Sustainable agriculture
Tool Maintenance 101
A Care Guide for Everyday Hand Tools Join Double T and Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming for this tutorial on cleaning, maintaining, and caring for hand tools. Whether you are a homesteader or farmer, maintaining tools will ensure longevity of your equipment and increase efficiency of use. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This video was designed for…
Read MoreJanuary Farming for Justice RECAP – Federal Farm Program Access for POC Farmers
This January, we welcomed Ariana Taylor-Stanley, Northeast Regional Organizer for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, to inform us about Federal Farm Program Access, specifically for farmers of color, and other historically marginalized groups. It was an incredible informative session about USDA programs, like EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) or CSP (Conservation Stewardship Program). These are…
Read MoreConnecting Community Through Food: An Interview With Up-and-Coming Local Farmer, John Whitmore
Dirt under his nails and a warm smile behind a scraggly beard, John Whitmore of Shagbark Gardens in Danby, NY sat down with me on Tuesday to reflect on his experience in the “Grow Your Farm Business Course”, held every winter here at Groundswell. Situated atop the Autumn Leaves Book Store in a cozy little…
Read MoreWhat does the Green New Deal Mean for Justice & Farming?
The Green New Deal is increasingly becoming a hot topic in discussions about climate change. Introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward J. Markey earlier this year, the Green New Deal is a plan to fight climate change through moving away from fossil fuels, reducing greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the economy,…
Read MoreGroundswell Incubator Farm: Working to Support Equitable Farming Opportunities in Ithaca (WRFI Radio Piece)
March 2, 2019 Volunteers gather on a sunny May evening to cut down brush and clear new beds for planting at the Groundswell Incubator Farm. These monthly volunteer nights are a way for the public to support the 11 farm operations enrolled in this unique farmer support program in Ithaca, NY. One such farmer featured…
Read MoreGrow Your Own Shiitake Mushrooms
Do you love mushrooms? Do you love shiitake mushrooms? Have you ever wanted to grow them at home? Here are some links about how to inoculate your own mushroom logs! How to: Inoculate Logs by Mushroom Species by Asheville Fungi Growing Shiitake Mushrooms: Step-by-Step Guide to an Agroforestry Crop by Northern Woodlands A Guide to…
Read MoreNovember 10th Community Farm Day at Soul Fire Farm
Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming in Ithaca, NY coordinated a Community Caravan of 18 people from Ithaca to Grafton, NY, outside of Albany, for a Day of Community Farm work, with over 100 others from all over the Northeast, at Soul Fire Farm. We collectively accomplished, what seemed like close to a week’s worth of farm…
Read MoreALL ARE WELCOME TODAY TO AUGUST MEETING OF CNY YOUNG FARMERS COALITION!
Greetings Folks! We hope everyone is soaking up as much of the last of summer that they can. August and September are always the hardest months as we become inundated with planting fall and winter crops at the same time that harvest peaks. Most of us have done our best to work with major weather…
Read MoreHemlock Grove Farm’s FALL 2018 Organic Apple CSA starts SOON!
Our Apple CSA is in the popular tradition of the Ithaca CSA– members join and pay ahead of time to receive (in our case) fresh, local, organic apples throughout the season from their chosen pick up site. Members receive 5lbs of fresh organic apples (2-3 different varieties each time) beginning August 31st and ending November…
Read MoreThe Word on Flerds …and Other Grazing Practices
This past Saturday Groundswell hosted a workshop on Multispecies Regenerative Grazing at the beautiful Shelterbelt Farm, led by farmer Erica Frenay. Shelterbelt’s “flerd” (a combination of a flock and a herd) of cows and sheep had just been put out to pasture for the season 2 days prior to the workshop, and it was the…
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