When we moved back to Michigan, we bought an old farmhouse on five acres. I was still married then, with three young daughters and soon two more. After we had settled in, I planted an apple orchard. The farmhouse was a white Greek Revival with four bedrooms and an old lilac out front. It stood on a barely perceptible rise […]
Agriculture
The Cow in the Room
People often avoid the elephant in the room, but it’s time we talk about the cow in the room. She is a ruminant, after all, and can no longer be ignored. Indeed, the room is getting increasingly crowded and stinky. Let’s ruminate together and use our cowmon sense, so we can replace ignorance and crisis with science and solutions. It’s […]
Gathering Chips
One of my favorite photographs hangs in my bathroom. At its center is a wheelbarrow, with wooden handles, braces, and legs. The ten-spoke wheel is iron. Cow chips – dry dung – are stacked two feet high in the tray. They also litter the grassy landscape, which is over-exposed and unending. In black and white, each chip looks like a […]
Stacking Wood
This piece was originally written as part of a larger poetry and prose project that explored the author’s relationship with his family’s farm in Tennessee. Over a month-long span, he reflected daily on the lessons that the place and its people have taught him. The piece has been adapted for publication here. Two Decembers ago, we cut up a few […]
Red Soil, Green Gold, Dark Secrets
he bones of deceased Guaraní shamans used to decorate forest pockets in pre-colonial times, when Mata Atlântica, “The Atlantic Forest,” still stretched out its arms across South America. From modern-day northeastern Argentina to the southern Brazilian coast, the “Atlantic Forest” provided the continent’s First Nations with a lush diversity of ecoregions to explore, to wander and live in. When seventeenth-century […]
Urban Farm-Fed Cities: Lessons from Cuba’s Organopónicos
An intimate portrait of urban farms in Cuba explores the implications for sustainable agriculture and food access for urban communities.
Farmers Adapt to a Changing Climate in Burkina Faso
A photojournalist captures the impacts of climate change on agriculture in Burkina Faso, and the innovative solutions these communities have responded with in adjusting to a new climate reality.
Who is Watching the Land?
Wendell Berry and the Resettling of America
The agrarian prophet discusses food, farming, and why he has hope.
Tragedy of the Commons in Reverse: Talking Land Grabs with Fred Pearce
Land grabbing is emerging as one of the great international social and environmental problems of our time. Journalist Fred Pearce and anthropologist Jennifer Baka let us know what it’s all about.
Infographic: Big Bad Corn
From ethanol subsidies to obesity, the litany of corn-related problems is almost endless.
Pollinating Connecticut
Throw on your protective suit, strap on your fencing mask, and make sure your EpiPen is in an easily accessible pocket: it’s beekeeping time, and New Haven is abuzz with apiary awesomeness.
Cultivating Community
Amy Coplen presents stories from our frontline warriors in the battle to grow food and community – giving voice to New Haven’s urban gardeners.