Blog

Any Greenhorns out there with advice on funding & other financial matters for start-up Greenhorns? Hello, My name is Nic Koontz and I am working towards starting a small farm of my own in the northern Colorado front range area, near Ft. Collins. I have been a follower of yours since I heard about your […]

Forest Garden Immersion Course Camp Epworth Permaculture Demonstration & Education Center April 23-26, 2009, High Falls, New York For full details, including pricing, check out http://www.livingmandala.com/Living_Mandala/Forest_Garden_April_09.html Summary: This course immerses participants in the thriving local forest gardening culture of the Hudson Valley. Together we will engage in the practical skills of forest gardening: propagation, grafting, […]

Greenhorns friend & ally Jana Blankenship shared this beautiful quotation with us.  It comes from artist and ecologist Aviva Rahmani.  You can see some of Aviva's work at http://www.ghostnets.com/ "What is inspiring is to consider how we can start an idea that can keep growing, deepening it's roots, shedding the witches broom and broadening a […]

Sacred Bough Farm is seeking a summer apprentice to help out on our growing permaculture farmstead in Downeast Maine. We live at the site of an old granite quarry; a very unique and beautiful environment hosting a diversity of species. We have 22 acres of mostly wooded land and are creating a permaculture eden with […]

A FUNDRAISER FOR NEW AMSTERDAM MARKET Saturday, February 21, 2009 5:00pm - 8:00pm New York, New York ADVANCE TICKET PURCHASE IS REQUIRED Purchase Tickets Now Please support our mission to establish a permanent, indoor public market in the City of New York, where purveyors such as butchers, grocers, mongers, and other vendors will source and […]

This is a re-post from the United Farm Workers. Pesticides are Poison.  Click on the link at the end of the post to send an email to the EPA. Agricultural company wreaks havoc. Tell new EPA chief to protect us from pesticide abusers.

Edible Schoolyards are popping up everywhere! Join us to learn about growing a K-12 sustainable education program. FEATURED PRESENTER: Dorothy Mullen, Master Gardener, Founder, Princeton School Gardens Cooperative In a few short years, Princeton, NJ has created an outdoor classroom at every school in the district. Dorothy will share with us how Princeton schools worked […]

For a while we've been mentioning that the reliable data on young farmers was not yet in. Well, it's here!

A request from the California Institute for Rural Studies Dear Greenhorns, Organic food isn't just found at your local co-op or farmer's market anymore- it seems to be everywhere these days, from hospital cafeterias to Wal-Mart. Demand for organic food is on the rise(although more slowly in recent months due to the economic situation). However, […]

Those SAFE kids are rockin' it out there on the West Coast! Meet Your Meat The Society for Agriculture and Food Ecology is proud to announce an upcoming series of tours, panels, and workshops on good, clean, and fair animal husbandry and meat production. The series, called Meet Your Meat, is a portrayal of the […]

well. the joyousness. and now. the jackhammers. may they ring out in the morning--depaving the land across america! jubuilant. VILSACK ESTABLISHES THE PEOPLE'S GARDEN PROJECT ON BICENTENNIAL OF LINCOLN'S BIRTH Announces goal of creating community gardens at each USDA facility worldwide WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2009 -- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today "broke pavement" on the […]

Heads up North Carolina Greenhorns! These Sustainable Farming Classes at Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) Pittsboro Are Starting Soon! Call 919-542-6495 ext. 223 to register. 1. Biointensive Gardening (Intro)- NEW! Using methods made popular by John Jeavons, students will gain a basic understanding of biointensive and biodynamic gardening principles and sustainable home gardening practices. The […]

Update: Cookies brown but not burned. All systems go! Bring your appetites, your snazzy selves, your good ideas. We'll see you tomorrow. WHEN: Monday February 16th, 2009... 11AM - 1PM WHAT: ORGANIC 2009 WINTER COLLECTION, Men's and Women's & GREENHORNS Bakesale Extravaganza (think walnut butter cookies!) WHERE: CHI, 128 West 37th Street, New York, NY […]

Recently, we received an inspiring note from "fledgling greenhorn" Stephanie Pierce.  In part, it read: Hello Severine (and other Fleetsters), I am an avid follower of the blog and Greenhorns, as I consider myself to be a fledgling greenhorn.  I am currently interning at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont, and I think that some […]

Greenhorns Ally, & co-founder of growfood.org , Sarita Role Schaffer, just clued us in to this tidbit from the recently released 2007 farm census: "One of the most significant changes in the 2007 Census of Agriculture is the increase in female farm operators, both in terms of the absolute number and the percentage of all […]

This is good news. We welcome new Greenhorns, gardeners, food preservers! Seed merchants reap benefit of need to cut bills By Jonathan Birchall in New York Published: February 5 2009 02:00 | Last updated: February 5 2009 02:00 Americans are turning in increasing numbers to their back yards to save money, with leading US seed […]

The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association recently held a webinar on Building New Farm Programs. You can now access this great farm incubator resource online at http://www.carolinafarmstewards.org/ Hello to all, I hope everyone is having a great year so far. I am happy to send out this information that the webinar on Building New farm Programs […]

What's not to love? Ok you NYC peoples, here's the haps... Greenhorns is organizing a Young Farmer Bake Sale-- at an Organic Fashion Show, during fashion week in New York City. Its cold here on the east coast, its slippy and slushy and drippy. But in the church basement we'll be doing a little educational […]

Greenhorns & Real Food Lovers - decorate your walls with Greenhorns stuff! We've got a new poster for sale on the Greenhorns' etsy site. This is an18 x 20 inch poster, eco-printed by unionized leftists in Berkeley, CA. Full color with an image from the prelinger archive (www.prelingerlibrary.org) And a mini essay by Severine at […]

It's cool when libertarians are down with raw milk. That make sense in the new America. This is announcement comes from The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a great resource and cause. http://www.ftcldf.org/news/news-01feb2009.htm Ron Paul Introduces Bill to End Interstate Raw Milk Ban On January 28 Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced HR 778, a […]

Greenhorns is planning an installation this spring at California College of the Arts. It's a collaborative project already, but we'd like to make it even more so. Specifically-- we invite your contributions to the exhibit. You! Young Farmers of America! The Installation is called "Land. Sunshine. Stamina." We'd like to put up your silkscreens and […]

have you ever been really happy to smell something not that pleasant??' to me, the smell of burning trash as i walk down the rocky roads of agua buena brings back such good memories. it´s not a pleasant smell in and of itself, but for me, the context is golden. for it´s here that the […]

Solidarity between farmers, farm workers, farm families and farm neighbors. Please take a moment to send an email to Florida Governor Charlie Crist, asking him to take a stand against modern-day slavery in our food system: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Governor_Crist_stand_against_slavery Background Just this past December, farm labor supervisors were sentenced in federal court for enslaving tomato pickers, including […]

A beautiful new business model... this was circulated on a local listserve. I own a local, award-winning remodeling and historical Restoration company, Community Building and Restoration. We've been working to adapt to economic changes (are we nearing the end of the era of the 1000 square foot master-bath suite? I hope so, but that does […]

For the San Franciscans among you... Dear Friends, Please join us for the event below on February 12, 2009, observing the closing of our exhibit called "Shorelines and Timelines" at the Exploratorium. The exhibit went public Tuesday, January 27, and will close February 15. We are very pleased to be part of the Observing show, […]

The Geography of Hope Conference celebrates "Writing on Farming and Rural Life", and Greenhorns - they want YOU! From the organizers: The conference is gearing up to be an exciting three days. You can find the latest information at: www.ptreyesbooks.com/geohope.html We've finalized the roster of conference presenters, but we'd like to encourage younger folks to […]

The Rodale Institute wrote up a great review of our new Greenhorns Guide for Beginning Farmers. Check out http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20090206/nf2 or read on for the full text! E-guidebook forming online for emerging agriculturists: farmer-to-farmer wisdom-in-the-making meets Web 2.0 By Greg Bowman Emblematic of the wonderfully tangible but somewhat invisible youth farming movement in the United States […]

We've had the 'letters from a young farmer' series going on for a while now, but a recent greenhorns ally has emerged with the willingness to write up short young farmer profiles to help inspire and shape our collective understanding of the movement with specific examples of lives lived. Think of it them case studies […]

Many key appointments have yet to be made at the U.S.D.A.  We have a voice, let's use it!  Here is one suggestion.  Time to get out that pen again... Dear friends, I am writing to urge your support for Enrique E. Figueroa Ph.D. as Deputy Secretary of the U.S.D.A. Enrique offers the best hope for […]

Future Farmers of America Organic Valley's young voices enthrall a packed house, twice. By Alison Grantham By noon on Friday of the three-day National Future Farmers of America (FFA) conference we had shook hands with and delivered our elevator speeches to thousands of FFA students, advisors and chaperones, and traffic was finally slowing down. Across […]

Young Farmers! The Greenhorns will be going to the MOSES conference in Lacrosse, WI February 26-28....will any of YOU be there? Please introduce yourself to Severine - she'll be wearing greenhorns stickers . For more information on the conference check out http://www.mosesorganic.org/ You can register online until February 18th. In the meantime, check out this […]

Great write up on a recent event in Michigan: http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/01/31/local-food-for-thought/ excerpt: "The Chronicle arrived midway through Thursday's day-long Local Food Summit 2009, and found evidence of the morning's work plastered all over the walls of the Matthaei Botanical Gardens conference room: Colorful sticky notes on butcher paper, categorized by topics like "Food policy/legislation," "Resources for […]

The Choice to Farm is a report documenting the current role of new farmers as actors in the social movement for sustainable agriculture in the United States. The work focuses upon the stories of five individuals who have begun farming within the past ten years, all of whom earned non-agricultural college degrees, and most of […]

A lovely re-post from the Saxelby Cheese blog - visit them at Essex Market in NYC, and check out their great website for cheese news, farm highlights, etc. This Week at Saxelby Cheesemongers Farming for Freedom... the counterintuitive version. Yesterday I went traipsing around the city in search of a CD that I had heard […]

Beekeeping for Greenhorns! EcoVersity: Topbar Beekeeping Monthly, March 28 - September 12 at EcoVersity, Santa Fe with Talon Van Howten EcoVersity is once again offering very affordable Topbar Beekeeping Classes for its 5th season! An alternative to conventional beekeeping, Topbar Beekeeping is a low-impact, natural method that offers bees maximum freedom to build honeycombs organically, […]

Here is an opportunity for potential Greenhorns... Are you a college student who is passionate about social change? Have you ever thought about leading your own for-profit or nonprofit organization? Apply now for the opportunity to make your idea a reality! Sparkseed is a nonprofit organization that invests in the top social entrepreneurs of tomorrow […]

Hello friends! We started a farm blog to document our year at Island Meadow Farm. Leave a comment & let us know what you think! http://islandmeadowfarm.wordpress.com/ It's still under progress but make it a bookmark & keep updated on our adventures in the plant & animal kingdoms. Plus Roby will be joining us in March […]

From Zoe Bradbury of Groundswell Farm Hi farmer friends, I'm curious how - or if - the economic slump is affecting you as farmers. I'm trying to collect a little informal data to see if our theories about local/regional food systems are indeed holding up right now. Are they truly more resilient & stable? Able […]

Check out their amazing pesticide free, farm-inspired tunes at: http://www.myspace.com/greenstringfarmband What is Green String Farming? Green String is the act of farming sustainably and naturally so that we provide a healthy future for generations to enjoy. Green String Farm makes every effort to reduce soil erosion, pesticide dependency, loss of biodiversity, resistance to natural predators, […]

"A documentary film tour of California's emerging sustainable food system." Find out more at http://insearchofgoodfood.blogspot.com/ In Search of Good Food is holding a benefit dinner on February 7th - check if out if you're in California! The Second Benefit Dinner for In Search of Good Food Saturday, February 7th, 2009 7-10 pm Million Fishes Art […]