Contents
Gardening and Farming Methods
Soil and Compost
Forestry and Agro-Forestry
Urban
Containers
Community Gardens (Allotments)
Cottage Gardens
Homesteading and Self-Sufficiency
Earning a Living
Agroecology and Third World
Cuba
Sources
Organizations
Gardening and Farming Methods
Learning
"600-page manual covers practical aspects of organic farming and gardening, applied soil science, and social and environmental issues in agriculture. "
Available in downloadable PDF files, or printed for $45.
UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (2003)
Misc
Mel Bartholomew (square foot gardening)
- homepage
- Building a square foot garden (Journey to Forever)
Masanobu Fukuoka
- The Fukuoka Farming Website (great site, lots of articles and links) LINK DOWN?
- Interpreting Fukuoka LINK DOWN?
- On a Green Mountain with Masanobu Fukuoka (interview by Jim Bones)
- Plowboy interview in Mother Earth News
Ken Hargesheimer (raised beds, mini-farming)
Emilia Hazelip
- The Synergistic Garden
- The Fundamental Reality that Underlies Fukuoka's Principles LINK DOWN?
- No-Till Mulch-Based Market Gardening
John Jeavons (raised beds/Biointensive)
- Cultivating Our Garden "Biointensive farming uses less water, land, machinery, and fertilizer - and more human labor" (article by)
- Summary of complete method / What is Biointensive?
- Ecology Action (organization) / Bountiful Garden (mailorder)
- Plowboy interview in Mother Earth News
Ana Primavesi
- Message about her
- Soil Life and Chemical Fertilizers (short PDF)
- Nutrient Quantity or Nutrient Access? (Summary of her basic ideas by Roland Bunch)
- More rice with good soil fertility management (PDF)
Soil and Compost
- The Soil Biology Primer, an outstanding online document with fabulous photographs of the little critters in the soil. Also available in printed form from Elaine Ingham's website.
-
National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS): Soil Quality
Many great articles. - Soil Foodweb (Dr. Elaine Ingham) (soil scientist active in promoting soil health, compost tea, etc.)
- Soil Health (readable technical information on soil science, Australia)
- Something to Grow On: Nutrient Management (Cornell Univ)
- Weeds: Guardians of the Soil by Joseph A. Cocannouer (Journey to Forever website)
- Backyard Magic: The Composting Handbook (New Brunswick)
- Building Soils for Better Crops Online book from SARE publications. 240 pages. 4.2MB PDF)
Forestry and Agro-Forestry
- The Overstory International journal for agroforestry. Over 100 online articles.
- Allotment Forestry A community project working with gardeners to increase the use of local woodland products in the garden and allotment. (UK)
- The California Backyard Orchard
- Calif Rare Fruit Growers
- Backyard Orchard Culture (Dave Wilson Nursery)
Urban
- Urban Agriculture Notes by City Farmer - Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture
- Un huerto en tu casa: Tú puedes (Spanish)
Path to Freedom
- ("Living a self-sufficient lifestyle in an urban setting.": Online newsletter dedicated to urban homesteading, organics, and simple living. )
- home
- Projects & Resources
Robert Waldrop
Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Better Times many articles/links on food/gardening/permaculture in Middle America)
- Oklahoma Food (homepage) ("We're growing a grassroots network uniting Oklahoma folks interested in sustainably produced, locally grown food")
- Growing a beautiful edible landscape in an urban neighborhood
Containers
- No ground? Use containers (Journey to Forever website)
- Container Farming: Organic food productionin the slums of Mexico City
- Organoponics - the Use of Human Urine in Composting
- The Potted Garden (" perennial plants that can be grown in pots and tubs to provide food all the year round") from Plants For A Future.
- Above-Ground Gardens (PDF) good 18-page discussion of different types of low-cost containers for gardening. From ECHO (see Third World and Agroecology section).
Earthboxes and Clones
- Earthbox home (new) / home (old)
- How it Works / Instructions / Tips / Photos of parts
- Clone and long discussion / Clone 2 / Clone 3 / Clone 4 / Clone 5
Community Gardens (Allotments)
Inside Our Secret Plots (Scottish Allotment and Garden Society)
"Following the plot" (Scotsman)
Chinese, Japanese, German, Swedish, English Allotment Garden Reports (Urban Agriculture Notes / CityFarmer)
"The allotment men tend callaloo and chilli alongside the beans and peas. But their sanctuary is threatened by vandals and environmentalists" (New Statesman)
Cottage Gardens
A Cottage Garden: Country gardening, anywhere! / Plant material / Design
The Early Cottage Garden (brief history and overview)
Designing the Country Cottage Garden by Henry Flowers
Cottage Garden Forum (GardenWeb)
TopHomesteading and Self-Sufficiency
Mother Earth News (article archives)
John Seymour
- John Seymour's Self Sufficiency Network (UK)
- Obituaries: UK Guardian / Times
Gene Logsdon
Helen and Scott Nearing
- Plowboy interview in Mother Earth News
The Complete Guide to Country Living online book by Gene LaRue
Harlan and Anna Hubbard (naturalists, homesteaders, he was a painter)
- Harlan Hubbard Artwork. See Bio and Books
Hearth: Home Economics Archive (online books and journals from 1850-1950)
The Rhubarb Compendium (Incredibly complete source of information. An example of the wealth of resources on foods and food preparation on the Web)
TopEarning a Living
Robyn Van En (CSAs)
- Plowboy interview in Mother Earth News
Rex Oberhelman
- Plowboy interview in Mother Earth News ($27,000 (Net!) from Five Organic Acres)
Third World and Agroecology
Journey to Forever
Many good pages on sustainable topics, with an emphasis on self-empowerment in the Third World. Sample topics:
- Organic gardening
- Composting / Making Compost / Vermicomposting (worms)
- City Farms / Resources for City Farms
- Rural Development
- Small Farms (many sub-topics) / Resources for Small Farms
- Trees, soil and water
- Appropriate Technology (many sub-topics)
Echo: Networking Global Hunger Solutions
Many great articles; requires free registration for full access. Includes articles such as:
- A Beginner's Guide to Small Scale Tropical Agriculture (PDF)
- Above-Ground Gardens (PDF):
- Control of Weeds, Insects and Diseases (PDF)
- Preparing for Agricultural Missions (PDF)
Center for Alternative Agricultural Media
"A non-government organization in India working for
farmer-friendly communication system."
- A Fukuoka there, a Cherkady here ...
- Self-help journalism among farmers
- Guidelines for writing farm articles
Roland Bunch
Author of Two Ears of Corn: A Guide to People-Centered Agricultural Improvement.
- Mimicking nature to grow more (article about)
- Review of Bunch's Two Ears of Corn
- Five Fertility Principles / (alternate site) short overview
- COSECHA: Successes and Failures in Honduras (article) / COSECHA homepage
- Sustainable Agriculture Using Cover Crops
- Nutrient Quantity or Nutrient Access? A New Understanding of How to Maintain Soil Fertility in the Tropics
- Farmer Experimenters: Self-Developed Technology (PDF)
- Enabling Long-Term Impact of Soil Conservation Through Farmer-Driven Extension (PDF)
- Farmer Field Schools : The Perspective of an Outsider and Friend (PDF)
- The Secret to Making Soil Conservation Successful: Short-Term Benefits (PDF)
- Report on Soil Conservation..for the Song Da Watershed...
- Soil Recuperation in Central America: Sustaining Innovation after Intervention (PDF)
Miguel A. Altieri
- Agroecology in action (home) / (another version)
- Agroecology: principles and strategies (article)
- A Conversation with Miguel Altier (interview)
Lindsay Falvey
- Sustainability: Elusive or Illusion? Wise Environmental Intervention online book by an Australian agricultural expert influenced by Asian thought ( 1.4 MB PDF)
Steve Gliessman
- Agroecology (home)
M. S. Swaminathan
The "father of the Green Revolution in India" now believes that farmers should use more eco-friendly methods and is concerned about GMOs and the WTO. Many interviews and articles are available on the internet.
- Research Foundation (home)
- Creating an evergreen India
- Science and Our Agricultural Future (lecture)
- TIMEasia portrait (The Most Influential Asians of the Century)
- Ecology of hope (article)
47 Portraits of Sustainable Agriculture Projects and Initiatives (Centre for Environment and Society, UK)
peopleandplanet.net
UK charity sponsered by the UN Population Fund, the World Conservation Union, the Intl Planned Parenthood Federation,the Swedish Development Co-operation Agency and others
IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development)
The IIED Gatekeeper Series "highlights emerging issues and new perspectives in the fields of natural resource management (NRM), livelihoods and sustainable agriculture." Sample papers:
- Two Steps Back, One Step Forward (46): Cuba's National Policy for Alternative Agriculture by P. Rosett and M. Benjamin (PDF 362K)
- Community First - Landcare in Australia (42) (276K PDF)
- Homegarden Systems: Agricultural Characteristics and Challenges (39 ) (313K PDF)
- Microenvironments Unobserved (22) (91K PDF)
- Teaching Threatens Sustainable Agriculture (21) (105K PDF)
Agroecosystems Global perspectives, key facts and figures, useful literature and links (maintained by the Agroecosystems class (Biology 3068) at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada)
Cuba
Cuba Organic Support Group
- Cuba: A Successful Case Study of Sustainable Agriculture by Peter M. Rossett
- Gardening Brigade 2001
- Visit to Cuba January 2000
- Mike's Report: Havana February - March 2000
Cuba’s Fate and Ours: From Survivor to Savior? Global perspectives, key facts and figures, useful literature and links (from Ecotecture)
A Taste of Urban Agriculture in Havana
"...two young Canadian women working on urban agriculture projects in Cuba "
Organiponicos in Cienfuegos, Cuba: Case Study in Urban Agriculture
Urban Agriculture in Havana, Cuba
Permaculture in Cuba: Urban Agriculture in Havana (Photos from the first permaculture courses in Cuba, 1994)
Cuba's Organic Revolution (Resurgence magazine)
Revolutionary Food ("Permaculture in Havana -The City can Save the World")
The Remarkable Mother of Invention (Swans)
Farming with Fidel (Sustainable Times)
Food Security in Cuba (Monthly Review)
Sources
The New Farm (Rodale online magazine on organic sustainable farming.)
ATTRA publications master list (National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service). Many excellent online articles on sustainable farming topics.
Sustainable Farming magazines (online back issues; Canadian)
Vegetables and Fruits: A Guide to Heirloom Varieties and Community-Based Stewardship. Volume 1, Annotated Bibliography)
SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education)
A program of the US Dept of Agriculture.
- Publications (some available online) / Calendar
- SANET archives (Sustainable Agriculture Net) - discussion board
Journey to Forever
A big site with many good pages on sustainable topics, with an emphasis on self-empowerment in the Third World.
See Third World and Agroecology for a list of topics.
Soil And Health Library
"free public library offering a tightly focused collection of books about holistic agriculture, holistic health, self-sufficient living, and personal development. "
Under Radical Agriculture, has many classics, including:
- King, F.H. Farmers of Forty Centuries: or Traditional Agriculture in China, Korea and Japan
- William Albrecht: selected works and excerpts.
- Works of P.A. Yeomans (keyline system)
Under Personal Sovereignty: Homesteading:
- Freed, Dolly. Possum Living: How To Live Well Without A Job and With (almost) No Money
- Solomon, Steve. Organic Gardener's Composting
- Solomon, Steve. Gardening Without Irrigation--or not much, anyway
Organizations
Ecological Farming Association (based in California)
Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA)
Organic Agriculture at FAO - documents (UN)
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP) U. of Calif.
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