I Am Not a Luddite
In my efforts to point people to various methodologies of eco-agriculture I often encounter those who dispute these approaches. One of the frequent refrains...
America’s Regional Fences
Robert Frost begins one of his best known poems by stating, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” The New England poet is...
Live like a Tree
I am an unlikely localist. My life is a product of globalization. My mother’s side of the family is from Singapore, China, and India,...
The Names of Things
An old painting by John Miles of Northleach imagines Adam in the midst of naming all the animals in the Garden of Eden. Adam...
Cheese Should Be Dangerous
The cheese crafted here came about as a byproduct of a larger whole, the natural dividend of a complete way of life, and this is the foundation of the best farming.
Conservation by the Yard
I begin with a proposition adapted from Wendell Berry—namely, that mowing is an ecological act. Mowing extends the perennial drama of photosynthesis and carbon...
Backyard Beekeeping
I had long resisted adding ten thousand new livestock to our less than two acres. I had listened to beekeepers’ tales of bears and...
Once More to the Garden (Then to the Trout Streams): ...
I wonder if Mr. Big in the sky would be willing to give us a Do-Over.
Broody Hens and the Sustainable Farmstead
My farmstead poultry flock is sustained by a handful of broody hens—female fowl who have somehow retained their ancient instinct to nest and hatch...