Concentration of CO2 in the Atmosphere

The Solar-Powered Circle of Life

Illustration of the benefits of the Soil Carbon Sponge versus the negative feedback loops of bare compacted soil. Image courtesy Peter Donovan of the Soil Carbon Coalition.

By Jessie Haas

“Plants manage water, and in managing water, they manage heat,“ according to Australian agricultural pioneer Peter Andrews. This has been born […]

Up in the Treetops, It’s Plum Good Pickin’

An up close view of the plum orchard, from on top of the ladder at Elmore Roots Nursery. By Gabriel Tempesta.

By David Fried

There is magic in the treetops. For once, I have the birds’ eye view. There are hundreds of them. Red plums are turning purple in the late afternoon sunlight. […]

Exotics can be Pest-Free

George Harvey

Some plants are just naturally ready for changing climate, and many of these can be grown in colder areas if they are kept in pots and brought indoors or into a greenhouse for the winter. Some have the added advantage that they find few pests in our area.

A friend […]

Grass-Fed Beef Will Not Help Tackle Climate Change, Report Finds

Image: Kyle Spradley, Flickr

By Daisy Dunne

Billed as a more environmentally friendly way to rear cattle, grass-fed beef has been the red meat of choice for many a climate-conscious carnivore.

Indeed, research has suggested that grazing cattle can help offset global warming by stimulating soil to take up more carbon from the […]

Help stop bee-killing pesticides in Vermont — Voting soon!

The Vermont House of Representatives needs to hear from you as soon as possible to ask for key improvements to H.915. Instead of protecting our bees and butterflies from bee-killing neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticides — 10,000 times more toxic than DDT — it relies upon public service announcements, compiling survey results and passive measures for neonic-free […]

How to Fly

Paintings by Gabriel Tempesta

By David Fried

The apple was waiting to take its first steps away from its tree. It had made it through the winds of winter and the hot evenings of summer when it rarely rained or cooled off. She heard the pears in a tree nearby saying, […]

Elmore Roots: I Drink to Your Health!

By David Fried

All over the world at this very moment friends are lifting their glasses and saying: “Skol!,” “Cheers!,” “Nazdrovia!,” or perhaps “L’chaim!”

They are not lifting a zucchini or an olive to say this, but something magical and transformative that they can drink.

We who grow and harvest fruit can have the pleasure […]

Hundreds of Native Bee Species Sliding Toward Extinction

Pollinators in Peril

Landmark Report:

In the first comprehensive review of the more than 4,000 native bee species in North America and Hawaii, the Center for Biological Diversity has found that more than half the species with sufficient data to assess are declining. Nearly one in four is imperiled and at increasing risk […]

Learning to Landscape the Permaculture Way

Painting by Gabriel Tempesta www.gabrieltempesta.com

by David Fried of Elmore Roots Fruit Tree and Berry Nursery

It was in the late 70s or very early 80s when I visited my friend who was working at the Rural Education Center in Wilton, New Hampshire. The man who brought permaculture to America, Bill Mollison, had […]

The Foodscape Revolution – Finding A Better Way to Make Space for Food and Beauty in Your Garden

Foodscape Revolution

By Brie Arthur, published by St. Lynn’s Press, 2017, 189 pages, $21.95

Book review by N. R. Mallery

’Tis the season for gardening. You may have noticed that some people have been growing a few veggies in with flowers in the past couple of years. Perhaps you have even started to […]