Blog

You have have read about our upcoming Faith Lands conference in our newsletter during the week. The purpose of the gathering is to connect landowning faith groups with landless young farmers. We want to help create a network that will help nativiate some of the complex issues that can arise in these situations. We are […]

1,500 miles apart, two rivers flow. One alongside rolling hills and blue skies of the North Dakota high plains, the other tumbles past volcanoes, down narrow gorges, and through rugged mountain terrain. Beyond the distance and difference that separates these rivers is a similar story that begins over 500 hundred years ago, with their shared […]

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A new documentary tells the tale of the hunters waging war against an invasive swamp rodent species, the nutria, in Louisiana. There is a government bounty on the heads (or tails) of the 20lb, orange-toothed critters - $5 for each severed 12-18in tail collected. Nutiva grazing habitats adds to coastal erosion in a region whose land […]

The NY Times published an interesting article recently about Kimbal Musk's (brother of Elon) foray into farming. Mr. Musk is promoting a philosophy he calls “real food,” which nourishes the body, the farmer and the planet. It doesn’t sound much different than what writers like Michael Pollan and everyone who has ever helped start a […]

Down to Earth is a podcast about hope. As climate change collides with our industrial food system, we focus not on doom but instead on people who are developing practical, innovative solutions. We invite you to meet farmers, ranchers, scientists, land managers, writers, and many others on a mission to create a world in which […]

Berkeley Food Institute Community Engagement and Leadership Fellow and Sociology PhD student Carmen Brick, writes about her experience with workforce development programs for the BFI blog. From the outset, Carmen was aware of the perceived issues with workforce development programmes which are often criticized on the basis that they teach soft rather than hard skills […]

Elise Wach from the Indie Farmer wrote an article published last week that explores the necessary trajectory of the future of farming. At a time when industrial agricultural systems are depleting our soil and placing quantity of produce and profit before quality and ecological health, this discussion is crucial. She also addresses the myths and […]

In a recent article about the 1917 February and subsequent October Revolutions, Jacobin magazine discuss how, as in so many other revolutions, boiling point was reached in the fields and among the peasant class. The peasants were discounted by many at the time, on the right and left alike as ignorant and unimportant, or in […]

Abode Farm are holding a screening of Native and the Refugee, a film directed and produced by friends of the farm, tomorrow, October 24th. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny and will take place in the Family Room in Fatah Hall at the Abode of the Message. […]

“Hunger and poverty are perpetuated by undemocratic systems of power. Now, this great new resource lifts the veil hiding the history of dispossession and unequal land access in the US.” - Frances Moore Lappé Land access is the primary barrier for young farmers today. Ensuring access for young farmers who are passionate about the production […]

South Street Farm is glorious in the height of fall, and to make it even better, this coming Thursday, October 19th, they are throwing a Cider Day Party! Whether you've been to the farm many times or have no idea where it is, you are more than welcome and they would love to celebrate the […]

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[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/345493674" params="color=ff5500" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /] Listen to the latest episode of The Just Food Podcast. The 6-part podcast series covers a range of topics aimed at cultivating justice and health. They are produced by the Berkeley Food Institute in partnership with the UC Berkeley Advanced Media Institute at the Graduate School of Journalism. Episode 3 tells the story of the […]

Check out this awesome zine about making mead sent to us by our friend Jonathan Tanis. It starts with an introduction contextualising fermentation as a political act which is both democratizing and embraces the commons, bubbling away with "unrealized possibility" for forming human connections and alliances. It then moves on to explain the historical and […]

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Chris Newman is a farmer in Charlottesville working towards a sustainable, healthy and organic future for his family and community. Yet despite this, Chris, as a black man faces racial profiling and discrimination on a regular basis. He has been attracting a lot of attention lately due to his recent facebook post that called out […]

The 12th annual all-ages dress-up Blackfly Ball is taking place this weekend, August 19th, in Machias, Maine. The Ball has been taking place every year since 2005 to celebrate the restoration and reopening of the Machias Valley Grange Hall and as a testimony to the 100+ years that the building has served as a community center to […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bGiCRNkjpk?ecver=2] We are so proud of Lindsey Luscher Shute after her outstanding performance before the senate committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. She did a fantastic job of representing the struggles facing young farmers, from land access and affordability, student loan debt, health care affordability to the bias against women and people of color […]

John Ikerd, August 3rd, 2017, In These Times  "The sense of impotence and dread in rural America is a consequence of decades of economic extraction and exploitation carried out in the guise of rural economic development. Rural areas are suffering the consequences of prolonged “economic colonization”—a term typically used in reference to neoliberal economic development […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvOEltvXrME&w=640&h=360] 500 which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, is set in the years between 2013 and 2016. It documents the trial of the former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt in 2013, who was tried and convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, when it was found that there was significant […]

The Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition has just announced that the deadlines for both the Christine Wilson Award and the Thomas Marchione Award have been extended until July 28th. Eligible candidates do not need to be either an anthropologist or a member of SAFN to apply. The Thomas Marchione award is presented […]

[vimeo 164326896 w=640 h=360] We have recently discovered fourthland, a collaborative art and performance community in the UK which first emerged in 2008. It's hard to do justice to fourthland and the work that they do in words. They create and explore objects, land, people and myths in interlinked creative and unconventional social and artistic […]

[vimeo 186219395 w=640 h=360] To feed all the humans on the planet, we are going to have to grow as much food in the next 35 years as we have grown since the beginning of civilization. Shocked when he found out that chemical companies were using Hawaii as the testing ground for their GMO crops, […]

[vimeo 124726853 w=640 h=360] Ken Crane, a farmer, forager and hunter, speaks about the process of building his own coffin and about his life spent living off the land in upstate NY. Ken reminds us of the importance of inter-generational dialogue to share resources, stories and experiences. With thanks to Elise McMahon.

Tightly-folded bud, I have wished you something None of the others would: Not the usual stuff About being beautiful, Or running off a spring Of innocence and love — They will all wish you that, And should it prove possible, Well, you’re a lucky girl. But if it shouldn’t, then May you be ordinary; Have, […]

[vimeo 210027143 w=640 h=360] The Landworkers Alliance, is an organisation based in UK made up of farmers, growers and land workers working together to find solutions to the shared challenges they face, and raising awareness about the contributions that they make to their communities. In Our Hands, is their documentary, made to share their quiet revolution […]

FarmsNotFactories have just launched their new video series which aims to champion the #TurnYourNoseUp at pig factories campaign in the UK. The first installment of the 12 episode series features chef Damian Clisby and Harry Boglione, a young organic farmer who left London and returned to the land to raise his happy, healthy pigs. FarmsNotFactories aims […]

Dave Champan from Keep the Soil in Organics discusses the movement and the latest developments at the Nation Organic Standards Board.

Even after the lamb comes, the ewe continues to strain. Sticky with afterbirth, the ram lamb calls to his mother in quavering tenor, but though she lifts her head in his direction and lets out a low moan of response, her heaving sides won’t let her rise and go to him. In the compounded darkness […]

An interesting wind powered sailing initiative that is documenting different low-tech solutions from around the world.

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Are you dreaming, planting, and tending visions of a queer ecological future? Are you looking to connect with kindred spirits in your region and across the country to share resources to support these visions of collective liberation? Join Queer Ecojustice Project for our first ONLINE reading community! Most gatherings will be local in your region (we […]

Great things are happening at the intersection between social justice, farming, and faith. Watch the latest episode of outland to get inspired!

Two of our favorite things: regenerative land stewardship and videos of goats doing adorable things.

This is tantalizing: one essay, 3 hours work per day, and a sweet rural eco-retreat in West Virginia.

Supporting agrarian knowledge one over-sized journal at a time.

The world premier of the Evolution of Organic (see our previous post on this film here and here) is finally upon us! You can catch the event at the opening Night of Green Film Fest 2017 on April 20 at the Castro Theatre. Schedule as follows: 6:00pm  ::  Opening Night Reception with Mark Kitchell and Festival filmmakers 7:30pm  ::  Evolution of Organic (Mark […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNny2qRDBAQ&w=560&h=315] Do we like preaching to the choir? Sure do! Enter, this week's installment from Kiss the Ground on using cover cropping for carbon sequestration. Now, can I get an Amen?! This video features Jeff Borum, Soil Health Coordinator East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District , who mentions that some of the oldest records of […]