Nature is Cruel and Kind
The philosopher Thomas Hobbes famously described life in nature as “nasty, brutish, and short” a view that continues to resonate with certain members of the populace. Often a man of...
Garth Brown |
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Nature is Cruel and Kind
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Talking Ag Science
I just finished attending a two day workshop with Dan Kittredge of the Bionutrient Food Association. In the past five years I’ve gone to a number of alternative agriculture functions,...
Garth Brown |
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Guts
As promised last Tuesday, I'm going to continue with the pig theme for a few long posts. I hope you'll stick it out as I could use your help at...
Garth Brown |
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The Perfect Tool
Spring has finally arrived on the farm, at least if a diminishing snowpack and above freezing daytime temperatures count. I have a proud tradition of planting too early, and my...
Garth Brown |
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Time for Pork
This is my first year with pigs. I have 20 pigs up the hill in the hoophouse we built. Up until Thursday I had 21. Back in the fall I...
Garth Brown |
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What Did I Eat? Kidney!
As a child of about seven I became so fixated on steak and kidney pie that my mom convinced one of her friends to make it with me. On a...
Garth Brown |
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Oats
In Tuesday's post I mentioned trading some squash and beets for a bag of oats. I claimed I got the better end of the deal. From a calorie for calorie...
Garth Brown |
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A Cold Start to March
I blame the fact that I grew up in southeast Pennsylvania for my ability to convince myself every year that something resembling spring will arrive the moment the calendar flips...
Garth Brown |
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Barter
Back in early January when I posted the rules I thought point #3, barter, would only be of minor importance. I expected to swap a little bit of stuff here...
Garth Brown |
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Mistakes Were Made
Yesterday I went to a Farm Disaster Preparedness seminar. While most of the stuff was common sense, it was good to be reminded of common sense precautions, and it made...
Garth Brown |
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Loophole: Hay
After the last few weeks I'm ready for spring. I'm going to sing a little incantation over this photo from balmier times and hope for a warm March. This shows...
Garth Brown |
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The Meals of Justish, Part II
In case you missed it, this is the second installment of a once-a-month series we're doing. Here is a link to the first part. Embedded at that post is the...
Garth Brown |
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Food Item: Onions
One theme of this experiment is the difference between the food necessary to survive and the food necessary for comfort and enjoyment. The biggest issue is not any particular food...
Garth Brown |
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Winter Chickens
The best (alright, the only) dietary change of the past couple weeks is that the hens have finally started consistently laying. I got them early enough last summer that they...
Garth Brown |