The Natural Farmer

Winter 2021
Forestry

Image Credit: Winter Barn by E. Gabriel, NY

Save Our Trees to Save Ourselves

BY STEPHEN LESLIE For any generation, it can be difficult to imagine that the world of the past was so radically different than the...

Lessons From the Land: Resilience

BY MARIA MERLINO A Mother’s Love Farming has helped me heal and I’m so grateful for it, so I thought I’d share some words about it. I...

Young Farmers Struggle with Child Care and Health Insurance

and that can threaten the future of family farms BY SHOSHANAH INWOOD, ANDREA RISSING, AND FLORENCE BECOT Kat Becker feeds hundreds of...

Farming & Parenting

BY ELIZABETH GABRIEL Kelli and Mike Roberts started Roots Farm in 2009 in Tiverton RI, a certified organic diversified vegetable farm...

The Hills Are (Too) Alive: Lymantria Among Us

BY JACK BRADIGAN SPULA Back in the early 1990s, standing in my small Allegany County woodlot, I was ordered into the trenches. Only three...

A New Farmer-Led Seed Company Inspired by Pollinator Pathways and CT NOFA’s Ecotype Project

BY DINA BREWSTER Announcing Eco59: a new Connecticut farmer-led seed company inspired by Pollinator Pathways and CT NOFA’s Ecotype...

Nature's Turn

BY JUDY ISACOFF Do you harbor a silent invasion of destructive jumping worms? “The jumping worm is not yet established in much of the...

5 Keys to Establishing an Organic Orchard

BY DAVID PONTIUS The joy of harvesting an apple is so many seasons in the making: After snowmelt, the blossoms are buzzing with bees,...

Hearing the Language of Trees

BY ROBIN WALL KIMMERER The intelligence of plants has long been a theme of literature, philosophy, and Indigenous narrative. Scientific...

Leaves of the Same Tree

BY AKIVA SILVER It has been said by sages of ancient times that humans are leaves of the same tree or fingers of the same hand. We see...

Tapping Walnut Trees: Studies on Walnut Sap Flow

BY MIKE RECHLIN, PH.D. AND KATE FOTOS Tapping tree species other than sugar maple provides syrup producers the opportunity to apply their...

Northeastern Charcoal in the 21st Century

BY BILL TAYLOR Hundreds of years ago, much of the Northeast was a center for producing charcoal for smelting iron, and pits in our...

The High-Potential for Nut Crops

BY ELIZABETH GABRIEL Nuts are incredibly nutritious and extremely high in protein and healthy fats. The growth of a regional market for...

Why Thinning Matters

BY ED NEUHAUSER In general, in northeastern forests, tree regeneration occurs naturally. While the regeneration may not be of desired or...

The Game of Logging - a Women's Workshop

BY ELIZABETH GABRIEL Game? It’s ironic because the last word I would use to describe anything to do with a chainsaw is “game”. While I am...

Seeing the Forest for the Bees

BY KASS URBAN-MEAD INTRODUCTION There have been many wonderful pieces about pollinators in The Natural Farmer, including a comprehensive...

A Forest(er) Farmer’s Journey with Silvopasturing

BY BRET CHEDZOY Over the years, I’ve had many enjoyable opportunities to talk about silvopasturing – mostly in an “official” capacity as...