Posts Tagged ‘organic farming’

Buying From the Farm Stand via the River

11/07/2012

Cedar Circle Farm, view “not from the riverside”

Yesterday we had an interesting and serendipitous discovery of Cedar Circle Farms in East Thetford, Vermont.  We had planned to stop by the Lebanon Coop after a spontaneous ride in our little Boston Whaler where we put in just south of Lyme, NH and headed north to where we didn’t know on Connecticut River. It was a hot afternoon, and after putting along we decided to give the 25hp Merc all she’d do, and skimmed along the calm waters.  Never having been on the river before, we thought we’d do a little exploring, complete with our 1-yr old on board.
After about ten miles, we happened upon a boat landing on the Vermont side of the river, and decided to hop out and find out where we were. We met someone in the little village who told us we were in North Thetford. We happened to mention we were starting a juicing fast, and had to get back to Hanover, NH before the Coop closed.  She responded with, “ Hey, why don’t just get back in your boat and head south again a few minutes  to Cedar Circle Farm. They have a small boat landing and (more…)

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Experiential Education, Fair Trade, Health, Holistic Living, Inspirational People, Sustainable Living/Communities, Your Food Supply | Leave a Comment »

Your Food Supply #21: Farming the Desert, with Heart

26/08/2010

Meet Randy Ramsley, a “farmer hero like Salatin and Allen” says blogger Lorna Sass in a post about Ramsley. We came across Ramsley’s farm just east of Escalante, UT. See the video below.

From: The Wasatch Journal
By Chip Ward

Caineville, Utah, is a remote, dusty outpost between where we have been and where we are going next. Under a harsh sun, its bare mesas, with their pleated skirts of pale ash, may seem plain, especially compared to their more colorful and celebrated redrock neighbors down the road. Most visitors zoom by it on their way to or from Lake Powell or Capitol Reef National Park. It is easy to miss the dance of luminosity and shadows that define the horizon, but there are subtle hues of violet, yellow, and blue among the gray tones. This is a landscape of nuance, patina, and pentimento.

Those who do stop are often towing all-terrain vehicles behind their trucks, using Caineville’s wide-open spaces and extreme landforms to test their machines against the limits of gravity. You could say that Caineville is what you make of it—a haven of solitude and beauty, or a carnival of combustion, depending on who’s in town.

Randy Ramsley is one of a handful of Caineville residents who is always in town. For a decade now, Ramsley has been farming the bottomlands of the Fremont River as it makes its slow descent toward read the rest of this article

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in 1- Video Posts, Health, Traveling, Your Food Supply | 1 Comment »

Your Food Supply #20: Meat-Packing Plants

22/08/2010

Jeff Mannix describes a tour he was given of a meat packing plant in California. Also, getting local foods in local schools, and what is in your hamburger?

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in 1- Video Posts, Animals, Health, Holistic Living, Sustainable Living/Communities, Your Food Supply | Leave a Comment »

Peru’09: Planting Corn at Anna’s

06/08/2009
Corn, Peru Style

Corn, Peru Style

Tomorrow, Amanda and I head back for Anna’s place in Ollantaytambo. I was just there a few weeks ago with our participants. I look forward to our second visit this year.  A few weeks ago, we spent an afternoon getting tutored by Anna on how she grows amazing varieties of corn. She took us down to her fields in the Sacred Valley, just a stone’s throw from her home, and showed us the different sorts of corn, and how she plants them. She explained that these are not mono-species. Most of the corn cross-breed every season creating a multitude of colors and styles of corn, used for everything from Chicha to toasting corn. She explained that most times every row will have a mix colors, which in fact makes them stronger against disease and drought. She also explained how all the other neighbors work together to share various tasks such as irrigation and maintaining the fields.

Anna giving a lecture on planting corn

Anna giving a lecture on planting corn

Unlike Monsanto corn, these varieties reproduce and are carried down through generations. Not to say there weren’t problems. Some twenty  years ago, there were serious health issues with the villages due to pesticide use in the fields. Cancer rates were high and people were really being affected. Now though, things are mostly if not totally organic. Most of Anna’s corn goes to feed her family and chickens, and doesn’t reach the local market. She also grows grains to feed her guinea pigs which she sells to neighbors and other villagers.  We’ll keep you posted on what we learn next at Anna’s.

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Experiential Education, Health, Inspirational People, Mountain People, Peru, South America, Sustainable Living/Communities, Traveling | 1 Comment »