Beginnings and Endings and Beginnings
In business, success and growth are generally synonymous. There’s a generalized feeling that if something isn’t growing it is dying. Think of Amazon, which lost money for nine consecutive years...
Garth Brown |
Blog
Beginnings and Endings and Beginnings
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Existential Farming
This Thursday I took my kids back to the little waterfall on the edge of our property. The walk was only about half a mile, but to make it more...
Garth Brown |
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20 tons of Dust
Thinking about, managing, and handling large volumes of things that most people are happy to spend as little time as possible dealing with comprises much of farming, e.g. poop, dirt,...
Garth Brown |
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Good Fences Make Good Farms
It’s easy to spot the negative parts of the current agricultural system. Ever larger machines churn across ever larger acreages, farmers mostly see themselves as business owners operating on razor...
Garth Brown |
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Trash Trees
It’s easy to assume trees have a natural hierarchy, with towering sequoias and oaks at the top, sugar maples and hemlocks in the middle, and jack pine and willows at...
Garth Brown |
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Good Grass
Growing grass is easy in New York's humid summers. All I have to do is step back and watch. Growing grass that maintains the best possible feed quality throughout the...
Garth Brown |
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Feeling Like Fall
Despite this post’s title, it hasn’t been unseasonably cold here. Rain has lately been regular enough to keep the grass growing, and while the stream is still low, it's not...
Garth Brown |
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Thistles
A short while ago I wrote a blog post about how happy I am that my cows and sheep are finally running in a big enough group to do appreciable...
Garth Brown |
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Mango Mountain
As of this writing, it is unclear whether twenty tons of free mangoes are a blessing or a curse. They arrived three days ago in a refrigerated tractor trailer. It...
Garth Brown |
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Life Apart From People
The bear lay on its back by the side of the highway, one paw lying across its heart and the other reaching out overhead. Its face was a mournful mask...
Garth Brown |
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Not Quite Drought
When we talk about weather we mostly discuss events, like deluges, lightning, exceptional heat or cold, wind strong enough to pull over trees, and the stories that result from these...
Garth Brown |
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Happy!
Can you tell what part of this image fills my heart with happiness? It's the ragged stalks front and center. That's what burdock looks like this time of year when...
Garth Brown |
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The Trouble with Whole Foods
As a general rule, I try not to spend too much time litigating the absolute perfect way to farm. The most practical reason for this is a healthy dose of...
Garth Brown |
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The Challenge of Convenience
When I’m lying in bed, not able to sleep, I might be filled with the sort of existential dread that only seems to rear its head near midnight, I might...
Garth Brown |
