Christmas Morning
It is the tiniest of sounds, yet it penetrates the collection of louder and deeper bleats that surround it.
building resilient food systems
Live Without Dead Thyme: A Photo Tour of a Garden
I spent Saturday night under a 100 year old pear tree with David Holmgren, Su Dennett, and a spirited gathering of Victorian permaculturalists, for their annual summer solstice party. My household’s urban homestead doesn’t compare…
Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, Mary Berry in Conversation
The problem of sustainability is simple enough to state. It requires that the fertility cycle of birth, growth, maturity, death, and decay—what Albert Howard called “the Wheel of Life”—must turn continuously in place, so that the law of return is kept and nothing is wasted. For this to happen in the stewardship of humans, there … Read more
Farewell to the Year
And so I come to my final blog post of 2016, and what a year it’s been. I’ve been asked by Dark Mountain to write a retrospective of it, which I hope will be up on their website soon. I’ll be offering some thoughts on the larger events of the world in that post, so here I’m mostly just going to offer a few nuggets focused on my specific theme of small-scale farming, and its future.
Proof Positive
That’s my topic for this newsletter — why proof is important in today’s social and political environment, what kinds of points need to be proved, and how the process of argumentation and evidence-gathering needs to proceed.
Testing a Different(iation) Approach to Permaculture Design Process – Part Three: Another Example
On the afternoon of June 30, 2016, we talked, walked and worked with a friend, Adam, on the overall design of the five hectare (12.5 acre) block of land Adam shares with his partner Tink.
Utilizing Hydroponics, Three Families Unite to Provide Meaningful Work for Their Children with Special Needs
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At Standing Rock, No One Goes Hungry: The Kitchen That Serves Traditional Lakota Food and Values
Hundreds of water protectors gathered in a solar-powered 200-foot geodesic dome nestled on the plains amid tipis and waited three hours to join a traditional Lakota dinner on Thanksgiving.
For Homeless in Santa Cruz, CA, Garden Project Offers Hope, Stability, and Jobs
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Debating the Role of Livestock with Joel Salatin
Do livestock hold the key to a healthy planet and population? In Bristol on the 23rd November, we held an event to discuss this question.
Meet Four Young Farmers Who Are Rising to the Challenge of Water Scarcity in the Western U.S.
A new short film, Conservation Generation, offers a look into the lives of four young farmers and ranchers in Colorado and New Mexico who are following their passion for agriculture amidst historic drought, climate change, development, and heightened competition for water.
Black Food Sovereignty: Urban, Rural, and International Connections
Food sovereignty and not merely security, land ownership not tenancy, and thriving not just surviving are the goals of an Earthcare Coalition mobilizing around the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent.