​​​BEYOND EGGS:
Pros and Cons of Free Range and Mobile Pens ​

​Approximately a ​7 to 8 minute read | Part 1 of ​a Series | Also published at Permaculture.Org

Well-managed chickens can provide eggs and meat as well as composting assistance, sanitation and pest reduction, soil amendment services, and entertainment.

But poorly managed chickens tend to focus all their talents and energy into very destructive pursuits, as you know if you’ve had your seedlings repeatedly dug up or your fruit trees efficiently de-mulched.

​How ​can we harness all that chickens have to offer, in ways that keep everybody happy, healthy and productive?

Out-Growing Consumerism 5:
What We Must Do

 5 minute read | Part 5 of a 5-part Series| Also published at PermacultureNews.Org

Self-determination is the ability to re-parent ourselves: to learn new ways of being that may be very different from the ways we learned as children. 

This is difficult, uncomfortable work, but it broadens the path for the feet that follow, making it easier for all of us to out-grow not only consumerism but also all the forms of separation and alienation from each other and from nature that have befallen us.

This article follows on from “Out-Growing Consumerism: School, Screens, and Our Kids.”

​Out-Growing Consumerism 4:
School, Screens, and Our Kids

​4 minute read | Part 4 of a 5-part Series | Also published at PermacultureNews.org

​What too many ​children learn at school is not to take risks and not trust ​their own thinking. When digital data-harvesting ​enters the mix, ​it becomes the perfect recipe for producing compliant consumers.

This article continues on from “Out-Growing Consumerism 3: Living a Self-Determined Life.”

​​Out-Growing ​Consumerism 3:
A Self-Determined Life

​​4 - 5 minute read | Part 3 of a Series | Also published ​at PermacultureNews.org

The consumer culture has an easy path which leads us to behave like dependent juveniles for our entire lives.

The alternate path—more difficult but very worthwhile—leads to increasing self-determination and self-reliance, which is very bad for the growth economy.

That’s why no profit-focused corporation will ever fund government policies to encourage the public to behave like this.

This article continues on from “Out-Growing Consumerism 2: An Act of Subversion.”

​Out-Growing ​Consumerism 1:
​What Should Never Have Been for Sale

​4 minute read | Part 1 ​of a Series​ | Also published at PermacultureNews.Org

​There’s a subtle mantra playing in the background that we’re so accustomed to, we no longer notice it:

​“Consume something. You’ll feel better.” 

Having monetized everything else, in order to keep growing the consumer economy now needs to monetize the space inside your head.

​Will this Type of Agriculture ​Feed Your Grandchildren?

An Introduction to Syntropic Farming

​5 minute read | ​Also published at PermacultureNews.org

​How ​can you tell if a system of agriculture is capable of feeding your grandchildren?

​All regenerative agriculture systems​—that is, ways of growing food and other products that are truly sustainable​—have one thing in common: ​they ​place at least as much importance on ecosystem regeneration as ​on ​producing a harvest, because they recognize that without an ecosystem to support food growing, there cannot be healthy food.​

​7 Easy Substitutes for When Lettuce Won't Grow

​​​5 - 6 minute read | Also published on PermacultureNews.org

​​Here are 6 ​plants that can withstand ​heat and high humidity without collapsing into sad little smears of slime, and that you can put in a salad ​without alienating your salad eaters.

​The 7th plant on the list, while very small in stature and not fitting the tropical perennial profile, none-the-less makes a super-sized contribution to the salad bowl.

RAISING PIGS: Can Pigs Learn Table Manners?

All pigs are greedy, and large pigs are incredibly strong. Feeding the pigs, as they grow bigger, can easily degenerate into a full body contact sport in which the pig wins and the amateur pig-raiser gets discouraged and gives up on homegrown pork.

​Here are some ​strategies that have worked for us to keep pig-raising enjoyable when those cute little piglets have grown bigger and are no longer cute.