On the Ground with Organizations Uplifting BIPOC Farmers
Leslie Woodward was in a real pickle. She’d temporarily closed Edenesque, her nearly decade-old self manufactured plant-based dairy company, to transition to a co-manufactured enterprise with a production partner, and urgently needed capital to scale up. A Black woman and Le Cordon Bleu grad who cooked in prestigious restaurants, Woodward watched as peers in […]
What Do Fish, Butterflies, and Bats Have to Do With Booze?
On January 9th, the Instagram account @anytimespritz posted a declaration: “2025 is the year of organic cocktails. Drinking is an Agricultural Act.” The latter statement is inspired by the words of the farmer and writer, Wendell Berry – specifically, his essay “The Pleasures of Eating,” published in 1989, in which he famously wrote that […]
How to Choose the Right Backyard Bird
In recent years, the desire to grow or produce one’s own food has become increasingly popular, and with good reason.. After living through a pandemic and struggling with ongoing high grocery prices (particularly rising costs for poultry and eggs), many people are ready to make a change for themselves. Despite the ongoing threat of […]
A Washington Cohousing Project Could Help Preserve Farmland
It’s a rare sunny day in January, and about a dozen people gather on a farm in Snohomish County, Washington. The farmer, Brett Aiello of Reconnecting Roots Farm, wants to suppress the weeds around some newly planted fruit trees without disturbing the soil, and he’s enlisted some help. The people in the field work together […]
Why Are Restaurants Selling Beef From Dairy Cows?
The American barbecue brisket that popped up on the menu at NYC bistro ACRU was a bit different than what one would typically expect from a Greenwich Village restaurant. The meat came from a dairy cow. “It’s a premium product,” says executive chef and partner Daniel Garwood. “The cow has gone through its whole […]
Biodynamic Farms Are One Thing. What About Biodynamic Businesses?
For decades after the concept of biodynamic farming was introduced in 1924, there was an aura of witch and wizard mysticism and charmingly earnest cluelessness around biodynamic farming. You want to make planting and harvesting choices according to the moon? Stuff yarrow into a deer bladder to create a tea that you’ll spritz on your […]
On the Ground with Grocery Stores Ditching Plastic
Lea Rainey knew that if all the plastic encasing the food she was buying at the grocery store was her pet peeve, other people must be frustrated by it as well. “I could have continued to be one of those people who complained, wishing that ‘they’–companies–would do something about it, or I could do something […]
Opinion: The US Doesn’t Grow Enough Food – But We Could
Despite having nearly a billion acres of prime farmland and a population of only 330 million people, the U.S. agriculture system, often claimed to be able to “feed the world,” can no longer feed its own population. The number of U.S. farms producing food for consumption has been steadily declining for years, making us more […]
In Bad Naturalist, an Author Settles on a Mountain Top and Tries to Farm
Years ago, author Paula Whyman left her DC-area home in search of a rural spot, hoping to get back to nature. What she found was 200 acres of old farmland atop a Virginia mountain. Despite having little experience in gardening or conservation, Whyman put down roots on the mountain top, and chronicled her efforts in […]
Opinion: A More Resilient Food System Starts at the Community Level
It’s time to look beyond the Farm Bill. The Farm Bill, passed once every five years, is the most important piece of federal legislation affecting American agriculture and food access. Originally designed to keep food prices fair for both supply and demand sides, ensure an adequate supply of food, and protect and sustain natural […]