Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Blue Hill became the third town in Maine to adopt the Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinance. The Ordinance asserts that towns can determine their own food and farming policies locally, and exempts direct food sales from state and federal license and inspection requirements.
So let’s talk about how to kill plants, which is way easier, especially when you don’t intend to. I offer this information up for several reasons. First, I’m an expert. You might think this wouldn’t be true, since raising plants is a large portion of my profession, but in fact, that simply makes me better at it than you. Fortunately, the vast majority of my plants survive, but I have probably tested out just about every creative way to kill a plant not requiring the importation of elephants. I am a professional plant assassin, dammit.
Agriculture’s role in a country like Iraq goes beyond food production: it’s the second-largest sector in the Iraqi economy, a major source of rural employment, and a vital cultural signifier. As the rest of Iraq joins the Kurdish region in enjoying greater stability, the inevitable expansion of industrial agriculture paradoxically threatens to undermine the local communities that depend on agriculture for their way of life.
Long after the political uprisings in the Middle East have subsided, many underlying challenges that are not now in the news will remain. Prominent among these are rapid population growth, spreading water shortages, and ever growing food insecurity.
-The New Geopolitics of Food (excerpt)
-Monsanto-tied scientist abruptly quits key USDA research post
-What is a SeedBomb?
-Why Is Damning New Evidence About Monsanto’s Most Widely Used Herbicide Being Silenced?
– Eric Schlosser: Why Being a Foodie Isn’t ‘Elitist’
– Fava beans: Roasting pods simplifies preparation
– Are mushrooms the new plastic (video)
– Eliot Coleman: Organic agriculture: deeply rooted in science and ecology
– Radical plots: The politics of gardening
I write and research to learn more about something I feel is important, not because Bob and I are experts at implementing all the concepts. We published Radical Homemakers as a result of being on that path, not because we have mastered the lifestyle.
– Science: Watching Climate Change Through a Farmer’s Eyes
– The Banksters and the Climate Fund
– The culture and discourse of climate skepticism
– Why I’ve avoided commenting on Nisbet’s ‘Climate Shift’ report
Recorded 11/16/10 at the City Club of Cleveland, this video features a special City Club program with Michael Shuman entitled “Revitalizing the Northeast Ohio Economy through Local Food”.
-Cleveland artisans craft their own economic force
-Vauxhall boss warns over UK carmaking future
-Sweatshops are still supplying high street brands
-THE 25% SHIFT The Benefits of Food Localization for Northeast Ohio & How to Realize Them (report)
Around 3 billion people, or half of the world’s population, rely on unsustainable biomass based energy sources, including wood, and around 1.6 billion people still lack access to electricity. With an Integrated Food Energy System (IFES), FAO believes that people will have access to sustainable and reliable energy.
-How can we grow more food locally? Pam Warhurst of Incredible Edible Todmorden speaks in Bath (video)
-Australia’s “Grain and Graze” Farming Method Provides Peak Oil and Climate Change Resiliency
-Organic agriculture: deeply rooted in science and ecology
-Effects of input management and crop diversity on non-renewable energy use efficiency of cropping systems in the Canadian Prairie (report)
