Articles: efficient farm

Ducks and Chickens

Are you Team Duck or Team Chicken?

Thinking about adding a laying flock to your backyard, but having trouble deciding between ducks and chickens? Agonize no more. Ducks are easy to herd, have routine…

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Compost: Small Farm-Style

With the right strategies and practices, composting on a small farm is surprisingly easy and inexpensive. Just follow these steps for making compost, and your farm will…

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garden planning

Garden Planning: The Most Promising Veggies

Getting ready to do some garden planning? Here are some of the most promising veggies that Eliot Coleman suggests to start with! The following is an excerpt…

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winter gardening

Winter Gardening Without Heated Greenhouses

Think you can’t enjoy winter gardening without a heated greenhouse? Think again. As long as you’re adding layers to keep your crops warm, you’ll be set to…

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greenhouse on a slope

Not Level? No Problem. How to Build a Greenhouse on a Slope

Is your yard uneven or sloped, but you want to build a greenhouse? It may not seem like the “perfect spot,” but building a greenhouse on a slope…

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10 Types of Farm Waste: Making and Maintaining a Lean Farm

Just like homes, farms require some cleaning and waste removal every now and then. How do you decide what to get rid of and what to keep?When…

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goats

Goats Gone Wild: The World’s First Farm Animal

Looking for advice on maintaining a happy herd? These tips will help you care for your goats in ways that will keep them healthy, safe, and productive.…

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crops growing

Grow Vegetables Like You Mean It

In the United States, 40 percent of the food we produce is wasted. Ben Hartman is trying to put a dent in that dismal statistic. Inspired by…

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chickens, goats, and a young farmer feeding the animals

Homesteading: Highlighting Our Need For Each Other

Homesteading isn’t meant to be a solitary adventure, done in isolation. Building and living on your land takes at least one partner, if not several. That’s why…

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Earth Day

Earth Day Reading: 13 Essential Books

This year, people all around the world are celebrating a milestone—the 50th anniversary of this international day of action for our environment. Why not celebrate Earth Day…

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home garden

Resiliency: Becoming an Adaptive Human

They say history is bound to repeat itself if we don’t take the time to learn from the past. Our decision-making skills and resiliency are essential for…

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droplets on spiderweb and plant

The Miracle of Farming: Toward a Bio-Abundant Future

Farmers have a close relationship with nature, seeing life cycles happen right in front of their eyes marvel in what the earth can produce. We wouldn’t survive…

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Farmer standing in front of a tractor in a field

Starting Farming: How to Find Success as a New Farmer

As the average age of America’s farmers continues to rise, we face serious questions about what farming will look like in the near future, and who will…

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Illustration of grassy hills and farmland

Sustain Your Land: Subsistence Strategies for the Long Haul

Peasants, indigenous agriculturalists, and old-time American farming families farmed first and foremost to feed their own families and those in need in their communities—only secondarily, if at…

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Barn in a field

Why Farm Infrastructure is Important: A Farm is More Than Land

The basis for a good farm isn’t just about finding a piece of land with great soil. No, to truly succeed on the farm you need a…

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Lettuce growing in a deep water culture system

Hydroponic Versus Soil Growing: Which Should You Choose

You probably learned when you were young that plants need soil to get the essential nutrients needed to grow. However, there is another way you can give…

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plants growing in seeds

All Purpose Potting Soil Recipe: The Perfect Mix

Check out this easy, all-purpose recipe for potting soil! The above excerpt is from The Community-Scale Permaculture Farm by Josh Trought. It has been adapted for the web. Annual…

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goats

Work Smarter, Not Harder: Goat Handling

If you have goats or are considering getting goats, at some point you’ll need to move them from one grazing area to another. Goat handling can be a…

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produce

Organic No-Till: Farming like the Earth Matters

If we could do one thing for the planet it would be to ditch the plough. When we turn over soil, the air and sun wreak havoc…

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greenhouses

Sustainable Food From Local Greenhouses

The Netherlands—a country two-thirds the size of West Virginia— is ranked second in agricultural export volume behind the United States. Their secret weapon? Greenhouses and hoophouses. These…

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