Ravenous Farmer

My Homestead Is Featured in the Bangor Daily News!

2025-01-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

I had the most amazing 2-hour conversation with BDN's Elizabeth Waltzoni for this article. It's not often you get to reassess your life's mission with a stellar journalist. Thank you Elizabeth for the great questions and for helping me understand my evolving story! At the end of the day, I realized I enjoy a moral obligation to the planet in response to the sublime gifts it provides. It is sustaining, it is energizing. What a beautiful relationship. It is my privilege to have had it passed down to me from my parents and extended Downeast community!

Read the full article as a PDF here---->

Misty Spring Garden Tour in Midcoast Maine, Ravenous Farmer S4E1 2022

2022-05-23T11:06:00.002-07:00

Each spring in our lasagna garden, we have a mix of perennial crops, seedlings planted in a greenhouse, and some early-season crops that we can direct plant into the soil. With good planning, you can get your garden off to a good start so you're eating delicious homegrown vegetables early in the season. For example, we really love using a hinged greenhouse on a raised bed made using the lasagna gardening method for lettuces and other hardy greens.

In terms of perennials, we ate our first asparagus on May 11, and we've been able to harvest it daily ever since. I like to prepare dishes from when I used to live in Italy, such as rosemary-infused creamy white beans over homemade pasta topped with grilled asparagus. Early-season allium and asparagus pizza is another pure taste of spring. But a single silky-yet-steaky asparagus spear simply cannot be beat.

What are some of your favorite early-season crops in your garden? What techniques do you use to eat homegrown vegetables earlier each season?

The Complete Ravenous Farmer Season 3 Is Now LIVE

2022-03-25T12:18:00.003-07:00

"Dig in the Dirt Until It Hurts©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman

It's been three years since my wife and I left the city for the back-to-the-land lifestyle in Midcoast Maine, and I think it's safe to say Ravenous Farmer is no longer an experiment. My wife and I have really settled into the back-to-the-land community, which is thriving here today.

Nothing showed me this more than a mushroom inoculation workshop led by my now friend and bandmate Teddy Mattson of Dirtgoat Permaculture. As I was drilling holes into hardwood logs and stuffing them with mushroom spores, I happened to mention my affinity for death metal. Well, it turned out Teddy has also played in metal bands [Beast Machine] and is obsessed with healing the land through hugelkultur/lasagna gardening.

Even behind pandemic masks, connections were made, and they continue through a communal work party group called The Permablasters that we’ve started here in the Belfast area. The work parties are a lot like the communal barn-raisings and potlucks I grew up with in Down East Maine, and it warms my cockles to know that this type of compassionate, community-minded lifestyle still exists in America. Note that both “work” and “party” are essential to this equation.

Beyond being grateful for my new friends and neighbors, I’m grateful that a lot of the gardening lifestyle has become second nature. It was a steep learning curve those first two years, but year three went pretty smoothly overall. It was a matter of putting ideals into practice, but, even more importantly, it was about falling into the rhythm of the seasons and developing an understanding of the healthy ecosystem on our property.

So without further ado, check out Season 3 in the video above. See some of the surprise benefits of going back to the land and learn about our most successful gardening techniques using the lasagna-gardening method, aka hugelkultur. I really love the string trellis method for tomatoes, in particular. Additionally, find the preservation and canning techniques that allow us to grow 99% of our own produce for the entire year.

In Season 4, Ravenous Farmer will appear in REAL-TIME on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram, so go over and like and follow those links if you haven't already. We’ll begin our seeds indoors in a couple weeks. I hope the real-time format will allow me to focus more on the nitty-gritty practical techniques of gardening and homesteading. Lasagna Gardening 101 has racked up more than 4,000 views over the last two years, and I’ll work to publish more useful content along those lines. Additionally, I hope you will reach out with requests for content and questions related to hugelkultur and going back to the land.

As my wife and I have learned, if you want to be a soil-maker, land steward, permablaster, organic food provider, all-around gourmet environmentalist—the path is open. The land and people await. Go for it.

S2E9: The Verdict, Year 2 of Our Back to the Land Homestead

2021-04-16T16:15:00.004-07:00

Last year, I gave the verdict on the lasagna gardening method. This year, I set out to grow enough produce to last us an entire year, and I'll share precise details on crop yields and expenses below. But first, I want to show you how the garden is just one part of what we’re doing here in Midcoast Maine.

As I wrote in 2018, I took a step back from my career as a culinary travel writer to achieve specific back-to-the-land goals. As only video can show, this is what it’s like to step away from a desk and connect with nature. What it doesn’t show is that Maine is greatly free of the billboards and other types of advertising that suffocates the rest of the country, an aesthetic I find abhorrent.

I also achieved goals related to land stewardship, living intentionally, climate change, and privacy. As I talked about in the first video of Season 2, human populations are taking over the last unspoiled regions on earth, and land stewardship—the practice of caring for the health of an ecosystem—is one of the only ways the average person can fight back. We have 10 acres and we have made it our intention to improve the land while sharing it with the other plants and animals that already call it home. For instance, we allow our back field to grow wild all summer to help bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Also, we will never develop our fields and forest into a subdivision, factory, etc.

In terms of reducing our personal impact on climate change, we had solar energy installed. I also installed a woodstove and chimney, and we supplement 40 percent of our winter heat with wood from Maine’s sustainable logging industry. This means, to stay warm, we pay Mainers, not the international oil and natural gas tycoons who are turning the earth into a furnace. Thanks to living the back-to-the-land lifestyle, I have also saved money by doing many jobs myself, such as building a woodshed. In the process, I’ve learned new skills, spent more time with my dad, paid fewer federal taxes by doing it myself and paying less for labor, and enjoyed the overall health benefits that come when you spend time away from a computer desk. With the epic back problems I was facing doing desk work, I believe I never would have healed and my condition would have surely worsened had I not made this radical change.

Privacy is a big one because it is another word for freedom. We cannot see another neighbor, and, in this space, we have solitude, which is essential for many artists. Growing up in such a rare environment as rural Maine, I also love silence and darkness, two luxuries that are quickly disappearing. Further, having connected with and become a part of a small-town community, we have built relationships with people in-person, not on the internet, where privacy is impossible.

Speaking of possible, none of this would have been possible without gardening. For me, gardening is one of the foundations of the good life because it delivers the best flavors on earth and feeds you most of the year. In 2020, I wanted to grow enough produce to last us for a complete year. To do this, we doubled the size of our garden, learned to can, and found creative ways to store food. We lasted from June to March – so 10 months – and we still have two dozen quarts of canned tomatoes, a dozen jars of pesto, and other odds and ends.

I’ve been trying to determine the economic value of all this. To establish our subsistence garden, our expenses in the first two years were $1517. We did not need to spend this much. You can certainly start a lasagna garden that will provide food indefinitely for under $100. We spent this much greatly because we were in a hurry—if you remember, we actually put in our lasagna garden in Maine in December, the same month we moved into our new home. Many of our fees were related to deliveries or aesthetic decisions, like $386 for woodchips between the rows, that others may find unimportant. Also, gardening comes with numerous intangibles, such as health benefits... and a what would a gym membership have cost for 24 months?

Anyway, I expect the total costs of our 2021 garden to be around $200. That covers seeds, a few fertilizers and organic bug repellants, and random costs, such as wood for a hinged greenhouse. So that’s $200 for 10 months of de-freaking-licious produce in an omnivore household that loves vegetables. Take it from a restaurant critic: the flavors are unbelievable.

Moving forward, I expect these types of costs to endure for decades to come. The natural beauty, the education, the health benefits, the absurd quality—are all intangible bonuses. I hope the Ravenous Farmer Project inspires others to find the courage to pursue what really matters to them. Life is short. Live it well.

S2E8: Fall Harvest on Our Maine Homestead

2021-04-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

In this episode of the Ravenous Farmer Project, we bring in loads and loads of fall crops to store over the winter. Like last year, we're aiming to hold off from buying grocery store produce for as long as possible. I also cover late-season crops that do well in Maine, such as arugula, miner's lettuce, spinach, and kale.

And did our tomatoes rebound from that terrible spring? Yes, they caught up just fine, proving that nature is designed to help things thrive even against tough odds.

Our 2020 fall harvest was surprisingly different from the first year of our homestead. For some reason, I thought our crop yields would be similar to 2019, but different crops performed remarkably better or worse due to factors only Mother Nature knows and understands. Additionally, we had entirely new crops that we needed to learn to process on the fly.

Discovering that our basement isn't an effective root cellar continues to cause problems. The only crops we can store down there are onions, shallots, and garlic. All the rest either needed to be canned or frozen. This was our first year canning, and it really wasn't all that difficult (aside from finding canning jars and lids in stock). I'll share the full story in the final episode of Season 2, The Verdict, Year 2, which lands on April 9, 2021.

The final episode of the Ravenous Farmer Project Season 2 lands next Friday, April 9, 2021.

S2E7: Troubleshooting the Premier 1 Supplies Electric Fence

2021-03-26T14:15:00.008-07:00

"Dirty Homecoming©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman

Our electric fence was by far the most costly component of our garden, and, though it hasn't worked correctly, it ultimately brings peace of mind during our long Maine winters when deer fill our field, yard, and garden.

I bought the Premier 1 Supplies DS Versanet Plus electric fence kit after doing a lot of research. The net stands 5 feet tall for taller animals and gets denser at the bottom to keep out smaller animals. It's powered by the Intellishock 60 energizer, which is solar powered and very easy to set up. Everything seemed cut and dry until the electric fence stopped achieving the necessary voltage to repel animals, and something was getting into our garden nearly nightly.

It turns out very few (none) of the electric fence strands can touch the ground, or you'll loose voltage. Here's what happened:

Our kit came with a wireless fence tester, and, though our energizer was putting out 8,0kv, our fence only put out 2,5kv (the fence won't repel animals without a minimum of 4,0kv).
First, we tried to make the strands very taught by taking down and redoing all of the fence posts.
This didn't work. So we took it all down again, mowed the grass, then put it back up.
The fence read 4,0kv for several days before returning to 2,5kv.

I was confounded by three things that made me want to throw the whole system in the pond. First, our ground is pretty rocky, and sinking the fence spikes while making them taut was very challenging. Second, Premier 1 Supplies folks said even a little grass could bring the voltage down, and this seems wildly impractical since grass grows all summer and I'm not going to repeatedly take down the fence to mow. Lastly, even with the strands taut and grass newly mowed, the fence only read 4,0kv. Shouldn't it read 8,0kv, or at least 6,0kv? (And no, the strands aren't accidentally wrapped around the post spikes.)

With animals eating our about-to-be-ripe tomatoes, there was no time to waste. Electric fences are a way to scare off/train animals; they will not stop an animal once it has figured out there's food on the other side. I mean, what could stop you from eating dozens of free, perfect tomatoes?

Fortunately, getting the fence to work for just a few days was enough to repel the animals this year. For 2021, I'm considering putting down cardboard or landscape fabric on the ground along the fence line to keep down grass. But if an animal is standing on the cardboard or fabric, it won't feel the shock coming through the ground, so it'll have to be a very thin strip of material.

Something more promising — I will buy a longer ground rod. With our rocky soil, the little 3-inch horseshoe-shaped ground stake that comes standard with the Intellishock probably isn't adequate for conveying a strong current around our garden. The folks at Premier 1 Supplies said they typically recommend a longer rod, and that they're available at most garden stores. Fingers crossed.

I've been able to get all of the support I have needed from customer service at Premier 1 Supplies. I'm sure I've spoken with them for close to an hour at this point, and they've been in a hurry to get off the phone or supplied bad information.

S2E6: The Culinary Rewards of Lasagna Gardening

2021-03-12T15:04:00.001-08:00

"Dirty Homecoming©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman

Finally! The payoff after all the hard work. It's August, and our kitchen is overflowing with homegrown organic produce. We make corn chowder, basil-eggplant curry, tomato-eggplant-basil panini, and other dishes from scratch. The video features notes so you can recreate the dishes at home, as well as instructions for when to harvest and how to cure onions.

Despite the delicious recipes, nothing beats eating corn on the cob just seconds after harvesting with butter and salt. Or popping a sun-warmed strawberry in your mouth fresh off the vine. Few things are so purely delicious. Throughout the video, I include harvest dates by produce type to give you a sense of our growing environment in Midcoast Maine. After all of the drama starting our tomatoes from scratch this spring, the tomato harvest came in about a month earlier than in 2019, proving that pruning can work magic in a zone 5b environment. Next year, I plan to get rid of all our tomato cages, which can’t handle the size of our tomato plants, and make trellises using livestock fencing/panels. I’ll also space the tomatoes farther apart to allow more sunlight to reach them. Every year, we always learn something new in the garden. In the next episode of the Ravenous Farmer Project, I tackle some serious electric fence issues to fend of some pesky beasts.

Episode 5: The Pests, Fighting Off Garden Bugs in Maine

2021-03-05T13:34:00.004-08:00

"Dirty Homecoming©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman

“If nothing’s eating your garden, then you aren’t a part of the eco-system.”

In Episode 5: The Pests, I face something entirely new and destructive: garden pests. In 2019, we didn’t have a single bad bacteria, bug, bird, burrowing brute, or ravenous beast, but, in 2020, we got hit hard by cucumber beetles, squash beetles, and an invasive fruit fly, among other to-be-announced feral forces.

Despite the destruction, I never let it get me down. Everyday working outdoors in nature is a reward in itself, and I will tell you now, we’re still eating our homegrown organic vegetables daily, so it didn’t cause lasting damage to our subsistence goals.

Here's how we tried to repel them organically:

Cucumber beetles: Tried an organic spray containing BT (only sprayed at night to avoid harming other helpful insects) without success. Handpicked into soap water in mornings, when the beetles were sleepy. Ultimately failed, removed all infected plants, and burned remaining plant matter. Cucumber beetles can overwinter in wood, so our game plan in 2021 is to delay plantings of cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, and zucchini. Hopefully, the beetles will move on to tastier pastures.
Squash beetles: Same as cucumber beetles; however, the squash beetles were much less destructive. Hopefully we caught them soon enough that they won’t return in 2021.
Spotted wing drosophila: I’m pretty sure I’ve identified this pest correctly. The BT spray was effective, saving our strawberries.

Airing next Friday, Episode 6 is all about cooking with homegrown vegetables at the height of summer. It debuts next Friday, March 12, here on RavenousFarmer.com.

Season 2 Episode 4: Cooking with Homegrown Produce/The July Garden Update

2021-02-19T12:29:00.003-08:00

"Dirty Homecoming©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman

After a lot of sweat and labor, the garden crops start to come in. By late June, we had radishes, lettuces, zucchini flowers, and Swiss chard. Using our homegrown veggies, we made Yotam Ottolenghi's Potato-Swiss Chard Pie and PBR tempura battered fried zucchini flowers.

Peas, carrots, and green beans came in the first weeks of July for fresh pasta with buttered peas. We also made pesto the traditional Genevese way, with green beans mixed in. Our fledgling basil plants weren't enough to make fresh pesto, so we were thankful to still have pesto in the freezer we'd prepared using our 2019 crops.

The second part of Episode 4 is a tranquil tour of our Midcoast Maine subsistence garden on July 23, 2020. If only for a moment during this especially cold February in 2021, it's a wonderful escape to a place where the lawn is green and mowed, the birds are singing, and a bountiful garden of crops is about to blow the #$@& up.

Episode 5 premieres March 5, 2021. I'm taking the next week to record the next movements of "Dirty Homecoming."

Season 2 Episode 3: Taking Back Control

2021-02-12T13:48:00.005-08:00

"Dirty Homecoming©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman

In Episode 3 of the Ravenous Farmer Project, we double the size of the garden on our Midcoast Maine homestead with the goal of growing enough fruits and vegetables to last us year-round.

We add a 24-foot asparagus bed that should give us lots of asparagus for the next 15-20 years. In the process, I learn what a mistake it would have been to try to start a garden on our land by digging instead of building beds using the lasagna gardening method.

The episode also provides instruction for how to direct sow seeds into new lasagna garden beds, even if the organic materials haven't broken down into dirt, yet.

Finally, we assess whether our tomato seedlings will survive in our unheated greenhouse after several late frosts.

Caring for Lasagna Garden Beds in Year 2

2021-02-05T10:08:00.001-08:00

"Dirty Homecoming/Gardening with Slayer©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman

Episode 2 kicks off with sheer astonishment at the fertility of our soil, followed by basic instructions for maintaining a lasagna garden bed in its second year. We buy tons of seeds to experiment with new crops, and we also test out what happens when you plant outdoors in a greenhouse in Maine an entire month before the last frost date. We then take a trip to the Good Karma alpaca farm in Belfast to score some sweet manure. (Note Good Karma Farm’s manure is subject to availability).

To learn how to start a garden using the lasagna gardening method, watch my video Lasagna Gardening 101. The method is both the cheapest and fastest way to develop fertile organic soil that I know of.

This is our second year of living in Midcoast Maine, and, now that we know more of our neighbors, we thankfully no longer have to pay an arm and a leg for many gardening supplies. This is one of the great tricks of homesteading: You become part of a community of gardeners and farmers who all share similar passions for hard and intelligent work in the natural world (not a computer, corner office, etc.).

Join this historic American movement. Go back-to-the-land.

Episode 3 airs next Friday, February 12, 2021.

Season Two of Our Maine Homestead Begins NOW

2021-01-29T14:15:00.005-08:00

""Dirty Homecoming©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman.

Watch the premiere of The Ravenous Farmer Project Season 2: The Pests. In our second year homesteading, we try to grow enough produce to last us through the next spring. This requires doubling the size of our garden using the lasagna gardening technique, also know as sheet mulching, and adding new crops, like strawberries and asparagus. With increased ambition comes increased challenges: We struggle with our seedlings, fend off attacks from the local bugs and vermin, and deal with electrical fence issues.

After a quick preview of the episodes to come, Episode One concludes with a several of the benefits we experienced by going back-to-the-land. After 2020 and the pandemic, I know many of us are rethinking how we live and how to face the future. If you're interested in homesteading or growing more of your own food, I hope Season 2 of The Ravenous Farmer Project will provide key tips for getting up and running, from how to establish a new garden to how to cook famous restaurant dishes using homegrown produce.

Lasagna Gardening 105: The Verdict After Year 1

2020-10-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

"Unsustainable Farming Practices Lead to Misery and Ruin©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman, mastered by Andy Getting

I deliver the verdict on the first year of our lasagna garden. Did this crazy way of starting a garden work? Will we keep gardening next year, or, like, launch a tech startup instead?

This video concludes the first year of the Ravenous Farmer video series. Season Two: The Pests premieres January 2021.

Lasagna Gardening 104: The First Harvest

2020-10-28T14:34:00.005-07:00

"Unsustainable Farming Practices Lead to Misery and Ruin©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman, mastered by Andy Getting

With Midcoast Maine's fall foliage on full display, the Fall Update covers our crop yields from the first year of our lasagna garden. The update includes precise information on the total costs of setting up and operating our garden during the first year. Additionally, it lists how we preserved the different crops, from freezing to processing (canning next year!).

If you have any questions related to the costs of setting up a lasagna garden, please ask. One of my goals with the Ravenous Farmer project is to show how cheaply you can establish a garden and begin reaping the benefits of homegrown fruits and vegetables. With lasagna gardening, you can basically make a pile of organic materials, plant seeds, water them, and grow food.

In the next video, I give The Verdict on the lasagna gardening method based on the results of our first year.

How to Build Eliot Coleman's 13x9' Greenhouse

2020-10-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

"Unsustainable Farming Practices Lead to Misery and Ruin©" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman, mastered by Andy Getting

We set out to build a 13x9-foot hoophouse using a design from old-school Maine farmer Eliot Coleman. Our step-by-step video covers a few tricky areas of the construction that Coleman’s video didn’t cover, such as how to build the greenhouse door, use garden clips, etc. It also lists all of the necessary materials and goes over our total costs. (Our costs were mitigated because we were able to build most of our greenhouse using “foraged” materials found around our property, which was once a commercial golf range or something…).

I put the effort into building the greenhouse because we live in a hardness zone 5a and 5b here in Midcoast Maine. This means late-spring frosts can be sometimes ruin crops. By building a greenhouse, our seedlings will be better protected and allow us to get a jump on the growing season.

In the end, I think a greenhouse is helpful but not necessary for growing a garden in Midcoast Maine. A greenhouse helps you get more ripe produce from hard-to-ripen varieites like heirloom tomatoes, bell peppers, and eggplants, but, if money and time are a factor, you can also avoid these difficulties, as well as the process of setting up and maintaining a greenhouse, by selecting easier-to-ripen fruits and vegetables.

See the original video by Eliot Coleman here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovR-OZlul3w&t=880s

Lasagna Gardening 103: Summer Update

2020-10-28T11:50:00.012-07:00

"Unsustainable Farming Practices Lead to Misery and Ruin" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman, mastered by Andy Getting

With spring planting in the rearview mirror, our new lasagna garden begins to produce, and this allows us to recreate some of our favorite restaurant dishes using our homegrown fruits and vegetables. As the former editor of Eater PDX and restaurant critic at Willamette Week, I love keeping my connection with restaurants in Portland, Oregon, alive on our homestead 3,000 miles away in Maine.

In the Summer Update, take a quick garden tour to see just what a lasagna garden looks like in its first summer (as covered in Lasagna Gardening 101, the lasagna gardening method is the same as sheet mulching and similar to hugelkultur). You’ll also find creative ideas for how to turn your garden bounty into restaurant-quality meals. My wife and I had just established our lasagna garden six months earlier, so the results were hard to believe. That said, I discovered a major drawback from using straw I thought might upend the entire project. #strawmageddon “Unsustainable Farming Practices Lead to Misery and Ruin©" - written, performed, and recorded by Mattie John Bamman, mastered by Andy Gettings.

The First Year of Our 'Lasagna' Garden in Under 6 Minutes

2020-04-14T09:55:00.001-07:00

"Gardening with Slayer" - Written, performed, and recorded by Mattie J. Bamman, mastered by Andy Getting

In 2018, my wife and I left Portland, Oregon, and moved to Maine to pursue the good life. We immediately put in a "lasagna" garden, an essential element of the good life as it was taught to me by the older generations of Maine's back-to-the-land movement. See the complete first year of our garden in just under 6 minutes in the video above.

I hope you’re all staying safe out there. For those in the hospitality industries, it is time to keep your chin up rather than your head down. This crappy virus will end. Then it will be time to rebuild. If you’re ever in Midcoast Maine during the summer, just shoot me a hello and I’ll give you some vegetables—assuming we're out of self-isolation by then.

With all the craziness, it’s easy to miss the vital opportunity COVID-19 is offering us: the chance to step back from busy lifestyles and reconnect with our homes and ourselves. Now’s the time to knock out some of those self-care goals that have been sitting on the shelf for years. To that end, I am releasing the Ravenous Farmer video series: instructional videos about living the good life through food security (gardening).

Flavor is at the root of all of this. What’s well-grown tastes good. What’s grown en-mass with pesticides tastes like $@#%. I just can't get around the fact that, in many urban environments, only wealthy people can afford to eat good produce [see: Whole Foods]. Even worse, the rest of us must purchase produce that was picked unripe and gassed to appear colorful, giving the semblance of ripeness.

Why not grow your own "luxury" ingredients and get some exercise at the same time by gardening?

I believe the two greatest things we can do are 1) live in the present through intentional living and 2) replenish the earth. I’ve found both in gardening. Have questions along the way? Drop a comment below or sign up for my newsletter and get specific responses via email.

Lasagna Gardening 101: Theory and Practice

2020-04-14T09:53:00.002-07:00

Having a garden provides independence through food security—not mention good exercise. We started our garden with the goal of being as self-sufficient as possible. In the long term, this is about having the control and freedom to create the life you want—a life of permanence and relative certainty.

There are many methods of starting an organic garden. In 2018, my wife and I chose the lasagna garden method, also known as sheet mulching or hugelkultur. We'd heard that it was cheap to set up, results in excellent fruits and vegetables, and requires little weeding once established. Further, we'd read it is a great way to transform grass or unhealthy land into a robust garden on the reliable OSU Extension Service website.

Published more than a year after we started our garden, the Ravenous Farmer video series shows the results of putting this theory into practice, starting with Lasagna Gardening 101. The first video covers the basics of the lasagna gardening method and demonstrates how we built the garden. Part 1 focuses on theory; Part 2 discusses the benefits of lasagna gardening; and Part 3 shows how we built our lasagna garden from scratch.

The complete video series shows exactly how everything went over 365+ days, so you can witness the results for yourself. I couldn't find anything like it on Youtube, even after watching dozens of lasagna gardening videos.

So if you've only got a small plot or patch or snatch of land, as long as it gets good sunlight, you can likely turn it into a garden with this method.

Have questions along the way? Drop a comment below or sign up for my newsletter and get specific responses via email.

Just Gardening and Original Heavy Metal

2020-04-14T09:53:00.001-07:00

I've always found gardening and death metal relaxing. Allegedly, this makes me "weird" and "totally out of your mind." Feel free to decide in the comments.

"Unsustainable Farming Practices Lead to Misery and Ruin©" - written, performed, and recorded by Mattie John Bamman, mastered by Andy Gettings.

"First-Time Farmer's Guide" - published in 1971 by a division of Rolling Stone

Lasagna Gardening 102: Spring Planting

2020-04-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

Our homestead in Midcoast Maine is located in cold hardiness zone 5, which means it's important to get a jump on the season by planting seeds early. With Maine's unpredictable summers, it can make the difference between ripe tomatoes and green tomatoes. The old saying about corn is "knee-high by the 4th of July," and we were able to achieve this and more last year thanks to early planting.

Lasagna Gardening 102 covers the successes and challenges we had planting from seed in a greenhouse for the first time; which crops we planted directly into the garden beds; and how to transplant seedlings from the greenhouse into the lasagna garden. To our delight, we had no trouble planting directly into the lasagna garden, even though the materials did not appear to have broken down all the way.

Considering our agenda for 2020, we actually planted our seeds quite late last year. We planted seeds in the greenhouse the last week of April, and planted peas, onions, green beans, carrots, and other hardier crops directly into the soil on May 24th. It's important to keep a garden book so you can compare notes from year to year. So much happens in a garden, it's impossible to remember it all.

Have questions along the way? Drop a comment below or sign up for my newsletter and get specific responses via email.

Back-to-the-Land Resources

2020-04-14T07:44:00.001-07:00

Interested in diving deeper into this rich American subculture? Here are a few of my favorite back-to-the-land books, articles, Facebook groups, and other resources. Many of these back-to-the-land recommendations focus on Maine, where my wife and I are based:

Books

"A Handmade Life - In Search of Simplicity" - by WM.S. Coperthwaite, who started a yurt-building school in Downeast Maine and much more.

"The Unsettlers" - by Mark Sundeen, follows three contemporary couples as they try to live more fulfilling and less destructive lives in modern America

“Living the Good Life” – This book made Scott and Helen Nearing the “symbolic leaders” of the homesteading/back-to-the-land movement in the 1970s and 1980s. It's a bit out of date, but, otherwise, provides the basic tenets.

"First-Time Farmer's Guide" - Published in 1971 by a division of Rolling Stone, this book has unbelievable images like a naked dude riding horseback across a river and some urban youths walking among skyscrapers in gas masks. It was my parents' "bible" during their early years as homesteaders. It makes everything sound too easy, but you can feel the energy of the back-to-the-land movement seeping through its pages just the same.

"First-Time Farmer's Guide"

"This Life Is in Your Hands" - by Melissa Coleman, daughter of Eliot and Sue Coleman, who own Four Seasons Farm inspired by Scott and Helen Nearing.

General Articles:

An incredible multi-media publication on the back-to-the-land movement in Maine, Bangor Daily News, 2014

Story of Bill Roorbach from "many decades ago," Maine Farmland Trust, 2017

Back to the Land 2.0, covers the current back-to-the-land resurgence, Downeast Magazine 2014

Planting Our Roots and Raising Our Children as Back-to-the-Land Jews, Colby Maine Jewish History Project, 2018

Story of Strohauers, Mother Earth, 1984:

Intro to Maine Cuisine by Second-Generation Back-to-the-Lander Emma Thieme, 2016

Why I moved off the grid by Second-Generation Back-to-the-Lander Emma Thieme, 2014

Resourceful young Mainer returns home, starts business, Ellsworth American, 2017:

Websites

Fresh Eggs Daily

Lisa Steele's blog about gardening with chickens in Maine

Grow a Good Life

Methods of living the good life in New England by Rachel Arsenault

Maine Homesteads on Social Media

The Whitney Homestead

Our Maine Homestead

Organizations

MOFGA - Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association

Famous for hosting the Common Ground Fair, this group in Unity, Maine, offers inexpensive workshops and events year-round. My wife and I really enjoy Farm & Homestead Day.

Buy Nothing Project

Freecycle.org

Nextdoor.com

This is a great way to connect with neighbors over shared interests.

Chipdrop.com

If you live in the right spot, you can get free woodchips delivered to your door with this service. We didn't have any luck in Maine.

Active Maine Gardening and Facebook Groups (as of April 2020)

Maine Homesteaders

Maine Homestead and Farming Forum

Maine Homesteaders and Preppers

I'll keep updating this post with new resources. Feel free to add more resources to the comments, or sign up for the Ravenous Farmer newsletter and contact me directly.

"First-Time Farmer's Guide"

Celebrate the Holidays With New Washington Grape Varieties

2018-12-21T11:59:00.002-08:00

Looking for a rare and unusual wine to sip with Christmas dinner or on New Year's Eve? It's easy to throw cash at a well-known bottle, but why not take the savvy route and buy a well-price wine featuring a lesser-known, up-and-coming grape variety? I interviewed several of my favorite Washington wineries to find out which new grapes they're watching emerge in 2018 and 2019.

As you might expect when Washington wine is involved, the majority of the grape varieties are big reds; however, some winemakers reported exciting whites, including Alberino and Piquepoul.

This is the second part of my series on the best new grape varieties in the Pacific Northwest. See what's on the move in Oregon in part one.

Without further ado, here are the Washington grapes varieties to look for now and in 2019.

JJ Williams, Kiona Vineyards and Winery

Three generations of the Williams family—JJ, John, and Scott—owners of Kiona Vineyards. [Photo: Mattie John Bamman]

"Carmenère and Mourvédre are what first come to mind. Carmenère on Red Mountain has really nice color—it’s violet/blue. It's got a nice pyrazine profile without being downright vegetal as the grape can be in other regions. Here it’s herbal and spicy, with blueberry fruit notes."

"Mourvèdre is producing stellar wines in Washington but perpetually flies under the radar. These wines have a high 'yum' factor and tend to be tasting-room superstars. The grape is fairly common in the greater wine scene but for whatever reason has not gained mainstream recognition from the US wine-drinking population. Look for Mourvédre from Syncline, Mark Ryan, and Helioterra."

"I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Lemberger as well, although we’ve been growing it for 40+ years. It’s really a delight. Not a new grape but certainly obscure."

Brad Binko, Eternal Wines

Eternal Wine's Carmenere [Photo: Mattie J. Bamman]

"Carmenere is #1, then Roussanne and Pinot Noir. We make all three and the Carmenere is a huge hit. Subtle tannins smooth acidity and a nice spicy finish."

Nina Buty, Buty Winery

In Washington State, we are seeing growth in Rhone varieties: Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Roussanne, Marsanne, and Viognier. Also, we are seeing more experimentation planting new grapevine clones in new locations. We are learning about new sites with huge potential, new methods of growing from tip to tail. It's a very exciting time in the Pacific Northwest."

Paul Beveridge, Wilridge Winery

"Sagrantino, Zweigelt, and Touriga Nacional. We're growing them all at our certified Organic and Biodynamic Vineyard and Winery on Naches Heights."

Rachel Horn, Aniche Cellars

"Albarino, Mourvédre, and more obscure Rhones, like Cinsault, Piquepoul, Counoise, and Carignan."

Inland Desert Nursery, via DavenLore Winery

Davenlore winemaker, Gordon Taylor [Photo: Mattie J. Bamman]

"Aglianico, Albarino, Graciano, Gruner Veltliner, and Zweigelt."

Photos: Driving Across the U.S., Oregon to Maine

2018-12-18T10:17:00.000-08:00

I think every American should drive across the United States at least once. My dad's stories of hitchhiking across the country with long hair in the 70s hooked me. The sheer beauty and expanse of our ~~fair~~ distinguished country keeps me coming back.

Three days after Thanksgiving, my wife and I drove from Portland, Oregon, to Belfast, Maine, via Knoxville. We crushed it: 4K miles in five nights, with one day off with friends. We snuck between snowstorms, and, when wind closed the Wyoming highway, we found an alternative route with help from the local DOT. The photos below feature Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine—a tiny glimpse at the experience of actually covering those miles.

Some people think it's uncomfortable to sit in a vehicle for five days, and they're right. But flying sucks even more, and people do it all the time. The reward for seeing the diversity of the United States is worth it. People in this country live a bazillion ways, like that travel center in Kansas selling magnets with the cast of the Wizard of Oz bearing guns and a flag saying "Homeland Security."

I don't care if you drive, bike, walk, or skip. The important thing is putting in the miles so you can actually see America unfold.

On past trips, I've been able to tuck into killer trucker food at mom-and-pop stops. They must still exist. Maybe we were driving too fast. Every truck stop we saw, from the West to the East, featured the same fast-food spots: McDonald's, Subway, Popeye's, Taco Bell. We've got to stop eating this crap so we can get some soul back.

Another huge benefit of driving across the U.S. is the opportunity to reconnect with long-lost friends. I saw two great, great buds I hadn't seen in 10 years. Seeing them for just a few hours one night was like a dream.

We also got to see our good friend, author Kelly Luce, at her new digs, a historic mill where soldiers were quartered during the Civil War.

Our kitty did better than expected, especially when you consider she adamantly refused to swallow the very pills designed to soothe her. We made sure to give her plenty of bathroom breaks—all of which she refused—and we fed her anything she liked—mostly Nashville hot chicken (psych: It was Temptations Classic Tasty Chicken). She liked sitting on our laps the most, and it was super cute watching her watch the tractor-trailer trucks slithering by with endless wonder.

The last night, we arrived at my aunt's house outside of Boston around midnight. My aunt and uncle both waited up for us. We only slept a few hours and then hit the final leg of our trip. My aunt made us three breakfast sandwiches for the road at 5 a.m. What the hell did I do right?

My dad often says, when traveling, it takes your mind three days to catch up with your body. Arriving at our new home, the dreaminess of what we were doing clogged my being. I felt like morning fog. The house we were standing in was supposedly ours. The truck we'd called home for the past week was long gone. We put on bathrobes and rain boots and explored the enshrouding mist.

Why I'm Moving Back to Rural Maine After a Decade as a Travel Writer

2018-11-20T12:21:00.000-08:00

"Maine's greatest export is its youth." - My Dad¹

I've spent most of my life saying I'll never move back to Maine. I loathed my home state so much I took night classes at community college to graduate high school a year early (Ellsworth High School banned the loophole the following year). Now, after nearly two decades, I'm returning to a stretch of rural coastline about an hour from that thrumming bilious cesspool.

Of my Milbridge Elementary School class of 15, two kids graduated high school. Oxycontin was flooding Downeast Maine. All of the girls in my class had at least one kid before age 18. The poverty in Maine is real. The fact the government doesn't give a shit is blatant. By the time I was a teenager, I was suffocating. I needed an alternative to manual labor and drugs. I needed culture, concerts, art shows, alternative lifestyles. I needed to meet poets, rock stars, winemakers, revolutionaries.

After college I began waiting tables and dedicated my life to writing poetry.² Because a buddy was headed there, I moved to San Francisco, and soon, I was hanging out at City Lights Bookstore and knew bartenders in every neighborhood. I interned at ZYZZYVA Literary Journal and The Believer Magazine. I chilled with amazing artists no one will ever know and read poems accompanied by the scorching horns and beats of jazz musicians every Tuesday night at Club Deluxe. All that mattered was how much soul you could fit into your shit.

Then I met a girl³—and fellow writer—and, after two months, we hatched a gonzo plan: We'd backpack through Italy, knock on every door⁴ with an apartment-for-rent sign on it, and write in squalor. I did not have an inheritance or trust fund to fall back on. I used my savings from waiting tables. This was my second calculated risk that paid off. We stumbled upon a historic palazzo for €600/month, and I started making money as a travel writer. But it wasn't sustainable.⁵

Still searching for a place to be ourselves (or find ourselves [or both]), we moved to Portland, Oregon. It had the untamed forests, rivers, mountains, and grasslands I craved, and a community that valued art, nature, and alternative living. But still, even after a lot of success as a culinary travel writer, I have to admit my quality of life isn't what I want it to be. The problem isn't Portland. It's cities in general.

I rent a cheap duplex located behind another duplex⁶ in Southeast Portland. My front yard is basically a bunch of other people's backyards. The walls are thin and my upstairs neighbors are heavy drinkers, yelling out their window and throwing food scraps onto the roof of the house next door. I consider myself lucky, watching the crows fight over the buffalo-wing bones out my window: my rent is insanely cheap in a city of rising rents. But I am convinced that in cities, there is not enough of a return on my investment. There is nowhere else in Portland I could move to and expect lower rent and a better environment. Earning enough money to afford a more expensive rent would require participating in the conventional American lifestyle that preys upon America's—and the World's—impoverished communities.

Like my parents before me, I believe American culture is broken. We lack nourishing cultural practices, like the nightly passeggiata in Italy, when the entire community comes out to stroll the streets, catch up, and eat gelato. Where do Americans hang out? It used to be malls... now what? Nextdoor.com?

In place of nourishing culture, we are inundated with lousy job opportunities and chintz—an endless rotation of twerking pop stars, food that does not provide nutrients, products that break after one year. To me, it is obvious that American corporations and their admen have worn us down, having continually stolen our wisdom and strength and taken away our freedom of self-expression, teaching us to forget what we already know in the process. The modern American is no longer self-sufficient and must rely upon products and services designed to keep them customers for life.

The divide between the rich and the poor is unacceptable, and proof that America's overall wealth is a mirage. I have been paying rent every month, and I haven't been adding value to my life so much as paying it off. This is the very nature of American society. Instead of having a direct relationship with the earth and the efforts of your labor, you have a direct relationship with your landlord and your pay stubs. The whole center, the whole reason for being alive, has been cut out of the equation.

It stops here. I will no longer be a part of the problem. After 18 years of trying to find common sense in American society, I am moving to back to Maine, to rural America, to see whether I can live a sustainable lifestyle that will support, not harm, the people and environment around me. I cannot expect a sustainable, intentional world if I am not living sustainably.

As the radical economist, writer, and farmer Scott Nearing said one month before he died at the age of 100:

“Do one thing you believe in. Do it with all your might. Keep at it no matter what. The life we have been living is so far away from the really worthwhile goals of life that we’ve got to stop fooling around and move toward a new way of living.”

Here are the reasons I'm returning to my home state of Maine

Nature: Maine will reconnect me to nature. I have never found anything comparable to the volume of reality nature provides while living in cities. For me, the manmade world will never rival the natural world.
Family: My wife's and my families mostly live in New England and New York.
The Property Chooses You: Our new home stuck us like a skewer through a chicken heart. It was just what we wanted. We are a 10-minute walk from Maine's crenulated coastline. We have 10 acres full of birds, bees, deer, a groundhog—maybe even a moose from time to time. The house was built in 1998 and had a new roof put on in 2017. How could we say no?
Caretaking: In buying property, we become caretakers. I intend to practice the art of caretaking as described by Wendell Berry and leave the land better off than when we found it. This will add real value to the people and environment around me. Right now, I believe this ancient life philosophy—practiced by cultures being systematically destroyed all over the world—is at odds with modern society.
Tradition: The radical back-to-the-land values I was raised on have only gained meaning over my life. It's time to put my money where my heart is. Additionally, I learned a lot of lessons growing up in this movement, and I want to share an updated homesteading model for the 21st century.
Food: With land, we can grow our food. This is our main experiment. I want to find out if we can balance the cost of buying groceries with maintaining a garden. The quality of our produce will obviously be higher than anything we could purchase at Whole Foods, New Seasons, etc. If we're lucky, our orchard may have enough apples for hard apple cider.
Writing: Some are calling it Maine's Back-to-the-Land Movement 2.0. I will continue to publish articles on delicious and sustainable food businesses, now with a greater focus on the areas around Belfast and Brooksville, Maine.
Health: Having the forest outside my door promotes a healthier lifestyle, and working at a computer has wreaked havoc on my spine. Only after six years am I getting a handle on it. Since working at a desk feels unnatural, I hope to dedicate more time to maintaining our home, gardening, and outdoor activities in the surrounding lakes, islands, and mountains.
Price: Land is cheaper in rural Maine, the value staggering. I'll go into more detail in subsequent posts.
Aesthetics: Maine barely has billboards. When I went to college in New York, I remember being sucker punched by American consumerism. The non-stop advertising, the brand worship, the need to define ourselves by what we own. Advertisers manipulate taste, and, every day, it seems the five senses are losing out to clever slogans.
Maine Culture: Maine has a thriving culture. It may lack a diversity of cultures, but the culture it has is distinct and offers an alternative to the homogenization sweeping the globe.
Giving Back: Similar to Caretaking, I need to give back to my home state. Specifically, I want to inspire kids struggling with the same challenges my friends and I had growing up. I want to share a specific message: Even if you travel the world, you may find Maine is still the best place to live on earth.
Familiarity: As the world continues to change ever more quickly, I find the familiarity of my home state comforting.
Talent Over Opinion: In rural Maine, depending on your neighbors is pretty much mandatory. As a result, opinions aren't worth much, but capable hands are. I think people get along more easily when we're focused on practical things. I find the endless in-fighting in cities is a waste of energy.
Privacy = Freedom: Rural Maine provides the luxury of privacy. People deserve space to be themselves. Literal space. I find cities inherently constricting both physically and mentally.
Intentional Living: Purchasing land has immediately filled my life with meaning. It is a place where I can live intentionally and make decisions that directly impact the world around me, such as whether to farm organically or use chemical fertilizers. It is as simple as picking up a shovel.
Environmentalism: My wife and I will cut down on household waste while improving the health of the environment on our 10 acres. We will hopefully reduce the overall pollution we produce, too.
Harming Fewer Animals: I would like to reduce the number of animals I am responsible for killing annually. My wife and I plan on buying a half pig and quarter cow a year from a local rancher to have more control over where our meat comes from. We could never fit a freezer in our current apartment.
Civil Disobedience: Ever penny we pay in taxes funds the actions of the U.S. government. I do not agree with the way the government spends money and will continue to find new ways to support myself that supplant earning an income. A rudimentary example: Cutting down a tree with a handsaw and using it to heat our home does not require exchanging funds and does keep us warm.
Darkness: One of the world's greatest luxuries is the night sky untouched by artificial light.
Silence: Likewise, listening without manmade sound opens new worlds.

Support sustainable writing and see whether our experiment actually works.

1 United States Senator Angus King said this first.^↩

2 Boycotting the 9-5 job was a very intentional act of civil disobedience. Even as the editor of Eater PDX (which was a part-time job), I woke up at 6 am every day to write poetry for two hours before starting work.^↩

3 Now wife.^↩

4 Airbnb.com didn't exist back then.^↩

5 Living so far away, I started to miss home, and, by moving so far away from America, I discovered our country's strongest strength: the American Dream. I'm not fawning over a tired idea. I truly believe in the American Dream. The Italians I met living in Southern Italy told me point-blank they could never get ahead—no matter how hard they worked. In Italy, you need to know the right people. The country seems rooted in a sort of family-based tribalism, whether or not it's labeled "mafia." I am the enemy of silver-spoon privilege, and this type of favoritism makes me want to puke ragu all over the Sistine Chapel.^↩

6 Our building was actually attached to the front building at one point. With a door leading to nowhere on the top floor, I like to think our landlord cut the home in two using a chainsaw so he could collect double the rent.^↩

New Oregon Grape Varieties on the Rise

2018-11-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

I embark with Uncruise Adventure on the Rivers of Wine cruise tomorrow. The riverboat cruise lasts seven nights, navigating the Willamette and Columbia Rivers from Portland to Walla Walla. I'm leading a presentation five nights of the trip—each thoughtfully timed with happy hour.

One talk will focus on new grape varieties on the rise in Oregon and Washington. To make sure I had the most up-to-date details, I reached out to several of my favorite winemakers to see which grapes they're most excited about. Here's what the winemakers working with Oregon grapes reported to Ravenous Traveler®:

Brianne Day, Day Wines

Brianne Day [Photo: Facebook/DayWines]

"In my cellar I am most excited by Malvasia Bianca, Tannat, and Marsanne."

Malvasia Bianca: I drank Malvasia Bianca in many forms while living in Italy. The grape grows throughout the Mediterranean and is made in many styles, from a dry white wine to Chianti's Vin Santo dessert wine.
Tannat: Oregon only grows a little tannat, so kudos to Day for claiming it. The red grape is grown in France, is iconic to Uruguay, and has a massive tannic backbone.
Marsanne: I've seen people working with Marsanne quite a bit in Oregon over the years. It's a white grape associated with the Northern Rhône, where it is typically blended with Roussanne, to produce powerfully textured full-bodied white wines.

Kate Norris, Division Wine Co. and Southeast Wine Collective

"We've been working with Trousseau and Aligoté."

Trousseau: Aka Bastardo, Trousseau is famously used to produce port in Portugal, but the red grape is also featured in dry wines from the Jura wine appellations in France. According to the Oregon Wine Press, Abacela planted it first in Oregon in 1997, with Eyrie bringing it to the Willamette Valley in 2012.
Aligoté: From Burgundy, it produces bright white wines full of minerality.

Nina Buty, Buty Winery

Nina Buty [Photo: Mattie John Bamman]

"In The Rocks District, Syrah has claimed center stage, but the more we farm through various vintages, the more we learn. I enjoy what I've tasted from The Rocks from other Rhone varieties: Grenache, Mourvedre, Roussanne, Marsanne, and Viognier. We grow the first four at Rockgarden Estate. The affect of the basalt cobblestones on Mourvedre, and also on Cabernet Sauvignon, is very counterintuitive. The cobblestones give these wines lift, energy, prettiness. It's very different from the bass notes and broodingness they often possess when grown in other areas. It lifts the Syrah when they are blended together."

Oregon's Rocks District sits just south of Walla Walla and has earned huge respect from connoiseurs despite being one of the state's lesser-known vineyards. As Buty highlights, the area is planted with Rhone varieties. She also notes, though she is not working with it, Tempranillo is on the rise in the Rocks District. Tempranillo is a red grape from Spain and often the dominant grape in Rioja Tintos (reds).

Annedria Beckham, Beckham Estate Vineyard

"We are pretty excited about Trousseau Noir, Nebbiolo, and Aligoté, which we have planted, though we are not the first. There are small plantings of each of these around the valley in the last few years. We should have our first fruit from each of these next vintage."

Nebbiolo: One of my favorite red grapes, Nebbiolo is famously used to produce Italian Barolo. While it ages well, it can also be drank younger. I love the tarragon and tabacco notes in Nebbiolo, and it's acidic structure.

Barnaby Tuttle, Teutonic Wine Company

Barnaby Tuttle is a man of many talents. [Photo: Mattie John Bamman]

"We've been working with Weißer Heunisch aka Gouais blanc, Schwarzriesling, Scheurebe, and Sylvaner."

Weißer Heunisch: Where is Tuttle getting his hands on these Medieval grapes? This ancient white grape is an ancestor to many grape varieties in Europe, including Chardonnay, Aligoté, and Gamay.
Schwarzriesling: Literally translated as "black Reisling," this light-red grape is more commonly called Pinot Meunier, the third grape variety used to make Champagne. A mutation of Pinot Noir, it has higher acidity, often with tart berry flavors.
Scheurebe: This white grape variety was created in 1916 by Dr. Georg Sheu in Germany. Wikipedia says it was a cross of Riesling and an unknown wild vine, and it was designed to resist frost and chlorosis. I've never tasted it by itself, but it allegedly has aromas of blackcurrant and grapefruit. It is most often sweet, but sometimes made dry.
Sylvaner: Believed to have been developed in Transylvania, Sylvaner is a cross of Traminer and Österreichisch-Weiß. The white grape is a bit of a blank canvas and can produce terroir-driven wines in the right vineyard.

So if you thought Oregon only grew pinot noir, now you know there's a lot more growing out there. Keep on the lookout for these up and coming grape varieties in Oregon over the next decade.

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Back-to-the-Land Resources

Celebrate the Holidays With New Washington Grape Varieties

JJ Williams, Kiona Vineyards and Winery

Brad Binko, Eternal Wines

Nina Buty, Buty Winery

Paul Beveridge, Wilridge Winery

Rachel Horn, Aniche Cellars

Inland Desert Nursery, via DavenLore Winery

Photos: Driving Across the U.S., Oregon to Maine

Why I'm Moving Back to Rural Maine After a Decade as a Travel Writer

Here are the reasons I'm returning to my home state of Maine

Subscribe to my mailing list

New Oregon Grape Varieties on the Rise

Brianne Day, Day Wines

Kate Norris, Division Wine Co. and Southeast Wine Collective

Nina Buty, Buty Winery

Annedria Beckham, Beckham Estate Vineyard

Barnaby Tuttle, Teutonic Wine Company