Bienvenue| Solutions Locales pour un Désordre Global 5 Secrets to a ‘No-work’ Garden It took over 20 years of gardening to realize that I didn’t have to work so hard to achieve a fruitful harvest. As the limitless energy of my youth gradually gave way to the physical realities of mid-life, the slow accretion of experience eventually led to an awareness that less work can result in greater crop yields. Inspired in part by Masanobu Fukuoka’s book, One Straw Revolution, my family experimented with gardening methods which could increase yields with less effort. Fukuoka spent over three decades perfecting his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort. Here are the strategies we used which enabled us to greatly increase our garden yield, while requiring less time and less work. 1. With ‘no-till’ gardening, weeding is largely eliminated. 2. Gardeners are always on the lookout for free sources of clean organic mulch to add to their garden.
Berkeley Food Institute | Cultivating Diversity, Justice, Resilience, and Health Real Food Tree Description of Permaculture by the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute Home » What is permaculture? Permaculture is a design discipline for productive systems such as gardens, farms, homesteads, and urban sites utilizing ecological principles found in natural systems. These ecological principles combined with a design method help to create sustainable, healthy abundant landscapes while meeting basic human needs. The permaculture movement includes organizations all over the world offering demonstration sites, trainings, and technical assistance. Where people have access to land and little else, permaculture’s ideas have spread rapidly. In more affluent parts of the world, permaculture has become a cutting edge design alternative to extractive, industrial systems that erode the wealth of our communities and natural resources. In the 1970s Bill Mollison and David Holmgren created the foundations of Permaculture in Australia. Permaculture is not gardening techniques or a list of proper building materials for a house.
Exploring the Small Farm Dream - For New Farmers : Exploring the Small Farm Dream Exploring the Small Farm Dream: Is Starting and Agricultural Business Right for You? is designed to help aspiring farmers learn what it takes to start and mange a commercial agricultural businesses, and decide whether this is a path they really want to take. Take a course or purchase the workbook from NESFI's Bookstore to work through on your own. Created as a decision-making tool, Explorer can help you establish the clear vision and goals you will need to guide a new agricultural venture. Click on the presentation at the bottom of the page for an overview of the Explorer decision-making process. Whether you are using the workbook in a class or on your own, you will find resources on this website to help in your research. Sample some of the worksheets: Using Exploring the Small Farm Dream On Your Own If you decide on the self-study option, the success of your exploration will depend to a very large degree on your own initiative. Exploring the Small Farm Dream - Presentation
Food Politics 5 Juice and Smoothie Infographics for Summer Need a delicious and healthy way to keep cool as the summer heats up? Look no further than your kitchen blender. Homemade juices and smoothies are a good way to lose weight and stay fit in the summer months, and can contain important minerals and anti-oxidants you might otherwise miss. If you fear you might overdo the BBQ and beer this summer, introducing some fruit- and vegetable-based drinks into your diet will help you balance things out. Get started on your summer juicing plans with these helpful how-to infographics: The Ultimate Guide to Fresh Juicing How to Make a Smoothie The Basics of Juicing The Super Smoothie And Just for Fun: Tasty Tweets
Small Farm Funding Resources Contents The source for the image on the right is USDA. Introduction This guide contains information about issues to consider before starting a farming operation with links to full-text guides on how to start a farm business, and develop business and marketing plans. It also contains information about funding sources for beginning farmers, training, technical assistance contacts, organizations with resources and programs for beginning and experienced farmers, and more. You may also want to consult the Start2Farm.Gov Online Clearinghouse, a service of the National Agricultural Library. Start2Farm.Gov is a Project of the The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) which is administered by the USDA, National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The Small Farm Funding Resource online guide was developed by Patricia LaCaille John, September 2005; Last modified: March, 2014 Developing a Farm Business Plan 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. State Programs
Wagner Food Policy Alliance | Community action for equitable food systems. Horse Cost Calculator It is worth noting that the cost of keeping the average horse (over 10 years) is generally more than 10 times the cost of buying the horse. Consequently, when considering if one can afford a horse, the question should be 'Can I afford to keep it?', rather than 'Can I afford to buy it?'. The following table summarises the typical costs, with explanations after the table. It should be noted that the above is typical costs only. The cost of stabling varies from about $200 per month to about $1000 per month depending mainly on location (stables near towns or cities are much more expensive) and on what is included. Many stable managers offer the option of 'livery' or 'field rent'', where your horse is kept on a field rather than in a stall. The most common form of bedding is straw, which costs about $1 per day. Most horses require about 3% of their bodyweight in food each day. In certain cases, hay is not an adequate food, and more expensive alternatives are required. Training.
Plow Horse Days Catching on in Rocky Mount, North Carolina Rocky Mount, North Carolina – The horses – blacks and grays, reds and pintos – lean into their harnesses, and the earth opens beneath the plows. Metal sparkles in the early morning sun, and sweat glistens on the strong backs of gentle giants as their human partners direct them with gees and haws. Once in a while the bray of a mule sounds across the fields, but for the most part the only sounds are the jingle of equipment and the low murmur of spectators’ voices as visitors watch in awe while a dozen or more teams worked the land. It’s Plow Day in Rocky Mount, an event that started out with a few friends coming over to help Jimmy Dozier plow a cornfield. First held in March 2008, the inaugural Plow Day drew about 800 people who came to watch farming done the old-fashioned way – with real horsepower. An antique car show inspired one spectator to recall how, as children, he and his siblings rode in the rumble seat of the family’s car, a Model A Ford. “Look in there.