Jun 29Member-onlyIn the Wake of Roe: What Farming Can Teach Us About Political ActionLast week, in a stunning 6–3 decision, the Supreme Court voted to do something it rarely (if ever) does: take away rights, instead of granting them. Roe vs. Wade was overturned and, just like that, a fundamental element of reproductive care was no longer guaranteed as a right. America’s political…Roe V Wade9 min read
Aug 21, 2021Member-onlyDieting Will Always Fail in a Toxic Food Culture. Here’s How to Fix It.I often think about my grandmothers and grandfathers. Not the immediate ones that I knew or that reside in the living memory of my family, but rather the ones from a very, very long time ago. The grandmother that spoke a dialect of Lenape, the grandfather that couldn’t conceive of…Diet10 min read
Jan 9, 2021Member-onlyAmerican Farmer: The Birth of a MythFrom Heel to Hero American cultural identity began to coalesce around the “settlement” of the west at the beginning of the 20th century. The country both celebrated and mourned the closing of the American frontier, the demise of the fearsome-yet-admirable noble savage, and the disappearing wildness of the empire’s most recent conquests. Where once…Agriculture20 min read
Dec 5, 2020Member-onlyThe Justice for Black Farmers Act: A Critical BIPOC ReviewIn a nutshell, the Justice for Black Farmers Act is a neo-Homestead Act that would transfer some 32 million acres of land (an area roughly the size of Connecticut) to African Americans in perpetuity, in addition to addressing the endemic racism in the United States Department of Agriculture, funding agricultural…Race8 min read
Sep 4, 2020Member-onlyEverything I Want to Do Is RacistHow America’s favorite farmer lost his way. If you’re reading this, you probably know who Joel Salatin is. He’s the outspoken and vaunted founder of Polyface Farm — arguably the most famous farm in the world (as far as famous farms go) — a grazier, sustainable agriculture advocate, author of…Agriculture8 min read
Published in Heated·May 22, 2020Member-onlyPlant-Based Diets Won’t Stop American ImperialismWith zero incentive for change, big agriculture will always get bailouts — Racism, environmental decline, animal welfare, and human health are tied in a Gordian Knot around the issue of food. Common sense would suggest untying it be left to people with demonstrated expertise in its varying facets: Indigenous land/water protectors (which includes farmers) who protect 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversityFood4 min read
Published in Sylvanaqua Farms·Jan 24, 2020Yes, Native Americans Fundamentally Altered Our EnvironmentsA new study has the conservation community abuzz with the (very, very old) notion that Native Americans lived in a pristine, Edenic wonderland whose ecological contours they barely altered. This incredibly bold interpretation of the study’s results is being rapidly spread by shockingly irresponsible headlines such as “Native Americans Barely…Conservation5 min read
Published in Sylvanaqua Farms·Jan 17, 2020Member-onlyIndigenous Agriculture: It’s Not the How, It’s the WhyFor fans of Braiding Sweetgrass, the following understated excerpt is probably the most important in the entire book; “English is a noun-based language, somehow so appropriate to a culture so obsessed with things. Only 30% of English words are verbs, but in Potawatomi that proportion is 70%.” This statement alone…Sustainability5 min read
Nov 24, 2019Member-onlyGrass-Fed Beef Won’t Die For Our SinsA man named Allan Savory gave a TED talk that changed the course of my life. In this talk, he speaks in vivid terms about the environmental disaster of desertification (the process of arable land turning to desert because of drought, deforestation, etc.), and the counterintuitive miracle of using livestock…Climate Change13 min read
Published in Heated·Jul 25, 2019Member-onlySmall Family Farms Aren’t the AnswerThe romance of neoliberal peasant farming blinds us to our collective power — Let’s get this out of the way, first: I am a small farmer, operating on 40-ish acres in Virginia’s Northern Neck. I am not paid by, in hock to, in league with, or particularly happy with Big Agriculture. I’m just a guy who’s been in the small-sustainable farming business long…Agriculture9 min read
