Our President, Senate and judicial system have spoken, but they did so without deeply listening to many, if not most of you. So it is up to us – as plain-clothed citizens – to bring this country back into a state of decency, of true dialogue, of collaboration, and of restorative justice.

They obviously have the power by our Constitution to make certain decisions, but we should not cede to them the power to “right the ship” – that is our ...

On Sunday, biodiversity conservationist, writer, environmental historian, Curt Meine, took me through the Badger Lands Project facilitated by the Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance. It is a spectacular example of how how biocultural land restoration can bring together diverse partners and begin to heal long-standing wounds in a rural community.

Today the Ho-chunk nation, Wisconsin DNR, descendants of early Anglo farmer-homesteaders, the USDA Dairy Forage Resource Center, the Bluffview Sanitary District, the Savannah Institute and University of Wisconsin are all playing roles ...

On September 10^th, Sienna Chrisman predicted to Civil Eats readers that a “second farm crisis” is upon us, one that echoes the legendary crisis in 1987 that is so well documented in Marty Strange’s classic book, Family Farming. Chrisman’s fine reporting reveals that this current dilemma for American food producers has been triggered by a number of factors, including radical shifts in farm policies that have affected both stockmen and annual crop producers working in several regions ( Continue Reading →

While out on book tour—from Tucson to Santa Fe, and tonight, at Prescott’s Natural History Institute with the Peregrine Book Company—I palpably hear people deeply worried about whether our country can heal from all its recent traumas. Yes we need to vote, to resist dangerous policies and to mobilize our neighbors to be active in hearings, voters’; registration and political actions—but we also need ways to come together, listen and engage with those who we presume to be our adversaries, ...

Wednesday at a celebration of mesquite food artisans and book release of Mesquite! on Tucson’s Tumamoc Hill, the Tucson City of Gastronomy non-profit released its publication, Baja Arizona Artisanal Food Products. It features 108 food products from the Tucson basin made accessible and affordable by 52 local food producers who process native plants, honey and heirloom crops into delectable foods and beverages.

The same day, my new book Food from the Radical Center was first publicly presented at the same event, ...

While “local” has become an overused buzzword in many places over the last two decades, “green livelihoods for local residents” remains a goal that many communities aspire to achieve. In southern Arizona along the border with Mexico, many rural communities have all but dried up for lack of jobs offering livable wages. Supporting start-up food microenterprises remains one of the best ways to jumpstart a lagging local economy, and yet the crews which run such operations often work long hours ...

If you think that rural areas are the only places where communities are working on the restoration of food-producing habitats, look again: Many urban farmers and gardeners are endeavoring to “daylight” the arable land and potable water sources buried under the surface of most metropolitan areas. In fact, some of America’s best arable lands and finest rivers run through the urban matrix. There are good reasons that we should not “throw in the towel” regarding the future of agriculture inside ...

During trying times, it seems that all of us need reminders of what still works in and about America, and one phenomena that still reaps benefits for most of us is the panoply of voluntary actions taken by ordinary people like you and me to conserve, restore and enrich to the diversity of foods available to our children, our elders, and ourselves. Because of these efforts, the diversity of foods and beverages on American tables is greater than at any ...

What if each of us – as time and energy allows – tried to take a day each month to work exclusively toward the restoration of our lived-in landscape with our neighbors? What if we went beyond picking up garbage and mending cracked sidewalks, to planting trees, building check dams across downcut gullies, or sowing native grasses and wildflowers along bike paths and railways that have become barren or weedy after years of grading and spraying? All I am sure ...

It is sometimes easy to forget that just a quarter century ago, there were less than 2000 functioning farmers markets in the entire U.S. As of late August, 2018, the USDA has recorded a total of 8730 farmers markets in the U.S., roughly a five-fold increase in less than 25 years. What I love about farmers markets is what I’ve seen in Bloomington, Indiana — an old conservative farmer in overalls selling pawpaws next to a college-age woman in a ...