The Science Barge - New York Sun Works project

The New York Daily News reports that three young entrepreneurs plan to build a 12,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse roof garden on a de-sanctified church in Jamaica, Queens, New York. Their goal is to produce 30 tons of fruits and veggies for local markets and restaurants each year at […]

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The British organization called the Carbon Trust came up with the idea that labels should tell us how much carbon it took to produce the product. What a great way to empower consumers. Armed with such information, we could start to make informed choices, avoiding products that spew too much CO2 into the atmosphere.
However, a […]

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“Food, Inc.” is a new documentary that exposes the dangers of industrial agriculture. Directed by Robert Kenner, the film features reformers such as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma), as well as visionary practitioners such as Sonyfield’s Gary Hisrchberg and Polyface Farm’s Joel Salatin. Much of the information in the film […]

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A growing number of people, myself included, believe that the United States is already in the initial throes of a wrenching reinvention because of the confluence of climate change, peak oil and economic instability. Russian Dimitry Orlov, in his book “Reinventing Collapse,” offers us a blueprint of what to expect based on his firsthand view […]

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Planet Whizbang offers parts & plans

As gardeners who read Eliot Coleman know, a wheel hoe is a nifty labor-saving way to keep the weeds under control. You simply skim the oscillating blade across the soil between the rows, and the gizmo slices off the weeds just below the surface.
The challenge is that wheel hoes are […]

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I can grow tomatoes that look bigger and better than any in my local supermarket, but my bell peppers - no matter whether they are green, red, yellow, orange or purple - all end up looking puny beside those grown by professionals. What’s the key?
I have learned that sprinkling some Epsom Salts around each pepper […]

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My new garden rocker out in the hoophouse

The older I get, the harder it is to bend over and weed. So I am delighted to find that my clever new Garden Rocker allows me to sit down and scoot wherever I want to go.
The plastic gizmo has an adjustable “tractor” seat, expansive enough to accommodate […]

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At least 15 farm and consumers groups in the United States, Canada and Australia have banded together to urge their governments to reject genetically engineered (GE) wheat. (Click here to download the PDF of their statement.)
Their lengthy statement explains that wheat is an essential crop that deserves to be treated with care. The government’s failure […]

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Miniature Hereford calf on Bryan Hill Farm at three weeks old

It sounds like a joke to suggest that there is a spurt of interest in smaller-size cows for smaller farms, but it’s true. As this article in the Los Angeles Times reports, the half-size Herefords are becoming so popular that their numbers have exploded from […]

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