My first homesteading project was about the worst one I could have chosen. I was a cage-stage permaculturist—“cage-stage” meaning I had learned enough about it that I could talk the…

My exploration of the possibility of farming began as many people’s do. I had grown up in the suburbs and hadn’t ever given much thought to where my food came…

I was in the house the other day when my wife called and said that our neighbors were there and wanted to talk with me. We had gotten to know…

We lost power in a thunderstorm last Wednesday and didn’t get it back until thisMonday. Much of my original motivation for getting into homesteading was disasterpreparedness. So it was particularly…

Now that financial goals are set, crops selected, and seeds ordered, the next step is simple: follow through with the crop plan. After that, simply keep good records and analyze…

After the initial planning for financial targets comes the field planning—crop choice, planting schedules, crop maps, and, finally, filling out seed orders for each crop.  Crop Planning Step 3: Make…

In the previous post, we examined the first of Dan Brisebois’s 11 steps for crop planning: setting goals. Today we’ll look at the second: developing a marketing plan. Crop Planning…

In the first post in this series with grower Dan Brisebois, we gave an overview of Ferme Tourne-Sol. Today we’ll examine the first of Dan’s 11 steps for effective crop…

In this blog series, we’ll be learning from farmer and Ferme Tourne-Sol co-owner Dan Brisebois about crop planning for organic vegetables. Hopefully, we’ll shed some light on how to increase…

My 10-year-old daughter came and found me in the house this morning, complaining that my 12-year-old daughter wasn’t letting her help feed and water the chickens. Not a bad problem…

Yesterday I built our first fence. I spent about 90 minutes pounding in 7/8-inch fiberglass posts and stringing it with polywire to create two paddocks along either side of our…

In the last post, we covered features of JM’s design for his market garden, including his permanent bed system and some of the equipment he uses. In this final post,…

In the first post in this series, we explored the factors that influenced JM Fortier as he began to design his market garden. Today we’ll look at several integral parts…

Market gardening is a vital part of the local food movement. If enough people become serious about it, market gardening could replace large-scale vegetable production. This has the potential to…

In the final part of our series on the benefits and how-to’s of leasing land for market gardening, we turn to the specifics of converting leased land into an urban…

In the first two parts of this series, we’ve covered the benefits of leasing land to start a market garden and how much you should expect to pay for that…

In Part 1 of this series on finding access to farmland, we made the case that land access does not need to be a major hurdle for aspiring farmers. Plenty…

Almost everyone thinks owning land is a prerequisite to farming. But it turns out that leasing farmland is not only a viable alternative — it may even be preferable to…

The farm I worked on in Alabama owned a very nice John Deere zero-turn mower. It was incredibly easy to use and could turn on a dime. You could maneuver…

You’ve heard about the profitability of urban farming, and maybe you’re raring to go at this point. But let’s slow down a bit and talk about something that not many…