Instead of Trying to Feed the World, Let’s Help It Feed Itself
Sooner or later the question comes up, whether it is between two friends sharing a pot of stew made from local grassfed beef and their garden harvest, livestock farmers gathered on a pasture walk,...
View ArticleHow I Got My Husband to Take Care of His Body (Even Though He Just Wants to...
Bob and I smiled as we watched the checkout girl at the hardware store sass each customer who came through. She seemed to know everyone, and teased them accordingly—from the last-minute junk food...
View ArticleIt Takes Time: Why Sustainable Farming Can’t Be Rushed
I’m not much of a drinker, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a time and a place for it. It was true that we hadn’t eaten all day. But unless we took all the time we needed, our problems would only...
View ArticleInequality for All: Documentary Antidote to “Elysium Economy”
Two cinematic experiences about extreme wealth inequality are worth seeing, one dramatic and the other documentary. I recently saw the Hollywood blockbuster film Elysium, directed by Neill Blomkamp...
View ArticleThe Radical Homemaker Turns 40
I turned 40 this past week. Bob knows better than to abrade my spirit with the social stress of a birthday party. My perfect jubilee is one spent cloistered away from the world, allowed to celebrate...
View ArticlePutting My Kids’ Art in the Trash: How I Got Past the Guilt
A friend of mine once described my home as “a houseful of doers.” At any moment in time, there is a pot on the stove, dishes in the sink, a knitting project next to a rocking chair, a half-woven...
View ArticleWhen You’ve Built a Life of Joys, the Biggest Challenge Is Choosing
Opting for a life of gainful unemployment—one directed by entrepreneurship, agriculture, and other pursuits of the heart—prompts a lot of questions from folks who are curious about it. And the one...
View ArticleHow a “Dog Person” Learned to Love a Neighbor’s Kid
I’m not much of a kid person. I’m more of a dog person. You know my type…the woman who stops strangers on the street to coo over their pet; the one who almost always has a four legged copilot when...
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Behind the Kitchen Door: A Must-Read for Anyone Who Eats at Restaurants
You are celebrating your birthday at your favorite restaurant and you’ve just ordered a tasty, locally grown organic meal. You savor the food, while feeling good that you are contributing to a better...
View Article9 Stories That Will Change Your World in 2013
While the Earth didn’t end on December 21, 2012, the year’s end was marked by a new awareness of the urgency of the climate crisis. Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the preciousness and...
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A Road Trip to Save El Salvador’s Water
Robin is standing in front of a church in Guatemala with some of the other members of the first international delegation on “gold mining and the defense of water in El Salvador.” We are 44 people from...
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No Time for Volunteering? 4 Policies that Can Help
This article originally appeared in the author’s book, How to Design Our World for Happiness. Politicians and activists devoted to deep slashes in government spending have an easy answer when asked...
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Finding the Gold in “Tough” Neighborhoods
This article originally appeared in the author’s book, How to Design Our World for Happiness. The biggest problem in many communities—especially low-income ones—is caused by perception more than...
View ArticleHow Afternoon French Lessons Turned Friends into Family
As best I can figure, Madame and Helmuth moved up here about 15 years ago upon their retirement. They promptly sought out our farm and became regular customers. Helmuth spoke very little, and Madame...
View ArticlePeople Over Profit: Why These Two Small Countries Stood Up to Big Mining
Would a government of a poorer country ever choose to say “no” to short-term economic profits because of concern for long-term environmental impacts? Surprise: that is precisely the case with at least...
View ArticleSix of the Top Ten U.S. Billionaires Are Kochs and Waltons
For the first time ever, according to Forbes magazine, the 400 richest Americans have more than $2 trillion in combined wealth. And, a fifth of that amount is held by just 10 individuals. Of those top...
View ArticleThe Radical Homemaker’s Guide to Sex Talks
Saoirse pitched a bit of a fit a few months ago when Bob and I dropped her and Ula off down at the farm with my parents. We were going home for a date night. She had a few creative works in progress...
View ArticleRadical Investing: 4 Ways to Live on a Tight Budget
I received a phone call recently from someone in the media, who introduced himself by way of exclaiming “Is it true that you have a family of four and live on less than $45,000 per year? And if so, how...
View ArticleA Tax System for the 99 Percent
Paying taxes, as tens of millions of us in the United States do every April, evokes many emotions—from gratitude for government programs that feed the hungry to disgust over paying for fossil fuel...
View ArticleThe Real Cost of Gold in the Philippines
“An engine of growth and prosperity,” announces the deep blue OceanaGold sign that greets us as we enter a small town in the northern Philippines. We’ve come a long and windy 12-hour drive through...
View ArticleWhy Sticky Cabinets Have a Place on My Dream Farm
I woke up this morning and came down to my office. I should have done yoga. I should have meditated. Instead, I fixed my attention on the wood stove. It’s late May, for Pete’s sake, I shouldn’t need a...
View ArticleWhy Rain and Cold Can’t Stop Our Family Farm
The rain was slapping down on the windshield with an uncharacteristically heavy splat as we pulled out of the farm driveway on the way to Saturday morning’s farmers’ market. The edges of each drop on...
View ArticleWhat Lipstick and High Heels Taught Me About Friendship
Ginny and Vic bought the farm next to Sap Bush Hollow and moved up from Long Island about fifteen years ago, and quickly became a part of our daily life, teaming up with haying, sharing barn space,...
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Food or Ethanol? Why Farmers Shouldn’t Give in to Monocrops
This past weekend I made a trek out to central Wisconsin to speak at the state’s annual grazing conference, which typically draws farmers from all over the Midwest. This was the second time I’d been...
View Article3 Ways Obamacare Will Help You Out (Even If You’re Off the Grid)
I was 16 when my mom figured out one of her friends was being abused by her husband. Mom did what she could. She tried to talk to her friend. She gave her phone numbers for shelters and domestic...
View ArticleWhat Our Kids Can Teach Us About Trying Over
Saoirse gaped at me in horror this past fall when she submitted her first written report, and I returned it to her with penciled-in notes scratched about the pages, along with instructions to re-write...
View ArticleMaking Hurricane Preparedness Fun…and Delicious
In his forthcoming book, Prepared Neighborhoods, social entrepreneur Scott James writes, “the neighborhood is where sustainability meets preparedness. It is one step beyond caring for your own family,...
View ArticleWhat If Your Kids Want to Get Political?
Saoirse was no more than a few weeks old when one of our farm customers approached me about attending a protest in Albany to call legislators’ attention to the problems with genetically modified...
View ArticleMarried with Children? It’s Not the End of Individuality
Bob and I vividly remember the first winter we bought our house here on the edge of this 5,000-acre state forest, high in the hills of Schoharie County. We were newly engaged; shortly thereafter,...
View ArticleStay Weird or Fit In? It’s Your Kid’s Decision
I woke in the middle of Sunday night under the oppressive heat of two hot and sweaty bodies piled on top of me. Mom and Dad are gone on vacation, so Bob is sleeping down at the farm all week. Knowing...
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Wild Eats, Resilient Farms, and Freedom From Money: 3 Holiday Reads for the...
Every year, my favorite gift to give (and to get) is a good book. But I’m fussy. A holiday read must be something truly special. It becomes an intellectual companion when the days are darkest, so I...
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The Farm Bill’s “Government Handouts”: Who Really Benefits?
I was invited recently to sit in on animal science class at a college that has a strong agriculture program, about 10 miles away from my house. This week, the class was discussing the farm bill, and...
View ArticleGetting Past a Knitting Freak Out: Why I Didn’t Let My Daughter Quit
If any of my peers growing up did handcrafts, they never admitted it in public. It seemed that the socially acceptable way to establish a sense of self worth was through traveling soccer teams, prom...
View ArticleJoining a Rural Community: Why It Takes Years to Be Accepted
Joe didn’t come to our farmers’ market booth last year because he wanted meat. He needed Bob to weave him a pack basket for trapping. In the course of our conversation, we learned he and his wife grew...
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Want to Change the World (and Not Get Burnt Out)? Start with Your Neighborhood
This article originally appeared in the author’s book, How to Design Our World for Happiness. The neighborhood is the basic building block of human society, and successful efforts to make the world a...
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4 Lessons for Growing a Family Farm across Generations
If there’s a romantic image that tugs at our heart strings as much as the thought of homegrown tomatoes, it’s that of the multi-generational family farm. In a culture that has spurned the union of the...
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It’s a “Story Problem”: What’s Behind Our Messed-Up Economy
For people, generally, their story of the universe and the human role in the universe is their primary source of intelligibility and value. … The deepest crises experienced by any society are those...
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A Piazza on Every Block: How DIY Placemaking Is Transforming Communities
This article originally appeared in the author’s book, How to Design Our World for Happiness. Mark Lakeman is an architect fired up by the belief that our neighborhoods can become more than places...
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