Civil Eats

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

At her 6-acre Sakari Farms outside Bend, Oregon, Schreiner employs traditional ecological knowledge to cultivate regional first foods —foods consumed before European colonialization—and passes that expertise down to Native American youth. Sakari Farms offers a program that teaches youth how to grow and harvest traditional foods.

Food 134

Food Agriculture Agriculture Seeding 134

Modern Farmer

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

Blooming ecological success Maggie Taylor of Delight Flower Farm, a commercial cut-flower farm in Champaign, Ill., has always been ecologically minded. As her business grew from a small plot in a backyard garden to the five-acre farm she purchased in 2019, Taylor tapped into USDA cost-share contracts that reward conservation practices.

Farming 91

Farming Farming Crop Production 91

Caff

JANUARY 27, 2021

Inspired by the transformative experience he had on the land through growing food, he chose to work towards building opportunities for other African Americans to do the same, co-founding the African American Farmers of California 16-acre Demonstration Farm.

Food 52

Food Farming Farming Ecology 52

Modern Farmer

AUGUST 15, 2023

A quick taste test proves it true: Their crop is ready to harvest. Hailing from a commercial lobstering family in Maine, Patryn sees cultivating this marine crop as a lifeline for a community threatened by fishing’s uncertain future. This marks Patryn’s sixth year as a seaweed farmer, but he’s been working on the water for much longer.

Cultivation 85

Cultivation Harvester Harvesting Harvest 85

Civil Eats

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

But the pawpaw’s two- to three-week harvest window, short shelf life, and delicate skin still make it anathema to the rigid needs of grocery stores and a rare find even at farmers’ markets. Indigenous people first cultivated it in woodlands, using the tree’s fibrous inner bark to make ropes and string and its leaves and stems as medicine.

Seeding 110

Seeding Farming Farming Orchard 110

Civil Eats

JULY 31, 2024

That day, they’d been out to their four-acre farm and back twice, harvesting a total of 6,300 pounds. Maine is the heart of America’s farmed seaweed industry, supplying half its harvest— well over a million pounds —last season. Then they sell the harvest to ASF, which picks up the kelp on the dock.

Marketing 90

Marketing Harvester Harvesting Harvest 90

Sustainable Food Trust

JUNE 14, 2023

The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology estimates that “One teaspoonful of topsoil contains around 1 billion microscopic cells and around 10,000 different species.” The researchers also discovered that while soil cultivation reduced the number of mycorrhizae, this was only significant in soils with a long history of continuous cultivation.

Ploughing 52

Ploughing Crop Yield Farming 52

Civil Eats

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

Still in its research phase, the 86-acre project is operated by Ocean Rainforest, a company that aims to fight climate change by growing seaweed at scale: 1 million tons a year by 2030. seaweed farm of 1 to 4 acres—and a new frontier for ocean farming. seaweed farm of 1 to 4 acres—and a new frontier for ocean farming.

Farming 96

Farming Farming Food Aquaculture 96

Civil Eats

JUNE 27, 2024

She points out that most of the shellfish she harvests these days have been seeded manually by the town of Southampton and local universities, “almost like a science project,” she says. Volunteers help to hand-harvest the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers 2023-2024 sugar kelp haul on New York’s Shinnecock Bay. That’s not right.”

Farming 112

Farming Farming Science Harvester 112

Civil Eats

APRIL 22, 2024

The isolation of this ecologically rich archipelago of peaks, located in a “sea” of desert that stretches from northern Mexico into southern Arizona, means that plants grow here that don’t grow anywhere else. Farmers plant seeds deep in the soil, use passive rainwater harvesting, and rely on hardy desert-adapted seeds.

Seeding 125

Seeding Crop Agriculture Agriculture 125

Sustainable Food Trust

AUGUST 6, 2024

Across seven chapters, each uncovering a different element of the Welsh landscape, Graves celebrates the diverse ecosystems of his homeland, revealing how the land has been transformed by humans ever since they first began harvesting wood and herding animals. Agriculture had not yet quite arrived as a practice and food was abundant.

Food 98

Food Farming Farming Processing 98

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Sprinkled throughout the recipes are fascinating historical tidbits about the Quaker who first cultivated rhubarb in the 1730s, for example, and the Indigenous tribes that used spruce tip tea to ward off scurvy. To make an amaro (relatively easy!) you need to first learn to make a tincture. That’s not to say growing food isn’t hard work.

Food 121

Food Farming Farming Seeding 121

Civil Eats

JUNE 20, 2024

Nina Elkadi Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey Toward Personal and Ecological Healing By Jennifer Grenz “To use only fragmented pieces of [Indigenous] knowledge is to admire a tree without its roots,” Nlaka’pamux ecologist turned land healer Jennifer Grenz writes in Medicine Wheel for the Planet.

Food 115

Food Farming Farming Forage 115

Civil Eats

JANUARY 23, 2024

On a crisp weekend this past fall, 30 state legislators from across the nation descended on TomKat Ranch , an 1,800-acre ranch focused on regenerative agriculture in Pescadero, California, an hour south of San Francisco. Their insight is essential to creating sustainable, culturally sensitive, and region-specific policies, she says.

Agriculture 86

Agriculture Agriculture Food Ranching 86

Food Environment and Reporting Network

JANUARY 19, 2024

And that’s after the corn is planted, doused with fossil-fuel-derived fertilizers, shielded from weeds and insects with toxic chemicals, and harvested. The owners say leasing land for the “community solar” garden removes several acres from crop production but provides extra revenue. AP Photo/Jim Mone. Corn, the largest U.S.

Acre 108

Acre Crop Fertilizer Greenhouse 108