Water Tour brings farmers together from across Southwest
Below average precipitation combined with warm and dry summers make it difficult for producers to grow enough to make a profit and forecasts of low precipitation patterns suggests this may be a new normal. With water being a critical resource for managing a successful farm, drought resiliency is an important skill. This week the National Young Farmers […]
BOOTSTRAP @ LEMONADE SPRINGS FARM – MAKING DECISIONS ON EQUIPMENT
By Seth Douglas of Lemonade Springs Farm The question of equipment and capital, it seems to me, is really a question of what decisions you make about your daily work and your financial equilibrium and why you make them. Questions we ask regarding both tools used and money spent (both whose and how much) are those […]
BOOTSTRAP @ LEMONADE SPRINGS FARM – MAKING CHOICES ON BREEDS AND SEEDS:
At our farm, we tend towards open-pollinated, heirloom varieties of seed, for reasons practical, sentimental and political. We are suckers for the poetry of seed catalogues and the promise of hopeful January orders. Our seed shelves spell out the history of our journey to this place- cornand shell beans from Oregon, garlic and dry beans from […]
BOOTSTRAP @ LEMONADE SPRINGS FARM – WELCOME TO OUR 2014 SEASON
By Seth Douglas of Lemonade Springs Farm Lemonade Springs Farm is run by myself, Seth, and my partner, Kathleen. We are in our second full season. The farm is located in Watsonville, California, about a mile inland in the heart of the central coast’s commercial strawberry growing country. We are reclaiming five acres of old […]
GMO-labeling movement finds first win in Connecticut
Last month, Connecticut became the first state to pass a law requiring the labeling of foods containing genetically modified ingredients.
Let's Go Farm, Santa Rosa, CA
Joey Smith started Let’s Go Farm in 2011 on the land he grew up on in Santa Rosa, CA. On their 1-acre parcel, Joey and his farming partner Max grow a wide variety of vegetables, flowers, and some fruits and berries. They sell their produce on Sundays at the Windsor Farmer’s Market, and have a […]
California's Prop 37, a primer
With the defeat of Prop 37 in last week’s election, a long campaign battle in California has drawn to a close—for now. According to Ballotpedia, the proposition’s outline is as follows: “If Proposition 37 has been approved, it would have: Required labeling on raw or processed food offered for sale to consumers if the food […]
Occupy the Farm Fights Back for Urban Agriculture in the East Bay
This Earth Day, April 22, a Bay-area coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists called Occupy The Farm began an action protesting the loss of farmland and agricultural education in the East Bay. The group planted over 10,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil […]
CSA Model Continues to Grow
The model of community-supported agriculture (CSA)–where members pay farmers a certain amount up front in order to get a share of the farm’s produce for the year–has been growing in California’s Central Valley, according to a new study published in the University of California’s California Agriculture journal. Between 1990 and 2010, CSA membership in this […]