Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Spring is making its way here in Mni Sota Makoce (the Land of Cloudy Waters), and Waziya (Old Man Winter) is finally heading north. It is during this transitional time we can gather the sweet sap that the maples so willingly give up.
While José and Pedro’s story serves as an inspiring example of the potential for action, transition, and innovation in agriculture, it also makes a strong case for understanding the specific needs of diversified farming practices that promote plant diversity and soil health.
So Stroud Land Commons are partnering with the Open Food Network (OFN) to try to create more markets for local food producers. OFN provide an online shopfront for small, local food producers all over the UK (and the world).
Security is not built with barbed wire, but with wells, seeds, and justice. As Wanjira Mathai, president of the Green Belt Movement, reminds us: “Every tree planted is an act of defiance against despair.”
There are multiple reasons for why food prices are on the rise. There are major similarities between the FAO food price index and energy prices. This is also quite natural as energy is a major input in the whole food system.
Africa’s history is not just one of suffering—it is also one of resilience, ingenuity, and renewal. Across the continent, ordinary people are accomplishing the extraordinary. They are fighting back against desertification, reclaiming barren lands, and bringing life back to the soil.
A lot of people have a peculiar horror for the idea of a lower energy and more local world, necessarily involving more people working the land – whereas the idea of living in a suburb and working in an office tends to get a free pass. I think there will be more of the former and less of the latter in the future whether we like it or not, but it’s a bit odd that our culture is so resistant to the possibility that the former might have its plus points.
Bristol food producers have had hopes of lifeline-funding dashed after the UK national government abruptly closed subsidy applications.
The Filière Nantaise stands as a model of how such policy ambitions can be put into practice on the ground. It is proving that small-scale, local, and rare can also mean ambitious, forward-thinking, and economically viable.
Honest gardening requires that we take stock of and work within existing conditions, that we don’t try to make the garden something that it isn’t or couldn’t be. Honest gardening is a kind of truth telling, the way art or literature can be.
So learn where your water is flowing from and where it is flowing to. How do you affect groundwater viability when you turn on the tap?
As glaciers melt upstream, Pamiri farmers are engaged in regenerative agriculture and saving seeds, while strengthening their culture and biodiversity.
