Blog

Food Chains explores the exploitation of farm workers in the agriculture industry in the United States, the complicity of government and corporations in perpetuating human rights abuses, and the role consumers can play in ending some of the most egregious human rights violations within our borders. Food Chain is a fact-based essay form documentary, aiming […]

what if western states were defined by watersheds? http://communitybuilders.net/the-united-watershed-states-of-america/ The story begins with John Wesley Powell, the great one-armed adventurer and geologist. He was made famous for his successful runs through the Colorado River in 1869 and 1872. But perhaps his most important legacy rests in a lesser-known deed: Proposing in 1879 that as the […]

check out the great organizing going on by young farmers in california! http://www.farmersguild.org/coopetition-award.html A century ago our country had well over six million farms. Today that number has fallen to just over two million—and this despite a quadrupled population. The success of local food in America depends not simply on the success of individual farmers but […]

Our cocktail party to benefit NYFC's work in 2014 is fast approaching! Please join us on Sunday, Dec. 8th (one week from today) at the Red Devon Restaurant in Bangall at5pm for delicious food and drink, beautiful art and good conversation.  We're teaming up with the Hudson Valley Seed Library for an exhibit of their spectacular Art of the Heirloomcollection and […]

Mendocino Wool & Fiber (MW&F) is a new wool mill in Northern California to create 100% locally sourced, processed and dyed yarn. It is family founded and owned by Matt (that's me) and Sarah Gilbert. I have worked with sheep, sheep herders and wool processors in Mendocino County as a sheep shearer since the age of […]

Reverend Billy is kicking off the campaign to stand up to Chase bank's threat to have him thrown in jail for a year, all because he and his choir spoke for the now extinct GOLDEN TOADS at one of Chase's branches in NYC. should be a raucous affair. Tix $15. Visit the Event Site Check […]

The Movimento dos Trabalhdores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) will be holding its Sixth Congress in February, 2014 amidst its celebration of 30 years of struggle for agrarian reform, social justice and democracy. The movement's 2 million members have spent the last year preparing, debating and discussing in preparation for this historic gathering. Mobilizing 15,000 movement leaders […]

Here is a teaser: [vimeo http://vimeo.com/39032509] want to help? email [email protected]

We love this idea.  And if you're feeling the spirit of giving, chip in! Quill's End  Farm is a 100 acre farm in Penobscot, Maine.   It is a grass-based cow dairy and raises small livestock on pasture grazing rotationally.  Heather and Phil Retberg farm this plot of land with their three children, Alexander, Benjamin and […]

First, Ethan shares over 1,000 enterprise budgets!  Read his piece, "The Power of Enterprise Budgets: Permaculture, Holistic Management, and Financial Planning". At the end, he's got this treasure trove: "In order to support the ongoing development of ecological agriculture, I’m making available to you all the all the enterprise budgets I have collected in the last 2 […]

Sad news about the loss of Bill Coperthwaite.  Here is a beautiful write-up from the Beehive Collective. “I want to live in a society where people are intoxicated with the joy of making things.” ...Oh, this body-snatchin blustery storm, with tricklin' raindrops that meander and converge with tears, gaining speed. So grateful i ain't havin' […]

Quivira's New Agrarian Program grew out of the understanding that agriculture drives economies, creates green job opportunities and directly affects the health of our nation. Enthusiastic young agrarians are ready to take part in the sustainable food movement, but need opportunities to learn alongside established practitioners so that vital, experience-based knowledge can be transferred to a […]

If you saw the films Queen of the Sun, or Farmer John, you know the power of great visual story telling and that sweet ironic funny loving touch that Jon and Taggart bring to their films. Now they have turned their perceptive attention to seeds and you can be part of making this happen. SEED: […]

Deadline, December 15th Allegheny Mountain School Fellowships for 2014 Allegheny Mountain School is seeking nine inspiring individuals to participate in the fourth cohort of our 18 month fully-funded fellowship program.   Applications are available on our website,www.alleghenymountainschool.org.  The deadline to submit your application is December 15, 2013.  Interviews begin January, 2014.

Interesting conference coming up in California.  Here's an Allan Savory Ted Talk for inspiration: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI] Join us for this two-day conference in beautiful Chico, CA. We have an amazing line-up of speakers. Super-star Robb Wolf, New York Times best-selling author of The Paleo Solution, will be talking about eating the way humans were designed to. Our very […]

Resource Highlight: Fare Grange We know farming is a special type of business. Farmers require attorneys with expertise that fits their particular operation, especially when they are producing  sustainable, organic, local, or non-GMO food. Fare Grange Law has that expertise. Investing in legal counsel before a problem occurs is the most cost-effective use of our legal services. We know, […]

Starting this January, Scaling Up will bring together a group of 6-18 farmers with about 4 -7 years of experience who are seeking to grow their operations and plan for long-term viability.  Participants convene for a series of two-day sessions hosted at the Copake Agricultural Center in Copake, NY, in which they will refine business and production […]

12 Years a Slave [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUQNjfhlREk]  

By Lindsey Rebhan The agricultural landscape in the U.S. is at another turning point in history. The number of people who lived on farms peaked in 1935, 54% of the nation’s citizens lived on 6.8 million farms. Today, farmers make up less than 1% of the population. Despite this historical move away from farming, we […]

http://livinglands.co.za/living-lands-at-the-thicket-forum-2013/ making decisions from a landscape perspective.

In order to then join your voice to the choir of opposition. I suggest reading here. http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news_wp/?p=12806#rule2

Here is a wonderful source of information to keep you up at night. http://fairewinds.org/

Rural Punk Magazine Call Out For Submissions Hey You! Rural Punk! We are creating a magazine just for us, the rural punks, back to the land skids, backwoods anarchists, etc! The Country Grind is a smokin’ new quarterly magazine specifically for those folks who have ran away from the cities in search of a simpler, saner, […]

The latest from the Beehive Collective! Support the project HERE [kickstarter url=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/beehivecollective/hatch-the-beehives-epic-story-graphic-mesoamerica width=480] It's done, it's done!!! We can't wait for you to see our newest illustration! Help us print Mesoamérica Resiste, the long-awaited final graphic in an epic trilogy about globalization in the Americas. Now that the illustration is complete, we need your support […]

NNY Dairy Institute December Class Focused on Cow Comfort and Equipment Maintenance Cow comfort and equipment maintenance and how they impact milk quality will be in focus for the second session of the Northern New York Dairy Institute winter 2013-14 course. Hygiene and teat end scoring and heat stress abatement strategies also part of the […]

How You Pay Farmers to Watch Their Crop Shrivel Up and Die by Laird Townsend for Mother Jones The federal crop insurance program puts farmers in a real bind. And as climate change intensifies, it's only getting worse. In 2011, Eric Herm's cantaloupes exploded. A fourth-generation cotton farmer in West Texas, Herm was experimenting with […]

tools for a new economy.  creative-currency.org/ [vimeo http://vimeo.com/46506478] Creative Currency is an initiative bringing together leading developers and designers with national experts in social finance, local currencies, crowdfunding, sharing platforms, and other leaders of the new economy to envision, prototype, and deploy innovative solutions that reimagine our systems of exchange from the ground up. Focusing […]

a must-see if you're in the area! Poet, novelist, philosopher, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer Wendell Berry will present the next Chubb Fellowship Lecture as a guest of Timothy Dwight College and theYale Sustainable Food Project(YSFP). Berry will appear for a public conversation at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7 in the Shubert Theatre, 247 College […]

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace is a 2011 BBC documentary series by filmmaker Adam Curtis. The series argues that computers have failed to liberate humanity and instead have "distorted and simplified our view of the world around us". The title is taken from the 1967 poem of the same name by Richard Brautigan. The first of three episodes aired in May 2011 on BBC2. […]

What a super idea.  Repair Cafe.orgRepair Cafés are free meeting places and they’re all about repairing things (together). In the place where a Repair Café is located, you’ll find tools and materials to help you make any repairs you need. On clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, appliances, toys, et cetera. You will also find […]

Hey look! Our friend Aube and her great blog, Kitchen Vignettes, are on the PBS site! Kitchen Vignettes on PBS. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGjJMGXL9ho&w=640&h=360] scroll down on the site for pumpkin apple baked beans.... yum.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/62921614] Audio Portrait: Heidi Redd, Dugout Ranch; Stakeholder Group: Working Landscapes perspective

The Real Food Media Contest is seeking short and powerful films--from 30 seconds to four minutes--on food, farming, and sustainability. Contest judges include Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Robert Kenner (Food Inc.), The Food Network's Padma Lakshmi, Keri Putnam from the Sundance Institute, and Johanna Blakley from University of Southern California, and more. The Contest is a […]

[kickstarter url=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tamarackhollow/get-this-farm-off-the-floodplain width=480] Extreme rains, caused by climate change, have flooded our Vermont farm (Tamarack Hollow Farm) 3 times in 4 years. To keep farming, we need to move to higher ground. The kickstarter can be viewed HERE They are on twitter (@tamarackhollow), facebook, tumblr (@tamarackhollowfarm), and instagram (@tamarackhollowfarm).    

The Guerrilla Grafters graft fruit bearing branches onto non-fruit bearing, ornamental fruit trees. Over time, delicious, nutritious fruit is made available to urban residents through these grafts. Our web application helps grafters to find graftable trees, to track how grafts are doing, and helps to facilitate gleaning of fruit. It is built by a laterally […]

Fern School.org MissionTo secure local food sources in the desert Southwest through educational exchanges between current producers engaged in diverse ecologically conscious agriculture, and a new generation of food producers. VisionWe envision a network of food producers in the desert Southwest who are active in connecting students of all ages to dynamic agricultural experiences. In […]

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Women Taking Over Farms, Learning the Lay of the Land By CORRIE MACLAGGAN Published: November 14, 2013 AMARILLO — DeDe Cummins’s family has farmed in the Texas Panhandle for a century, but no one expected her to have any interest in the work. “I was a girl,” said Ms. Cummins, 53, a high school special […]

THE TREMENDOUS TEN: WOMEN IN THE SENATE SUPPORT LABELING OF GMO FOOD Fairfield, IA – November 10, 2013-- The Truth in Labeling Coalition today released their TREMENDOUS TEN list of women in the Senate who support labeling of genetically engineered food. The WOMEN IN THE SENATE campaign, spearheaded by Former Congressman Jim Bates, is aimed […]

free internet support for farmers at the public library! Free Computer Services -- Public Announcement Are you aware that there is free computer and IT support for farmers and market growers at The Potsdam Library's Public Computer Center, located downstairs near the Library bookstore and Neighborhood Center ? Computers at the PCC are available for use at no charge. […]