Entries by Cathy Svejkovsky

Small is Beautiful: The Wonderful World of Invertebrates

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By Nina Prater, NCAT Agriculture Specialist When I teach about the soil food web, I tend to paint with broad brushstrokes. This is probably because I only learned about the soil food web in terms of the big groups: bacteria, fungi, micro- and macroinvertebrates, vertebrates, and the plants that supply energy to the whole system. […]

Battlefield Lavender Farm: Solar Powered Processing

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By Chris Lent, NCAT Agriculture Specialist It’s hot outside! But that energy from the sun is a powerhouse for generating clean energy. We’re reposting this blog as an example of how one farm is capitalizing on that energy and helping to protect our environment at the same time. The concept of agrisolar—the use of land […]

Sustainability Project Transforms Cafeteria Waste into Usable Compost

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By Emilie Ritter, NCAT Director of Communications and Development Remember scraping off your tray in the lunchroom as a kid? Did you ever think about where that waste was going or if it could be more than just garbage? One nonprofit in Silver City, New Mexico is getting its hands dirty and helping kids and […]

Extreme Heat: Don’t Let Summer Be a Bummer

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By Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez and Darron Gaus, NCAT Agriculture Specialists As we head into summer, this gem from our archives can help you manage extreme heat on your farm, keeping animals and workers safe, as well as increase your operation’s resiliency.  Farmers and ranchers are weather watchers—we begin the day by turning on the local […]

Armed to Farm Map Connects Farmer Veterans Across the U.S.

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By Margo Hale, Armed to Farm Program Director For more than 10 years, I have led NCAT’s efforts to train and provide technical assistance to military veterans who are interested in farming. This started with a series of workshops for veterans in 2011, and then in 2013 we hosted our first Armed to Farm training. In […]

Practicing Resurrection: Using Green Manures on a Small Semi-Urban Homestead

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By Lee Rinehart, NCAT Agriculture Specialist The garden entrance is protected from groundhogs and deer by a mesh-covered wooden gate. On the gate hangs an 18-inch-long pallet board with the words “Mad Farm” painted in green. Inspired by Wendell’s Manifesto, I wanted to instill the place with the contradiction embodied in his poem. To “every […]

Solar Shepherd in Massachusetts: Solar Grazing

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By Allen Puckett, NCAT Technical Writer The Solar Shepherd provides grazing services in Brookfield, Massachusetts, with 75 sheep that graze a solar array site owned by SWEB Development, a European clean energy firm. This beneficial partnership was born when SWEB reached out to Solar Shepherd for grazing services after seeing their solar-grazing sites on social […]

When in Drought, Plan It Out: Rain Harvesting

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By Stephanie Kasper, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Program Manager This month, we’re shifting our focus to water. With much of the country in drought, every drop of water is precious and efficient use of water is critical. This excellent blog from our archives details one Texas couple’s successful efforts to harvest rainwater to […]

Free Bees, Part Two: Keeping Them

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By Justin Duncan, NCAT Agriculture Specialist In a previous blog, I detailed how to find free bees. Finding them can be relatively easy. Swarm? They aren’t starving? Sweep them gently into a nuc (a five-frame starter hive). It’s truly one of the loveliest experiences a beekeeper can have.   What’s in the awaiting nuc? I […]

Maces Pond: Agrisolar Wild Blueberries

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By Chris Lent, NCAT Agriculture Specialist Not far from the town of Rockport, Maine, Paul Sweetland of Sweetland Farms, LLC has been tending wild blueberries since he was a young boy. On one field that he has been farming since the late 1990s, there is more than blueberries being produced. Solar panels have been installed […]