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The First "Organic School" in the US? Ralph Borsodi's School of Living

Anneliese Abbott

Mar 212 min read

The First "Organic School" in the US? Ralph Borsodi's School of Living

One of the most difficult aspects of researching the early history of organic farming in the United States is the lack of documentary...

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Anneliese Abbott

Mar 142 min read

Back to the Land - Organically

As I’ve learned more about the earliest organic farmers in the United States, I’ve tried to figure out what they had in common. What made...

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What did Organic Mean in the 1930s? The Idea of an Organic Society

Anneliese Abbott

Mar 73 min read

What did Organic Mean in the 1930s? The Idea of an Organic Society

Organic farming did not start in a vacuum. It was part of a broad range of social, political, and agricultural movements that were...

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The Organic Whole: Ehrenfried Pfeiffer's Definition of Organic

Anneliese Abbott

Feb 292 min read

The Organic Whole: Ehrenfried Pfeiffer's Definition of Organic

As far as I am aware, the first book to outline a complete farming system that we would call “organic” today was Ehrenfried Pfeiffer’s...

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Before Organic: Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and Biodynamics in the United States

Anneliese Abbott

Feb 222 min read

Before Organic: Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and Biodynamics in the United States

Beginning in the 1950s, J.I. Rodale started writing historical accounts about how he started Organic Gardening magazine. He always told...

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The Other Strand of Organic History: Why Biodynamics Is Important

Anneliese Abbott

Feb 152 min read

The Other Strand of Organic History: Why Biodynamics Is Important

I have a confession to make. In all of my earlier articles about the history of organic farming, I left out one critically important...

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Peanut Butter Decomposition: My Successful C:N Ratio Experiment

Anneliese Abbott

Feb 83 min read

Peanut Butter Decomposition: My Successful C:N Ratio Experiment

Six years after my failed pot fertility experiment at OSU, it happened again. The instructor for my Soil Microbiology class at the...

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Perils of Permaculture: Why the C:N Ratio of Mulch Matters

Anneliese Abbott

Feb 13 min read

Perils of Permaculture: Why the C:N Ratio of Mulch Matters

Fresh out of my first year of agronomy classes, I was excited to do my first internship at an organically managed CSA. My job at the...

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The Real Dirt on no-Till: Why Herbicides Aren't Saving the Environment

Anneliese Abbott

Jan 252 min read

The Real Dirt on no-Till: Why Herbicides Aren't Saving the Environment

Tillage is bad. That’s the message I was getting in all of my agronomy classes at Ohio State. No-till farming was the most...

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Sterile Organics? Pitfalls of "Organic" Greenhouse Research

Anneliese Abbott

Jan 183 min read

Sterile Organics? Pitfalls of "Organic" Greenhouse Research

I’ll admit it. My first attempt at designing an “organic” fertility experiment was a complete failure. When I started my forages class at...

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"Nature's Acres": Misrepresentation of Research on Organic Yields

Anneliese Abbott

Jan 112 min read

"Nature's Acres": Misrepresentation of Research on Organic Yields

Beginning in 1950, soil scientists and agronomists began to claim that organic farming couldn’t feed the world. Surprisingly, they did...

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Bigger Than Conventional: Organic Yields from the 1950s to 1970s

Anneliese Abbott

Jan 43 min read

Bigger Than Conventional: Organic Yields from the 1950s to 1970s

Agronomists in the mid-20th century who claimed that organic farming had lower yields never read Organic Gardening magazine. Beginning in...

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Anneliese Abbott

Dec 28, 20232 min read

Year-End THANKSgiving: 2023 in Review

If, like me, you get emails from nonprofit organizations, your inbox is probably filling up this week with calls for year-end giving. But...

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Not By Bread Alone: Why I Have Peace This Christmas

Anneliese Abbott

Dec 21, 20233 min read

Not By Bread Alone: Why I Have Peace This Christmas

This year, we had a wonderful bumper crop of almost every vegetable in our garden. For months, our hallway and entryway were full of...

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No Peace on Earth: Why Agronomy Can't Feed the World

Anneliese Abbott

Dec 14, 20232 min read

No Peace on Earth: Why Agronomy Can't Feed the World

It’s not something the agronomists who talk about “feeding the world” usually mention, but most of the starvation that happened in the...

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2.5 Acres Per Person: Can Organic Farming Feed the World?

Anneliese Abbott

Dec 7, 20232 min read

2.5 Acres Per Person: Can Organic Farming Feed the World?

“We can go back to organic agriculture in this country if we must—we once farmed that way 75 years ago. We know how to do it. However,...

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How Would Bromfield Farm in 2015? A Modern Malabar Farm Tour

Anneliese Abbott

Nov 30, 20232 min read

How Would Bromfield Farm in 2015? A Modern Malabar Farm Tour

Korre Boyer, the park manager at Malabar when I visited in 2015, reminded me a lot of my fellow agronomy students at Ohio State. He was...

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Anneliese Abbott

Nov 27, 20233 min read

The Malabar Farm Barn Mural

As I walked past the big barn at Malabar Farm with Tom in 2015, I was surprised and pleased to see a freshly painted mural on the barn...

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Anneliese Abbott

Nov 20, 20233 min read

Inside the Big House at Malabar Farm

Tom Bachelder is passionate about Malabar Farm. After retiring from his career as an art teacher at the Mansfield Public Schools, Tom...

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The Hills of Ohio: My First Visit to Malabar Farm

Anneliese Abbott

Nov 13, 20232 min read

The Hills of Ohio: My First Visit to Malabar Farm

I knew I was getting close to Malabar Farm when I started to see hills. Before I took my first visit to Malabar Farm in 2015, I had spent...

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History of Organic Farming in America

By Anneliese Abbott

Organic History

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