Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Andy Brennan owns Aaron Burr Cider in New York’s Catskills region.
Since its founding in 2011, Aaron Burr Cider has become well known
among cider enthusiasts for its natural approach to cider making using
wild apples and yeasts. As a prominent figure in the growing US cider
movement, Andy has been featured in print media and on television,
radio, and podcasts. He regularly speaks about natural apple growing
and cider production at museums, trade events, festivals, restaurants,
and anywhere local food enthusiasts are found.
When I was almost three years old, I said my held a special place in our collective uncon- apple trees anymore, the bond still strongly
first word: “Apple.” This was in the autumn scious. It continues to emerge and reemerge, exists. And what great satisfaction it brings
of 1973, nearly 100 miles from Washington, as it has for thousands of years. The tree is me to see examples of this reunion, like when
DC, in the rugged landscape of western mysteriously part of who we are, even now, property owners begin clearing land and dis-
Maryland where the Appalachian ridges well into the modern era. cover an apple tree. Determined as they are
ripple like a series of long waves, unfolding The easiest way to appreciate our cultur- to chop down everything in sight, suddenly
one after the next toward the headwaters al connection to apple trees is to draw simi- the chain saw goes silent when they happen
of the Potomac. Dotting the hillsides were larities between two species: Malus domestica upon an apple tree! Even very old, sick trees
homestead farms, and below in the valley (the modern apple) and Canis lupus familiaris. are spared and nursed for dozens of years.
floors there remained old brick villages that The latter, the common dog, is our compan- I’m a sucker for this. But a frightful prop-
osition rises in me: As the general population
expands and we are increasingly removed
“Loving apples or cider is not a prerequisite for from farming, how will that empathy erode?
And if it vanishes for the apple tree, what does
loving this book. All that is needed is the willingness that say of our empathetic connection with
to follow a vibrant narrative voice driven by other living beings? Fearful as I am, I can also
imagine the opposite happening: Couldn’t we
the pursuit of dreams.”—Alice Feiring also expand upon our empathy for apple trees
(as we seem to for dogs) and allow that com-
passion to reach other living beings, endan-
appeared just as they had when General Lee ion animal, while the former, the common gered creatures, and all of nature?
stormed up, bringing the fight to Union soil. apple tree, is our companion plant. One is
Outside the town hall in one of these ham- “man’s best friend,” and the other is “the giv-
lets, a giant pome sculpture served as the fo- ing tree.” Although we immediately relate to
cal point of the lawn just the way an obelisk the animal kingdom, we can also relate to the
or water fountain would. It was this sight, plant kingdom in profound ways. We are all
the giant apple, that piqued the interest of living beings with shared goals. The relating
the boy in the backseat. Most children are is slower and more obtuse, but we have de-
saying full sentences long before their third veloped a great language for relating with ap-
birthday, but I was waiting for the vision of ple trees, greater than with any other plant.
an apple to start talking. No doubt we still have uncommon compas-
To modern folks apples are considered sion for them.
a healthy snack, and not much more. But How rare is it that we can empathize with
beyond the tempting fruit, the tree has long a plant! Though hardly anyone lives with Hardcover • $24.95
4 • Chelsea Green Publishing
Learning from
Our Arboreal Allies
by Akiva Silver
Trees in fog stand without leaves, dark up the first bushels of wild pears, I realize
stems in a maze of inexhaustible intricacy. just how much is there. I sell wild pears to
Patterns laid upon patterns in a seeming a cidery that presses them into perry (pear
randomness that gives way to a single beau- wine, which is a very excellent drink with a
tiful scene. These life fountains spring from long history in Europe). Last fall my fami-
the ground, rising from a dark and mysteri- ly and a friend gathered over 3,000 pounds
ous world fully charged with life. They rise of wild pears from a handful of trees in two
and rise and then spread. From the end of days. Over 1,000 pounds came from a single
every branch tip drip the fountains. Seeds tree. Seeing that much fruit does something
rain down, feeding birds and mammals. We to you. It is impossible not to be impressed
breathe these trees through our lungs, shel- even if you aren’t interested in pears. But we
ter ourselves with their wood, and fill our are interested; it’s a part of our livelihood, and
bodies with the energy of their fruit. each bushel is cash. We gather with speed and
These fountains of life are incredible efficiency, sometimes chatting, sometimes
beings that perform so many services for working silently. It is good work, work our
free and indefinitely. They have the ability bodies and minds were built for. At night we
to reproduce themselves, run on sun and see pears when we close our eyes. We have a
rain, build wood out of carbon in the sky, connection to those trees. We care what hap-
create flavors, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, pens to them. To us, it seems like a good idea
medicine, and vitamins. We are just tiny an- to plant more of them. The highest level of
imals scampering beneath them, picking up appreciation comes through participation.
their gifts as fast as we can, because there is Life circles around trees; it is drawn in
not enough time to keep up with the rain like a magnet. One crab apple tree in the
of presents. The feel of autumn in the wind middle of winter will pull in birds, possums,
pushes us to gather faster, filling bucket after mice, deer, raccoons, wild children, and
bucket. The harvest looks staggering. It fills countless other forms of life. Animals and
trucks and porches. Where will we put it all? people will travel for miles to gather persim-
and How will we have time to process all this? mons and chestnuts. Songbirds will flock to
are some of the thoughts we have, and still mulberries. These are magnetic trees, foun-
there is so much more lying on the ground. tains of life that shower Earth with abun-
Millions of pounds in my county alone. dant gifts. When we become aware of these
The heart of the gatherer is one of grati- trees, we can begin to work with them and
tude and amazement. I have been astounded elevate the level of abundance in our world
so many times harvesting. As I start to pick to staggering heights. Paperback • $24.95
chelseagreen.com • 5
Ok-RAH-RAH-RAH!
by Chris Smith
Expert okra enthusiast Chris Smith writes regularly for The Heirloom Gardener,
the Mother Earth News blog, and the Farmers’ Almanac blog. His presentations
on the versatility of okra have delighted audiences at food and farming festivals
and fairs throughout the Southeast. He is the Communications Manager for Sow
True Seed in Asheville, North Carolina, and serves on the boards of The People’s
Seed and Slow Food Asheville. A native of the UK, Smith has a master’s degree in
creative writing from the University of Manchester. His short stories have been
published in Nashville Review, Mid-American Review, and The Manchester Review.
A good friend of mine who leads wild food walks this completely amazing crop called okra, gumbo,
is fond of describing the forest as a big party, and bhindi, lady’s fingers, and ochro.
he likens wild food identification to meeting Okra lays claim to nutritional and medicinal
new people at that party. Now, if I were at a qualities that remain uncelebrated. It has a pan-
party, I would never walk up to someone and oply of culinary traditions all over the world.
say, “Hi, my name’s Chris, how best can I use Okra is easy to grow and highly productive. But
you?” I’d want to get to know the person, I’d it’s the multiple culinary uses of a single crop
ask some interesting questions, and we’d have that really appeals to me. Okra is abounding in
a conversation. The same is true of plants, and food. I’m a permaculturist at heart, and I love it
okra is one plant I’ve met (in the garden, not when I find secondary, tertiary, and quaternary
the woods) that I really liked. yields from the things I grow: Radish seedpods
I grew up in a world void of okra (South- are spicy and yummy, corn silks are medicinal,
port, England), but I found myself inexplica- broccoli stems are great peeled and roasted.
bly wanting to meet it again and again. I had When it comes to multiple yields from single
so many questions. As a self-educated bota- crops, I put okra on a pedestal and say to all the
nist, I love the history and the taxonomy and other vegetables, “Look at the wondrous Okra,
the botany of food crops; I am concerned you could really learn something.” With okra,
about climate issues and our continuing abil- you can eat the pods, the leaves, the flowers, and
ity to feed ourselves healthy and nutritious the seeds. And we’re not just talking famine food;
food. I’m a homesteader and a seed saver and we’re talking superfood. The plant is packed with
I love stories. As a white British guy, I am ful- vitamins and minerals and phytonutrients.
ly aware that okra is not a part of my culture
or heritage. While okra is grown and enjoyed
around the globe, my experiences with it are
in the American South, and so I must always
remember and honor all the terrible things
that happened to allow okra’s presence and my
eventual connection with it. I must remember
and honor the incredible influence of African
Americans on our food culture, and okra is just
a small part of it. I am not King Okra, I am okra’s
humble servant, and as the stars align I find myself
stumbling upon discovery after discovery, story
after story, variety after variety, use after use, of Paperback • $29.95
This creative recipe falls squarely into the you’ve- 2 cups (200 g) sliced fresh okra
got-to-try-it-to-believe-it category. For anyone 1 cup (225 ml) water, plus more if needed
already familiar with Blair’s book The Wild Wisdom of 1/2 cup (170 g) honey
Weeds (Chelsea Green, 2014), that should come as no 2 tablespoons vanilla
surprise. I have a mind to keep a stash of these per- 1/2 cup (60 g) cashews, raw or roasted
fectly sweet, deep green, chewy treats in my bag at Blend the okra with the water, honey, and vanilla in a
all times so I can hand them out whenever someone high-powered blender until it creams up and becomes
tells me they don’t like okra (which happens a lot). thick. Pour the mixture onto a dehydrator sheet in long
Katrina noted that the mixture tends to flatten out strips and dry at 115°F (45°C) for about 6 hours. The mix-
while dehydrating, which is why she created strips ture is dry enough once it can be peeled off the dehydra-
tor sheet. Remove the strips from the sheet and tightly
(a little like making fruit leathers) and formed the
roll them up. The rolls can then be cut and formed into
marshmallow shapes afterward. If you don’t have a marshmallow-esque pieces. Powder the dry cashews in
dehydrator, you could follow the same process using a food processer. Transfer the powder to a shallow bowl
an oven at its lowest temperature setting; check and roll the individual pieces in the powder until they
regularly so the okra doesn’t overcook. The aim is appear white. These marshmallow treats can be eaten
tacky-chewy, not hard-crunchy. Makes 15–20 pieces. raw or skewered on a stick and warmed over a fire.
chelseagreen.com • 7
Notes on Gull Watching
and Trash Picking in
the Anthropocene
by Tim Dee
Early morning Bristol. The bars along the cling containers, a waste food tub, and a The idea that gulls might be good animals
street where I live recycle their glass emp- wheelie-bin for non-recyclable rubbish. to think with and to write about first oc-
ties of last night. It is the sound I most of- The system worked for one week. My curred to me around twenty years ago,
ten wake to: a raucous shuck and slide, a suite of emptied units never made it back when I noticed how herring and lesser
bright and broken glissando, poured into to my front door or anywhere near it. All black-backed gulls had set up shop in the
a cavernous bin. Perhaps the city gulls are was lost in a melee at the roadside. There middle of Bristol. There had been large
gulls on the city’s waters for many years; it
is only a few miles from the sort-of sea of
“An important and entirely brilliant book. the Severn Estuary, while the River Avon,
It’s a love letter to gulls and their charged relationship a tidal finger, drives daily into the heart
of the place. Among Bristol’s sound-sig-
with humans, but it’s also a deep meditation on difficulty natures are the birds’ marine yelps as they
and waste, on the beauty of the disregarded, and on what navigate the Avon and the Feeder and the
Cut and the other channels that broker
we make of matter out of place. There’s love and death the meeting of fresh and salt water. But
here, fear, fascination, hope, and the breaking of the world. in the years of a stretched decade around
Dee has written an absolute triumph.” the 1980s, when I left the city (to study,
and before I returned with a young family,
—Helen Macdonald to work), the two gulls had started some-
thing new: breeding on rooftops across its
alerted by it too, for at this time, before and then I gave up. Nowadays, I carry my centre. In that time, well within the lifes-
the morning traffic builds and the pave- paper waste, my glass and plastic to the pan of individual birds, a profound change
ment fills with people, herring and lesser old house where my children sometimes gripped both species, and urban gulls came
black-backed gulls come most days and still live and where bin protocols prevail. of age.
patrol the street for the leftovers of last My food scraps mess with everything else
night’s fun. They fly back and forth at the I shed at home into an old supermar-
height of a double-decker bus, eyes down ket carrier bag that I then drop into a
and silent, with something in their action street-bin one hundred steps from
both futuristic and ancient—drone ops my door. It is possible that my
and dinosaur stares. Much of my life hap- lumped and unsorted offer-
pens here, next to the bins and the gulls, ing, joining every pedestri-
in a flat on a busy shopping street. Below an’s discards, and collected
my room are a mobile phone repairer and by a council worker with a
an e-cigarette shop. Half of the pavement trolley, is bait for those
is taken up by big and locked dumpsters morning gulls. If not, I
used by the neighbouring bars and cafes. think my rubbish ends
About a decade ago the city council issued up as landfill.
the residents of my building with recy-
8 • Chelsea Green Publishing
The Insatiable Call
of Composting
by James McSweeney
The N E W F A R M E R L I B R A R Y
series is a collection of proven techniques
and philosophies from experienced voices
committed to deep organic, small-scale,
regenerative farming. Each book in the series
offers the new farmer essential tips, inspi-
ration, and first-hand knowledge of what it
takes to grow food close to the land.
For ten years Alice Percy operated a commercial hog operation on her farm
in Whitefield, Maine, becoming the largest certified hog producer in the
state. Percy has mentored hog farming startups through the Maine Organic
Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), and helped to develop the
association’s Raising Organic Pigs fact sheet. She has presented workshops
on organic hog husbandry at MOFGA events and the annual NOFA Summer
Conference. Percy currently works as the manager of the Organic Growers
Supply division at Fedco Seeds and served on the board at MOFGA. Paperback • $29.95
Few Americans have a direct connection to because it is allowed to be a pig (and a hap-
how their food is produced anymore, or think py pig, at that!) instead of just a production
much about where their BLT came from, but unit. Like its ancestors, it gets to experience
most are sentimental to some degree about sunshine and free movement and exercise its
animals and want them to be treated well. natural instincts. The environment benefits
Most also want their great-grandchildren to because small-scale farms are well adapted
have water to drink, food to eat, and air to to composting manure instead of handling it
breathe. When confronted with the negative as liquid effluent, turning farm “waste” into
impact of the modern livestock industry on a resource rather than a contaminant. If you
the environment and animal welfare, some grow or purchase organic feed, the environ-
consumers will absolutely go into ostrich ment benefits doubly because your farm sup-
mode rather than change their buying habits, ports crop production practices that conserve
and some will decide to avoid meat entirely. soil quality and avoid toxic synthetic materi-
Others, though, learn about alternative ways als. Consumers benefit from the satisfaction
of getting meat to the table and decide either of a connection with the source of their food,
to raise their own meat or to support produc- the comfort of knowing that their bacon hab-
ers who are dedicated to environmental pro- it doesn’t come at the expense of animal wel-
tection and animal welfare—and they under- fare, and above all from an improved dining
stand that those principles come at additional experience—happy pigs really do taste better!
financial cost. This demand creates a genuine
opportunity to start creating a better system.
Alternative methods of hog production
(including certified organic, pasture based,
and other extensive methods) on homesteads
and family-scale farms benefit the farmer,
the hog, the environment, and the consum-
er. High-welfare hog production benefits the
farmer because the product distinguishes it-
self on the market. Competing in the main-
stream markets as a small producer is most
likely a nonstarting proposition, and definite-
ly a losing game, especially if you are com-
mitted to maximizing animal welfare (the
margins in mainstream production are too
slim to allow this commitment). As a niche
producer, however, you can exercise some
control over your scale, your markets, and
your profitability. The pig obviously benefits
chelseagreen.com • 11
How to Cook Simple and
Delicious Recipes with Whole Foods
on a Restrictive Diet—with Love!
An Interview with Leah M. Webb
Leah M. Webb, MPH, obtained her health coach certification from the Institute
for Integrative Nutrition. She has worked in nutrition and gardening education since
2009 with a focus on engaging children in healthy eating habits through experiential
learning and discovery. Leah started and runs the Deep Rooted Wellness blog, on
which she posts stories and tips regarding nutrition, gardening, and healthy fami-
lies. She lives in the mountains of North Carolina with her husband, T.C., and their
two children, Owen and June. Owen has a life-threatening anaphylactic allergy to
wheat, and June has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease severely impacting the lungs
and pancreas. Leah’s commitment to a restrictive, nutrient-dense diet has played an
important role in her children’s integrative care. Paperback • $34.95
Your children’s severe health complica- be doing, or what you need to be doing, it’s My advice to these families would be to try to
tions prompted your family to embark about how these things make you feel and focus on buying as many real ingredients as
on a highly restrictive diet. What would how they support a better version of you. you can. It doesn’t necessarily have to be or-
you say to those individuals who don’t ganic, it doesn’t necessarily have to be grass-
What is the most important tidbit of fed, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the best.
have such a compelling reason to stick
advice you would offer busy families at- I think that good enough, sometimes, can be
to it—those who find the outside temp-
tempting to follow a restrictive diet? the best, depending on the situation you’re
tations too overwhelming, the prepa-
You can see the historical string of events in. Families that are able to access frozen or
ration too arduous, the prospects too canned vegetables—that’s better than noth-
that’s led to where we have less time to pre-
dissatisfying? ing. Trying to find as many real foods in your
pare healthy meals. It’s very apparent that
The biggest thing I always try to convey to we’re a busy society, and that we don’t have realm of access is probably the best thing you
people is that when they’re thinking about the same amount of time we used to. can do.
a restrictive diet, they’re often just think- I would say that if I could only give
What changes have you noticed in the
ing about deprivation and all of the things somebody one piece of advice, it would be to
they’re missing out on. I think the bigger
public’s perception of nutrition during
rethink their idea of meal planning and prep,
picture is that when you go on these restric- to really think in bulk. When you are trying your career in the field?
tive diets, you end up making a lot of space to prepare meals from scratch, it becomes a I’ve been doing this type of work, in varying
for foods that you wouldn’t necessarily have labor-intensive process very quickly. But a lot capacities, for a little over ten years, and I
eaten otherwise, and when you do make that of foods can be frozen that people don’t nec- think the biggest change I’ve seen is that peo-
space for those new foods, you start to feel essarily realize can be frozen. If you prepare ple are starting to think about bioindividuali-
really great. The restrictive diet that my fam- large quantities of food and eat some now, ty. They’re challenging traditional nutritional
ily follows is extremely nutrient dense—it’s eat some for leftovers, and then have some to beliefs, thinking about how their body me-
focused on nourishment. We are a society freeze, you’re setting yourself up for success tabolizes macronutrients and different food
plagued by chronic disease, and the majority in the long run. groups, and then using that information to
of that disease has been developed through heal their bodies and also help keep their fam-
eating foods that are not supporting our What advice do you have for people ilies healthier. I used to get this a lot: When
healthiest version of self. So when people talk with limited access to fresh, healthy people heard that I was into nutrition, they
about trying to change their diet, I always tell produce? Are there particular foods that assumed I was a vegetarian. And I was a vege-
them, Think about how you feel—how does it are perhaps more important to avoid— tarian for a while because that was the trendy
make you feel? It’s not about what you should or to make an extra effort to consume? thing to do. But now the focus has changed to
chelseagreen.com • 13
The New Science of Athletic Performance
That is Revolutionizing Sports
by Dr. Marc Bubbs, ND, CISSN, CSCS
Dr. Marc Bubbs, ND, CISSN, CSCS, is the Director of Nutrition for the
Canadian men’s national basketball team, a speaker, and a former strength
and conditioning coach. He is also the host of the Dr. Bubbs Performance
Podcast, connecting listeners with world experts in nutrition, training,
functional health, and mental performance. Dr. Bubbs regularly presents at
health, fitness, and medical conferences across Canada, the United States,
UK, and Europe and consults with professional sports teams in the NBA,
NFL, NHL, and MLB. He practices in Toronto, Canada, and London, England,
helping athletes and clients struggling with obesity, diabetes, and metabolic
syndrome improve their health. Hardcover • $27.95
Roger Federer was bent over in pain. It was Open major championship, his first major in the booth calling the action and not on
2013, and he was struggling with chron- since five years earlier. Did he catch light- the court? Rumors emerged that Roger
ic back injuries, failing to reach a major ning in a bottle? Then he had another ma- Federer had discovered a secret weapon to
tournament final for the first time in 15 jor win in 2017 at Wimbledon, in totally preserve his stamina, accelerate his recov-
years. It was the start of a decline for the dominating fashion. He defended his title ery, sharpen his quickness, and keep his
greatest tennis player of all time. In 2016 to win the Australian Open again in 2018, mind agile. Rumors were this secret weap-
he saw another setback. As Federer began which reaffirmed him at the top of tennis. on was so impactful in the years build-
to rediscover his game and gain some mo- How was this possible at the age of 36, ing up to his reemergence that Federer
mentum, he was sidelined by a knee in- when contemporaries of his vintage were refused to talk about it. But what was it?
jury that required surgery. The questions In the end, we found out: The secret was
started ruminating around the tennis Federer’s relentless focus on sleep.
world. Will Federer even win another ma- “Peak is a masterpiece of
jor? Is Federer finished? After more than nutritional science from one Peak takes you behind the scenes and
a decade of total domination in tennis introduces experts who influence the
and winning major championships at an
of the world’s leading au- games’ top performers. What will you
unprecedented rate, it looked as though thorities on athletic health uncover? A heavy emphasis on the fun-
time had caught up to Federer. It looked damentals (not the fads), the importance
and performance. It’s a fan-
like the competition had also caught up to of consistency (not extreme effort), and
him; tennis isn’t kind to athletes over 30. tastic resource that provides the value of patience (not rapid transfor-
Then something surprising happened: In a road map to reaching true mation). It might not seem sexy at first,
2017, at the age of 35, Federer turned back but the mind-blowing feats of athleti-
the clock. It seemed as if he had found the wellness.” cism and record-breaking performances
fountain of youth. He won the Australian —Dr. Rocco Monto you see on TV highlight reels are rooted
The story of nutrition has proved to be an almost unbelievable tale of poor and
irresponsible science within the medical community, one of the most respected
parts of our society. However hard it is for scientists to distrust ex-
perts, it is even harder for the general population.
I was astounded when I saw a question on an
online diabetes site that said, “My morning
oatmeal spikes my blood glucose. How much
carbohydrate should I have?” People with di-
abetes cannot adequately metabolize dietary
carbohydrate (starch and sugar) so it seemed
like an easy question. The answer from the
experts, however, was waffling and tedious,
and it didn’t include the obvious advice: “Lim-
it your oatmeal consumption to a level that
doesn’t spike your blood glucose.” Paperback • $24.95
chelseagreen.com • 15
Lessons in Resourcefulness and Craft
from an Unusual Christmas Tree Farm
An Interview with Emmet Van Driesche
Emmet Van Driesche and his wife, Cecilia, operate the Pieropan Christmas Tree
Farm in Western Massachusetts. When he’s not working on the tree farm or
editing scientific manuscripts, he spends his time carving wooden spoons
and teaching others to do the same. You can learn more about him
at www.emmetvandriesche.com.
You are both a Christmas tree farmer and a spoon I could get from the land. It hadn’t even occurred to me to think
carver. What is it about carving and working with trees that holistically yet.
that you find interesting? And then the spoon carving built over a couple of years. I
came across enough resources online, even though I wasn’t on
One aspect I enjoy is the actual process of making something.
social media and didn’t have a cell phone and we had barely any
With the spoons, it’s the combination of aesthetics and design
internet at the house. I remember I would put my daughter to
and skill. With the trees, it’s much more—it goes back to my
sleep and just sit on the floor with my laptop, out of sight, and
farming roots. How do you maintain a landscape? What’s your
read this blog and stalk people’s Instagram accounts. I fell down
relationship to that landscape, historically? How is your rela-
that rabbit hole and became more and more excited about it.
tionship to the landscape dependent on that of the people who
came before you? These are all questions that have interested
me, even before I came to this farm. Even though there are disparate parts to what you
What I discovered through taking this opportunity is an do—from Christmas trees, to wreaths, to scythes, to
interesting new way of thinking about work. One of the most spoons, to lessons—they all seem to be connected
important things about why this work is good for me is that it through wood or trees. Is this how you see it?
suits me temperamentally. I love the physical work, and I love For a long time I felt like I didn’t have a job I could easily explain
the way that it’s just a series of decisions that need to be made to people. It was always so strangely mixed together—I didn’t
quickly and are inconsequential in and of themselves. The most know how to articulate it, or even how to think about it. But as
important thing is that you just keep making them and making I did it more, and it started to work, I came to realize that all the
them and don’t get bogged down. And I think that really suits my things I was doing were supporting each other in a way where
temperament. I didn’t know that going into this. they didn’t have to be so obviously aligned. For example, for
common woodworkers, they make one woodworking product,
How long had you been selling trees and wreaths when and the way they diversify is by making another product—first
you started carving and selling spoons? What was the you do cutting boards, then you do rolling pins, then you do
genesis of that activity for you? bowls, right? But from the beginning I’ve always found myself
I had this moment where I was watching my one-year-old daugh- pulling together the different things that interest me and then
ter crawl around the yard. I was standing on the porch next to figuring out how they can be cross-marketed, rather than stick-
all the firewood, and I thought, I feel like making something right ing within a genre. And the interesting thing for me has always
now, and I could sell it. We were poor, we needed money, and I been how disparate things can support each other in ways you
had already made these spatulas for our kitchen. I thought, I bet I didn’t necessarily anticipate.
could make some of those and sell them. And so I did. I just started I was a multidisciplinary major in college because I was a
making them, and that first year I sold them for $10 a piece and sailor and just wanted to learn about the ocean, so I made up a
they all sold, so that was about $300. At the time we were paying major that I could twist in such a way that allowed me to think
around $625 in rent, so that was half a month’s rent—that’s what about the ocean. I take the same approach now: I’m taking
the mentality was through the first bunch of years. At that point whatever my situation is and twisting it around so that I can
I wasn’t looking at the landscape and thinking, Here’s this thing work for myself. And that’s the thread that ties it all together.
Hardcover • $28.00
chelseagreen.com • 17
Using Fire to Cool the Earth
An Interview with Albert Bates and Kathleen Draper
Albert Bates is one of the founders of the intentional community and eco-
village movements. A lawyer, scientist, and teacher, he has taught village
design, appropriate technology, and permaculture to students from more
than sixty countries. Kathleen Draper routinely collaborates with biochar
experts from around the globe as a board member of the International
Biochar Initiative (IBI), moderator for IBI’s biochar education webinar series,
and the US Director of the Ithaka Institute for Carbon Intelligence. She has
lectured on biochar in several countries and provides consulting services to
companies entering the biochar industry.
What is the carbon cycle, and where does biochar fit For those who are interested in experimenting with
into this story? biochar, what is one way we can incorporate it in our
Bates: The carbon cycle has been going on since Earth cooled daily lives?
enough to allow life to arise. We know it as photosynthesis, with- Kathleen: I use personal care products—soap, toothpaste, de-
out which we could not eat or breathe. Over billions of years odorant, shampoo—that contain biochar, but at the end of the
the planet developed a stasis between the amount of carbon re- day the amount of biochar in those products is small. I think
leased from natural sources like dead plants and volcanoes and the best use of time is to help lobby for the use of biochar in big
what could be absorbed back by oceans, growing plants, and the markets such as livestock feed, building materials, filtration,
weathering of minerals. When we disrupted this balance with and so on.
land use changes dating back 8,000 years, and more recently
through burning fossil fuels, one of the effects is global warm- Albert: Well if we are going to go big, let’s go really big. Carbon
ing. Knowing how we are heating the planet is one thing. content in the things around us should be more common than
Understanding how to restore the equilibrium is quite plastics are today. Recaptured carbon should be in the con-
another. We think biochar is one of the more powerful crete and steel in buildings and bridges. It should be un-
tools we have, but there is still a lot to learn. der and on top of roadways. It should be the fiber that
builds automobiles and airplanes—a lot of that creat-
Draper: I think of biochar as “carbon interrupted.” ed by 3D printing. Some people worry that in order to
Plants breath in CO2, which is normally exhaled convert that much photosynthetic carbon into perma-
back into the atmosphere during decomposition. nent structures we would need to cut down whole forests,
When you bake organic matter at sufficiently high tem- or make genetically engineered plantations of fast-growing
peratures, you convert up to 50 percent of the CO2 into a feedstocks. Balderdash! There is ample car-
very stable form of carbon that decomposers mostly ignore. bon right now that is decaying into
greenhouse gases because we think
Explain one biochar application you encountered of it as waste or pollution. We could
during your travels that you found particularly innova- be capturing and converting those
tive or effective. sources of pollution into useful
Kathleen: One of my favorites is still being developed by a products and services. Think sea-
group in South Africa. The concept is a biochar brick with seeds weed. Think municipal sewage. As
inside that is being used to rebuild or rehabilitate dunes, mine- we say in permaculture, these so-
lands, wetlands, etc. The bricks are only meant to last a few called problems are actually solu-
years and the embedded seeds help restore biodiversity. I am tions in disguise. We are confront-
also very keen on a project I’ve been working on that uses car- ed with nearly insurmountable
bonized coffee grounds in bioUPgradable coffee lids! opportunity. Hardcover • $24.95
Chihuahua, Mexico’s largest state is big Octavio Bermudez, and Elco Blanco Ma-
ranching country. The Chihuahuan Des- drid work and ranch.
ert region, which includes parts of Arizo- The good news, says Carrillo, is that
na, New Mexico, and Texas as well as the they know how to grow grass, and there-
northern Mexico states of Chihuahua and fore create bird habitat, through holistic
Coahuila, is where many of the cowboy planned grazing. At Las Damas Ranch “we was superior to pretty much any land we’d
traditions we associate with “the West” used to have just two species, tobosa and seen in the Chihuahuan Desert,” he told
originated. “It was the ideal place to raise zacaton,” he says, referring to native pe- me. “That land was different, with plenty
cattle,” says rancher Alejandro Carrillo, rennial grasses that can survive through of vegetation and forage for cattle. What’s
“thanks to a sea of native grasslands and droughts and overgrazing. “Now we have good forage for cattle is good habitat for
plenty of water from year-round springs.” multiple grasses, some taller than myself. birds.”
I came to Chihuahua to see the birds. People didn’t think it was possible to have Rothman’s field observations in Chi-
Upon seeing my book Cows Save the Planet these grasses in the desert.” The result of huahua challenged some of his earlier
a few months prior, Carrillo had contacted the renewed growth of diverse grasses is assumptions about wildlife conservation.
me and told me that he and fellow ranch- that the ranch is “a magnet for birds. You “Our perception of conservation is often
ers who practice holistic planned grazing can see migratory, predator, nonpredator [to] set the land aside and not do anything,”
were working with bird conservation or- birds. In much of the state, in February and he said. “But many of our habitats are dis-
ganizations to protect endangered migra- March there’s no grass at all.” turbed.” In North American grasslands, for
tory grassland bird populations. Several That this small group of ranches con- instance, there would be occasional, lim-
species of grassland birds, including cer- stitutes oases of bird habitat attracted the ited lightning-kindled fires or trampling
tain song sparrows and the lark bunting, attention of conservation groups working from passing bison herds. “Cattle re-create
the state bird of Colorado, have seen tre- to protect threatened bird populations. some of those disturbances,” he said. “This
mendous drops in numbers—in some cas- The conservation groups are now collabo- can help regenerate the
es upward of 80 percent. For a long time rating with five ranchers, with the possibil- landscape
conservationists concerned about these ity of more, to monitor bird numbers and when proper-
birds had concentrated on the summer expand the amount of land with favorable ly managed.”
breeding habitat in the Western Great bird habitat. Ideally, they’re seeking to cre-
Plains. They’ve since come to realize that ate a biological corridor that will offer pro-
the deterioration of winter habitat, where tection for desert grassland birds so that
the birds spend seven months of the year, their populations can rebound.
could represent the largest threat to their Andrew Rothman, director of the Mi-
survival. This habitat centers on the Chi- gratory Bird Program at the American Bird
huahuan Desert Grasslands, specifically Conservancy, has visited Las Damas Ranch
the central valley—Valle Centrales—where several times. “It was pretty evident right
Carrillo and his colleagues Jesus Almeida, away that the amount of grasses there Paperback • $17.95
chelseagreen.com • 19
The Story and Legacy of a Radical
Industrialist and his Quest
for Authentic Change
by Ray C. Anderson and John A. Lanier
Ray C. Anderson was founder and chair- I have this mental picture of a mountain
man of Interface, Inc., one of the world’s that is higher than Everest. It rises steep-
leading carpet and flooring producers. His ly out of a jungle that surrounds it. Most
story is now legend: Anderson had a “spear of us, people and companies, are lost and
in the chest” epiphany when he first read wandering around in that jungle, and don’t
Paul Hawken’s The Ecology of Commerce, know the mountain exists at all. Rather,
inspiring him to revolutionize his business we are preoccupied with the threatening,
in pursuit of environmental sustainabil- competitive “animals” all around us. A
ity. In doing so, he proved that business few have sensed the upward slope of the
can indeed “do well by doing good.” The mountain’s foothills under their feet. Still
Georgia-based Interface has been ranked fewer have decided to follow the upward
number one in a GlobeScan survey of sus- slope to see where it leads. And a very few
tainability experts, and the company has are far enough along to have had a glimpse
continued to be an environmental leader of the mountain through the leaves of the
even after Anderson’s death in 2011. trees, to realize what looms ahead and
above. Very few indeed have set their eyes
John A. Lanier joined the Ray C. Ander- and wills on the summit. What will the Ray C. Anderson
son Foundation as executive director in view from there, from the vantage point
May 2013 to advance the legacy of Ray, his of sustainability, be like? I believe it will be
grandfather. He is chair of the board of di- wonderful beyond description, and I hope
rectors for Southface, the southeast’s non- to see it before I die. I also hope others,
profit leader in the promotion of sustain- still lost in the jungle or just becoming
able homes, workplaces, and communities conscious of the upward slope, even be-
through education, research, advocacy, ginning to explore it, will hear our cries of
and technical assistance. joy through the foliage and rush ahead to
follow our path, someday soon to join us
at the summit (or better yet beat us there).
There’s room there for everyone, and cer-
tainly anyone headed in that direction
welcomes the companionship, as we seek
to create the prototypical company of the
twenty-first century, of the next industrial
revolution.
—Ray C. Anderson John A. Lanier
chelseagreen.com • 21
Thanks for Listening
New in Audiobook
Michael Metivier has been an editor at Chelsea Green Publishing since 2013, block. An editor could tell you stories of
joining the staff after earning his Master of Science degree in environmen- discovering someone doing tremendous,
tal studies from Antioch University New England. His editing projects have world-changing work in their field, and
of praying, Say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes
included best-selling and award-winning titles such as Eager, Pawpaw, and
when making an offer for their book. Per-
Farming While Black. He is also a poet whose work has been published in haps most importantly, each copy of the
Poetry, Crazyhorse, North American Review, and African American Review, same book in the hands of a different read-
among other journals. He lives on the north side of Vermont’s Mount er itself becomes something unique, af-
Ascutney with his wife and daughters. fecting each reader’s life in a different way.
And, of course, every book printed on
In the opening chapter of Trees of Power, As an editor, I feel the same way about the
paper also contains within it the stories of
author Akiva Silver sings the praises of tree word “books.”
trees, the people who planted them, the
identification. He first describes the skill as It’s a great privilege to every day be sur-
birds and mammals that dispersed their
being “as useful to me as reading,” and lat- rounded by books—the books arrayed on
seeds, the insects that pollinated their
er promises readers that in learning to dis- the shelves behind my desk; books packed
flowers, the vast networks of fungi and mi-
cern trees by their bark, twigs, leaves, and into boxes that arrive in the office daily; the
croorganisms interacting with their roots,
silhouettes, “you will be able to read stories various archival libraries of Chelsea Green
the climate, the elevation, the aspect. Not
in the landscape.” I find neither statement dating back to 1985, curated for different
to spoil the end of Silver’s book, but the
by Silver to be fanciful or hyperbolic. purposes by different departments—but
last sentence is “Happy Planting.” To that
When I first began learning to identify describing what I do as “working with
I’d like to add “Happy Reading.”
trees in earnest, the experience was revela- books” or “editing books” can feel like re-
tory. It wasn’t just the discovery that bass- ducing a floodplain full of silver maple, box
wood buds resemble puffin heads, or that elder, sycamore, and river birch to “trees.”
the bark plates of elder sugar maples curve Technically correct and fine in a pinch, but
away from the trunk at their vertical edg- working at a small, independent publish-
es, while those of aging red maples shag er has given me insight into books not as
outward from the horizontal. My world faceless commodities, but as individuals
grew bigger. I suddenly noticed trees that with unique, complex origins and stories
had surrounded me all my life, rather than to tell beyond those within their pages.
simply seeing “the woods.” And the yellow There are stories of how the author
birches, American beeches, and chestnut found the publisher, or vice versa. There
oaks did (and do) indeed tell me stories: are stories behind the cover design, the
of 500 year-old storms, of former sheep choice of typeface, the color of the endpa-
pastures, of sapsuckers, pine weevils, and pers, the photography, the title, the mar-
fire. General terms like “trees” and “for- keting strategy, the outreach to endorsers.
ests” are necessary for efficient commu- An author might have stories about trying
nication, but alone flatten the incredible to make their deadline, about bursts of
diversity of both species and individuals. inspiration and the frustration of writer’s
chelseagreen.com • 23
“It will take years [to build your land-based life] and still you
will be learning and doing more and dreaming bigger,
different dreams than the ones you started out with.
Give yourself that time. Life is long and full of changes.”
—Emmet Van Driesche
CHELSEA
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