning some of the land to farming. But other than for a brief period of being leased to hay farmers, the land had lain fallow for […]

Quinoa Craze Inspires North America To Start Growing Its Own by Alastair Bland The explosion in world popularity of quinoa in the past six years has quadrupled prices at retail outlets. But for all the demand from upscale grocery stores in America to keep their bulk bins filled with the ancient grain-like seed, almost no […]

How Can Urban Agriculture Go From Niche To Food System? Everyone loves a story of a plucky urban farm, but what steps do we have to take to make them a vital and integral part of how we feed our cities? by Ariel Schwartz There are few upsides to the U.S. recession that left people across […]

We love worksongs! Max Godfrey leads the old Leadbelly tune Hey Rattler at Plant & Sing 2012 at Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island. [vimeo http://vimeo.com/54693244]

Setting fires and spraying thousands of gallons of milk to protest unsustainable milk prices. Prices which are lower than the cost of production. Europe Milk Quota Protest: Police Sprayed With Thousands Of Litres Of Fresh Milk   Here in The United States, we cannot even pass the Farm Bill

On Friday November 16, 2012, the University of California (UC) razed all of the publicly planted crops on the Gill Tract. Occupy the Farm is disappointed that the UC has unneccessarily destroyed the hard work of the community and food that could have fed it. Over the course of the last month, members of the […]

for open sourcing your whole collection online ! Here is a radio piece about it.. and a link to the collection online: http://www.prx.org/pieces/60435-open-source-on-the-margins-of-music-alan-lomax

if you are an organizer ( even a greenhorn organizer) and you'd like to sing some worksongs with max - and can pass a hat for gas money and cook some soup and get out a little posse, be in touch! [email protected]

A Naked Lady farmer calendar from Rosharn Farm in Rehobeth. They are raising money for a ' Pasture to plate" mobile slaughter house and processing kitchen. Read all about it. And order their calendar for your farming ladies~! http://www.pasturetoplatekitchen.com/news/2013-farm-calendar/

The Death of Farmbrain by Amy Halloran These days, everyone seems to enjoy tending chickens and eating local. But lifestyles are rarely ways of life, and the grain that goes into our daily bread is still easiest to obtain from giant operations. Visiting a dying small farm shows why. Read the article here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZtKB_KuASc] Carey Center for Global Good Sheds Light on Global Farming Tragedies Hosts Dust Bowl Photo Exhibit & Film on Suicides Caused by GM Crops RENSSELAERVILLE, NY – On Saturday, December 1 the Carey Center for Global Good will host an evening of events which explore the human faces behind two of the world’s most […]

allies in Michigan, mapping farms across the country. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Idg_QzztKc] http://www.realtimefarms.com/

from ken burns. It airs in several parts on Sunday nights but is available to watch online for a short time. http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/ http://www.ma.nrcs.usda.gov/news/connection/2012-11-16/dust_bowl.html http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/home/?cid=STELPRDB1049437

by Cathy Stanton. Where slow food meets slow knowledge I shed 40 pounds this week, and it feels great. The weight was in the files and materials from the Ethnographic Landscape Study that I’ve been working on for the last three years for Martin Van Buren National Historic Site.  The project is now officially finished, […]

kickoff in Vermont: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjG9JJ1FlA8] Check out: Soil Carbon Coalition Carbon Calculator

  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjG9JJ1FlA8&feature=em-share_video_in_list_user&list=PLE934A4C81DA6121F] Waitsfield, VT. October 21 - 22, 2011 www.soilcarboncoalition.org.

The Staff and the Board of the Quivira Coalition are very pleased to announce a major leadership transition. On November 1, 2012, the Board formally appointed Avery C. Anderson as Quivira’s new Executive Director! Courtney will assume the title of Founder and Creative Director and will focus on fundraising, writing and outreach activities. This transition is […]

Prop 37 Defeat Reveals a “Food Movement” that Is Still Half Baked by Jason Mark – November 8, 2012 Good food partisans have much work to do to build a movement infrastructure A scant three weeks before election day, Michael Pollan, writing in the New York Times Magazine, opined that the vote on California Proposition […]

on seeds... Surin Declaration: First Global Encounter on Agroecology and Peasant Seeds November 6 -12, 2012; Surin, Thailand (Photos os the First Global Encounter on Agroecology and Peasant Seeds) La Via Campesina International delegates, representing our regional member organizations, are meeting in Surin province of Thailand in Asia to have the First Global Encounter on […]

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/53155081]

Greece's New Farmers by Victoria Bouloubasis for The Huffington Post [vimeo http://vimeo.com/50199525] Popular perception of Greece teeters between two extremes. One is based on serene, mystic island landscapes and a carefree gusto for life. The other extreme, the most present, is a daunting and glaring depiction of a dire economic crisis rife with violent civil […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faJHSFa1Lms&feature=relmfu] playing the farmers market down in georgia. He's coming north for a tour this winter, keep posted for details. we'll have details as they firm up

"This isn’t old school farming when we’re working our land We sell our own produce with till in hand" [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u8lmmw2aUo] Young "sheep doggy dogg" farmer on his countryside rap WOULD the real Ben Morton please stand up? Young farmer Ben, who works for Hillworth Farm Meats, has switched pitchfork for microphone to rap about the […]

you'll love PFI's Farminars. Take part in one live on Tuesday evenings or listen to past farminars in the archives. For farmers, by farmers, all the way from Iowa. What's a Farminar? Practical Farmers of Iowa offers FREE 90-minute, interactive online seminars on a wide variety of farming topics. Broadcast over the Internet, Farminars are […]

a documentary film that celebrates Samuel Mockbee’s legacy [vimeo http://vimeo.com/9182260]

check them out HERE.  For example, The Harvest Story: Recollections of Old-Time Threshermen The Harvest Story depicts the life of rural American threshermen. This collection of first-person narratives chronicles the eyewitness accounts of people who threshed grain with steam engines. The book selects anecdotes from over 50 volumes of material published in The Iron-Men Album […]

First major tractorcades and strikes of farmers coming to Washington and Colorado...from Nebraska! The so-called  "American Agricultural Movement". An almost instant mobilization.  Check it out HERE.