“Grass-fed cows make the best burgers, period.” This is Ridgeway Shinn’s mantra. Ridge is on a mission to change the beliefs of American beefeaters to prove that grass-fed cattle produce a more flavorful meat than their grain-finished relatives and in the process are a boon to the environment. In his arsenal is the herd of Devon cattle that he shipped from New Zealand on two 747’s in 2008 and the pure science that he uses to make his point. The Devon cattle are the gentle giants of the farm that Ridge runs and they are also the machine used to reinvigorate leased land that has been ruined by over-farming, herbicides, and other chemicals. The Devons eat grass whose roots have pulled carbon from the air; they then fertilize the land that they have been living on and within 2 to 3 years the land has been revived. This is the kind of perfect balance that sustainable farmers are always looking for. +Continue Reading
Writing fiction, consulting businesses and growing 3000 tomato plants in an apartment in Brooklyn seemed like a good idea at first, but then the tomatoes got really good and the rejection letters from journals kept on coming. +Continue Reading
Rob Thompson and April Bloomfield
Rob Thompson had been working on a 700-cow dairy farm and was starting to burn out when his mom showed him a “help wanted” ad for a farmer in New York’s Catskill region. As Rob discovered, Thanksgiving Farm was no ordinary farm.
Thanksgiving Farm is a beautiful 350-acre farm that not only feeds the staff and students of The Center for Discovery but also educates residents and helps them find meaningful work. The Center for Discovery is the home for 350 special-needs children and adults ranging in age from 5 to 21 and staff of about 1,400. The Center changed the way families were able to interact with their children who suffered from multiple disabilities and needed full-time care by making itself an open place built around families and not a warehouse for children to be left and not seen. +Continue Reading
