The Ashfount blog
Practical writing on regenerative agriculture, the US local food scene and farm to table: soil, grazing, markets, policy and the people doing the work.
The farm bill is on a one-year extension and the Inflation Reduction Act's conservation dollars are the money in play. How EQIP, CSP, CRP and RCPP are funded, what baseline means, where both sides stand, and what a farm planning a contract should do.
A one-week winter routine for a small farm: review the season's numbers, write a holistic goal with everyone who has a stake, set targets, plan crops and grazing, test and order seed, note the tax and program dates, then draw the calendar.
A walk-in cooler is the cheapest shelf life a small farm can buy. Here is how field heat works, how to size and build a converted-room cooler, which crops want which temperature and humidity, and where USDA's new infrastructure money fits in 2024.
Which meat and egg claims have a definition, who checks them, where the loopholes sit, and how a small farm can back up grass-fed, pasture-raised or regenerative on its own label without hiring a lawyer.
Locked diagnostics turn a sensor fault into a dealer visit. Here is what the 2023 Farm Bureau memoranda with John Deere and other makers promise, what Colorado's new law requires from January 2024, and how a small farm keeps older machines running.
A plain guide to FSA farm loans for a first-generation farm: microloans, direct operating and ownership loans, the down payment loan, this month's rates, what counts as farm experience, the paperwork, and the honest limits of borrowed money.
Hay is scarce and the drought map is wide this fall. Here is how a grass-fed herd gets through winter on stockpiled fescue, strip grazing, bale grazing that feeds the soil, an honest hay budget, body condition scores and water that does not freeze.
October is National Farm to School Month. Here is how a small farm actually gets a purchase order from a school district: who buys, the bid thresholds, the geographic preference rule, product forms a cafeteria can use, the paperwork, and what volume to expect.
Fall is carbon season. How to build and turn a farm windrow, hit the right carbon to nitrogen ratio, keep the temperature log, meet the organic and food safety rules, and know when a state permit applies.
The 2018 Farm Bill runs out on September 30. Here are its twelve titles in plain language, the four that touch a small diversified farm, what expiration means for the programs you use, and how to follow the rewrite without reading a thousand pages.
A glut of August tomatoes is the classic start of a farm sauce line. Here is what sits between the kettle and the shelf: the math, recipe scaling, the process authority letter, labels, and the choice between your own kitchen and a co-packer.
The NRCS High Tunnel Initiative pays a per-square-foot rate toward a kit tunnel over your own soil. Who qualifies, what practice standard 325 requires, siting, ventilation, snow and wind loads, and what the extra weeks of harvest are worth.
