Green Thumbs, Greener Planet: The Impact of Sustainable Farming

When you think about farming, there are mainly two ways to do it: the traditional way that's been around for a long time, and the sustainable way, which focuses on caring for the earth. Traditional farming practices such as tilling, the regular application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, wasteful watering and high energy use can harm the environment, leading to problems like pollution and harm to waterways and aquatic life, greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion, the loss of different species of plants and animals, and damaged soil.

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How to make money from your garden

How to make money from your garden

Making money from your garden is a great way to turn something you enjoy doing into a profitable business. But how can you get started? Is it as simple as growing some plants and then selling them? There are several things to consider before you take steps to make your garden into a lucrative business or side hustle, including your gardening space and environment, the type of products you can sell, the existing demand and competition for those products, and the costs involved.

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Transitioning to Green Agriculture: The Crucial Role of Eco-Friendly Fertilizer Additives

Transitioning to Green Agriculture: The Crucial Role of Eco-Friendly Fertilizer Additives

Agriculture has played a foundational role in the progression of human societies, acting as a pillar for economic development and sustenance. With the advent of the modern era, however, our reliance on industrialized agricultural practices has resulted in dire environmental consequences.

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What should I add to my garden soil this fall?

What should I add to my garden soil this fall?

Fall can be a busy season for gardeners, even if you’ve stopped growing crops. Soil is the basic foundation for any successful garden, as healthy soil is needed to grow healthy plants. One important task is amending the soil to improve its structure, address any problems from last growing season and prepare it for the next. season. Amending the soil for new batches of plants is an important part of the gardening process. If a gardener does not do this, their garden will suffer and their plants may not thrive as well as they should. However, this task can be time-consuming with many different tools and steps involved in its execution.

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How To Take A Turn Toward Sustainable Farming – 8 Tips

Guest post by Sandra Amaro

The basic necessities of life are either declining or suffering serious damage. Therefore, everyone must make sure to take appropriate action in light of what is happening.

The agriculture sector is facing the same vulnerability. So it is crucial to know that sustainable farming is vital moving forward.

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5 steps to a productive food garden this fall

5 steps to a productive food garden this fall

While many people only grow food gardens during the spring and summer months, there’s no reason that your gardening season has to end now, unless you are in a part of the world where the weather turns bitterly cold in the fall, and you have no season extending tools (or options for indoor growing). As the hot summer months give way to cooler temperatures, you can begin planting new varieties of food crops, or continue successive planting of summer-to-fall vegetables and herbs.

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Six Benefits to Eating Locally Grown Food

Six Benefits to Eating Locally Grown Food

Spring is well underway in much of the Northern Hemisphere, and many of us are finally able to enjoy time gardening once again. This time of year, there are more farmer’s markets opening up, making it easier to buy freshly-picked food and flowers and chat with local farmers. Aside from the sense of community that visiting or participating in farmer’s markets can help to create, buying food directly from farmers has other benefits, including enabling us to eat seasonally. When you eat fruits and vegetables that are in season, there is less of a need for the farmers that grow those crops to use pesticides on them. Locally produced and distributed fruits and vegetables are growing at a time when they would normally grow, and consequently, farmers don’t have to over-protect them.

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4 Reasons Why You Should Support Organic Farming

4 Reasons Why You Should Support Organic Farming

(This post is Part II of a 3-part series on Organic farming and food) .You can read Part I, written by our intern Olivia McSweeny, by clicking this link.

How many of us have considered organically grown food to be more appealing – at least in principle – to conventionally grown items? Yet despite increasing demand for organically grown food, organic farming occupies a small part of total farmland in the US. The evidence is mixed, with some studies suggesting an increase in organic farming over prior years, and others suggesting a decrease.

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How to Learn Organic Farming as a College Student

How to Learn Organic Farming as a College Student

This post is Part I of a 3-part series on Organic farming and food)

Sick of the food from the cafeteria, the over-Doordashing, and constant worry that your food is filled with harmful chemicals? I am too, but you can learn organic farming and eventually start relying on yourself for food!

There are multiple ways to learn how to farm organically, but it can be an overwhelming start. First you can take a look at what you're eating and where it's coming from. Identifying the source of your food can be eye opening. The produce you're eating right now could be up to a month old and sprayed with multiple kinds of chemicals that aren't pronounceable.

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3 Reasons to Join the WWOOF Organic Farming Program Right Now

3 Reasons to Join the WWOOF Organic Farming Program Right Now

Experience is one of the best parts of life. Get out there and do what you are meant to do. If you have any curiosity about organic farming, or want to know what it takes to start and successfully run a farm, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) will give you that experience and allow you to chase your dreams.

The WWOOF program has helped so many people discover their future career path, a sustainable lifestyle, and the world. The program has helped so many people and could help out you too! Why should you join the WWOOF Program right now? Three reasons stand out above all others: to learn the importance of growing food and being sustainable, to take the opportunity to travel, and to make connections with like-minded people.

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What you should know about companion planting

What you should know about companion planting

(thumbnail image: Unsplash/ Markus Spiske)

Experienced food gardeners know that their plants like to be surrounded by friendly companions. Companion planting, also called interplanting or intercropping, means growing one kind of plant next to others that help it thrive. Using this technique in your food garden can help you grow more in less space, and is a method especially favored by small-scale organic growers. There are many benefits to companion planting, and most experienced gardeners who use this technique anecdotally report

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How to make organic pest control sprays for your garden

How to make organic pest control sprays for your garden

One of the more frustrating aspects of food gardening is having to share your crops with herbivore insects. When insects become a problem in the garden, most growers reach for insecticide-pesticides. Insecticide-pesticides are either synthetic, using human-made substances derived from chemical compounds, or organic, using human-made substances derived from plants with little or no chemical altering involved.

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