Assawaga farm in Massachusetts is proof that small scale sustainable farms can be profitable. Not that the road was easy for Alex Carpenter and Yoko Takemura. It was a lot of hard work building the soil - and defending their practices against the doubters that called them dogmatic and ineffective.
Alex and Yoko knew, however, that looking after their soil would mean that the creatures living below their feet would look after their plants. So, as with anything worth doing in life, it took time and patience, but paid off in spades (their farm stand regularly sells out).
“I think the one way I see we can make an impact is just showing people how what we’re doing works.” - Yoko Takemura
What we chat about in this episode:
The difference between farms in Japan and those in North American.
How to grow a tonne of food on a small plot of land.
How to get your family (and yourself) to eat more vegetables.
Healthy soil = healthier people!
Why farming is not just for the young.
Cool things we reference:
🎥 The Colour of Ink - Jason Logan
Things you can hold us accountable for:
Manon: To finally harvest the flax seeds that are hanging in my garage.
Katherine: To finish the book I am writing about the soil microbiome, making it fun and engaging and not at all textbooky.
Thank you so much for listening! We really appreciate you being here 💜
Until next time, we wish you health and happiness and many moments of slow reading.
Your friends,
Katherine and Manon
P.S. If you would like to read along with us here is a free downloadable copy of our Slow Reads questions.
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