The (Surprisingly New) Science of Soil
Want to enrage a soil scientist? Call it “dirt.”
Farming is incredibly difficult and often dangerous work. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close to 500 farmers and farmworkers lost their lives in 2010...
China’s Agricultural Revolution
Fifty years ago, China’s most pressing problem was how to feed its people. Now, the big worry is whether its food will make people sick.
Chilihead fanatics are locked in a race to cultivate the world’s hottest pepper.
Map: Who’s Living Off the Grid?
Inspired by permaculture ideas and instigated by the reality of peak oil and global warming, two Brits established the Transition Network in 2005 to help individuals “transition” away from fossil fuel-dependent systems.
Which Chicken Is Right For You?
Choosing the right breed of chicken is a lot like dating. Well, not really, but there are serious matters of compatibility at stake and hundreds of breeds to choose from. Before making a commitment, take a moment to consider your “type.”
Patrick Holden: Eating Food With a Better Backstory
Patrick Holden was a naive hippie in the ’70s when he started Bwlchwernen Fawr – now the oldest established organic dairy farm in Wales. Fourty years later, Holden asks the question: How can we be more accountable?
In this age of Purell, the connection between excrement and nourishment may seem too disgusting to ponder. But there’s no denying it – poop is staging a comeback.
When Ron Khosla and his wife, Kate, started farming 14 years ago in upstate New York, they wanted to do things differently. “We were committed to the idea of doing local, organic and supercheap,” Khosla said. “And that forced us to look at our techniques or else we would die.”
