Entries by Cathy Svejkovsky

Wild Roots: Diversified Cropping for Better Health

Having launched in Northern California, Bill Taylor and Jaye Moscariello moved their farm to Massachusetts to start anew after a devastating California wildfire. Salad University, their proprietary intensive farm and garden course, highlights the strong links between soil health, plant health, and human health through diversified cropping. And their outcome is a famous and nutritious salad mix with up to 63 different, and sometimes wild, ingredients.  

Badger Creek – The Rocky Mountain Way

Badger Creek Ranch is a special place. High above the Arkansas River Valley in Central Colorado, guests can stay on a working cattle ranch rimmed by 14,000-foot peaks of the Rocky Mountains. A team of men and women on horseback tend these lands, forming a long chain of stewardship dating back to the people of the Ute, Jicirilla Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Pueblo, Shoshone, and Comanche Tribes.

Graze, Move, Repeat

To understand something, we must be willing to observe it. Observe the movements, patterns, shapes, and textures of the thing. The distance, frequency, timing, and sizes, too. Determining soil health and water-retention capacity is no different and requires observation. Doug Garrison has been doing just that for 25 years in Malcolm, Nebraska.

Soil Metabolic Pathways

By: Hernan Colmenero  Researchers at Northern Arizona University found evidence that soils use different biochemical pathways to process nutrients, respire, and grow, depending on the type of soil and perhaps other factors. Using the 13C metabolic flux analysis technique, the researchers were able to tag individual carbon atoms in a glucose molecule in much the […]

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Voices from the Field Episode 253

NCAT’s headquarters in Butte, Montana, has a complicated growing climate to say the least. That makes John Wallace’s job as farm manager of NCAT’s Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training program – or SIFT – challenging as well. In this episode of Voices from the Field, John talks with NCAT Energy Analyst Victorian Smart about the SIFT […]

UN Drought Toolbox: Tools for Producers, Land Managers, and Scientists

By: Hernan Colmenero, Sustainable Food Consultant  The UN Convention to Combat Desertification has released its Drought Toolbox, which contains an abundance of useful information for producers living through a drought. The toolbox includes three modules: Monitoring and Early Warning (great if drought effects haven’t really been felt yet); Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (essential to prepare […]

Measuring Water Retention Through Soil Carbons

By Hernán Colmenero, Sustainable Food Consultant Have you ever thought, “how much water am I saving by starting a rotational grazing plan?” “Can cover cropping increase water retention in my soil, by exactly how much, and is it worthwhile?” These and other questions seeking to quantify the amount of water that can be saved are […]

Sopping Stories from Waterline Farm

The Bell’s goal with Waterline Farm is to become a homestead demonstration site practicing regenerative agriculture with an emphasis on ecological stewardship. Their operation has seen its fair share of challenges, but the Bell family has turned them into opportunities.