The Call of the Land
New Book Explores Growing Agrarian Movement
“A Primer for the 21st Century”

“Food and farms are involved in a blitzkrieg of changes,” writes veteran journalist Steven McFadden in The Call of the Land, published this October by NorLightsPress. The book gives voice to a growing chorus of 21st century agrarians who are demonstrating a new vision for food and agriculture.

In a time of stark challenges to our food and farms -- both globally  and nationally -- this affordably priced sourcebook presents basic agrarian theory concisely and then offers readers dozens upon dozens of proven creative responses to the call of the land. These working models are supplying hundreds of thousands of families with clean, fresh food, restoring the environment, and providing dignified work in nature.

Subtitled “An Agrarian Primer for the 21st Century,” the book documents a broad range of positive pathways to food security, economic stability, environmental health, and cultural renewal. The surging range of creative, innovative responses — from individuals, communities, cities, churches, colleges, and other institutions — is both practical and inspirational. These models can — and need to be — widely emulated now.

Among the dozens of positive pathways featured in the book:

•     The Food Depot of Santa Fe, NM, encourages home gardeners to plant an extra row for the hungry and donate the produce to local food pantries.

•     A Pasadena, CA family’s urban homestead grows 6,000 pounds of produce on a mere fifth of an acre.

•     Colleges, universities, and schools across America are pioneering pathways for clean campus food.

•     Milwaukee’s Growing Power empowers inner-city youth to raise healthy foods and reduce their community’s risk of obesity and diabetes.

•     American Farmland Trust protects over 1 million acres of farmland.

•     Canada’s City Farmer teaches people how to plant and harvest edible rooftops.

•     Sharing Backyards in Vancouver, B.C., links property owners with landless gardeners.

•     North American gardeners and farmers are extending the growing season with cold frames, hoop houses, and high tunnels.

•     Farmers markets and CSAs can accept food stamps to increase access to fresh produce.

•     Food-shed co-op distribution sites help small-scale farmers reach their markets while avoiding costly deliveries.

•     Appalachia’s Growing Minds serves local foods in the schools, offers farm field trips and nutrition education, and hosts a school garden.

Steven McFadden is co-author with Trauger Groh of Farms of Tomorrow (1991), America’s first book on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The volume helped inspire the movement to grow from two farms in the late 1980s to thousands, with hundreds of thousands of shareholders, in 2009. Whole Earth News named Farms of Tomorrow “the best book to access the CSA movement.” Farms of Tomorrow Revisited (1998) recounts the lessons learned.
 
A journalism graduate of Boston University, he is the author of six other non-fiction titles, including: The Legend of the Rainbow Warriors; Profiles in Wisdom: Native Elders Speak About the Earth; and The Little Book of Native American Wisdom. His epic Odyssey of the 8th Fire chronicles a prophetic transcontinental walk in 1995-96 (www.8thFire.net). A longtime resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, McFadden now resides in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is promoting The Call of the Land with his partner, writer and editor Elizabeth Wolf, founder of Good Medicine Media.

To order The Call of the Land:
http://www.norlightspress.com/our-books-cotl.html

 

 

Could farming bamboo be the next big thing? The idea of growing bamboo for profit in the United States has been in play for nearly a century.  The first test plots of giant bamboo were successfully grown in Alabama in 1944. But with a ready supply coming from Asia, there has been no incentive to fully explore a domestic source of bamboo—until now according to bamboo advocates.

Now the race for truly renewable resources and solutions for climate change is on.  Unsustainable practices and overharvesting in Asia means that creating a domestic supply of bamboo in the United States has the potential for major practical, economic and environmental benefits.

The US has prime growing conditions, pioneering propagation techniques, and innovative companies ready to create the necessary manufacturing and infrastructure links.  So where does that leave us?  Bamboo advocates suggest that all that remains is the political commitment and front-end investment. From there, willing farmers can begin to turn this vision into a reality.
 
If this topic interests you as a farmer, I suggest you check out the following:

1. Watch this video to learn a great deal about growing Bamboo. http://www.marthastewart.com/article/clip-of-the-day-dreamers-into-doers-winner-jackie-heinricher. (Jackie Heinricher was recently selected as a winner of Martha Stewart's Dreamers into Doers program. You can see Jackie's appearance on the Martha Stewart show)

2. Additional Information can be found at http://www.bamboonow.us/. (Booshoots is involved in the creation of a new coalition aligned around supporting the growth of bamboo and a bamboo industry here in the United States. It's in the early stages of formation. Some early partners/supporters beyond Booshoot include the Delta Economic Development Center, Teragren, Rose Carbon and Naturally Bamboo.)

 

Congratulations to my brother for running the New York City Marathon yesterday in  4 hours and 9 minutes AND for helping to raise $94,000+ for cancer research!  Check out www.nicktiller.com  to learn more about the amount raised and visit http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/Results.htm, then click “Unofficial Results” and then enter runner number “42825” to get the details like run/finish times.