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Raising a Pack Goat
Jenna gets a pack goat to help carry gear for hiking trips. Share her experience of buying a buck kid and raising him to be a pack goat.
HOMEGROWN Life: It's Cold Out There for a Farmsteader
HOMEGROWN Life blogger Bryce shares 5 things to consider before starting a farmstead—not the least of which being winter.
American Farmland Trust Holds First National Farmland, Food and Livable Communities Conference
American Farmland Trust will be holding the Farmland, Food and Livable Communities Conference October 20-22, in Lexington, Kentucky.
HOMEGROWN Life: A Melancholy Season
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Maine dairy farmer Dyan reflects on the changes that arrive with fall, including her own sense of melancholy.
HOMEGROWN Life: The Longest Days of the Year
In the wake of the summer solstice, HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Maine dairy farmer Dyan takes time to appreciate the longest days of the year.
Pink Eye in our Calves and Cows this Summer
Sharing some of what we have learned about treating Pink Eye naturally, as in our region, this has been an epidemic summer due to all the rain and flies.
Apprentices on the Homestead
Many a homesteader and farmer can use help, and many a young person wants to learn homesteading skills. Having apprentices is an important means to assure a continuation of farms and farming,as well as teaching youth essential survival skills.
Rambling Rose Ramblings
A beautiful old, old, rambling rose bush that grows on my moms corner fence post greets us with pink blooms each spring.
How to Start & Manage a Micro Dairy in 26 Steps: Step 1
Bob-White Systems is bringing the cows back home by providing supplies, equipment and support for Micro Dairies, Home & Farmstead cheesemakers and small-scale producers of local and farm fresh dairy products.
HOMEGROWN Life: How to Install Drip Irrigation
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel of Dog Island Farm shares how to install drip irrigation in your home garden.
Mountain High in the Laurel Highlands
While the Mother Earth News Fair at Seven Springs Mountain Resort may have been John D. Ivanko's family's primary destination (as speakers about renewable energy, sustainable living and farmstead cooking), it definitely wasn't their only reason for eco-touring the region known as the Laurel Highlands.
Yogurt-Making & Bread-Baking
Homestead skills of yogurt-making and bread-baking increase your independence from grocery store aisles and international food conglomerates.
Girl Out of Water - Farmers
A description of farmers' even tempered dispositions.
FarmTek Announces Fall 2012 Photo Contest
Do you love showing off your FarmTek products? Think you're using them in a unique and interesting way? FarmTek would love to see!
So You Got Your Dream Homestead, Now What?
You have read every garden, homestead and back to the land book in your library system. Your dreams of coffee at sunrise set to the chatter of fowl made real. With hoe in hand and 914,760 square feet rolling out from your feet like a magic carpet; where do you start?
Moving Tips for Homesteaders-to-Be
Pennsylvania mama Michelle has finally found a homestead! Get her moving tips on take-back programs, packing mason jars, buying cheap appliances, and more.
HOMEGROWN Life: On the Road (Again)
HOMEGROWN blogger and homesteading mama Michelle explains why road trips are worth packing 3 kids, 2 adults, and 2 dogs in a camper for weeks on end.
HOMEGROWN Life: Geeking Out on Goats
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel recounts how she went from half-hearted to full-breed-ahead when it comes to breeding goats.
HOMEGROWN Life: A Bittersweet Month on the Farm
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Maine dairy farmer Dyan Redick honors the determination of women farmers, even as she observes a bittersweet month on her farm.
HOMEGROWN Life: Let's Talk About Poop
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel discusses using manure in the garden, including which type of animal waste is best for which crops.
HOMEGROWN Life: Why I Love Reading. And Fall. And Reading About Fall
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Missouri farmer Bryce Oates shares why he values reading (Eliot Coleman, especially) and how it impacts his fall growing season.
HOMEGROWN Life: A First Lesson in Homemaking
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Pennsylvania homesteading mama Michelle takes a young woman under her wing for a first lesson in homemaking.
How to Start & Manage a Micro Dairy in 26 Steps – Step 2
Steve Judge of Bob-White Systems in Vermont offers his Micro Dairy expertise in this blog series on how to start and manage a Micro Dairy, from farm and barn planning to selecting dairy cows, goats and sheep to daily operations and being profitable.
Half-Farmer, Half-X: Ideal Lifestyle or Unfortunate Reality?
In Japan, more and more people are combining farming with other work. My neighbors and I fit the pattern, but what's it all mean for the future of farming?
Join the Farmgirl Sisterhood
MaryJane's Farmgirls is a network of women's groups across the country who meet to discuss and share their experiences in modern homesteading, including sewing, cooking, voluteering and more.
Farm Liability Insurance
You may need special farm liability insurance if you plan to sell eggs, produce or other products from your farm or at the farmers market.
Farmer's Almanac Rediscovered
Discover the extensive resources available in the newest edition of the Farmer's Almanac.
MOSES Conference Offers Educational Opportunities for Young Farmers
The annual Organic Farming Conference put on by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service featured a series of workshops designed for young farmers looking to get started.
Come for the FAIR, Then Embark on an Ecotourism Adventure
Come early or spend a few days after the three days of the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR, held at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania this September 12 – 14, 2014. Less than 30 miles from Seven Springs Mountain Resort, there's an ecotourism adventure to be had.
Farm Business Training Comes Full Circle as Refugee Starts Urban Farm
Lay Htoo, a Burmese refugee, has been enrolled in the Farm Business Development Program at Cultivate Kansas City and is setting out to start her own urban farm.
HOMEGROWN Life: A Love Letter to the Heartland
HOMEGROWN Life blogger Michelle's annual road trips out west renew her love for the heartland and the American farmer.
Take a Bite of Farm Aid!
The Farm Aid concert is a chance for us to shine a spotlight on these people who work every day to put good food on our tables.
America's Farmstand Launches Virtual Farmer's Market
America's Farmstand delivers all-natural, sustainably farmed fresh foods, grown to exacting standards, direct from family farms to table – with no warehousing.
The Beginning Farmer: Why Farms Look The Way They Do
A beginning farmer starts to realize that first impressions of the farm will make all the difference.
HOMEGROWN Life: A Change In Seasons
Dyan writes about the changing season at Bittersweet Farm, and introduces us to the newest member of the flock, a black sheep named Little Man.
HOMEGROWN Life: Milking with Frannie
If there's one thing I've learned in my short time of being a goat herder, it's that at breeding time, the goats are in charge.
In Her Boots: Sustainable Farming for Women, by Women
The workshop series "In Her Shoes: Sustainable Farming for Women, by Women" will provide on-farm, women-led sharing of resources, experiences and inspiration to further connect, encourage and support female organic farmers, entrepreneurs and agricultural leaders. These all-day workshops will be in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and each will cost $20 and include lunch.
Factory Farming Plowing Over Family Farms
A hard look at the state of the food industry and the impact of factory farming on polluted run-off, animal rights, and small family farms across America.
Remembering 'Harvest of Shame'
This is a must see film about the poverty America's migrant farm workers faced 55 years ago. Although many of these scenes are far from pretty it can be used to inspire and motivate people to support their local and sustainable farms.
Spring Is On the Way
First time farmers plan for the growing season and lambing.
HOMEGROWN Life: What Could Have Been and What I Hope Won't Be
Missouri farmer and HOMEGROWN Life blogger Bryce Oates tackles the Enbridge Flanagan South Pipeline, which would cross 1 mile from his area's water intake.
Fierce Farming Women, Part 2
The second in this month's two-part series of excerpts from the "Fierce Farming Women" chapter of "The Color of Food" book - honoring Women's Month.
Piglets: The Maiden Voyage
How we found our first piglets and the lesson I learned about the importance of hands on training
Are We Brave Enough to Love?
Nature challenges us: Can we love the world around us unsentimentally? Our enormous achievements have brought most of the planet more or less under our control. Now that we have this powerful role in the world, are we capable of accepting our responsibility? Nowhere is this question more present than on a farm, where we live among the animals that will one day provide a meal, and where providing a humane death is not only neccessary for our nourishment, but for providing a good life for the rest of the animal residents.
New Spirit in Minnesota
Responsible investment secures land for a young organic farmer in Minnesota.
Farmer Dyan Gets a Four-Legged Valentine
After deciding to take a year off from lambing, Maine dairy farmer Dyan has a change of heart and gets a four-legged Valentine, a baby lamb.
Raising Romeo: A Love Story
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Maine dairy farmer Dyan shares a preview of her children's book about raising lambs.
Vegetable Art by Lynn Karlin
Calling all gardeners — If you want to view a remarkable series of photographs of vegetables as art, check out Lynn Karlin's exhibit, Taking a Stand: the Pedestal Series. You can view the series here http://goo.gl/K1apd or at the Maine Farmland Trust in Belfast, Maine from September 28 to November 14th.
Farmers Market Etiquette
Want to know more about the food at your farmers market? Here's some advice from the farmers themselves.
As the Number of Farmers Markets Grows, Join Their Ranks
As the number of farmers markets grows, now may be the perfect time to join in on the market gardening fun.
Healthy Farms: The Answer to a National Superweed Crisis
Monsanto's Roundup Ready system transformed typical weed problems into a national superweed crisis, only healthy farms can correct the damage done.
Female Farmers Get Down and Dirty
Look out guys — these women really know what 21st century farming is all about.
Update on Conservation Reserve Program Opt-outs
Decision from the USDA: Farmers won't be allowed to break their CRP contract without penalty.
A Self-Sufficient Farm in Armstrong County, PA
Fond memories of a self-sufficient farm in Armstrong County, Pa., show how hard work and family together results in a truly meaningful life.
EcoFarm Conference Educates Both Seasoned and Beginning Farmers
The Ecological Farming Association will host the 33rd annual EcoFarm Conference at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, Calif., Jan. 23-26, 2013. The conference will offer more than sixty workshops, as well as the opportunity for eight beginning farmers to win substantial grants.
The Thankful Goat: A Micro-Farm Flourishes (With Recipe)
One woman's vision of a family farm comes to life in her back yard thanks to one friendly goat.
Ideas to Strengthen Your Farmers Market or Help Get One Started
Farmers markets are becoming more common every day, but many fail after a year or so, and others are having trouble getting off the ground. Here are a few ideas from a couple of long-time Oregon farmers market pros that might help keep your market going strong.
What Your Garden Can Teach About Cities
Shifting our built environments from the current linear blocks of car-centric urban sprawl to more integrated human-scale and life-sustaining organisms is not much different in principle than turning a concrete yard into a permaculture plot. We have to think in terms of arrangement of vital nodes, distance between interdependent threads, paths of least resistance, utilizing existing natural conditions, and maximizing water, energy and food sources.
Girl out of Water - Country Directions
Trying to follow directions out in the country can be challenging!
Why My 2014 Resolution Is To Buy Direct from Farmers
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel shares her New Year's resolution for 2014: buying food directly from farmers.
Salamander Springs Farm
Kentucky farmer Susana Lein runs a permaculture farm in the Appalachian Mountains where she educates students and visitors from around to the world the best way she knows how - by putting their hands in the soil.
Training Event: Growing Farm Profits
Consider this One-Day Workshop For Horticultural Farmers Ready To Take Steps To Improve Farm Profits.
Why I'm Attending the Growing Farmers Workshops
Robert White explains why he's attending the Growing Farmers workshops, and describes what he learned in the first session.
Planning for a Successful Farming Business
In this blog, Robert White of Quail Acres Farm shares some of his experiences in the Growing Farmers workshops as they relate to planning for his upcoming move to the farm to establish his market garden and small livestock business.
ABCs Of Mountain Homesteading, Part 2: Back to Basics
Learn the basic skills useful for mountain homesteading.
Girl Out of Water - The Start of It All
A humurous description of the beginning of an adventure in farming.
Farm Is Using an Old Method to Reduce the Cost of a Wind Turbine
One farm is able to combine cost savings, with energy sustainability by using a Savonius rotor.
Food is Love
Simran Sethi enjoys the fruits of late summer at a local farm dinner.
Virtual Farmers Markets - The Future
Virtual farmers markets make buying and selling fresh farm goods easy and can grow into a thriving business!
Fierce Farming Women, Part 1
The first in this month's series of excerpts from the "Fierce Farming Women" chapter of "The Color of Food" book — honoring Women's Month in March.
HOMEGROWN Life: Working On (and Off) the Farm
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and West Missouri farmer Bryce Oates discusses why his family works so hard—both on and off of the farm—to practice subsistence farming.
HOMEGROWN Life: The Farmer and the Fisherman
HOMEGROWN Life blogger Dyan Redick considers how inextricably the lives of farmers and fishermen are intertwined in her coastal Maine town.
A Girl Out of Water - A Tale of Moving to a Farm
Humorous real-life stories of moving and adjusting to farm life.
HOMEGROWN Life: Forging Ahead, Even in Winter
Facing massive snow drifts, HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Maine dairy farmer Dyan Redick forges a new path to her barn and finds inspiration in the process.
Rice Intensification Helps Poor Farmers Grow Rice Sustainably
Rice Intensification uses less water and fewer seedlings to produce greater yields of rice, which helps both poor farmers and the environment.
An American Farmer's Lament
A poem on the plight of the American farmer - the one percent.
How to Photograph Produce for Online Farmers Markets
If you want to sell produce through an online farmers market, you'll want to feature mouth-watering photos of your goods. Here are some tips to show you how.
Sustainability, One Step At a Time
Once our bodies and our imaginations are engaged, the incremental change begins. Then it gets easier and easier to envision humanity occupying this planet–this beautiful, abundant planet–far into the future.
Speak Out Against NAIS
Tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture to abandon their efforts to create and enforce a National Animal Identification System. We've made it easy for you with sample wording and directions on where to submit your comments.
So You Want to Be a Farmer?
In the Spring of 2010, I quit my job as a high school theology teacher, because I wanted to be a farmer. I am now entering my fourth year of full-time farming, even though I had almost no experience farming. Here's how I did it, and some tips to help you on your way.
A Buck In The Pen Is Worth Two In The Bush
A beginning farmer learns that keeping does and keeping bucks are two different things.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week One
Lessons learned from my first week as a summer intern at Polyface Farm.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Two
Kristen learns more about poultry and rabbit shelters, and salting hay at Polyface Farm.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Seven
Polyface Farm Field Day! This week was all about prep for all our visitors, lot of processing and for some last minute hay making.
HOMEGROWN Life: What We Learned From Our Year Without Groceries
Rachel and her husband committed to a year without groceries, and they made it! She shares her experiences in local food in this post.
Help Save a Michigan Family Farm
Help save this small family farm in Michigan, and stand up for our right to live sustainably!
100-Year-Old Hints for Drying Clothes Outside
Household hints from 1909 reveal useful tips for hanging clothes out to dry.
Reducing and Re-Using Around the Barnyard
The diva of re-use, Annie Warmke, talks about simple steps to take in the barn yard for re-purposing and reducing waste. After reading this article you won't be able to think about things like llama poo or beer bottles in the same way again.
Cooking Is Important
Take control of your food with a return to the kitchen, and learn to love the time you spend there cooking with your family.
Urban Homesteading and Survival
How living more sustainably can save you in an emergency.
101 Basic Homesteading Skills
Pick something new to learn this year from Granny Miller's list of 101 basic homesteading skills.
Have You Learned to Be More Self-sufficient?
What skills are you learning in hopes of saving money?
Get Started With Chickens
If you're new to raising chickens, you might be a little intimidated setting up house for your new flock. Homesteader Jenna Woginrich offers a straightforward overview of getting started, from preparing a brooder to providing feed and water.
Swapping Out a Motor on My Rototiller
Cam always wanted to be the kind of guy who could swap out a motor and now he is!
A Growing Trust
In this section you will find stories of real farmers across the country that made it work. You'll find their story, how they did it and who helped them. We hope these stories will inspire and educate new farmers, as well as land owners and community members to become involved in the new agrarian movement. A growing trust.
HOMEGROWN Life: Giving Up Control
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Maine dairy farmer Dyan learns that giving up control, whether over a mischievous flock or a single lamb, can have its own rewards.
Find Farming Internships and Apprenticeships
Looking for a farming internship or apprenticeship? Search the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Center's online directory of farming internships and apprenticeships to find one that interests you.
HOMEGROWN Life: The Farmer Goes Fishing
Coming back to agriculture and the farming life, I think every farmer should spend time as a fisherperson. If that were the case, I have a hard time believing Industrial Agriculture would have ever taken its foothold. Manure runs downhill as they say
Girl Out of Water - WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
Some things have come full circle, so now we have a chance to fix it right this time!
Homegrown Carrots
Homegrown vegetables are a lesson for kids in where food comes from.
Ground Operations
America needs one million new farmers. Veterans want the job.
Weather and Farmers Market Foods
August 3 to 9 is National Farmers Market Week! How does weather impact growth and harvest of fruits and vegetables? www.earthgauge.net/?p=36863
White House Launches Farmers Market
The White House will launch an open-to-the-public farmers market.
Conversation at the Farmers Market: Sharing a Love of Food
A farmers market is not only a place to purchase fresh produce; you can also count on going home with a new recipe or tip on how to prepare those yummy veggies and fruits.
Urban Homesteading: Fresh Peaches from the Local Farmers' Market
Look for local foods, such as fresh peaches, from your local farmers' market to make delightful summer desserts such as peaches and cream.
Market Farmers Share How They Deal With the Heat
If you're a market gardener battling the heat, you'll want to check out these great tips for keeping yourself and your crops cool.
Rooting a New Livelihood
New Roots for Refugees, a program in the Kansas City area, helps fleeing refugees establish a new home and contributes to the local food system.
Community Farms: The Ultimate Suburban Upgrade
A 30-acre organic and biodynamic farm is the beating heart of the thriving 1,000-acre Serenbe community near Atlanta. As more developers integrate agriculture into suburbia, the joys and benefits of farming are becoming available to everyone.
A Look at Sheep Shearing and Small-Scale Farming Artisans
Watch a video of a traveling sheep shearer at work and tell us about small-scale farming artisans in your region.
A Bygone Era - The Newspaper Boy
I learned life lessons early in life as a newspaper delivery boy. Valuable lessons that carried on though life.
A Citizen's Assembly In Support of Family Farmers vs. Monsanto
Wood Prairie Farm encourages citizens to sign a petition in support of family farmers and to attend the citizens assembly on January 31st, 2012.
How to Raise Pastured Pigs Without Buying Feed
When done right, you can reduce your feed costs by up to 75 percent - even after taking your fuel costs into account.
Equicert – A Radical New Premium Eco-Label
In 2010 former horse-powered produce grower Michael Hari launched Equicert, a business that provides services to horse powered farms.
Organic Herb Farm Wins Case Against Pesticide Drift
Jacobs Farm in Santa Cruz, Calif. was recently awarded $1 million in damages for lost income due to pesticide drift.
Congress to Cut Conservation Funding?
Congress is accused of bait-and-switch tactics when they propose millions in reductions to the conservation-related program assistance that helped pass the 2008 farm bill.
2009 Farmers Market Grants Are Available
Secure grant funds for your farmers market, community-supported agriculture program and more by applying to the USDA by April 27.
Growing Power: Youth Training and City Farming
Growing Power believes that youth working in city farms will grow, bloom and thrive right alongside the crops they cultivate.
Fresh or Frozen Organic Whole Turkeys
A quick guide to deciding whether fresh or frozen organic whole turkeys are right for you, your farm, or your family.
Rare Chicken Breeds at Greenfire Farms
Do you count yourself among the chicken-obsessed? Prepare to be truly impressed. In this blog, Jeannette Beranger of The Livestock Conservancy takes you on a photo tour of just a few of the eye-popping breeds found at Greenfire Farms in Havana, Florida.
Top 10 Reasons to Visit the Farmer's Market
As farmers markets open across the country, here are 10 good reasons to get out and support your local farmers. (The freshest seasonal food is just a part of it.)
GREEN vs. SUSTAINABLE
Future factors set a high standard for sustainable products and activities
Living The Sustainable Life: Interns, Building With Trash, and So Much More
Who would think it's possible to discover the artist in me, incubate a business, plus milk goats, grow a garden...all in one unforgettable summer. I'm a rich woman by any standard.
The Pressure Canner: My Favorite Preservation Tool
A pressure canner greatly expands the range of foods that can be safely canned at home.
Survival Vocabulary
With all the TV shows depicting "survival", I will sort through the various groups and argue that the reality shows are far from reality.
How to Choose the Right Knife
I'll let you in on a little secret; there is no PERFECT knife. Cutting tools are only as effective as the handler wielding them.
The Truth About Fire-Starting Tools
Which fire starting tool works best - or at all?
Darning Socks
Darning socks is a simple thing to do - and a statement for self-sufficiency!
NH Permaculture Gathering
The NH Permaculture Gathering is just a couple weeks away!
Self-Reliance for Everyone
If your job, finances, family commitments, etc., have thwarted or delayed your dreams of self-reliance, you don't have to wait until you can afford a 20 acre parcel. You can start working where you are now to build and nurture self-reliant living skills that are sure to provide you with more peace of mind and improved health, and will most likely be of great personal benefit during the coming decades of global challenge and change.
Coal-Mining in Appalachia and Growing Wheat in Kansas: Reconnecting a Family Tree
Emma Jane James of Appalachia, Virginia, inquires about her Kansan family tree and reminisces about better days in her coal-mining town, before mountaintop removal and pollution took their toll.
Spoon Carving from Green Wood
Spoon carving is good practice for hatchet and knife skills, and a spoon is a beautiful sculpture that feeds more than one hunger!
Australia to Texas - Learning Cheesemaking Skills
In order to build skills for our move from Australia to Texas, we have been taking various classes and workshops. Recently, we took a weekend workshop at an excellent cheese factory close to where we live on the Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne.
The Unsustainability of Local
A few months back I heard a comment on an NPR radio program that really caught my attention. The program was about the local food movement and at one point the guest on the show said, "Now remember - just because it's local doesn't necessarily mean it has a smaller carbon footprint. That Argentinian apple that was shipped on a barge with thousands of tons of other apples may actually have required less fuel per apple than the apple than came from a few hundred miles away in the back on a farmer's pickup."
Relearning to Sew On Treadle Sewing Machine
On our journey to self-reliance, my husband, Darren, and I have been gathering human-powered tools when we can find them. It's surprising and sad how quickly hand- and foot-powered tools were junked when electricity became available. From 1850 to 1890, more than 100 apple-pealing devices were patented. Then none, except those running on electric power. And so it goes with thousands of other nifty human-powered appliances.
How Bad Is Monsanto?
Coporations continue to purchase interests in seed industries. Could this be a problem?
What Skills/Knowledge Do You Need to Become a Farmer?
Farming isn't a skill that can be easily learned from a book. Here's some advice and a collection of resources to help you decide whether you're ready to try your hand at it.
Cover Crops: Add Some Oomph to Your Soil
Cover crops are grown between planting seasons as a way to give back to the soil what cultivation takes from it. And cover crops aren't just for large-scale growers—they can help you get the most out of your backyard vegetable garden too!
Why We Farm
It is a regular occurrence, a question we're asked: Why do we do all this work?
Farmers Swim, Too
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and West Missourian Bryce Oates explains how he and his family survive summer on the farm. Two words: swimming pool.
I'm Off to Intern at Polyface Farm!
I am off to Polyface Farm to intern for the summer and I'm so excited! I plan to write every week to explain to you what we are learning, how we spend our days, mistakes we make (that you can learn from) and basically anything that can help readers become better farmers and homesteaders. I'll include lots of photos too, so make sure to check back!
Sometimes It's Hard
Jenna Woginrich discusses the more difficult aspects of homesteading, and why it's worth it anyway.
HOMEGROWN Life: The Potato Bin Experiment
After a completely miserable potato harvest this year we've decided to pull them out of the ground and do them in boxes made out of pallets. That way we can use weedblock under them to eliminate the whole bindweed issue. So today, the boxes went up.
The Beginning Farmer: Death on the Farm, Part Two
A beginning farmer loses a friend and finds that solitary farming isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Barnheart: Yearning to be a Farmer
If you have a constant, overwhelming urge of wanting to be outside breathing in the fresh air and partaking in various farming activities, you may be suffering from barnheart.
HOMEGROWN Life: How to Schedule your Planting by the Moon
How to Schedule your Planting by the Moon
Why Homestead?
Raising and growing your own is more than a lifestyle — it is life.
Maine Leads the Way with Unique Farms
Mary Quinn Doyle shares a background about how she became involved in a volunteer project traveling around Maine for over two years visiting over 180 unique farms to take photos and write stories about them for an educational book and website.
Getting to Know the Farmers at Winter Green Farm, Part 1
Originally founded as a homestead in 1980 by Jack Gray and Mary Jo Wade, Winter Green Farm has grown to become a successful biodynamic farm in Oregon's southern Willamette Valley. This profile of Winter Green Farm has been excerpted from "Planting A Future: Profiles from Oregon's New Farm Movement."
HOMEGROWN Life: The Farmer's Truth About Keeping Goats
So, yes, I have become a lover of goats (and ducks have won me over, too). But the truth is, I can't wait to eat the boys.
HOMEGROWN Life: 10 Repurposed (Free or Cheap) Items You Should Have
None of these items' primary use is for gardening or livestock keeping but here we are using them all the time. So here's my list of items that you should keep around if you are an avid gardener or own livestock.
HOMEGROWN Life: "The Seasons Guide My Days Now"
HOMEGROWN Life blogger Dyan recalls how the seasons affected her childhood and how they guide her activities now on her Maine dairy farm.
HOMEGROWN Life: Flowers Aren't Just for Lookin' Pretty
The flowers weren't just there to be pretty. They provided a long blooming source of forage for our bees and the native pollinators.
The Beginning Farmer: Maintain A Kid-Friendly Fence
A beginning farmer realizes that time may be the farm's most important commodity.
Farm Fit for Life
How farm life will keep you fit so you can live a healthier and happier life.
Compost: The Other Prize from the Business End of a Chicken
Eggs aren't the only things that come from the business end of a chicken. But with a little time and materials, and even less ingenuity, the rest can set you up with a free and steady supply of valuable organic fertilizer.
How to Find Local Food and Farmers
Check out these great searchable databases and other resources for finding local food and farmers.
Find Local Food
These online tools can help you find the best sources for local food, including local farmers markets and community-supported agriculture programs.
Manure Can Make a World of Difference
Smallholder farmers around the world have practiced traditional, subsistence farming for as long as farming has been around. Using manure as a natural fertilizer can make the difference between barely scraping by and growing enough to earn an income.
Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training
The true essence of Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training and Archi's Acres is about lending a helping hand and empowering veterans to create a sustainable positive future through agribusiness.
Lithuanian Radishes
A Lithuanian farmers market seller displays sculpted red radishes with faces!
Autumn Changes: Organic, Local and Sustainable Food, and Our CSA
The benefits of a membership in a CSA and how supporting local organic farming is not only good for you but good for the Earth as well.
My 10-Day Local-Food Challenge Experience
The options for obtaining locally grown food have expanded in recent years, particularly with farmers markets. Expand your diet beyond your garden and meet the folks who can help you do that and stay local.
Why a Farmer Stars in My Response to Fifty Shades of Grey with Recipe
A forty-something woman stumbles into a booth at a farmer's market, looks up, and sees a handsome farmer. You may know that the blockbuster Fifty Shades of Grey also begins with a tumble and winds up with love. It's no coincidence: my book Fifty Weeks of Green is a comic response to Fifty Shades that celebrates sustainable living.
Pigs in Paradise: Tasting the Good Life at a Biodynamic Farm in Costa Rica
Finca Luna Nueva in Costa Rica's verdant San Carlos agricultural region is a dynamic, living example of permaculture and biodynamic farming, where every being is part of a system that nurtures the body and the soul.
What You Should Know About Animal Production Claims
Ever wondered about the real meaning behind terms like cage free, free range, and pasture raised?
Statement on Chicken Ordinances
We strongly support keeping a few chickens (hens only) within city limits. Feel free to use this statement if you're working to get an ordinance passed to allow chickens in your city.
Nothing Like A Little Duck Drama
Our first trip to the New England Meat Conference and some of the lessons we learned.
Meat Shopping Made Easy
It's hard to shop responsibly sometimes, especially for meat. There are so many different label claims that it's hard to remember which are meaningful and which are just fluff. Here's a handy reference card that will give more power to your purchases.
Rodale Institute and Uncle Matt's Organic announce Your 2 Cents Program to Fund New Farmers
Rodale Institute today announces the launch of Your 2 Cents, an innovative program that unites consumers and companies in support of the next generation of American farmers.
Renewable Energy on the Farm
There are many ways farmers can benefit from renewable energy, including wind energy, solar energy, energy efficiency and biofuels.
Improve Soil with Cover Crops
Managing Cover Crops Profitably, 3rd Edition, is now available in print and by download from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. Learn how to make your soil perform at its very best!
Let's Pay Farmers to be Good Stewards
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking comments on how to implement the new Conservation Stewardship Program. Here's the lowdown, plus instructions on how to submit your opinion — it's easy!
Who Will Benefit from the National Animal ID System?
The National Animal Identification Plan will be easily implemented by large factory farms, but it means trouble for smaller operations. Will the system really keep us safe from disease, or will industrial ag and tracking system manufacturers be the only beneficiaries?
Healing the Earth
Self-dubbed "lunatic farmer" Joel Salatin describes how sustainable living and more conscientious agricultural practices can mend and revive a planet pushed near the brink.
The Medicinal Properties of Neem
Neem (Azadirachta indica) is used in so many ways in herbal medicine, which is why it has been tagged the "village pharmacy." Neem is used to combat tiredness, cough, fever, loss of appetite, worm infestations and so much more.
Kubota Supports National Farm Safety and Health Week
Kubota Reinforces Important Tractor Safety Reminders in Observance of Harvest Season National Farm Safety and Health Week, September 20-26, 2009
In Colorado Neighborhood, Front Yard "Microfarms" Feed Community
In a Boulder, Colorado, neighborhood, residents are getting off the grass. They're donating their front yards to a community organization that grows enough fruits and vegetable on the former lawns to feed 50 families. Now, that's local food.
Why I'm Going Back to the Farm
Robert White is remaking himself as a farmer, and will return to his family's land to start a market garden. Here's why.
HOMEGROWN Life: More on the Drought
All of us farmers,large and small, are a big part of the engine that drives the economy of rural communities, rural counties and rural states.This year, we are learning a lot about what happens when that engine sputters.
HOMEGROWN Life: The Gift of a Good Rain
After months of waiting, worrying and hoping, the clouds finally arrived here at Yellabird Farm last week and brought us the long-sought gift of good rain. It was a great two days of slow and soaking moisture that the cracked soil guzzled up...
Crop Mob Revives Community Farming
In North Carolina's Triangle region, Crop Mob is reviving community farming.
Clean Energy Investment Soars to New Record
New investment in clean energy reached $243 billion last year, driven by soaring activity in China, offshore wind and European rooftop photovoltaics
Trimming the Yard with Oxen and Hand Scythes
Read about methods to utilize animal- and human- power for trimming the lawn and keeping back weeds, all free of fossil fuels.
Bread and Soup for Dinner
Stretching one's food dollar is an important issue in today's life. So is nutrition. Here, learn how to make healthy, nutritious soup and bread for lunch or supper economically. You might even come to love winter just to have soup and bread!
A New Blogger's Homesteading Journey Begins
Since her first house move, MOTHER EARTH NEWS blogger Cathie Ackroyd, has become so very conscious of the impact we humans have had and are having on our planet's environment and hoped to find a place to settle that would allow us to gain an element of self-sufficiency in a relatively car-free community.
My Exotic Daily Life
While many of those visiting our Hostel are farmers and homesteaders themselves, some come from that "city culture" and seem to take their first hesitant steps outside of a flatly paved driveway when they arrive at our place. Wide eyes, a sense of adventure.
Yes, You Can Can (and Cook, Too)!
People are often apprehensive about preserving their own food, whether they're intimidated by the process, or concerned about the safety of the finished product. As Sherri Brooks Vinton explains, it's time to bring canning back to the home kitchen.
Miller Manufacturing Adds New Beekeeping Supplies
Miller Manufacturing expands the Little Giant beekeeping supply product line.
How Do You Support Sustainable Farming?
Here's a helpful guide to help you make sustainable choices while shopping or out to eat. What else do you do to support sustainable farming practices?
The Farm on Three Mile Creek
A woman recalls her childhood memories on Three Mile Creek Farm including horses, a pig pen and a one-room school.
Heading Northwest to the Farm in Oregon
From breadlines in the city to hanging clothes to dry, a woman shares memories of her family's move from Los Angeles to a farm in Oregon during the Great Depression.
Urban Chicks: Raising Chickens in the City
Natural Home editor-in-chief Robyn Griggs Lawrence reviews the latest proposals banning urban chicken farming.
Michigan Farmers See a Cash Crop in Hemp
Farmers in northern Michigan urge county officials to support hemp farming.
Welcome to Common Fare
Radical homemaker Karen Keb introduces her new blog, which will cover topics as diverse as baking bread to raising livestock.
Girl Out of Water -- It's Snake Season!!
It's snake season, and I found a black snake out my back door!
Life on the Farm During the '50s and '60s
Carolyn shares nostalgic summer memories of life on the farm including owning a pet rooster, picking wild blackberries, and eating fried turtle.
Girl Out of Water - I Hate Bambi
If you think Bambi is cute, try keeping him out of your strawberry field!
What Are Some Resources That Might Help Me Find Cheap Land?
Here are a few sources that can help you find affordable farm land.
Consensus Still Lacking in Chicago on Proposed Urban Agriculture Zoning Changes
Urban Agriculture activists and advocates work to change the zoning laws in Chicago to be more friendly to urban agriculture.
Why I Farm
Farming brings with it a lot of dirt, manure and blood, not to mention death. But it's these that also make it so full of life.
KIOTI Tractor Revamps Parts Warehouse
KIOTI embarks on a major process upgrade to exceed the needs of their customer base.
Farming By the Book
Local farmers lease Amherst College land to provide for the school's dining hall.
National Alpaca Farm Days - September 24th and 25th
Members of the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA) are inviting the public to visit their farms and ranches on National Alpaca Farm Days on September 24th and 25th, 2011.
Surviving Drought in Your Garden in California or Anywhere
HOMEGROWN blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel outlines strategies for responsible drought gardening in her home state of California--or anywhere.
Of Death And Responsibility On The Farm
A beginner farmer learns about taking on the responsibility of raising animals.
Borrowing Against Life Insurance to Save the Farm
This fifth story from Robert Zwald talks about his efforts to keep his family farming through the depression, even after they lost their own land.
Urban Farms Bike Tour = Sunday Fun Day Adventure
Kansas City has a thriving city farming scene, and recently hosted an urban farms tour to showcase several of the city's market and community gardens. One of our editors pedaled along with a bike tour group to see what the city farmers have to offer.
Changes in Agriculture: Farming in the 1940s
Robert Zwald talks about farming equipment and selling his harvest in the 1940s. This is the sixth part of Robert's stories from the past, as compiled by his daughter, Ruth.
Becoming a Farmer in One Minute Flat
A nine-to-fiver turns a corner and leaves behind a twenty-year career to grow food amongst housing developments and strip malls.
The Beginning Farmer: Connection As Urban Advantage
A beginning urban farmer grows nothing without a smartphone.
HOMEGROWN Life: I Quit
Worrying about keeping up with Justin's chores while trying to maintain my 8-5 day job was a losing battle.
HOMEGROWN Life: Living The Dream (Sort Of) - Drought On The Farm
Drought is hard on us out here in Farm Country. But drought in the midst of boiling hot summer is amongst the worst conditions I can imagine.
HOMEGROWN Life: The Making of a Hugelkultur Bed
Hugelkultur is nothing more than making raised garden beds filled with rotten wood. This makes for raised garden beds loaded with organic material, nutrients, air pockets for the roots of what you plant, etc.
Homesteading Month Features Garden Therapy at In a Good Way Farm
Teddi Irwin sent us this great update on a Homesteading Education Month event held at IN A GOOD WAY, a training farm established to use therapeutic methods of farming to improve the lives of Native American men.
HOMEGROWN Life: HOMEGROWN Life: A Word on Efficiency (and Productivity and Sustainability)
One thing I know for sure is that many in the local farm and food scene are working through the same issue. We are numbers people in search of numbers. We aren't crazy unscientific loons like our industrial brothers and sisters think we are.
HOMEGROWN Life: An Ode To The Elusive Asparagus
We wanted to write up a post about asparagus to explain how farmers look at the crop, but also as a sort of apology to our customers. We have spent many hours in the field and on the phone seeking farmers with an existing asparagus supply. We had man
Dill Pickles ... and Straight Talk About Canning
There's no need to be afraid of canning. With basic skills a cook can safely prepare and process excess produce during the summer and have a ready supply all winter. An easy way to start is with dill pickles, with extras like garlic and hot peppers.
A Hoophouse on the Horizon
Putting up a hoophouse expands the growing opportunity into the barren winter months. A USDA program is helping market growers purchase a hoophouse to find out if local farmers and consumers reap benefits from extending local growing seasons.
Green Your Halloween
Before stocking up on chocolate treats this Halloween, learn where chocolate comes from, and at what cost to the environment and cocoa farming communities. Enjoy a spooky and sustainable holiday with Rainforest Alliance's tips for a green Halloween.
How to Run a Small Business
Creating your own start-up is full of obstacles, but rewarding. MOTHER EARTH NEWS reader Jessica Vaughan shares advice from her experience as a first-time small business owner who teaches clients how to grow organic produce.
Are Wind Farms Making People Sick?
In a recent study, researchers found that watching videos about wind farm-related illnesses made participants claim the same symptons.
Dear Mr. President-elect
Sustainable farming expert Michael Pollan has some words of wisdom for the next president of the United States.
HR 875: No Need For Alarm … Yet
Relax: HR 875 isn't a bill to outlaw organic farming, as you might have heard. But it's not exactly good news for pesticide-free producers, either. Here are the details.
The Facts About HR 875, 759 and 1322
More on the much-feared food safety bill, HR 875, and its Congressional counterparts.
A Bowl of Eat Local Wisdom: Lemongrass Tomato Soup
"The Cleaner Plate Club" co-author Beth Bader shares an adventure to the farmers market with her daughter, her "eat local" food values, and her recipe for Lemongrass Tomato Soup.
Maple Field Milk Test Results
We passed the "phosphataze" test with the Health Protection Agency and know that the milk from our dairy farm is safe to sell.
Testing Out the Meadow Creature Broadfork
David Goodman tests the Meadow Creature broadfork on his Florida farm and finds it to be amazing as heck.
What kind of barns, sheds or shelters do you have for your farm animals?
Tell us what kind of barns and sheds you prefer for your poulty and farm animals.
Small State, Big Power
Rhode Island plans to install large wind far off it's Atlantic Ocean shore.
Have You Had a Farming Accident?
Have you ever been injured on the farm? Tell us how you're doing, and share your advice on how we can avoid the same accident.
Homestead Fencing
It's spring! Time to think of installing permanent fencing.
A Year of Farming, A Year of Death
A year of many departures leaves a homesteader reeling.
Farm Gates: Weight Is More Important Than Gauge
Farm fencing expert Todd Harne talks about choosing the right gate for the right situation. He suggests that the weight of the gate is more critical than the gauge, but heavy gates aren't necessary for all situations.
Stop Putting off Chickens, Seriously
It's possible to live without chickens in your back yard. But why would you want to?
Adirondack Rural Skills Festival: Shining Example of Homesteading Month Event
An article from the Adirondack Daily Enterprise covering an International Homestead Education Month event that took place at Paul Smith's College on September 29, 2012.
Loss of Food Skills Ongoing
The further degradation of our societal food skills are examined here, with small town food craftsmen becoming an endangered species, in this case, my local butcher.
Homesteading Month Brings Country Skills Workshop to Today's Abundant Living
Jim and Holly Smith, founders of Today's Abundant Living, sent us this great review of a Homesteading Education Month open house and country skills workshop they hosted at their Michigan homestead.
The State of Organic Farming, From Yesterday to Tomorrow
The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service held its 25th conference from Feb. 27 though March 1. Here are the main takeaways about where organic farming has come from and where it's headed.
Feeding Communities With City Farming
A potential solution to rising food prices, food insecurity and the obesity epidemic may call into play raising farms inside the city limits.
Transformation Tuesday: An Abandoned Detroit Lot Becomes a Thriving Community Garden
The Spirit of Hope garden in Detriot offers a safe, nurtuting place for plants and children to grow.
Hydroponic Vegetable Gardening: Could Soil Go Out of Style?
Recently a trend in farming called hydroponics has resurfaced and gained national attention that has grown in popularity with some, but has left others with mixed feelings.
Maple Field Milk: Oh, That 6 Acres
The fields that were laid out in 1843 for livestock farming are teeming with hay-making grasses.
Epilogue: The Wisconsin Farm
Robert Zwald finishes his short memoir with a record of his Wisconsin farm in the 1960s and the growth of his family. This is the eighth part of his stories, as compiled by his daughter, Ruth.
Montana Woman Issued State's First License to Grow Hemp
To protest the ban on hemp farming, six hemp activists symbolically planted hemp seeds on the lawn of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Girl Out of Water - September is Finally Here!
September is here and I'm expecting the weather to break!
Tractors vs. Horses Amish-style
Using horses rather than tractors may turn out to be the greenest way to farm.
Girl Out of Water - A Country Potty
Dealing with potties out in the country.
Girl out of Water - This Summer Heat!
Things that come to mind while watching my husband and son work in this heat.
Winfred During the Depression
Vickie Evans describes her grandparents' life in Winfred during the Depression and the years following. Both came from farming families and used their land and farming knowledge to help the local community.
A Farm in Appalachian Country
A boy growing up in Appalachian Country shares the farming practices of his family.
The Manure Diaries
Manure-spreading day is a big event on the farm, for everyone from the chickens to the border collies. And it's part of a wonderful seasonal cycle that's the foundation of self-reliance and sustainability.
Steve's Meat
It's a challenge to describe the place where I take my livestock when it's time for them to cease being my companions, and to become my product instead. I call Steve's Meats in DeSoto, Kansas, the "packer." And, indeed, when I stopped off there this morning they had about 800 pounds of beef frozen and packed, ready for me to take home. It filled the freezer to the rim.
Nominations Sought for 2015 Moses Organic Farmer of the Year Award
The Midwest Organic Sustainable Education Service is looking for an organic farmer worthy of being named their 26th annual Organic Farmer of the Year.
My Newfound Appreciation for Country Music
Cam learns to appreciate country music.
Thank God I'm a (Transplanted) Country Boy
Cam has a great deal of respect for farmers.
CSA Is Rooted in Black History
Exploring the roots of the CSA concept.
End-of-Season in the Greenhouse
As winter descends a three-season hoop house is weeded, compost spread, and a straw mulch applied. Next spring will be here soon.
Wood Heat
Wood is our source of heat for the winter, as are sweaters and hats!
Thoughts On Food - From My Swing
Contemplations on what we eat and why we pay close attention to our food.
HOMEGROWN Life: BM (Before Milking) and AM (After Milking)
HOMEGROWN Life blogger Dyan Redick divides her time differently these days, Before Milking and After Milking, in the wake of spring births on her Maine dairy farm.
Tour Polyface with Joel Salatin and Enjoy "Save Your Bacon" Weekend
Save the date for the Polyface Farm "Save Your Bacon" event.
HOMEGROWN Life: The Language of Animals
As fall wanes, HOMEGROWN Life contributor Dyan spends time observing and learning from the language of animals on her Maine dairy farm.
Joel Salatin's Family Opens Farm for a Field Day Celebrating 'Integrity Food'
Joel Salatin and his family open their farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley on July 19th to celebrate what he calls "integrity food." Events will feature walking tours of pastured livestock, intensive seminars and demonstrations on rabbit rearing and more.
This is Life on the Farm and Change is in the Air
Life on a family farm is never dull and full of surprises to keep a farmer on their toes.
Farm Equipment, Antiques and Collectibles
If you like steam- and gas- powered engines and farm equipment, you will love these three magazines and websites: Farm Collector, Gas Engine and Steam Traction.
Top Three Equipment Choices to Conquer Your Springtime Farm and Ranch Tasks
Todd Harne shares his "must-have" pieces of equipment to tackle his spring chores around the farm.
Learning From the Past: An Adventure in Farm History, Part 2
Originally from small Prussian villages, th Bruchmillers immigrated to Kansas and started a farm. Now the current owner of the same farmland, the author describes the immigrants' stories in Part Two of a four-part series on tracing farm history.
Learning From the Past: Adventures in Farm History, Part 3(2)
Learn what a typical family homestead in the late 19th century produced: The diversity and efficiency is surprising and inspiring information for any modern homesteader! This is Part Three of a four-part series on the author's work to discover the history of her farm.
Learning From the Past: Adventures in Farm History, Part 3
Learn what a typical Kansas family homestead in the late 19th century produced: The diversity and efficiency of their farm sales is surprising and inspiring information for any modern homesteader! This is Part Three of a four-part series on the author's work to discover the history of her farm.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Nine
This week was a lot of fence line and firewood work, a water systems discussion with Joel Salatin, fun with turkeys and my birthday on the farm (with a surprise guest).
HOMEGROWN Life: Thank you, E. B. White
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Maine dairy farmer Dyan Redick discovers a kindred soul in E. B. White when she reads the essay Memorandum, from his 1944 collection, 'One Man's Meat.'
Land Conservation Versus New Farmers: The Fight for Farm Bill Funding
According to a recent Congressional Research Service report, nearly 40 programs, from land conservation to support for beginning farmers and ranchers, are set to lose funding in the upcoming 2012 Farm Bill.
21 Goat-Farm Medical Supplies You Should Never Be Without
Includes a list of 21 must-have medical supplies a goat farm should never be without and a list of some nice to haves we have at Serenity Acres Farm.
Building a Sustainable Farm Business Operation
You can start a productive small farm business rather quickly if you use a business operations approach from the beginning. You may have what it takes if you own some property and are willing to work hard for successful results. Farming is also a practice in which traits like patience and persistence come in handy when everything goes wrong at the same time. These are all parts of the farming business and should be considered valuable lessons learned because they are only attained by experience.
The Gods and the Sheep Mock Me
How sheep teach and humiliate a grown man.
HOMEGROWN Life: How to Can Safely
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel of Dog Island Farm covers the essentials of how to can safely.
HOMEGROWN Life: Improve Your Soil Health
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and West Missouri farmer Bryce Oates shares his approach to improving soil health and preparing a soil microbe brew.
New T-Post Extractor from JackJaw
JackJaw's new T-post extractor is durable and lightweight.
Kencove Acquires Forester Industries
Forester Industries, LLC, the exclusive manufacturer of PasturePro fencing, has been acquired by Kencove Farm Fence Supplies.
New Holland Launches the T4 Series Tractors, a New Generation of Utility Tractors
New Holland has introduced its next generation of hardworking utility tractors, the T4 Series. This tailored offering produces between 84 to 106 horsepower thanks to powerful 4-cylinder engines with Common Rail technology and a Cooled Exhaust Gas Recirculation system to meet Tier 4A compliance.
Photo of the Week: Dog Days of Summer
This picture will bring a smile to your face and make you think of your own family pet.
A Renter's Homestead
You don't have to be a homeowner to homestead. No matter where you live, you can start practicing the skills you need for a more self-reliant, sustainable life.
What Was Your First Farm Animal?
On the farm their can be lots of animals. Do you remmeber your first farm animal?
The Greenest Grocery Bag Ever: A Dog Pack
With a well-designed dog pack, you can take your dog to the farmer's market and your pet won't mind helping you carry a few groceries.
Kasco Manufacturing Introduces 10' Vari-Slice Seeder
Kasco Manufacturing introduced a new 10' wide Vari-Slice seeder at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Ky. The Vari-Slice seeder is suitable for applications including pasture seeding, beef, dairy and horse farms for worked or no-till conditions and where tight germination of grass seed is needed.
Dixie Chopper Zee 2 Mowers Designed for High-Performance Residential Use
Dixie Chopper, the manufacturer of The World's Fastest Lawn Mower, offers the Zee 2 series, its newest and largest line of residential zero-turn lawn mowers. Ideal for large property owners, Zee 2 mowers include a variety of features for fast performance, quality cutting and comfortable operation.
Ice, Propane, Magma and Money
Publisher Bryan Welch doesn't make his living on the farm, which he says is a good thing. He writes about his steps and missteps in his first year using an automatic waterer for his cattle, and the first winter test.
Dr. Doolittle the Diplomat
Teaching a farm dog — a livestock guard dog — which animals to protect and which animals not to isn't an easy task. Learn about the protector/protectee animal relationships at Rancho Cappuccino, and about how the Rancho guard animals are taught to protect their charges.
HOMEGROWN Life: Why Homesteaders Do What We Do
Sometimes even HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel of Dog Island Farm needs a reminder why she puts up with the goat feed, the chicken poop, the cat puke, and the never-ending mud. Here's a hint: It involves good food.
Belonging: When New Farmers Feel Like Outsiders
It's never easy to be the new guy (or gal), and that goes for new farmers and ranchers, too. Since beginning a farm, one homesteader writes how she found her own sense of belonging as an urban transplant in rural setting.
Give Fleece a Chance
Jenna has three new sheep on the homestead and she's already learning a lot.
Learning From the Past: An Adventure in Farm History
Part One of a four-part series describing one homesteader's search for the history of the farm she and her family now call home. Her search leads her back in time, starting in Germany and following the lives of the immigrants through settling down in Kansas and, finally, to the day she and her husband purchased the property.
New Year's Revolution: Stop Making Excuses!
If you want to achieve your goals, stop making excuses for the things that go wrong on your path to success. Learn from them. Never stop trying to improve. And never stop trying. Work smart and hard.
New Year's Revolution: Practice Random Acts of Kindness
Get out of your shell and lend a hand to those around you, even perfect strangers – you'll be amazed at what you become and how your kindness touches others
Regenerative Agriculture
Focus on Food records an episode from Chaffin Orchards and discusses sustainable farming and the ethics of eating meat.
New Farm Bill Could Undermine Conservation, Nutrition
Proposals to weaken the links among conservation, farming and fair access to food would worsen the problems of U.S. agriculture.
Homesteading Month Supports Canadian Farming
Writer and Canadian farming enthusiast, Joseph Graham sent this review of the event that he and his wife hosted for Homesteading Education Month.
Farming Is Hard Work
It takes a few good rationalizations to get through the busiest part of the growing season.
Biological Farming Trending Up
A description of a pioneering workshop featuring no-till, cover crop cocktails and mob grazing. Douglas County Conservation Service educated local farmers in cutting-edge biological farming techniques.
Greater Life Force In the Garden: A Soil Fertility Manifesto
I, alone, am no one. I do not grow food. I do not water the garden. I do not photosynthesize. I do not put the life force in the soil. I do not make the seed. A natural force other than I is responsible for all this. That same natural force uses this body I like to consider my own to garden.
Permaculture as a Global Solution
Permaculture is at the heart of the solution of many environmental crises. Permaculture is alive with the possibilities of positive change.
Use and Status of Rotenone in Organic Growing
Is rotenone organic? The Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) sorts out that complicated question about a pesticide being used on some organic farms.
20th Annual Organic Growers School Takes Place in March
The 20th-Annual Organic Growers School takes place March 8 through March 10 at the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA) in Asheville, N.C. The event, which is open to the public, provides practical, region-appropriate organic growing and permaculture workshops, homesteading and rural living classes, as well as a seed exchange, silent auction and trade show.
Girl Out of Water - Our Cows
Learning to raise cows is more of a challenge than you would imagine!
Benefits of Backyard Eggs
Free-range, backyard eggs are better for your health and your ethics.
Organic Agriculture: An Increasing Global Trend
The Worldwatch Institute declares that many people worldwide are turning to organic agriculture to feed themselves and others, while feeling good about protecting the environment in a time of economic depression.
Healthier Rivers Through Urban Agirculture
Productive urban landscapes, if managed correctly, can reduce pollution in local watershed.
Sorghum Revival: Shared Memories of Sorghum Production on an Amish Farm
Arthur Bolduc shares his story of experiencing life near an Amish community in Ohio, where he enjoyed the exciting process of sorghum production firsthand.
Girl Out of Water - Farm Friends
Finding friends out in the country can be challenging.
A Lesson in History and Gratitude
Cam enjoys a visit with Ken & Madeline who farmed this property many years ago and Cam realizes how hard farming was back then....
New Boom for Real Estate: Community Gardens
Real estate and land use demands have many people left on a waiting list by their local community gardens. Never fear: There's still plenty of options to get growing!
Drought is Not Our Friend
When it's too hot outside, the work moves inside, and is still REALLY HOT.
We're Not From Around Here
Where is the strange and wonderful place this homesteader describes? And how do you get there?
Dealing With Drought
It's been a rough summer for gardeners and farmers alike. Here's how we've been dealing with drought and a few tips on watering.
Aquaponic Farmers Josh and Alicia Davis
Young, pioneering aquaponic farmers like Josh and Alicia Davis, who own and operate an aquaponics farm in the Midwest, are reshaping the future of food in the United Sates. Folks like these surely do inspire others to think differently about their food.
Another Field Contaminated with Unapproved GE Wheat
After finding the illegal presence of genetically engineered wheat in Oregon, the USDA has found another, similar case in Montana.
Getting to Know the Farmers at Winter Green Farm, Part 2
The six owners of Oregon's Winter Green Farm have effectively navigated the journey from homestead to successful biodynamic farm. This profile of Winter Green Farm has been excerpted from "Planting A Future: Profiles from Oregon's New Farm Movement."
The Problem with Pedestals
West Missouri farmer Bryce Oates explains why he has a problem with putting farmers, among others, on pedestals.
Digging for Answers: Exploring Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming
This post features a short excerpt from my book "The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming" and introduces my motivations in food, agriculture and community empowerment.
Agriculture and the Environment
While productivity is often the name of the game at large farms, local food, minimal environmental impact and healthy conditions for farm workers also are hot topics today. Yet, our agriculture — and our living — have a greater impact on the environment and the life it supports than these issues alone address.
A Passion For Blueberries
It's always wonderful to meet someone who is passionate about what they do!
Starting a Flock of Chickens: 5 Important Tips for Success
For first-time chicken owners (or even for experienced chicken enthusiasts), selecting, purchasing, and preparing for your home chicken flock can seem like a daunting task. After thirty years of raising chickens, here's Forrest Pritchard's personal guide to ensure your new flock remains safely tucked beneath your wing so you can start a flock of chickens without worry.
Visions of Seed Packets
With spring on its way, I am thinking about gardening, home grown food and what it takes to grow plants from seed.
Local Economics
D Acres offers alternative economics. We are the 99&: join us.
Mulching with Leaves
Leaves are a valuable source of mulch and fertility within the permaculture garden.
Preparing Potatoes for Winter Storage
The process of curing potatoes for winter storage.
Russians Prove Small-Scale Organic Can Feed the World
Using an old-world technique, Russians are growing their own organic crops -- and it's working.
Living on a Self-Sustaining Farm in Mid-20th Century Virginia
This blog post tells what life was like on the self-sustaining farm of Olen and Anna Mae Showman located in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia during the middle of the 20th century.
Organic Farming Conference Returns to Wisconsin
The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) hosts its 23rd annual Organic Farming Conference, February 23-25, 2012, at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wis.
Corporations are Going Green--Slowly but Surely
While corporate progress toward sustainability may seem agonizingly slow, GreenBiz editors found plenty to cheer about in 2010--and believe 2011 will be a banner year for green initiatives.
Our Solar-Powered Tractor
The solar-powered tractor was painted Terry's favorite color—green—before the motor was strapped in. After the motor was installed a battery stand was welded over the top of the DC drive motor which is large enough to accommodate twelve 250-amp deep-cycle batteries. Once the performance controller was installed battery cables were run, linking the batteries together.
Burnt Rock Farm: Resources to Help the New Agrarian Succeed
Two young Vermonters make the small farm a reality with some creative financing.
Full Circle: a WWOOFer's Perspective
A WWOOFer (Worldwide Opportunity on Organic Farms reflects on her second visit to an organic herb farm, where she learned more about plant harvesting, medicine making and natural building
Local Shops Buy Local Milk
Five shops depend on Whitey Top farm for fresh milk supplies.
Maple Field Milk: Any Excuse to Eat Horseradish
Now the milk is in the chill room and we can eat cheese and freshly made chiabata with nearby cheese and horseradish sauce.
Adopting an Adult or Rescue Livestock Guard Dog
Re-homed adult or rescue LGDs are another option when you are looking for a working livestock guard dog for your farm.
More Questions To Ask Yourself Before Selecting a Livestock Guard Dog
In our last few posts, we've been looking at the various breeds of livestock guard dogs. But before you start looking at advertisements or litters of puppies, there are a few more questions for you to ask yourself. They are centered on two broad issues – your predator problems and your farm or homestead.
What is the Difference Between a Livestock Guard Dog and a Family Companion?
In this post, Jan Dohner describes the different roles a livestock guard dog can perform on a farm or homestead - a full-time livestock guardian, a general farm guardian, or a family companion.
21 Things You Should Know About Goats Before You Start a Goat Farm
21 things you should know or wish you had known before starting a goat farm.
Location, Location, Location: Siting Beehives
Take a look around your property and decide where to put your new beehives. Some considerations for hive placement.
The Joy of Physical Labor
A meditation on the benefits and fulfillment found in the physical labor of homesteading chores.
Building a Pig Hut for Dummies
Instructions for a quick, easy and affordable method of building portable shelters for your pastured pigs
A New Blogger at The Farm Community
For more than 40 years, The Farm Community in Tennessee has been on the forefront of farming, gardening and the green lifestyle.
Slow Down for Safety During the Hustle of Harvest
Kubota reinforces tractor and heavy equipment safety for the whole family.
The March Goes On - Demanding Mandatory Labels for Genetically Engineered Foods
A few hundred protestors from across the country arrived at the White House last month, the culmination of the two-week GMO Right2Know March that began in New York City on October 1. (Congratulations all you brave marchers - my feet ache just thinkin
American Society of Safety Engineers' Ag Branch Encourages Use of ROPS
The American Society of Safety Engineers' Ag Branch encourages purchasing tractors with a Rollover Protection Structure. Programs exist that will help offset the cost of the ROPS to add to older tractors. Tractor rollovers are common accidents that will lead to severe injury or death, but an ROPS will keep the driver safe.
AGCO Introduces Three RoGator High-Clearance Sprayers for 2012
The bar has been raised once more as AGCO Application Equipment introduces for 2012 three new RoGator high-clearance sprayers designed with even more power.
A New Jersey Girl Comes to Misty Mountain Farm in Virginia
We buy a Jersey cow to use as a calf foster mom.
New Holland Agriculture Unveils New Tractors, Haytools and More
New Holland Agriculture is unveiling new equipment, and exciting new technology at the 2012 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa.
Mahindra USA Launches 13 New Tractor Models for 2011 Season
Mahindra USA, the leader in affordable, high-quality farm equipment, continues its commitment to provide hard-working, high value tractors in the United States with the launch of 13 new models for the 2011 season.
Welcome Spring to Your Homestead
Yes, spring is finally here. Time to start farming.
Before It All
Jenna Woginrich reflects on her journey from fresh out of college, city-dwelling designer to determined homesteader, and offers encouragement to those with similar dreams.
NativeEnergy Celebrates 10 Years of Innovation
NativeEnergy, an innovator in the United States carbon market, today launched its year-long 10-Year Anniversary program.
Dogsleds: The Other Snowmobile
Dogsleds are clean, green and run on renewable energy.
Visiting Grandpa on His Urban Farm
Carmen Ortiz shares stories of visiting grandpa on his urban farm where she learned to milk cows, avoided the outhouse and gained an appreciation for gardening.
NativeEnergy Celebrates 10 Years of Innovation(2)
NativeEnergy, an innovator in the United States carbon market, today launched its year-long 10-Year Anniversary program.
A Granola Recipe to Feed the Masses
Going camping, hiking, or canoeing this summer? HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel shares a big-batch granola recipe that will feed your entire group—or one hungry teen.
Spiller Farm Addresses Hunger and Land Preservation Issues in Maine
Spiller Farm has a history of growing incredible amounts of food for those in need. They are presently working on steps to make sure that their farm and land will always have a focus on agricultural undertakings.
Transitions: Preparing the Farmer for Winter
It's important to prepare your Micro Dairy or small farm for winter by making small improvements to your facilities. But it's also important to mentally prepare for the dark, cold months.
Home from Polyface Farm
Kristen describes returning from her summer internship at Polyface Farm and explains what she's been up to since.
Considering Neighbors, Tractors and Time
Sometimes even — perhaps especially — those whose lives are full with experience, knowledge and good living can find that as their time begins to dwindle, there isn't quite enough. Not that that's anything other than as it should be.
Emerging Brawn
Work on the farm gets easier as kids grow and get physically able to tackle chores with more strength.
HOMEGROWN Life: Why the Buckeye Needs to Make a Comeback
HOMEGROWN Life blogger Rachel, of Dog Island Farm, argues in favor of her favorite chicken breed, the Buckeye.
What's Your Favorite Farm or Homestead Name?
Homesteads and farms often have fun or touching names that etch themselves into our memories. Is there one that has stuck in yours?
Springtime Madness: Lovin' It
The peaceful tranquility of farm life is often more or less controlled chaos, especially during the busy spring season!
Truck Love
The importance of a good pickup truck for the modern homesteader.
KIOTI Tractor Sees Record Growth in 2013
KIOTI tractor company realizes significant growth in North American markets.
Old Time Farm Talk: A Homesteader's Narrative
Farmers sure have their own way of talking — from the cadre of names for animals to the meaning of "shit," we'll explore and unravel some of the greater and lesser known sayings in Old Time Farm Talk.
HOMEGROWN Life: Buyer Beware, Don't Plant Those Seedlings Just Yet
We know you're anxious to get growing! But HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel says it's not time to plant seedlings just yet.
2013 Farm Bill Should Be Healthy Food Bill
As Congress considers the 2013 Farm Bill, it has the opportunity to enact legislation that protects and supports the nation's family farmers and market gardeners, in addition to protecting consumers and the environment.
Michigan Attacks Heritage Hogs; Farmers Fight Back
It has been fifteen months since heritage breed hog farmer Mark Baker sued the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to stop the implementation of an invasive species order (ISO). The swine ISO supposedly targeted feral swine but could be applied to any domestic pig not raised in confinement. Baker has yet to have his day in court and it is still not settled when his trial will take place. It is common for lawsuits like this to turn into wars of attrition; the state has virtually unlimited resources while the farmers are bled of theirs over the course of the litigation.
Farm Bill Cuts Should Target the Biggest Subsidy Recipients
In The Land Institute senior scientist Stan Cox's critique of the 2013 Farm bill, it's argued that more federal support could be shifted to food security and conservation if less were going to Big Ag.
One Woman Farm Book Boosts Spirits
Jenna Woginrich's latest book, "One Woman Farm," whisks readers away.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Four
One month into my Polyface Summer Internship! This week was focused on processing birds, hay and a lesson on Cow Days with Joel Salatin.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Three
Week three of my Polyface Farm summer internship! Lots of hay and some other things, too.
Oatmeal Bread Made With Sorghum
There's nothing like an old cookbook filled with good recipes to warm your kitchen and your home!
Roper David Key Wins Roping Classic
Professional team ropers David Key and Jade Corkill are the new Grand Champions of the 29th Annual George Strait Team Roping Classic.
Seattle Offers Guidelines for Good Food Policy
Seattle leads the way in asking the federal government to implement a comprehensive, health-focused food system.
Cape Wind Approved
Recent approval by the Obama administration of the Massachusetts based Cape Wind project creates the potential for 130 offshore wind turbines, which are predicted to produce up to 468 megawatts of wind power.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Ten
This week at Polyface Farm included mornings with rabbits, fence line work, moving calves and my first foray into canning.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Twelve
This week of my Polyface Farm summer internship included a forestry lesson from Joel Salatin, installing my first fence, and the introduction of Polyface's new guardian dog puppy, Cody!
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Thirteen
Week thirteen of my Polyface Farm summer internship brought two high volume chicken processing days, lots of chicken catching, moving pigs and catching a loose steer.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Fourteen
This week at my Polyface Farm Summer Internship, I spent working with turkeys, touring our local USDA inspected abattoir, prepping for the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund's annual fundraiser and processing stewing hens.
HOMEGROWN Life: Utility or Useless?
Clearly the NACE considers "useless" degrees to be ones in which pay is low and availability of jobs is scarce. However, shouldn't measuring the usefulness of an education take into account the actual benefits bestowed upon the person doing the study
New Year's Revolution: Trust in Allah, but Tether Your Camel
We all have dreams but why is it that some are so lucky that they come true?
Bricks and Potatoes
As I go along, I pull out pebbles occasionally, but only one large stone. Time and time again, however, my hands pry free the remnants of bricks. As late afternoon turns to early evening and my work for the day is nearing completion, a collection of the ruddy-colored artifacts is stacked to one side. The sight of them calls up something nostalgic in me, broken bits suggesting a history that is largely lost.
Sustainable Farming with Reynaldo Ochoa: Rainforest Hero
Reynaldo Ochoa, the subject of a new short film, grows with a goal of teaching and practicing permaculture unique to an individual's region, emphasizing sustainable farming as opposed to "slash and burn" agriculture.
Releasing an Accidentally Trapped Skunk
Organic gardeners often need to remove mammal pests such as groundhogs and raccoons. Like many, I use live traps. How to deal with a skunk you accidentally catch, without getting sprayed?
Growing Up Poor on a 1-Acre Farm
Gene GeRue relates the lessons he learned from a childhood of frugal living.
Back to the Roots Certified as a B Corporation
The Oakland, California-based urban farming company manufactures grow-your-own oyster mushroom kits with soil made from recycled coffee grounds.
A New Customizable Application for Farmers and Gardeners
Weather.com now features customizable local weather applications, including an Agriculture Application with great tools for farmers and gardeners.
New Holland Announces Contest to Win a 5-year Tractor Lease in the Boomer 555 Contest
Beginning July 1, 2011 and continuing for the next five months, legal residents of the U.S. and Canada can enter to win a five-year lease of a New Holland Boomer 30 compact tractor and loader with the industry-leading Boomer Guard5.
Beautiful, Rustic Dog Fence
This rustic, resourcefully sustainable dog fence fits right into the landscape. Before you install a fence, look around your place first to see what's already available.
The Beekeeper's Apprentice Steps Up
Check out the installation process of an urban beehive.
Butchering the New Year's Duck
As New Year's Eve approaches, friends butcher the ducks they've raised in their rice paddies and share some thoughts on "The Power of Duck."
Revised Bill Opens Gulf to More Pollution
Important provisions in the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act have been removed, which would leave the Gulf of Mexico open to damage from unsustainable fish farming methods.
Struggling to Grow Food and Find Work During the Great Depression
C. Murray shares his experiences finding work to support his family as a child during the Great Depression.
Girl Out of Water - Tractors
Learning to clear fields can be fun!
Reconnect With Your Food and Grow Your Own
When you grow your own food, you not take a step towards self-sufficiency. You also make a move towards better health and whole new relationship with your food.
The Goat Whisperer
Learn from the trials and tribulations of a beginning dairy goat owner!
Girl out of Water - Blackberry Picking
Blackberry picking only happens at the height of summer, but is well worth the thorn wounds!
Summer Weeding
Weeding in the summer is all about species maintenance
Girl out of Water - Pilgrims
Clearing your land to ready it for farming can be quite a challenge!
How to Use Manure in Organic Growing
Lindsay Fernandez-Salvador explains the best ways to use animal manure while organic farming.
Missouri Organic Association Conference
The Missouri Organic Association is gearing up for its 2015 Annual Conference in Springfield, Mo, on February 5th, 6th and 7th at University Plaza Hotel and Conference Center.
A Great Herdswoman's Legacy Lives On
Homegrown.org blogger Dyan Redick of Bittersweet Farm honors - and helps keep alive - the legacy of fellow Maine goat herdswoman Pixie Day.
Building a Better Chicken Tractor
Our quest to make pasture egg collection more efficient.
Seven Springs Speaker Spotlight: Doug Van Haitsma, Micro Farmer
Doug Van Haitsma of the Mon Valley Initiative will present a workshop on micro farms at the Mother Earth News Fair, an annual sustainability festival, September 24-25, 2011 in Seven Springs, Pa.
Puyallup Speaker Spotlight: Rene' Skaggs
Rene' Skaggs of the Pierce Conservation District will present a workshop on increasing pasture productivity at the Mother Earth News Fair, an annual sustainability festival, June 4-5, 2011 in Puyallup, Wash.
Puyallup Speaker Spotlight: Christy Hemenway, Honeybee Expert
Christy Hemenway of Gold Star Honeybees will present a workshop on beekeeping at the Mother Earth News Fair, an annual sustainability festival, June 4-5, 2011 in Puyallup, Wash.
Puyallup Speaker Spotlight: Daniel Kosel, Rancher
Daniel Kosel of Red Poll Cattle will present a workshop on Red Poll Cattle Ranching at the Mother Earth News Fair, an annual sustainability festival, June 4-5, 2011 in Puyallup, Wash.
Puyallup Speaker Spotlight: Joel Salatin, livestock expert
Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms will present a workshop on localized food systems and pastured livestock at the Mother Earth News Fair, an annual sustainability festival, June 4-5, 2011 in Puyallup, Wash.
Puyallup Speaker Spotlights: Kirk Haffner, Solar Power Expert and Jeff Swotek of the USDA
Kirk Haffner, solar power expert, and Jeff Swotek of the USDA will present workshops on solar power and USDA programs at the Mother Earth News Fair, an annual sustainability festival, June 4-5, 2011 in Puyallup, Wash.
Puyallup Speaker Spotlight: Darrell Frey, Permaculture and Bioshelter Design Specialist
Darrel Frey, permaculture specialist, will present workshops on permaculture and bioshelter design at the Mother Earth News Fair, an annual sustainability festival, June 4-5, 2011 in Puyallup, Wash.
This Little Pig Went to Market: Puyallup Speaker Feature, Cheryl 'the Pig Lady' Ouellette
Cheryl "the Pig Lady" Ouellette will present workshops on meat processing, growing meat for market, free-range pork, and growing what you love at the Mother Earth News Fair, an annual sustainability festival, June 4-5, 2011 in Puyallup, Wash.
Puyallup Speaker Spotlight: Steven Moize, Seventh Generation Farmer
Steven Moize of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy will present a workshop on rotational grazing at the Mother Earth News Fair, an annual sustainability festival, June 4-5, 2011 in Puyallup, Wash.
Environment and Society: Where is the Disconnect?
K.C. Compton takes a glance at more than two dozen trends that are shaping our future, which are documented in the Worldwatch Institute's latest publication, "Vital Signs, Volume 21."
Interview With Tanya Fields: Urban Farming and Food Sovereignty Activist
Tanya Fields, named the Eco-Warrior of the Food System, discusses how she came to be an urban farming and food sovereignty activist working to empower women and change the food landscape in the underserved neighborhoods of New York City.
The 80/20 Rule of Homesteading
This current situation is a perfect example of the 80/20 rule of homesteading: 80 percent of your time, energy and effort is spent on maintenance; 20 percent on progress towards the dream. A majority of your time homesteading is spent covered in chicken poop, squashing potato bugs, figuring out why gas isn't getting to the carburetor in the ATV and shoveling snow after dark by headlamp.
Living on a farm in the city
Don't let your wanderlust for more space hold you back from creating your homestead in the city.
What a Mild Winter Means
The good, the bad and the ugly of a nice mild winter and its effects on the homestead in 2012.
The Great Goat Rebellion
Even dairy goats can have self-esteem issues...
'Farming the Woods' by Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel
In Farming the Woods, authors Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel teach readers how to fill forests with food by viewing agriculture from a remarkably different perspective: that a healthy forest can be maintained while growing a wide range of food, medicinal, and other non timber products. Forest farming is an invaluable practice to integrate into any farm or homestead, especially as the need for unique value-added products and supplemental income becomes increasingly important for farmers.
Third-Party Certification - A Tool to Ensure Sustainability
As a third-party certifier, the Rainforest Alliance ensures that farms and forests are sustainable environmentally, socially and economically. The green frog seal and the FSC logo have become widely recognized, credible symbols of sustainability.
If You Eat, Breathe, Drink Water or Care, It's Time to Make Noise About the Farm Bill
The U.S. Farm Bill will be renewed in 2013 with a plan to cut major funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Farmers With Benefits
Despite the recession, farmers, on average, have been more successful than non-farmers. So why keep expanding their subsidies?
Sneak Preview of the First CSA Harvest
A first look at the newest vegetable crops in the garden before the CSA harvests begin.
Sometimes No Strings Are the Best Strings
One of the oldest CSAs in the country and how they do it.
The Mother Goose of the Farm
An aging goose gains a family.
How to Reliquify Crystallized Honey
Beekeeping expert Betty Taylor explains how to reliquify crystalized honey while maintaining color, quality, and nutrients.
Homesteads as Agricultural Zoos
Homesteads are keeping alive old skills and ways of raising crops and livestock that are being lost in the age of agribusiness.
HOMEGROWN Life: Back to School Lunches
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Pennsylvania homesteading mama Michelle shares a few strategies and suggestions for healthier school lunches.
Protecting Beehives From Winter Wildlife
How to prepare your hives for the winter to protect them from mice, skunks, opossums and other wildlife.
Joel Salatin and Dr. Joseph Mercola Explore GMO Issue in Labeling Debate
Tackling the GMO issue is a priority for food activists, but there are a number of perspectives on how to go about it. The Great GMO Debate will help you decide how and who should inform consumers about what biotech ingredients are lurking in their food.
Rewriting Holiday Traditions
Ilene Freedman and her family reshaped their Chanukah tradition to feature family activities instead of presents.
For the Beekeeping Newbees!
Encouragement for new beekeepers who may be confused and overwhelmed about all the conflicting advice about keeping bees.
What to Look for in an End-of-Summer Hive Inspection
Beekeeper Betty Taylor explains what for look for during an end-of-summer hive inspection.
Goat Farming, Part 1: Selecting a Goat Breed and Preparing for Arrival
This series of posts chronicles Betty Taylor's adventures in goat farming. This first post covers selecting a goat breed and breeder, costs, and preparing for arrival of my goats.
Deep Winter Farming Blues
A would-be farmer finds chills and perspective during a long winter on the farm.
Bees of Winter
Describes the winter hive life of the honey bees.
Goat Farming, Part 3: Tragedy and a Hard Lesson Learned
Describes the heartache that can come of now observing and working with nature when raising goats.
A Beekeeper's Winter Activity: Eating Honey (With Honey Recipes)
What is a beekeeper to do during the long cold winter months? Eat honey of course.
Gaia Shrugged
Musing on how most of us believe "the end" is near for various reasons.
Cheap Effective Goat Feeder
How to make a cheap hay feeder for goats that cuts down on wasted hay.
Treating Varroa Mites
For the hobby beekeeper, try treating Varroa mites with natural remedies.
Pollen and Honeybees
Bees do not live on honey alone. Pollen provides honeybees with necessary protein.
Ecotourism Adventures in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Part 3
Nested amongst the skyscrapers and tucked between white-powdery beaches and either the buzz of South Beach or nature preserves in Hollywood are some eco-minded hotels and restaurants offering patrons a taste of local and sustainable cuisine.
Downy Mildew Variety Trials at Twin Oaks Seed Farm
We are trialing 135 varieties of cucumber, winter squash and muskmelon - with a focus on Downy Mildew resistance and fruit quality. An introduction to our trials and to the importance of variety trials in general.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Five
A big week of pig processing, morning chores with Joel Salatin and cattle sorting!
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Six
Chicken processing, capturing wild bees, gathering broilers, moving turkeys and making hay!
A New Year and a New Start
Ann Larkin Hansen shows that typically mundane tasks like record keeping and planning can be a satisfying process that can help you reflect on the successes of the year before.
Growing Up on a Farm: Keeping Cows, Pumping Water And Incubating Chicken Eggs
Robert Zwald grew up in the 1900s, farming in Minnesota. This is part two of his stories from the past, as compiled by his daughter, Ruth.
What Are Some of the Best Ways Homesteaders Earn Off-farm Income in the Winter?
For many homesteaders, taking a job during the winter months to earn extra income is an appealing option. Here are some options to consider if you're looking for off-farm income.
Hawaiian Tour Operator Offers Farm Tours in Hawaii
YMT has set aside every January to include sightseeing of particular interest to farmers and ranchers on their most popular Hawaiian vacation.
1900s Farming in Washington County Minnesota
Robert Zwald grew up in the 1900s, farming with his father in Minnesota. This is part one of his stories from the past, as compiled by his daughter, Ruth.
New 34 Hp KIOTI Tractor Raises the Bar on Value
KIOTI Tractor, one of the fastest growing utility tractor manufacturers in North America, is pleased to announce the addition of the DS3510, a 34 horsepower compact utility tractor.
A Donation for Organic, Against Monsanto
Support these longtime anti-GMO activists and organic farmers in the construction of a new repair shop for their vintage seed equipment.
Defending the Country Stereotype
If you're the first of your friends to move to the country, get some chickens and plant an organic garden there will be some inevitable social fallout.
HOMEGROWN Life: Catching some Levain (aka Sourdough Starter)
A recipe for sourdough starter.
25X's The Fun, Hosting a School Tour
A Grade 1 group come through the farm for a tour
So You Want Chickens? Take Mine; I Prefer Ducks
Keeping birds on the farm; how we went from chicken havers to duck lovers.
Mahindra USA Launches New Web Site
New Internet Presence Offers Users Simple, Value-based Experience
Living on a Farm During the Great Depression and More
Growing up on a farm during the Great Depression was no easy feat, but MOTHER EARTH NEWS readers share these stories of their or their elder's time on a farm.
New Holland Offers Industry-Leading 5-year Limited Warranty on Boomer Compact Tractors
New Holland has announced it is now backing its compact tractors with an industry-leading 5-year Boomer Guard5 limited warranty on all Boomer 30/35/40/50 deluxe compact tractors.
The G-20 summit on trade and agriculture
On Saturday, the G-20 will likely discuss trade policy that affects American farmers.
Farm to School Month
Celebrate harvest season by helping bring local food onto kid's lunch trays at schools across the country during Farm to School Month.
HOMEGROWN Life: The Scary Side of Sustainability
The morning started off with a decent lecture on poultry operation, production, and marketing. After a midday break, lectures resumed, this time being led by a different fellow, on the subject of free-range, humane certified broiler production. I won
Mahindra USA Urges Fire Prevention During Drought - High Winds, Dry Areas Create Perfect Conditions for Danger
Houston-based Mahindra USA is doing its part to help prevent fires during this drought season by reminding rural residents of a few simple things they can do to help prevent catastrophic damage to their homes and property.
Stories of Life on a Chicken Farm
Patricia Schick shares some of her grandparents' life on a family chicken farm in the early 20th century.
Friday Video: Farming on a Truck Bed in Brooklyn
Two Brooklyn filmmakers found a way to grow fresh food in the city--in the bed of a 1986 Dodge pickup.
Mahindra USA Shows Strong Dealer Satisfaction
Mahindra USA leads in several survey categories and ranks among top three overall.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Eight
Allan Savory visits Polyface! This was a week of permaculture lessons, staying up late with birds, processing honey and winding down from Field Day.
Putting Up Basil and Pesto
Fresh pesto is great in the summer, but it's even better in the middle of winter!
Time to Thank the Bees
In all that can go wrong in beekeeping, it's time to be grateful for a good season.
Building a Goat Shelter and Bedding
A basic overview of why shelter and bedding are must haves for your goat operation. Also, some of our personal experience with a few options.
Removing Bees From Honey Supers
It's time to harvest honey and there must be a way to evict the bees from the super. This post covers three possible options.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week 15
Week 15 brought a trip to the cattle auction, putting piglets out into their first pig pasture and a crash course in Polyface's buying club.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Sixteen
This week included the digging of a new catchment pond, catching roosters and getting my first loose pig back in the corral.
Purple Sweet Potato Fingerling Salad Recipe
Trendy purple sweet potatoes are a less sweet but no less tasty variety of sweet potatoes and are delicious prepared a number of interesting and unusual ways. Try this salad warm or cold for a scrumptious meal!
7 Steps to Prepare Your Barn for Winter
Finding time to make improvements on a small dairy is difficult but making a few improvements as the seasons change can often make a micro dairy or any size small farm more efficient. Here are 7 steps to help you prepare your barn for the cold winter months.
The Beekeeping Year Starts Now
Don't wait until spring to get into beekeeping. Order your package honeybees now.
December Bees
A brief update on how the bees are faring during a break in the freezing weather.
The Dog Ate My Chickens
An anecdote that illustrates a few of the realities of farm life and raising livestock.
How to Not Get Stung
Being stung is the most often quoted reason for not keeping honeybees. This was also my fear before I started keeping bees. There are ways to reduce your chances of being stung. With just a few precautions, you don't have to let this keep you from a rewarding hobby.
2015: The Year of the Goat
In the year of the goat we must compare the personalities and characteristics of goat people with goats.
Marriage and the Marks of Farm Life
Life with goats, sheep, cows, chickens and other livestock isn't all roses. Publisher Bryan Welch considers the value of finding and keeping the right partner for tackling life on the farm, goose poop and all.
Making Ice Cream at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR
Quick report from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR. Stonyfield Farm supplied ingredients for awesome, fresh-made ice cream.
Introducing Find Good Food on HOMEGROWN
HOMEGROWN.org introduces Find Good Food, a new page that includes national and state-by-state resources for locating family farmed eats near you. Read it! Share it! Add to it! Make it your own—and help make it even better.
HOMEGROWN Life: Perennial Pastures, for Those In-Between Times
HOMEGROWN Life blogger Bryce Oates sings the praises of mixed-species perennial pastures for in-between seasons—even if they don't fully alleviate the need for watching and waiting.
Havin' Fun with Homemade Stilts
All things good accomplished with some old lumber and a nice summer day.
HOMEGROWN Life: The Basics of Landscape Design
HOMEGROWN Life blogger Rachel shares the basics of landscape design.
HOMEGROWN Life: Making Your Own Deodorant
How to make your own homemade deodorant that really works!
Living HOMEGROWN: Growing Corn For Tortillas
Rachel describes how to turn her heirloom corn crop into beautiful blue corn tortillas!
HOMEGROWN 101: How To Make Cold-Process Lye Soap
Let's break down the soap-making process and start scrubbin' with homemade bars!
Ventrac Unveils New 3400 Tractor
Ventrac unveils the 3400 tractor, the newest sub-compact tractor to their product lineup.
Land Pride Introduces New Rotary Tillers
The RTA12 & RTR12 Series Rotary Tillers from Land Pride till soil for seedbed and planting preparation with uses and applications in landscaping, gardens, and residential areas.
Good Reasons Not to Keep Bees
A wakeup call for folks who want to keep bees without the work, stings and realities.
Practicing Agriculture and Building Community at Fiddlehead Farm, Part 2
With extensive training behind them, Rowan Steele and Katie Coppoletta make the choices that lead them to begin farming at Fiddlehead Farm in Corbett, Oregon.
Practicing Agriculture and Building Community at Fiddlehead Farm, Part 1
Rowan Steele and Katie Coppoletta have embraced the profession of farming and, in turn, have discovered a way of living that suits them perfectly at Fiddlehead Farm in Corbett, Oregon.
Holes: A Homesteader's Narrative
Just when you've got something broken in on a farm, the holes begin to appear. There's a hole in the bucket, a hole in my muck boots — and of course there are holes in the fence! But it's not all bad, so here's a homesteader's narrative that provides a good chuckle about life on the homestead with all its wrinkles…and holes.
Overwintering Pigs in the Northeast
Kristen and Dan overwinter their first herd of pigs in Newport, N.H. Learn how we care for them, including fencing, feeding and shelters.
Mentoring Sarah the Beekeeper
A blog about the joy of a mentoring relationship and the rewards for the mentor and a new-bee.
Oregon's Deck Family Proving Family Farms Can Be Sustainable, Part 2
In addition to raising livestock in a healthy and humane way, a major goal of John and Christine Deck and their children is to help reestablish family farming as a viable economic endeavor. Part 2 looks at the challenges faced when kids leave home.
Winter Pigs and Spring Preparations at Sugar River Farm
Learn how Sugar River Farm's winter pig herd turned out, along with a low stress method of pig moving and spring preparations for upcoming chickens and ducks.
Weaning Your Pasture Piglets
Spring is filled with babies of all kinds, but some of the most adorable are baby piglets. These are even more cute when they are running around on green pastures. But what about weaning time? This article will explain some of the easiest and best options when weaning your pasture piglets.
From Organics to Fermented Food, Whistling Duck Farm Is a Southern Oregon Pioneer, Part 1
Located in the heart of southern Oregon's Applegate Valley, Whistling Duck Farm has built a legacy of organic farming innovation in this rugged and independent part of the the state, and now it's growing a successful fermentation business.
From Organics to Fermented Food, Whistling Duck Farm Is a Southern Oregon Pioneer: Part 2
Located in the heart of southern Oregon's Applegate Valley, Whistling Duck Farm has built a legacy of organic farming innovation in this rugged and independent part of the state, and now it's growing a successful fermentation business.
We Had No Idea Food Could Taste This Good
When we stayed on an organic farm in Costa Rica, my kids and I experienced the beauty of self-sufficiency and saw how truly sustainable development benefits the local community as well as the global one. Mostly, we miss the homemade butter.
True Terroir at a Self-Sufficient Farm in Costa Rica
Rancho Margo in Costa Rica's Arenal district is a self-sufficient farm and intentional community that sends guests home with a new sense of what's possible in sustainable living.
Experiencing Farm to Table on a Biodynamic Farm in Costa Rica
At Finca Luna Nueva in Costa Rica's southern Arenal district, guests get a true farm-to-table culinary and educational experience.
New Year's Revolution: Adopt the Philosophy of a Chemist
OK,I'm giving no hints as to why you should think like a chemist...Read it and see for yourself. At the very least, you'll be entertained by a crazy new way of thinking about life.
All About Chaffin Family Orchards
A permaculture-based, 2,000-acre farm in Northern California integrates grassfed livestock with orchard farming.
Home and Away
Completing tasks in preparation for a few days away from the homestead
Making Hay With Wood Gas
Hay season on the Keith farm means lots of work for the wood-powered truck! Check out these videos of Wayne's farming operation.
Farming With Wood Gas
Gasification guru Wayne Keith shows us some of his daily farm operations.
The Spiritual Side of Growing Your Food
A post by Maria Rodale called A Harvest of Healing got me thinking about how gardening and growing your own food is much more than what you harvest.
Sharing the Love With Community Gardening
Want to find a new garden plot for next year? Look into community gardens in your area, or start your own!
Catering to Stink Bugs: A Trap Crop Experiment Success
University of Florida entomologist Russell Mizell investigated ways to attract stink bugs to trap crops rather than cash crops—with great success. His experience can help you learn how to design trap crop scenarios of your own.
Urban Roots: Community Gardens Making a New Detroit
The documentary Urban Roots takes a look at how city farming is transforming the city's vacant lots into community gardens, ultimately changing the community as a whole in the process.
Abundance Through Farming During The Great Depression
Donna Pellegrin shares her mother's stories of growing up on a fertile, bountiful farm during the Great Depression, and of the homesteading skills that kept them well fed.
Alternative Currency
Building a vibrant local community through local economics and rural culture.
Gardening Doesn't Have to Be Expensive
People often dismiss gardening as an expensive hobby that they can't afford. While that can be true, it doesn't have to be. There are way to make gardening cheap.
Food Prices Might Be Rising, But You Can Do Something About It
In the United States, we are feeling the effects of the rising food prices as well. When you take a deeper look into the prices, it's not the food that is causing the price to rise. It's everything else that goes into getting the food to your plate t
DIY Seed Starter Pots
It might be the middle of the summer, but you should start thinking about getting your fall garden ready. If you don't have much space, to plant everything outdoors, then you can certainly start your seeds indoors.
Two Ways to Use a Shipping Pallet in Your Garden
When you are apartment gardening in a small space, you are forced to be creative due to your space constrictions. Most traditional pots and containers might not work, so you become reliant on reusing objects to better fit your space.
Permaculture 2012
Permaculture is a holistic, integrative design for a sustainable future: registrations now open for D Acres' 2012 Permaculture Design Course!
Transplanting Brassicas
Transitioning seedlings from indoor starts to outdoor plants
Raising Chickens: Farming in the Great Depression
This story recounts one father's hard work to help his family survive by raising chickens and farming during the Great Depression. The author also describes his family-owned homemade brooder house, which helped shelter the chickens that provided meat and eggs during hard times.
Growing Food as a Family
Parents will often say that they don't have time to grow their own food because they have kids. Don't let kids be the excuse. Instead make them part of the experience too. It's what families have done since the beginning of time. The past 100 yea
Spring Harvest
Harvesting abundance in the early spring.
How Did America Lose Its Connection With Food?
While there are many events that have lead us to where we are today in terms of food, there are some things/events that stand out the most in my mind. Growing your own food is one way to reverse the trend.
The Goat Whisperer(2)
Learn from the trials and tribulations of a beginning dairy goat owner.
Simple Reasons to Start Growing Your Own Food
When people ask why they should grow their own food, the answer that I give is often simple. I tell them, "It's because we are humans."
Grow Your Own Food as a Social Statement
Take these into consideration the next time you are making your food purchases.
What is an OMRI Listing?
Organic is a phrase that's tossed around and abused a lot by marketers these days. Not all "organic" products should be treated equally.
Vertical Gardening and Composter in One
What if I told you that you could grow 50 plants in 4 square feet?
Food Waste in America
We are taught when we are kids not to waste food, but it doesn't seem as if that lessen has stuck with us.
Garden Fail: Gardening Mistakes That I've Made
Whether you are new to gardening or experienced, you will make some mistakes. Get over it and learn from it. That's the most important thing.
The Politics of Gardening
Some people use gardening as an escape from the trials and tribulations of the real world. It's their time to get their hands dirty, connect with the earth and just be in their garden.
Piles of Dirt
Taking care of compost is essential to healthy soil and good food.
Basil Harvest
Preserving an abundant basil harvest for the coming winter.
Turning off the Power
Monitoring energy use has led to increased motivation for conservation
Chicken Tractors
Use of a mobile chicken tractors allows us to keep the birds on fresh ground and stay on top of the weeds.
Spring Planning
Starting flats of seedlings begins this year's growing season.
The 651 Project Debuts in Leelanau County Michigan
The 651 Project has been established to assist students Nationwide in their pursuit of agricultural skills and knowledge.
Three Simple Tips for Taking Care of Your Container Garden
If you are new to growing your own food in containers, these are some simple tips that should help you to get a better yield and results from your containers.
Hay Day
The accumulation and storage of hay is an essential summer task.
Three Ways To Reuse Soda Bottles in Your Garden
Growing your own food doesn't have to be an expensive activity. There are plenty of ways to cut back the costs and be earth-friendly as well. You can do this by giving a second life to items that have outgrown their initial purpose.
Coffee and Climate Change
Farms which have earned Rainforest Alliance certification go beyond conserving the environment and improving the lives and livelihoods of farm workers; they also help to curb climate change.
Finca Exotica: No Accidental Tourists Here
Finca Exotica is ideal for travelers who want to immerse themselves in the Osa Peninsula's bounty and learn about permaculture and sustainable building.
How To Make a Self-Watering Container
Containers are great for those that are gardening in small spaces. Though there is the fear of not knowing when or how often to water them. This is why I started to make my own self-watering containers.
Bats In the Corn Field
Learn how bats can be beneficial for organic farmers, dramatically reducing the need for costly and harmful pesticides.
4 Recipes for Your Summer Harvest
It's the middle of summer and you are likely enjoying the harvests. There is` so much to do with all that fresh and flavorful produce, but what should you do?
Steadfast Garlic
Garlic is resilient, easy-to-grow, highly nutritious, and a natural antibiotic.
Seedy Days
January is a great time to count your seeds and share the extras with others through a seed swap or seed library. Find a seed sharing event in your community or start one with friends.
Fostering Community
Farm life is not always predictable, and some of the surprises turn out to be the most valuable lessons. This story from the ranch about some strong winter-born goats, a protective cow with motherly instincts, and a calf that's making it against all odds will not only inspire you, but it may teach you something about the wonderful spirit of community support.
Interacting With Animal Husbands at the 2011 Mother Earth News Fair
Animal Husbandry tent experiences from Day 1 of 2011 Mother Earth News Fair.
Turn Your Farm Venture Into a Business
Have you ever dreamed of taking your part-time homestead to a full-time salary? What's holding you back? Business books say most people are more afraid of success than failure.
Plowing With Pigs and Other Creative, Low-Budget Homesteading Solutions: Abridged Book Excerpt
In this excerpt from Fair presenters Hank and Karen Will's new book, Plowing With Pigs and Other Creative, Low-budget Homesteading Solutions, they'll show you how to add small grains to your plot.
Antibiotic Resistant Superbugs: The Chicken That Threw Me a Change-Up
According to FDA data, the quantity of antibiotics sold for livestock use in this country continues to rise, topping 29 million pounds in 2011. This has a direct effect on the efficacy these same drugs will have on us. Sam Spitz has personal experience with a resistant illness and FamilyFarmed.org asked him to tell his story. It's a cautionary tale that should have us all making better food choices. Read how we can all influence the campaign to end the misuse of antibiotics in livestock and keep antibiotics working for us when we need them!
A Father's Legacy of Natural Living
One of my earliest vivid childhood memories is sitting on my father's lap as a young girl reading the magazine together in the 1980s and all throughout my childhood. He would read aloud while I studied the pictures of passive solar building, vegetable gardening, sheep shearing, building your own sugar shack and the beautiful array of topics which he read to me frequently. Those images, along with the camping trips in the mountains, the whitewater and canoeing excursions, and our family trip to Alaska, have been etched in the catacombs of my childhood memories and have sculpted the person I have grown to become.
Books: Gardening, Permaculture, Ferment, and Chickens
Book reviews by permaculture educator Cindy Conner. Learn about Sustainable Market Farming, The Art of Fermentation, The Permaculture Handbook, and The Small-Scale Poultry Flock.
The Animal Lover's Dilemma: A Quest for Sustainable Farming Techniques
Elizabeth Van Deventer has been on a quest to find the answer to sustainable farming and an ethical diet most of her life. Follow along as she discovers the impacts of producing tea, palm oil and fruit, and how she eventually settles on a lifestyle that is in tune with the earth and all of its creatures.
What's More Important - Organic Food or Local Food?
Both organic and local food are important if we want to eat nutritious and delicious food. Furthermore, our current food system is in jeapordy because petroleum and water supplies are dwindling and climate change is resulting in more extreme weather.
Growing Potatoes in Containers
Growing potatoes in containers allows you to increase your yield in a small amount of space.
Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places
When one of her goats starts looking for love for the first time, and hollering her little head off, Angela has to do some quick thinking to keep her precious pets from becoming that night's dinner!
Six-Figure Farming with The Market Gardener, Jean Martin Fortier
Get the inside scoop on how successful farmer and author Jean-Martin Fortier farms 11/2 acres using soil building and no-till methods.
Replace Soy with Mealworms as a Protein-Rich Animal Feed Supplement
Soy is currently the leading source of protein in most animal diets, but mealworms offer a more efficient and sustainable alternative.
A Useful Space for Pigs, Chickens and Rabbits
Jenna Woginrich writes about the beauty of Cold Antler Farm, a small homestead that she shares with Pig, her rabbits Benjamin and Doe and several chickens. Taking care of her animals on cold winter nights is a challenge for Woginrich, but one she gladly accepts armed with a water bottle and affection. Woginrich's modest barn provides shelter for her animals and a useful space to feel at home.
Prepare for Pesticide Spray Season - Part VII: Pesticides and Your Emotions
The different emotions you may experience as you deal with Pesticide Drift on your property or your person.
Farm Family Threatened with $700,000 Fine for Raising Pigs
The Department of Natural Resources seeks to fine a family for possession of prohibited swine.
Sweet, Sweet Basil: How to Pinch Back Basil and Make Pesto
Learn how to pinch back basil tops for a particularly bushy plant, then make delicious pesto with your harvest.
Goat Farming, Part 2: Bringing Your Goats Home
Safely bring a new goat herd home and getting them used to you and their new surroundings.
Piglets and Chicks, Oh My!
The arrival of our first chickens and pigs to the farm, and prepping to head off to my summer internship at Polyface Farm
Gourmet Garlic Trimming and Cleaning
Your gourmet garlic bulbs are finally out of the ground. Now it's time to prep them for curing!
Micro Dairy Equipment & Supplies Now Available for Online Purchase
Micro Dairy Industry Leader, Bob-White Systems, Launches E-Commerce Site.
Holiday Fudge
Christmas is just about upon us, and here's a very easy, quick and simple fudge recipe. You can embellish it any way you want with several options for fruits, nuts, and liqueurs. Your taste buds will thank you (not to mention friends and family).
Grow Mushrooms This Winter!
Try doing something different this winter by growing mushrooms. It's entertaining, and it provides you with an edible treat!
Looking Ahead
Using cold frames for fall salad greens can extend your season of fresh eating.
Making Ends Meet: Dad's Memory of Farm Life in 1930s Nebraska
Deb Murphy shares her dad's boyhood stories about making ends meet on the farm in 1930s Nebraska.
HOMEGROWN Life: Canning Tomatoes 101
Tomatoes are the gray area of canning. They're not quite acidic enough to just straight can like fruit but the right amount of added acid can keep you from having to pressure can them. Here are the basics on canning tomatoes.
Remembering Grandma's Stories of a Small Kansas Farm
Debbie Mildfelt shares memories of her grandmother's stories, exploring the life of a large family on a small Kansas farm.
Kubota Promotes Tractor Safety With Education, Retrofit Program
June is National Safety Month, and the Kubota Tractor Corporation's safety program reminds its customers to make tractor safety a priority.
The Zen of Painting
Christopher shares an experience of painting his family farmhouse, but when he used flat, not glossy paint, his uncle was not happy. How could the uncle have responded in a more productive manner?
Composting Humanure
Humanure management for maximum nutrient secuestration and minimum resource loss.
What's new at New Holland Agriculture?
New Holland Agriculture is unveiling a number of new tractors as well as new haytools and other equipment at the 2012 World Ag Expo in Tulare, California and the 2012 National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky.
Living HOMEGROWN: Am I Doing This Right?
I am the Flock-Tender here on HOMEGROWN.org. I am keeping a chronicle of my experiences learning, living, and growing a homegrown lifestyle fresh out of college. Am I doing this life right?
HOMEGROWN101: How To Build a Hoop House
How-To Build a Hoop House; a collection of resources for growers.
Living HOMEGROWN: Goat Adventures -- Bottle Jaw?
Rachel gets a scare with Daisy the goat - is it bottle jaw or something else? A trip to the vet provides some lessons.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Eleven
This week at Polyface Farm was a lot of fence installation, turkey processing and the making of some major life choices for some of my fellow interns.
Trimming Your Cows' Hooves; Or, My Case for Letting Nature Take Its Course
Why I have never trimmed my cow' nails in 8 years of running a micro dairy. Read on to choose whether you want to be trimming your cows' hooves.
Beekeeping: Putting the Bees to Bed for Winter
Some things to know about the last fall hive inspections in preparing the bees for winter.
Favorite Organizations: Slow Food, and Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
Since getting the homestead functional, we have focused on food - local producers, access to food and ways to educate and communicate. This blog describes a couple of my useful and favorite organizations, Slow Food and the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance.
Polyface Farm Summer Internship: Week Seventeen
The last week at Polyface. We spent a lot of time processing turkeys for Thanksgiving, moving pigs to their fall corrals gathering firewood and tending to fall crops.
Organic Materials Review Institute
At the Mother Earth News Fair, I always enjoy speaking with fellow farmers and gardeners about inputs, organic standards and sound practices in the field. At the OMRI booth, we always provide free OMRI Products Lists of approved input materials, to help you find the right fertilizer or livestock feed additive and keep your farm or garden truly organic .
Seed Starting Video and Tips
Have you started your tomatoes and peppers yet? 'Tis the season to start seeding long season crops indoors. If you normally buy organic starts from your local nursery, try your hand at seed starting.
HOMEGROWN Life: A Bit Of ATreat
This fall, while the chickens were still living with the goats, we had decided to fence off the leg and seed it with pasture seed. I wasn't sure if we should seed it for the chickens or for the goats. After doing some research we ended up going with
A Collection of Life Stories from the Great Depression
Virginia Grace Abraham shares stories from loved ones about life during the Great Depression and WWII, her stories explore all aspects of the time from hunger and hard work to young marriage and the commonly over-looked woes of the farmer's wife.
The Beginning Farmer: A Farm Renter's Best Friend
A beginning farmer makes the most practical fencing choice available to her: electric nets. And gets tangled up, occasionally.
New Skid Grapples, Skid-Mounted Stump Grinder Available from Land Pride
Land Pride is proud to announce four new skid Grapples in 12 different sizes as well as a skid-mounted Stump Grinder. These completely new attachments feature the same quality and durability that you've come to expect from Land Pride.
Transitioning to Spring On a Micro-Dairy, Part 2
Spring has been slow to arrive in the Green Mountain State. But there are signs of spring in Vermont and that means preparing your Micro-Dairy for the change in seasons. Bob-White Systems' Steve Judge shares more tips to transition a Micro-Dairy into spring.
Tea for the Bees, Tonic for the Soul
Honey bees, the Boston tragedy, and our power to create the world we've been waiting for.
Spring Pruning
Pruning perennials is essential for plant health and vigorous production.
Fruit for the Future
Looking ahead to spring, we're using these long days to plan a rootstock order of perennial trees, shrubs, and herbs.
Creating an Edible Landscape
There are various means for developing an edible landscape.
Thoughts of Spring Begin to Stir
A winter thaw inspires starting the first seeds of the season - indoors, of course: kale, chard, and spinach to start.
Recent Films: On food, farming, fuel, energy, climate, health, etc.
This is a rundown of films that came out in the last few years. These films cover a wide range of environmental topics, from energy, climate, and fuel, to food, farming, and health. Many of the films have won awards or been critically acclaimed.
Joel Salatin Inspires at Heritage Harvest Fest
Monticello's Heritage Harvest Festival inspired us to keep at those challenges that frustrate us on the farm.
Farmers in Training: A City Dweller Gets Lessons in Harvesting, Milking and the Meaning of Life
The place I call home these days is The FarmSchool, a fertile 180-acre strip of ridge top in Athol, where 15 student-farmers are spending a year learning the ins and outs of growing food, managing forests, and raising animals for meat. I arrived at the farm in October, just as the leaves were reaching their peak brilliance. The Farm School — which offers three-day programs for schoolchildren, a summer camp, a full-time middle school, and the apprenticeship program I'm in — takes us through all seasons of farming, weaving together class work and on-farm training.
Refugees Find Home on Iowa Farm
Global Greens Farm in West Des Moines, Iowa, helps refugees transition from growing food for their families to operating small businesses that sell produce at farmers markets, local grocery stores and to area restaurants.
Making Clementine Candles
How to make candles you can really light from the peel of Clementine oranges. A wintertime craft...just oil and an orange peel!
Knowing Where Your Food Comes From … On Vacation
A travel log of our family's mission to find local food sources on our trip to Puerto Rico.
Cooking at home…on vacation
Cooking meals on a vacation can be easy. Bring some essential items with you and enjoy homecooking, on vacation.
Organic Pond Announces OMRI Listing for PureBacteria+ Pond
Organic Pond is pleased to announce that the Organic Materials Research Institute (OMRI) has reviewed the company's PureBacteria+ Biological Pond Muck Reducer and has listed PureBacteria+ for use in organic production.
Fall Care of Perennials
Fall sheet mulching of perennial plantings assists in fertility and weed suppression.
The Amazing Serviceberry
Introducing the serviceberry, a beautiful landscape tree or shrub suitable in much of North America, to the edible landscape. Serviceberry -- or sarvis -- comes in many regional forms and produces edible berries.
Treating Dairy Cows Humanely: A Case to Ban Tail-Docking
Tail Docking of dairy cows serves no purpose and causes pain and discomfort for the cows.
True Self-Sufficiency: Closing the Loop at Rancho Margot
Rancho Margot in Costa Rica is completely off the grid and constantly closing the circle. Nothing is wasted on this self-sufficient ranch, where everything is considered a resource--including methane from the compost ovens.
The Future of Urban Gardening
Learn about the advantages of urban farming from those who are leading the way. The benefits include improved food production, increased revenue sources and reduced energy use.
Sauerkraut is an effective and delicious way to store cabbage and add something "fresh" to the winter months
The Dangers of Industrial Farming
As modern farms increase production using monoculture crops, the nutritional value of the harvests diminishes, along with the economic stability and self-reliance of the farmers and their local communities.
Great Gardening Books, Garden Planning, and the Fight Against GMOs Continues
Ira Wallace explores good winter gardening reads, gives advice on how to use the winter lull wisely to plan and prepare, and shares an update in the ongoing court battle to protect family farmers from agri-giant Monsanto.
Wabi-Sabi Wednesday: Living A Good Wabi-Sabi Life in Maine
Inspired by back-to-the-landers Scott and Helen Nearing, Kate NaDeau grows her own food and enjoys the simple pleasures of seasonal living in her handbuilt stone cottage in Maine. She is the epitome of good wabi-sabi living.
It Takes A Village ...
A story of life, death and rebirth of a hoop house.
Dipping Beeswax Candles
We dipped candles from our hive's beeswax to celebrate winter. Candlemaking is a nice seasonal craft. Here's how we did it, plus some tips to get you started.
Slow Food Simmers in Costa Rica
In Costa Rica, all the elements are in place for a Slow Food revolution. Check out the organic bounty--and enjoy a delicious gourmet take on a traditional native dish.
Summer Loving
Simran Sethi looks back at her New Year's resolution: to nourish herself.
Make the Best Apple Pie to Chase the Blues and Grays Away
Baking the Great American Apple Pie chases away the blues and grays that sometimes afflict the homestead.
Uses of Diatomaceous Earth on the Homestead
For those of us who hate to use chemicals in our gardens, in our homes, or with our livestock and pets, diatomaceous earth may be a safe and efficient substitute. It may worm your animals, rid them of fleas and lice and even handle indoor pests.