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gathering medicine: how native medicinal practices are thriving today https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-the-wild/episodes/gathering-medicine Indigenous peoples in California relied on traditional gathering to provide for all of their food and medicinal needs. California's landscapes produce hundreds of indigenous plant species that have been used thousands of years prior to European contact. And many of these plants and their preparations […]

Journalist Kate Bolick recently wrote about her experience in visiting artist Andrea Zittel in the Californian desert. Zittel has spent the past 20 years of her career exploring solitude and this path has led her to create her "Experimental Living Cabins" at A-Z West near Joshua Tree National Park. "Zittel sees herself as part of the 20th-century tradition […]

Following the devastation caused by the spread of massive wildfires in California over the past week it has become apparent that many of those within the biodynamic community have been directly affected. Among these is Frey Vineyards, a pioneer in Biodynamic® wine and dedicated supporter of the BDA. The vineyard has experienced significant losses due to the fires, […]

As the next Farm Bill approaches, the House Agriculture Committee members are beginning to gather input from farmers, ranchers and other stakeholders. As you may know, several current programmes that contribute to the success of organic agriculture are under threat of elimination as so it is imperative that policy makers hear directly from organic farmers, […]

When portrayed by the film and TV media, the one thing that all fictional futures seem to have in common is a coffee shortage. Only the elite and the lucky manage to get their hands on a coveted cup of joe. In the dystopian fictional future, coffee is a black market product and in the […]

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 […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT6A3kWTsNM&w=560&h=315] Learn more and take action at the Sustainable Economies Law Center!

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

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 […]

Why are California farms struggling with a labor shortage?

Your artwork could help promote the next EcoFarm Conference in Pacific Grove, CA!

Help Happy Boy Farms in their time of need!

Not using no-till practices yet? Prepare to be inspired.

4 exciting positions available in the western ranch country.

News got you down this week? Our friends at Kiss the Ground serve up another heaping video of hope.

The California Institute for Rural Studies takes a strong eye to the lives of farm workers in rural CA. We speak with them on the GH radio today.

Our friends at Kiss the Ground give us some sweet inspiration to get outside and find wild edibles and medicinals.

Urban Adamah in Berkeley, CA is now accepting applications for its spring, summer, and fall fellowships.

Have you taken any time today to think about how great trees are? Andy Lipkis of Tree People in Los Angeles is on Kiss the Ground to right that wrong.

Celebrate the history of black farmers in the US and abroad with a night of films in Oakland, CA.

See a special sneak-preview of this inspiring new documentary at the EcoFarm Conference on January 27. Spoiler: Sev and the Greenhorns make a cameo.

If there is one thing that we'd like to spotlight these days, it's change makers and organizations that are doing really great and innovative work across the country. Enter: Ecologistics, a nonprofit organization based in the Central Coast of California whose mission is to "To create a resilient and healthy community for the residents of […]

Grange School for Adaptive Agriculture is hiring!

Influenced by agribusiness giants, the rating mechanisms of a World Bank index threaten the seed sovereignty of small farmers globally. Please help!

photo: Samuel Oslund Whatever it was that called you to farming - political, environmental, social, or your love of nature - one thing we often overlook as new farmers is the complex realities of running profitable businesses. It only takes a season to realize that the margins of profit in agriculture are small. As producers […]

Applications are now open! The Bay Area Farmer Training Program provides the education, training and tools for a new generation of farmers in California's Bay Area to create socially-just, ecologically sustainable and economically viable urban and peri-urban farm businesses. Exceedingly high recidivism rates, increasing immigrant populations, a scarcity of living-wages for vulnerable citizens, and the rapidly aging farmer […]

Heading into a third year of providing educational programs, the good folks at the Grange School of Adaptive Agriculture have been busy training the next generation of farmers: The Grange School's programs recognize that food production must continually adapt to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. The students in our three-month residential program are […]

Apprenticeships in Regenerative Ranching and Farming Offered through The Quivira Coalition’s New Agrarian Program on partner ranches and farms in New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, and California The Quivira Coalition’s New Agrarian Program (NAP) partners with skilled ranchers and farmers to offer annual apprenticeships in regenerative agriculture. Together, we create opportunities for comprehensive, full-immersion experiential learning from […]

Besides laying claim to the coolest name we can imagine for a citrus fruit, the Yuzu, a small citrus hailing from Japan and China, is renowned for its ability to withstand temperatures as cold as 10 degrees F. In Japan, chefs use the tart fruit for quintessential condiments including the Ponzu sauce you dip your […]

Tickets available on a sliding scale: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/foundations-and-the-future-womens-leadership-in-the-food-movement-tickets-27100479263?aff=eac2 A day of education, celebration and dialogue, this one-day symposium intends to acknowledge, celebrate and lift up the leadership and voice of women in the food movement.  The day will focus on a transfer of knowledge and foundation-building through an intergenerational dialogue weaving together historical narrative and current efforts […]

An Evening Gathering to Support the 2nd Annual International Soil Not Oil Conference Thurs, July 21, 7:30pm, 2016 Free At the Farmer & the Cook Restaurant 339 W El Roblar Dr, Ojai (Meiners Oak) CA 93023 Short films about Soil & Carbon Farming including excerpts from The Seeds of Vandana Shiva documentary film The solution to […]

The Mojave Project is really just kind of the bomb-diggety. But don't take our word for it: to learn more, we recommend this absolutely gorgeous video. The project is an "experimental transmedia documentary led by Kim Stringfellow exploring the physical, geological and cultural landscape of the Mojave Desert." Browse the current projects here. And while we're talking about the Mojave […]

[vimeo 170086849 w=640 h=360] Peppered with priceless footage of the origins of the organic movement, this film delves head-first into where we came from and where we're going. Our favorite quote from the trailer?  "Organic can get better." Spoiler alert: the Greenhorns are in this film. Fund them here!

SAVE THE DATE! FARMER OLYMPICS 2016 SEPTEMBER 17, 2016 PETALUMA, CA NO PRIOR FARMING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED. ALL AGES. Noon - 7pm Petaluma Fairgrounds For farmers, foodies and families alike. Start training now! Contact us here to get involved in this year's big games.

  Edible Forest Garden Design Intensive with Dave Jacke, author of Edible Forest Gardens June 24 – July 3, 2016, at Heartwood Institute Scholarships available. Apply early. In this nine-day intensive course, you will dive deeply into the vision, theory, and practice of designing wholesome, dynamic, and resilient edible ecosystems. Dave Jacke and his teaching […]

"California Green Fire" is built on "A Fierce Green Fire" -- filmmaker Mark Kitchell's big-picture exploration of environmental activism spanning fifty years from conservation to climate change. Now we want to bring it home, to the cutting edge where movements got started and pushed the farthest. The film will tell three environmental epics: 1) saving […]

I first came across David Mas Masumoto's memoir Epitaph for a Peach a few years ago, lucky enough be required to read it in a lit class. In sympathetic prose Matsumoto describes learning the hard, slow way--by trial and sometimes devastating error--how to maintain a viable business for his family's organic fussy stunningly delicious peaches. Now, whenever […]

Are you ready to be a part of the dynamic future of food? Grange School of Adaptive Agriculture programs recognize that food production will never be the same again. We are looking for people who are determined and creative. Students should have a desire to enter into a career equipped with essential skills in the […]