On the farm at Marin Roots
Securing land is difficult for young farmers, particularly in Marin County, where farms often pass from one generation to the next without going on the market.
Food & Water
Review: The Market Gardener by Jean-Martin Fortier
For some years now, author and farmer Jean-Martin Fortier has lived rather comfortably with his family entirely off the proceeds of their market garden in Québec, Canada.
Towards an Energy Standard of ‘Local’
In other essays I presented data showing that small-scale, local farms aren’t always more energy efficient than larger-scale producers, but as far as energy used to distribute food local farms seem to have an advantage.
Handmade Tools Make Simple Work at Inspiration Farm
Watch Brian Kerkvliet cut thick grasses easily and quickly with his hand-built scythe — a far cry from a noisy weed whacker!
Free Farmers, Food Liberty: Local Growers Declare Independence
Can real change take root in the aisles of a grocery store?
The right to cook
I want to suggest the creation of a new human right. That human right is the right to cook.
The Energy Cost of Local Food
Years back a pair of planners, Branden Born and Mark Purcell, warned that there’s nothing about smaller scale enterprises that make them inherently more efficient than their larger counterparts. With respect to on-farm energy intensity, they’re certainly right.
It’s all about the soil!
Though the local food movement continues to make strides, there’s still a long way to go.
If We Insulate Our Houses, Why Not Our Cooking Pots?
In the early twentieth century, fireless cookers were common additions to western kitchens, similar to the refrigerator or cooking stove.
Teach a Country to Fish…
…we send fully a third of American-caught fish abroad, even as we import 91 percent of the seafood we eat.
Resisting water privatisation under austerity
Despite explicit opposition from hundreds of thousands of European citizens, the sovereign debt crisis has given new momentum to the privatisation of water services in many European countries.
Turning Fuel into Food
A common criticism I receive in my analyses of the energy intensity of food production is that I’m comparing input and output energies that, despite both being measured in calories, are not comparable. I think it worthwhile to explore this critique in greater detail.
