This weekend I grilled approximately 450 organic hot dogs in the rain. It wasn’t easy, standing in the mud from 9:30 am until 5:00 pm (ow!) trying to keep a giant grill evenly hot (impossible), and catering to people’s varying desires for burnt or unburntness. But I now know most people do prefer a bit […]
By Maria
Come on Down to Our Organic Apple Festival!
On Saturday, September 12, the Rodale Institute will be holding its first annual Organic Apple Festival at the farm in Maxatawny, Pennsylvania. We have beautiful orchards of organic apples just waiting to be picked by you! Admission is free. Rain date is the next day. The fun starts at 10 am and goes till 5 […]
Health Care Debate: “Death Panels,” Health Insurance Reform, and the Truth
Amidst all the hysteria surrounding the health care debate, there is a shameless lack of clear thinking. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of seeing our healthcare system up close twice this past year, and let me explain what’s really going on. I think I found the smoking gun on the death panel accusation, and it’s […]
Manicotti from Heaven
OK, the tomato sauce is made—now what to do with it? On one of the first trips to my in-laws, before Lou and I were married, my mother-in-law-to-be Rita Cinquino served manicotti. I had never, ever tasted anything so good before. And as much as I loved my husband back then, I have to say […]
Women’s Rights: All We Take for Granted
I know it’s more than a week ago—old news—that Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (authors of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, to be released next week by Knopf) wrote an epic cover story in The New York Times Magazine about women’s rights around the world (or lack thereof). But […]
What We Can Learn about Working with People from Working with Horses
I’m one of those women who would have been horse-crazy as a girl if my parents had allowed it. So I tentatively began learning about horses after I grew up. One of the places I started at was called Last Chance Ranch (doesn’t that sound like a great title for a romance novel?). There, Lori […]
Getting Saucy at Tomato Time!
Despite the blight and the wet, cold weather, my tomatoes are finally ripening. Actually, my biggest threat to the harvest this year has been that all my Guinea hens have been eating them. It’s quite annoying. I got a great variety of tomato plants this spring from Seed Savers Exchange and Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, […]
Food Inc: Worth Seeing, Even More Worth Believing
I finally got to see the film Food Inc., which took a few months to reach a multiplex near me in Pennsylvania. So, on a hot Saturday night I took my 12-year-old daughter Eve to see the 8:10 show. Unfortunately, there were only two other people there. I was tempted to veer to a different […]
Scratch
Raised on America’s first organic farm, Scratch author Maria Rodale learned how to make everyday favorites from, yes, scratch — the way you remember them; the way they turn out best.
Order NowOrganic Manifesto
Drawing on findings from leading health researchers as well as conversations with both chemical and organic farmers from coast to coast, Maria Rodale irrefutably outlines the unacceptably high cost of chemical farming on our health and our environment.
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