Climate
-
Book Recommendation: A Sand County Almanac
‘Tis the season! …reading season! This is a great one from a naturalist, A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. Aldo’s prose and storytelling is the star here, with beautiful passages detailing the natural movements of animals through the seasons. It was published in 1949 and not only does it stand the test of time, Continue reading
-
Under The Canopy
This week I was able to get away from farming for two days and went camping in Nopiming Provincial Park. The heat had finally arrived and after going non-stop since the end of April, with the cool season we’ve had the heat hit hard and fast. There’s no point to getting heat exhaustion this early Continue reading
-
Rain, Heat, Choices, Repeat
We’ve spent many of the recent years in memory extremely stressed, – especially in springtime – with lack of moisture. Seeing nothing but suns and scorching heat in May and June coupled with wildfires and smoke from out-of-province gave a really grim feeling to most work days, running around trying to keep up with irrigating Continue reading
-
Farming Requires Empathy
An errand for some supplies. The product we usually get was sold out, or awaiting delivery. We were offered a similar product as a replacement. Upon closer inspection, this “similar product” included some odd trademarked “additives,” which were of mysterious patented origins. The package also included this very helpful note: WEAR GLOVES WHILE HANDLING THIS Continue reading
-
Wetlands are Critical Agricultural Infrastructure
Like many other types of ecosystems, wetlands have had more-than-significant destruction and elimination over the past century. Where I live there was once a place called St Andrews Bog which covered some 116, 000 acres. It was nearly all drained, leaving only a small section of the south portion of Lake Winnipeg and, later, a Continue reading
-
Why don’t we want to be close to where our food is grown?
Agriculture and innovation have always gone hand in hand. Indigenous American Three Sisters methods with corn, squash and beans. Incan terraces and potato cultivation. Anishinaabe food forests. Many people not only don’t grow their own food, but food comes exclusively from the store. Land is a prospective real estate development, not for farming. And farms Continue reading
-
Intact Forests Within Cities
Sometimes when one expects to find a manicured park, one finds themselves in a dynamic forest. I stepped down from apartments and condos into a beautiful place and was amazed to find dead trees and tree trunks along with uneven ground, pooling water as the snow melts. On an island of just 3.8 square kilometres Continue reading
-
Just Passing This On
Some of the most fascinating and important research being done in the area of forestry is happening right here in Canada by a Canadian scientist. Suzanne Simard’s work over the past decades in forest biology and tree communication has wide-reaching implications. There have been many who have stated in some form or another that all Continue reading
-
52 Blueberries!
I set up this website with a simple goal: to write and publish one thing per week farming-related for one year. The first few months weren’t the easiest…often I scrambled to find something to write about, or felt like I wrote poorly. But I kept telling myself it was part of a process and that Continue reading
-
The Maddening Absurdity of Chemicals in Agriculture
Commodity and chemical-based agriculture has many profound effects and one of the most overlooked ones is evolution driven by mass-scale global chemical application. It is also one of the most Sisyphean: the solution is always more powerful chemicals. Recently Reuters reported that weeds are becoming resistant to multiple chemical herbicides. It is wild that the Continue reading
About Graham
Graham is an ecologist-farmer from Canada working on educating about the wonders and beauty of the natural world, and how we can design biodiverse food production systems.
Complimentary Blueberry Juice 