An open letter to Trader Joes

...ering outdoors and feeding on vegetation and insects. This might be called “pasture raised”, though this is also a term not defined or regulated by the USDA (largely because the huge companies that control poultry farming in this country and whose political influence puts the USDA in their back pocket don’t want to acknowledge that pasture raised eggs are superior to factory farmed eggs). It’s a shame that your eggs aren&#...

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Poultry Outlaws: Chicken Laws Around the U.S.

...orbidden. Detroit: Unlawful to own, harbor, keep, or maintain, sell, or transfer any farm animal on their premises or at a public place within the City. [Despite this, we hear tell that there is some pretty progressive urban farming going on in Detroit, including plenty of livestock.] Los Angeles: Chickens may not be within 20 feet of owner’s residence, and must be at least 35 feet from any other dwelling. Crowing fowl must be 100 feet fro...

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Saturday Linkages: Fueling Up

...gazine-and-this-is-how-i-work  … Free Heat for Your Home: Homemade Briquettes and Logs http:// naturalbuildingblog.com/free-heat-for- your-home-homemade-briquettes-and-logs/  … Thoughtstylings Mark Bittman: A Simple Fix for Farming http:// nyti.ms/VjNlZb Fueling up: http:// we2our2.blogspot.com/2012/10/fuelin g-up.html  … Health The Island Where People Forget to Die http:// nyti.ms/S3Mitk Bikes Nice graphic showing why taking the lane is a g...

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Extension Service Webinars on Organic Agriculture

When it comes to doing research for articles and books I lean heavily on research based advice from our Cooperative Extension System. It’s a great resource. I just discovered a treasure trove of Extension Service webinars on organic farming practices that you can watch here: http://www.extension.org/pages/25242/webinars-by-eorganic. You can watch archived sessions or sign up to participate live. While the webinars are aimed at small farme...

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Plastic or Wood?

Some time ago the folks at the FDA and USDA recommended that we replace our wooden cutting boards with plastic ones (such as the fine Elvis model on the right). This injunction rose out of rising fears of salmonella and e-coli poisoning in our food, which are, by the way, the signature bacteria of our deplorable factory farming system. But that’s another rant. This rant is about the boards. So as we were saying, it was out with the nasty,...

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Stirred, Not Shaken

...a system of agriculture based on the work of early 20th century philosopher and mystic Rudolf Steiner. In the 1920s, at just the point when chemical fertilizers where catching on, Steiner proposed a radical return to organic farming. Biodynamic agriculture combines common sense practices such as composting with strange esoteric rituals. The oddest aspect of biodynamics involves the “preparations”, a specific set of substances made of...

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Hens Busy Dust Bathing

..., a kitty litter tray would be a good size for a few hens to share, a cement mixing tray for a bigger flock. Warning: Rant Ahead We first got our own hens because we disagreed with the industrial style of raising chickens and farming eggs.  But at the time that disagreement was purely theoretical–now it’s stronger than ever, because it’s based on practice. The more we know, and experience the fundamentals of chicken life, the mo...

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Farm in a Box

...less water used than in-ground methods. Other advantages to aquaponics, is that it is fun, easy, most can be done anywhere, by anyone who shares a passion for locally grown food and herbs, without the challenges of in ground farming. Experiment with growing aquaponically raised fish and vegetables in your house on the patio in a greenhouse or community garden, and enjoy!” Having never tried aquaculture I can’t say if Farm in a Box is...

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Toby Hemenway On How Horticulture Can Save Us

...h and culture. Hemenway also, justifiably, critiqued some corners of the urban homesteading movement for promoting an egocentric self-sufficiency–”MY food on MY land” as he put it–a kind of industrial farming on a household level. While “self-sufficiency” appears in the subtitle of our first book (our publisher’s idea), it’s not a term we use. Kelly and I always emphasize, like Hemenway, the import...

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