Food and Farming
Want to Improve Your Diet? Plant a Fruit Tree.
One of the simplest ways to improve your family's diet? Plant a fruit tree. Or plant several. The last time I was fortunate enough to have a yard, I planted four of them. Unfortunately, I broke up with my then-boyfriend and moved out right about the time all four...
1984 at the Grocery Store
Wall Street analysts tell us that Amazon's $14 billion buyout of Whole Foods isn't only a win-win for both of them, but also for consumers, for Amazon intends to lower the organic grocer's prices. Really? Yes, they say, because Amazon will use its amazing...
Trump’s Revealing Budget for Rural America
How we spend our money says a lot about what we value — and what we can do without. The Trump administration’s proposed budget, which it submitted to Congress in May, sends the alarming message that it can do without much of rural America. The surprisingly harsh...
The Coming Crisis for the World’s Farmers
Remember the climate crisis? It's still happening. Having a government that resembles a circus, it turns out, hasn't stopped the clock on the level of greenhouse gases in the air. At a conference in Italy, former president Barack Obama spoke recently about the impact...
How Mexican Farmers Got the Better of Trump
Often, when world powers pick fights with seemingly powerless countries, they learn that even small dogs have sharp teeth — as President Trump is finding out in his ill-fated war with Mexico. His scheme to wall off Mexico is collapsing because most people here in the...
Wall Street Sodbusters
I love the names: Bobcat Farm, Golden Eagle Ranch, Long Prairie, Ten Mile Farm. They conjure up Americana, the old homestead, and our rich rural culture. Less bucolic, however, is the fact that all those farms are part of a massive Wall Street investment scheme called...
A War on Regulations
The incoming Republican government is waging a war against regulations. "For every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated," Donald Trump promised after the November vote. Since then, Republicans in Congress have voted to give themselves broader...
Gold-plated Tractors for Gentlemen Farmers
Let's talk tractors — the sturdy workhorses of agriculture. I've been around them since I was just a tyke — there's even a Kodak snapshot of three-year-old me sitting proudly at the wheel of the Farmall tractor my Uncle Ernest used for years to work his small family...
Even Organic Farms Sacrifice Sustainability to Cut Costs
I visited a family farm recently. It was small, and local, and certified organic. In theory, it was everything an eco-conscious foodie could want. And yet, it wasn't. Like every farm family, the couple who runs the farm is constrained by economic factors....
My Food Identity Dilemma
Why do we eat what we eat? Many of us eat foods that are familiar, convenient, and that simply taste good, without thinking much about why we make the choices we do. For others — myself included — there's a constant struggle to determine what's healthy, both for...
