{my farming journey} Starting Little Sparrow

The following is the very basic tale of how I’m starting my own micro-farm in Ballston Spa. It’s called Little Sparrow Farm, and yes, it’s named after Dolly Parton. Last summer I was telling a friend how I was going to be ordering a lot of garlic. The amount I ordered ended up being over…

{Northeast Grains System} Vermont Grain Growers Conference

The 8th Annual Vermont Grain Growers Conference was held in Essex, Vermont on March 15th. I traveled north with my friend Howard, who’s been planting grains for years – rye, oats and barley, and last year, wheat – all for home use. About half the 130 people at the conference were also some version of…

In the Land of Corn & Cattle

Recently we took a road trip to Indiana to see my in-laws. If you’ve ever driven through, or flown over the middle of the country you know there are lots of very large farms. During the several days there I kept thinking about a few things in relation to these farms. Before I go further…

{weekend reading} NATIONAL EDITION

NEWS I’m gonna start with the only really “big” food story of the week; the UN report that I mentioned yesterday that states that the myth that only Big AG can feed the world is bullocks. The UN Right to Food Report in PDF format. Grist has a commentary. Bittman concentrated on the subject this…