You are browsing the archives of 2006 September.

We loved the USA Today article, “Home is Where the Farm is” in the Monday, Sept. 11th edition.

The article talked about the growing number of professionals who are returning to the land, “if only to play farmer.” These are men and women who earn their income elsewhere, but have bought a “farmlet”, “farmette” or a lifestyle farm” to get their hands dirty.

In fact, the article says: “Such residential farms now account for nearly half of all farms in the USA, with owners who earn their income from off-farm work, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Reserach Service. Such farmettes are increasing at a rate of 2% a year.”

Our thoughts? We believe that number will increase as more Americans become interested in sustainability - or want to get away from the stresses of the post 9/11 world.
Technorati tags: farmettes, sustainability, lifestyle farm

In a recent article in Esquire, Brad Pritt clearly spells out the argument for “building green”. Whether his stats are 100% accurate or not, he makes a wonderful case for constructing more energy-efficient homes and buildings.

Building Green
America uses 25 percent of the world’s oil; we produce 3 percent. Everybody knows that. What people don’t know about is how inefficient our buildings are. Our buildings—our homes, offices, stores, businesses—use up 40 percent of all our energy. And they are responsible for 45 percent of the pollution in the air—meaning how we make the materials for buildings, how we produce our buildings, and then how our buildings operate. In a year, the average home is responsible for as much pollution as any car.

Farmers’ Almanac TV staff

Technorati tag: building green