I’ve been thinking a lot about time, our place in time and how agriculture has allowed us to harness vast resources and change our environment.

They say that the universe banged into existence about 13 billion years ago. Seven million years ago, a group of bipedal primates stood up in Africa to evolve into humans. For 200,000 years, humans foraged for food, roaming in small communities. We migrated and adapted during ice ages and tectonic shifts to almost every corner of the globe.

Suddenly and simultaneously, humans domesticated plants and animals just 10,000 years ago. We settled in place and became agrarians. We cut and burned great forests to expand, with evidence showing a rise in global carbon during this era.

We began to write 5000 years ago and could now pass our collective knowledge on to future generations. Civilizations rose, and great walled cities with armies assembled.

In the 1960s, technology was applied in earnest with bio-engineered seeds in conjunction with chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

With the advent of modern farming practices, we’ve seen a massive increase in food production and the human population.

But with this increase in production has come a rise in adverse environmental impacts.

Today we’re experiencing a reckoning of these impacts, a convergence of shifts in climate, food insecurity, political and social upheaval, and mass migration.

The time to adopt different paradigms in our food system is upon us, and Organic Agriculture leads the way. 

Continue reading “Time for Organic Ag” →

It’s amazing how quickly you go from a state of awe when your first zucchini issues forth to a state of panic; OMG, we’re overrun with elongated green giants! You can only make so much zucchini bread in the dog days of summer. And those dogs are getting hotter each year. 

That transition from wonder to panic happens prodigiously with tomatoes, green beans, and just everything you’ve planted.

Considering that many people don’t grow their own food (but probably should start), you’ll be doing your community a great favor by opening a small market stand.

Roadside marketing needs some planning and consideration, but it’s an endeavor whose time has arrived (along with those zucchini) to nourish, know, and educate your neighbors. 

Continue reading “Beware the Zucchini Curse, May Lead To Roadside Market Stand” →

I’ve been staying up until the wee hours listening to a series of lectures called “Big History.”  It’s a multidisciplinary approach to our story. One that’s usually explained in silos; geologists, astronomers, biologists, and archeologists all tell their unique versions.

Eighteen hours in, I’m finally learning about the first agriculturists and the impact they had on the climate just 5000 years ago.

It drives home the fact that agriculture and our current confluence of crises: climate, disease, social inequality, and political unrest can all be traced back to agriculture. 

40 years ago, I jumped into the organic business landscape with a passion for change.

Today, my passion is helping people connect the dots between food and our current predicaments. 

Growing organic food and agriculture is imperative to surviving the next few decades.

Continue reading “Growing Organic Food and Ag is Imperative” →

I drove to the pump the other day in 104 degrees of swelter, just to fill my tank with $7 per-gallon petrol. As I stood sweating, I contemplated the irony of paying this price for the very thing fueling our warming planet.

Fossil fuels power most of our transportation, our communities, and our homes. We’re paying a great price for our current Climate Crisis by depending on fossil fuels.

Climate change is a major challenge globally, and the consequences are impacting the world at a much faster rate than predicted.  Most Americans live in a place impacted by a climate disaster just in the last year. Wildfires, extreme heat, floods, drought, and superstorms are ravaging our lives and threatening our financial future and food security.  

This has led to many initiatives around the world, such as the United States of America, which has set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and produce electricity that is 100% carbon and pollution-free by 2035.

The US National Climate Task Force warns, “This is the decisive decade for the world to confront climate change and avoid the worst, irreversible impacts of this crisis.”

This is no fault of a political party or a single person. It’s our responsibility and a personal imperative to change our lifestyles now.   

What can we do as individuals to contribute to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions that fire this crisis?  

Continue reading “Powering Your Home With Renewable Energy Is Easier Than You Think” →