by guest blogger “Coach” Mark Smallwood, Rodale Institute executive director The summer season always brings to mind bright green lawns and idyllic images of children running barefoot through the grass. However, lawns are a quintessentially American phenomenon, and when you begin to “dig” deeper into lawn care in America, the picture is not so pretty. […]
Organic Gardening
It’s the Most Wonderful
Time of the Year
So it was early March, and suddenly I burst into the Christmas song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” I couldn’t get it out of my head. Why? I look forward to summer the way a kid looks forward to Christmas.
A Recipe for Great Growth
by guest blogger Coach Mark Smallwood. When it comes to growing food, it takes a village. But not the kind of village you might think. Communities of bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and other microorganisms are the villagers that truly affect how our plants grow. It’s these micro-villagers that gardeners, farmers, and landscape professionals should be focused on luring onto, and into, our land.
Grow Your Own Heirloom Grains
by guest blogger Robyn Jasko. Beautiful to grow and easy to harvest grains: More and more gardeners are discovering just how easy it is to grow sustainable, GMO-free grains at home.
Foraging for Fiddlehead Ferns
by guest blogger Tim Mountz. As a farmer I revel in spring, with its quick weather changes, cracking buds, chorus of flowers, and dramatic transformation of landscape. In spring we farmers return to the fields to till the soil, but we also return to the woods to forage.
The Search for the Perfect Gardening Apron
I’m still searching for the best gardening apron, and I have a very specific, particular list of design must-haves. I’ll share it with you in the hopes that one of you out there knows where it is and can help me find it.
11 Reasons Why Gardening Is the Perfect Metaphor for Life
Gardening isn’t just a physical job, it’s also one where I happen to talk to myself a lot, and the talk I was giving myself on my first day back in the garden this year was about the fact that gardening seems to me to be the perfect metaphor for all of life. Here are eleven reasons why.
The Case for Heirlooms:
More than Just a Pretty Plate
by guest blogger Robyn Jasko. Growing heirlooms is a great way to preserve the flavor, sustainability, and legacy of these unique varieties for generations to come. Unlike hybrid plants, heirloom vegetables produce seeds that will grow into a variety identical to their parent plant. This means that if you grow heirlooms in your garden, you can grow your own seed supply and be completely self-reliant.
Scratch
Raised on America’s first organic farm, Scratch author Maria Rodale learned how to make everyday favorites from, yes, scratch — the way you remember them; the way they turn out best.
Order NowOrganic Manifesto
Drawing on findings from leading health researchers as well as conversations with both chemical and organic farmers from coast to coast, Maria Rodale irrefutably outlines the unacceptably high cost of chemical farming on our health and our environment.
Order Now