Author: Gail Nickel-Kailing

Buy local? Why local? Time for the REAL story!

Getting our food from the farm to the consumer – the “supply chain” – is certainly not as simple as it was the past. Once upon a time, the consumer, his/her family, and the local community WERE the growers and a supply chain didn’t exist. Transportation from the field and barn to the kitchen was a matter of feet or yards, not miles. What once was a simple connection with one or two stops along the way, has become a spaghetti-like tangle of connections, links, and cross-links to get fresh fruits and vegetables to your plate.

Biodiversity in Agriculture by Paul Gepts

Bringing together research from a range of fields including anthropology, archaeology, ecology, economics, entomology, ethnobiology, genetics and geography, Biodiversity in Agriculture addresses key questions relating to agriculture.

Miguel Altieri: Why is agroecology the solution to hunger and food security?

Today, a billion people live in hunger. Peak oil and environmental degradation threaten the food security of billions more; particularly with half the world’s population living in urban environments where they are dependent on industrially produced and imported food. A transition is urgently needed, but how?

Meet Your Meat

While imagining that the beef they will be eating came from a cow living a happy-go-lucky life, frolicking on lush green pastures until a gentle and painless end, the average American does NOT want to meet their dinner while it is still standing. However, the idea that you could if you wanted, or at least you could meet the farmer who raised your dinner, is not so far fetched.

Local Grains – Not Just for Bread Anymore

Grains – wheat, barley, rye, oats – in western Washington? Who would have thought? Somewhere back in time, the rest of the world became convinced that the only things you could grow in western Washington were mold, mildew, and ducks! Gotcha! It turns out that grains have been cultivated in Cascadia – western Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia – for more than 150 years.

Food Lovers’ Guide to Montana, by Seabring Davis

Let’s be honest. No one has ever called Montana a gourmet food destination. It’s far from the trendy world of haute cuisine, black-tie affairs, and fancy culinary techniques. Part of that is because Montana is not easy to get to: it’s far north – up near Canada. And there aren’t a lot of people here – less than a million. And this is a very big state for so few people – which makes it hard to keep a restaurant open.

Holiday Roast – Grassfed Beef

While a rib roast may seem like a real luxury, it is simple to prepare. Start – always! – with meat from a pastured animal fed only on grass. We serve only Crown S Ranch’s beef. While many will tell you it’s not possible to get a nicely marbled piece of meat from a cow that eats only grass, we show you that’s not the case!

Farms With a Future by Rebecca Thistlethwaite

Behind a cover that resembles so many other “So-You-Want-To-Be-A-Farmer” books, Rebecca Thistlethwaite, has put together a carefully thought out course for entrepreneurs of any age that want to start a business called a “Farm.”