25 Blogs Dedicated to Living Off the Land: How to Do It--from Housekeeping.org

A great article from Housekeeping.org. We'll be continuing to post more of the twenty-five articles so keep checking back!

As grocery stores continue to raise food prices, more people are turning to their own land to produce food instead of purchasing it at the store. Whether you want to grow your own herbs, harvest your own fruits or vegetables or raise cattle, there are many ways you can maximize your land as a food source. These 25 blog articles will dig into how you can live off the land.

How to Do It

There’s no way that one blog could give you all of the information that you need to live off the land, but combining these five blog entries can give you some ideas on how to go about starting the adventure.

• Live Off Your Land—Fifteen Steps You Can Take to Get Out of the Cubicle and Onto Self-Reliance
• Infographic: How Much Backyard Do You Need to Live Off the Land?
• The Floyd Eco-Village: Living Off the Land with an Economic Plan
• Tough (and Valuable) Lessons from the Homestead
• Rural Free Delivery: Living Off the Land, Almost

25 Blogs Dedicated to Living Off the Land from Housekeeping.org

25 Blogs Dedicated to Living Off the Land: Meat--from Housekeeping.org

Here's our second installment of "25 Blogs Dedicated to Living Off the Land!" Today, we're looking at how to find meat. Make sure to check out the featured article from Cedar Rapids's The Gazette.

Hunting isn’t the only way to have meat on your dinner table if you are living off the land. Many folks choose to raise their own livestock to butcher for food. A family of four can eat for several different meals from the meat that comes from a whole pig or cow. If you live by water, you can add fish or other seafood to your diet. These five blog posts will share some of their insights with you.

• Living Off the Land
• The Year in Oysters
• Living Off the Land
• Abandon the Office: Be a Hunter-Gatherer
• Living Off the Land—and Sea—in Kotzebue

25 Blogs Dedicated to Living Off the Land from Housekeeping.org

Practical Farmers of Iowa, Part 3

Interview with Luke Gran, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Part 3

Founded in 1985, Practical Farmers of Iowa includes a diverse group of 2,000 farmers and friends of farmers. The organization’s mission is to advance profitable, ecologically sound, and community-enhancing approaches to agriculture through farmer-led investigation and information sharing. Below is part 3 of acquisitions editor Catherine Cocks’s interview with Luke Gran, the coordinator of PFI’s Next Generation program. The first two posts appeared on June 12 and June 19.

Catherine: Who are the people who want to become farmers today?

Luke: Many are the children of farmers, but a growing number are people with no family background in farming. In terms of age (again drawing on that March 2012 survey), about 30 percent are between 19 and 28, another 30 percent are between 29 and 38, about 16 percent are between 39 and 48, and about 15 percent are between 49 and 58, with the remainder older than that. It’s about 50-50 men and women, although in 2012 only 40 percent of the beginning farmers who responded to the survey were female. They bring all levels of skill and experience to farming, and many still have off-farm jobs. Some are immigrants or refugees from other countries, such as Sudan. They are looking for advice on adapting to the Iowa climate and gaining access to markets.

Catherine: What are two or three things ordinary consumers (who are not farmers or planning to become farmers) can do to help establish a new generation of farmers?

Luke: Landowners are instrumental in determining who gets access to land and how it’s farmed. In some parts of Iowa (such as many of the counties in the northwestern part of the state), 75 percent of the farmland is owned by nonresidents, people who don’t live in the county. If you own a farm but are not farming it yourself, take a look at who your tenant is and ask about his or her plans for the next generation. Think about ways you or your tenant could help a beginning farmer get started.

If you don’t own land, you can still help by buying products from beginning farmers—meat, eggs, vegetables, small grains, flowers, you name it—at farmers’ markets and cooperative grocery stores. Spend your food dollar locally; talk to the managers at your favorite restaurants, cooperatives, or grocery stores. Ask for locally grown foods and ask about the farmers who are producing them.

            You can also work with producer cooperatives to buy directly from farmers, or become a member of a CSA (a community-supported agriculture association).

            Another way you can help is by joining PFI—25 percent of our members are “friends of farmers,” not farmers—they are people who support farmers learning from each other.

Catherine: Where can people learn more about farm succession and how to get started in farming?

 Luke: The PFI website (www.practicalfarmers.org) is a good resource. Folks who want to see full details about our beginning farmer network should check out: http://practicalfarmers.org/blog/2012/pfi-beginning-farmer-annual-survey-results.

Also, through PFI or local organizations you can find other farmers and develop a network, whether you’re a new farmer or an established one. Attending PFI events is a good way to build connections.

Some good books include Atina Diffley’s Turn Here Sweet Corn (University of Minnesota Press, 2012). This is a memoir of establishing organic vegetable farm near Twin Cities over the past thirty years.

I also recommend Wes Jackson’s Consulting the Genius of the Place (Counterpoint, 2011). This is a book of philosophy as well a memoir of Jackson’s life and ideas and his vision for the future of agriculture.

If you want to know more about PFI, you might take a look at Michael Bell’s Farming for Us All (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004).







More information: Farming's New Faces

Practical Farmers of Iowa, Part 2

Interview with Luke Gran, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Part 2

Founded in 1985, Practical Farmers of Iowa includes a diverse group of 2,000 farmers and friends of farmers. The organization’s mission is to advance profitable, ecologically sound, and community-enhancing approaches to agriculture through farmer-led investigation and information sharing. Below is part 2 of acquisitions editor Catherine Cocks’s interview with Luke Gran, the coordinator of PFI’s Next Generation program. In our first post on this interview (June 12), Luke Gran said that marketing and production are the two biggest challenges facing new farmers.

Catherine: What are the marketing challenges?

Luke: Folks in the PFI beginning farmer network grow diverse crops and target diverse markets, from farmers’ markets to community-supported agriculture to grocers to brokers on the Chicago Board of Trade. All of them want to know how to build or maintain their customer base or how to make prudent selling decisions in commodity markets.

Catherine: And the production challenges?

Luke: In terms of production, 33 percent of our beginning farmers are focused on horticulture, but the knowledge of how to produce highly productive, diverse vegetable crops of high quality is lacking in Iowa because of the dominance of investments in research and market infrastructure for corn and soybeans over the past several decades. So this is knowledge that farmers are reacquiring now through experience and networking with other farmers. Another 20 percent of our beginning farmers are growing grain and raising livestock in integrated farm systems, and 15 percent of them are grazing livestock on grass-based systems. The knowledge of these systems also has also been lost as markets shifted and support in Iowa for these practices dwindled over the past half century.

            In general, new farmers face challenges in getting access to capital and land, developing comprehensive business plans, and finding or building adequate infrastructure for livestock and processing. 

More information: Farming's New Faces

Practical Farmers of Iowa, Part 1

Interview with Luke Gran, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Part 1

Founded in 1985, Practical Farmers of Iowa includes a diverse group of 2,000 farmers and friends of farmers. The organization’s mission is to advance profitable, ecologically sound, and community-enhancing approaches to agriculture through farmer-led investigation and information sharing. Below is acquisitions editor Catherine Cocks’s interview with Luke Gran, the coordinator of PFI’s Next Generation program.

Catherine: Can you briefly describe the Next Generation program and tell me why it’s needed?

Luke: The Next Generation program was developed in response to PFI members’ requests for more support in dealing with their children’s wish to come home and farm with them. Farmers wanted to share with each other their struggles and successes in making this happen. Established with seventy-five beginning farmers in our membership, it has now grown to include 1,300 beginning farmers in Iowa and continues to grow each month by about thirty beginners. Now the majority of people involved in the program tell us they are not the children of farmers. They’re new farmers without that rich family background and experience to draw from who are looking to network with other farmers.
        Keep in mind, if there’s no place for beginning farmers, if we don’t support and encourage them to explore their diverse farm business dreams, we will have a stark rural landscape, without a lot of humans in it—just a limited number of families with the large equipment that is necessary to support the production of corn or soybeans. Add in clusters of animal confinement complexes from county to county. So much of Iowa’s cultural identity depends on us creating space for families to continue farming, and this means ensuring the generational transition and conveying knowledge. Even if you don’t farm, think about your favorite recipes or meals or season—our food is very intimately tied to humans on the land, living with natural cycles. Farmers are key part of that. So think about what we could lose if there is no new generation of farmers.

Catherine: What are the top three obstacles to getting started as a farmer?

Luke: The most recent information we have is from a March 2012 survey. As of last year, beginning farmers listed marketing as their top challenge, followed by production issues, financing (access to capital), pricing farm products, and financial recordkeeping.

More Information: Farming's New Faces

Interview with Leigh Adcock, Part 2

In developing the press’s new list in food studies, acquisitions editor Catherine Cocks is talking to people who are active in the field. Recently, she spoke with Leigh Adcock, the executive director of the Women, Food, and Agriculture Network, about her organization and its aims.

Catherine: On your website, you list one of your goals as insisting on “social and ecological justice.” What do you mean by “ecological justice,” and how is it related to social justice?

Leigh: “Ecological justice” refers to treating species besides Homo sapiens as having a claim in justice to a share of the Earth's resources. “Social justice” in the healthy food and farming movement refers to making sure all people have access to safe and healthy foods grown as close to their home as possible.

Catherine: Another of your goals is to engage people in “experiential learning.” Can you give an example of what you mean by this? What kinds of opportunities for this kind of learning are available now?

Leigh: “Experiential learning” is a concept that recognizes that people learn best by doing. WFAN offers opportunities for aspiring women farmers to pair up with women farmer mentors for eight to ten weeks of on-farm work during the growing season (our Harvesting Our Potential program), and for beginning women farmers (farming ten years or less) to be matched with farmer mentors for off-farm support over the course of a farming year. We also offer occasional “heritage skills” field days to share information on food preservation, weaving, etc. Our women landowner programming (Women Caring for the Land) involves a high degree of hands-on learning as well, including demonstration activities using familiar objects to teach basic conservation concepts and field tours to explore various conservation practices on the ground.

Catherine: Where can people learn more about the key issues that WFAN works on?

Leigh: Our website is the best source: www.wfan.org. We also maintain a sister site dedicated to women landowner issues at www.womencaringfortheland.org. We are members of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, so those interested in policy and advocacy should visit them at www.sustainableagriculture.net. I also recommend Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, by Temra Costa, as a great collection of profiles of the women engaged in changing the face of agriculture and food in America today.

Interview with Leigh Adcock, Part 1

In developing the press’s new list in food studies, acquisitions editor Catherine Cocks is talking to people who are active in the field. Recently, she spoke with Leigh Adcock, the executive director of the Women, Food, and Agriculture Network, about her organization and its aims.

Catherine: According to your website, the Women, Food, and Agriculture Network exists to enable women in sustainable agriculture to talk with each other about the issues they face. Why do women need an organization of their own?

Leigh: As in other male-dominated fields, women in agriculture often prefer to network and learn from one another in an organization dedicated to them. Other women-in-ag networks exist for those engaged in more traditional commodity-based farming; WFAN is one of a small number of networks around the United States dedicated to women engaged in small-scale, diversified farming. We are the only one that engages in leadership development and policy advocacy on a national level.

Catherine: What are some of the issues that concern your members the most?

Leigh: Our last member survey showed that most women in sustainable ag are concerned about affordable health care for their families. That was the biggest barrier to success as small-scale farmers. Beyond that, their other concerns are similar to those of other farmers—access to land and capital.

Catherine: Since the informal founding of WFAN in 1994, the local/sustainable/organic food movement has grown exponentially. How has this growth affected women farmers and landowners?

Leigh: As the movement has grown, our membership has grown along with it. When I started as WFAN’s executive director in 2008, we had about 300 members, mostly in Iowa and neighboring states. Today we have nearly 3,000 members from all states and several other countries. Our operating budget has grown as well, as we expand our programming to meet the increased demand for networking, education, and leadership development opportunities for women in the movement. The healthy food and farming movement has been a women’s movement from the beginning—women operate the farms, buy the food, and staff the nonprofits that support the movement.