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Too often, people think a farm is a place of drudgery that can't feed the creative human spirit. So, when I was asked to write about creativity, music, and art [...]

The most surefire way to save money on energy is to use less of it. Try these energy-saving tactics to reduce your energy dependency and build homestead resilience. Several years [...]

I may be turning into an old geezer, but I'm still loaded with dreams for the future. The editors at MOTHER EARTH NEWS have asked me to share some of [...]

I'm confident that working with animals has made me more mindful of how I relate to other people. Gardeners, this column isn't a slight against what we can learn from [...]

Has it really been 50 years? As a 13-year-old in 1970, I remember my straight-laced dad devouring this new magazine, all in black and white on rustic paper. It was [...]

For all the things interns are, they're not cheap help. To be sure, some mentors are better than others, and some farms pay more or less than others, but generally, [...]

In the afterglow of a can-do workshop, when everyone feels comfortable enough to explore inferior decisions I've made, someone will ask, 'What have been your biggest business failures?' Failures don't [...]

As scientists delve into the synergistic intricacies of animal relationships in historic ecological templates, they discover more and more the positive work animals can accomplish. From bison pruning prairies to [...]

Every animal has unique management requirements. Volumes have been written concerning diet and shelter, but much less has been penned regarding the actual logistics of moving livestock around. Perhaps that's [...]

Each spring, our farm requires a flurry of preparation as we transition from cold weather to warm. Here in Swoope, Virginia, smack-dab in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley, our [...]

While sitting in our dining room on a sweltering July evening about five years ago, Teresa and I were chatting and reading when suddenly a gust of wind shook the [...]

I've amassed quite a few statistics about food trends in the United States over my years of reading. One that sticks out is that almost a fifth of all food [...]

Too often in environmentally themed discussions, spiritual reasons for building compost piles and pond dams get lost in practical how-to. Our temptation is to get excited about the how, and [...]

Farmers have one of the highest rates of workplace accidents. As an older farmer, I have battle scars that put me in that statistical column. I write from personal experience [...]

My dad used to have a saying: 'We make haste slowly.' He said it tongue-in-cheek, but the older I get, the more I appreciate the wisdom in it. We live [...]

'My kids dawdle. They don't want to do the work around the farmstead that needs to be done. How do I get them on board?' You can see the yearning [...]

I can still remember my first encounter with the term 'permaculture.' It was a Plowboy interview with Bill Mollison in Mother Earth News in 1980. I remember well how the [...]

Because they're omnivores, chickens are perhaps the most salvage-savvy critter on the farmstead. Historically, their cleaner-upper role predated compost piles for getting rid of food and garden waste and for [...]

Manure might be the hottest thing on your farmstead. If you aren't already composting your livestock's 'second harvest,' you're missing out! Anyone who raises livestock on a farmstead knows that [...]

Got a modest homestead? You can still practice rotational grazing--just keep those animals moving. Too often, homesteaders with small acreage and only a few animals feel left out of the [...]

Members of the Mother Earth News tribe have a long, illustrious, and storied reputation as stewards of the Earth. I grew up with the magazine during the Vietnam War, the [...]

Do-it-yourself and self-reliance themes are wonderful--to a point. I know that questioning these themes in the pages of MOTHER EARTH NEWS borders on heresy, but hear me out. Every movement [...]

What fascinates you? What warrants your fixation? At the risk of being dismissed as certifiably weird, may I humbly submit the earthworm as deserving of both fascination and fixation? When [...]

Since 2012, David Schaefer, with Featherman Equipment, and I have demonstrated chicken processing at Mother Earth News Fairs. In our poultry demonstrations, David and I go to great lengths to [...]

We live in an era of soundbite messaging. Bombarded with information, we feel pressure to make snap judgments and move on. Nowhere is this demand more apparent than in the [...]

Many years ago, the livestock on our farm consisted of a handful of cows and a couple dozen chickens. We've scaled up our livestock operations through the years with cash [...]

Want to grow your budding farm business into a viable enterprise? These expert recommendations can make a big difference. Those of us dedicated to sustainable agriculture have distinct ideas about [...]

Is life fundamentally biological or mechanical? How you answer that question determines how you view life and, in turn, sets boundaries on innovation regarding your care for other beings. I [...]

It's sure hard to measure what isn't there, folks. Silly as it sounds, this logic underpins many assessments of livestock consumption and production. Instead of studying farms such as Polyface [...]

Too often, farmers and gardeners leave forestland to its own devices, as if thinning trees and strategically managing their woodlots would desecrate some sacred shrine to wildness. That woodlot out [...]

The average morsel of food sees more of the world than the farmer who grows it, traveling an average of 1,500 miles from field to fork. It takes 15 calories [...]

Since I'm now traveling 120 days a year--roughly a third of the time, which is all I can stand--people routinely ask me how I handle eating on the road. I'm [...]

In light of our modern love affair with fast growth and fast money, I'd like to propose embracing the opposite: As you grow your market garden or farm business, slow [...]

Calling something 'old-fashioned' might encourage tourists and antique buyers to take note, but it does not captivate the hearts and minds of our mainstream culture. Too often, the Earth-stewardship movement [...]

Choosing local, organic fare and cooking from scratch don't make you a 'food snob.' They mean you're conscientious. We live in a world of sound bites. The in-depth discourse that [...]

All fruits and vegetables are more abundant in some seasons than others, and although not everyone realizes it, the same is true for meat and eggs. As a farmer who […]

Do you ever feel like the whole world is crazy and wonder what you and your lone voice can do to create real, positive change? We're all sometimes tempted to [...]

Too often, people think a farm is aplace of drudgery that can't feedthe creative human spirit. I try to get people to lovethe farm for the farm's sake; since I love mywork, I don't need to escape from it. Now that our farm family includes apprentices,stewards, and additional permanentstaff, these picnic areas create placesfor storytelling, whittling, and, of course,music. [Extracted from the article]

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of training in homesteading and building skills through practice.

Customers. Those grateful customers need to With a customer, keep everything on a pay Client or partner. [Extracted from the article]

Several letters to the editor are presented including one on farming, one on house purchased by a reader, and one on health cooperatives.

The article explores how his spiritual principles inform his stewardship of animals, plants, and the land. It mentions need to build a compost pile and decompose biomass quickly and completely and decomposed biomass the best fertility amendment for soil. It also mentions industrial farming which depletes water, decreases immune function, and requires monolithic buildings.

The article discusses how hiring help can bring relief and make homestead operations more efficient. Topics include pasturing cows and poultry, need of large animal slaughter, need to hire a friend with a trailer for hauling, bookkeeping like breeding records, grazing, and hiring a mechanic for challenging repair jobs to reduce stress.

An interview with Joel Salatin, farmer and author of the book "Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front," is presented. According to Salatin, they lease four farms and offer grass-fed beef, forage-based rabbits and pastured poultry. He asserted that people have become aware of organic farming. He mentioned that he always wanted to be a farmer.

Salatin's "Faith-Based Farming". Thank you, Mr. Salatin. Joel Salatin's "Faith-Based Mr. Salatin's article about. [Extracted from the article]